Dracula may have been Jack the Ripper, Whitechapel Society is told

Jack the Ripper could be connected to Bram Stoker’s fictional horror character Dracula, according to a new theory emerging.

Suggestions have been made that Dracula is more about the Whitechapel Murders of 1888, than a Transylvanian count in the old Austro-Hungarian empire.

Historian Neil Storey explains the link to the Whitechapel Society’s next meeting on February 1.

“Storey explores how Stoker created Dracula out of the climate of fear that surrounded the Ripper murders,” the society’s secretary Jo Edgington explained. “Stoker may have known the Ripper personally and hid the clues to this terrible knowledge in his book published nine years later.”

Storey provides the first British-based investigation into the sources used by Stoker and paints a portrait of his influences, friends and the London he knew in the late 19th century.

He has gained unprecedented access to the archive of one of Stoker’s most respected friends, shedding new light on who he may have based Dracula on. His talk is set to reveal new insights into the links between Stoker’s fictitious creation and the most infamous killer of all time.

The Whitechapel Society, which has had to find a new venue for its regular meetings following the closure of the Aldgate Exchange pub, now meets at The Bell at 50 Middlesex Street nearby, where Storey’s talk on February 1 begins at 7.30pm, entry £5 (members free).