Unsolved Mysteries - Jack the Ripper

Summary

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Podcast Summary

Podcast: Harold's Old Time Radio
Episode: Unsolved Mysteries – Jack the Ripper
Date: August 4, 2026
Host: Harold's Old Time Radio

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Overview

This episode of Unsolved Mysteries transports listeners back to foggy Victorian London to explore theories surrounding the infamous Jack the Ripper case. Adopting the dramatic style of Golden Age radio, the episode constructs a fictionalized story mixing classic detective work with supernatural elements, notably clairvoyance. The narrative follows Detective Inspector Lester as he attempts to catch the elusive Ripper, guided by the visions of a mysterious clairvoyant, James Weiss.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Setting the Mood: Victorian London’s Darkness (00:22–02:28)

• The episode opens with a comparison to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, drawing parallels between dual personalities and the possible mindset of Jack the Ripper.
• The setting is established: “The scene is London. The time. Evening. A thick, rolling fog shrouds the Thames Embankment...” (02:28)

The Dream That Predicted Murder (03:00–04:13)

• James Weiss visits Scotland Yard with his wife after experiencing a vivid dream of a murder.
• Interaction between characters:
  • James Weiss: “Last night…it was, sir, I wakened and told my wife I saw a murder committed.” (03:11)
  • Detective Inspector Lester is skeptical, dismissing the claim as mere imagination: “What would my superior say if I arrested someone because of a dream?” (04:00)

Prophecy Fulfilled: A Murder is Discovered (04:13–05:18)

• The following morning, a woman is found murdered in Spitfield – precisely as James described in his dream.
• Detective Inspector Lester’s alarm: “Report of a woman found murdered in Spitfield. There's nothing to joke about there, sir. She was a horrible sight. Ripped to pieces, sir. Never even had a chance to cry out.” (04:30)

London in Panic & The Ripper’s Reign (05:18–05:50)

• Montage of further killings. Women are urged to avoid walking alone in Whitechapel.
• The Ripper is described as an unknown fiend, the city engulfed in fear.

An Encounter on the Bus: Weiss Feels the Killer’s Presence (05:50–06:19)

• James and Margaret Weiss return to London, and James senses the killer’s presence on a bus.
• James Weiss: “The man I saw kill a woman. He’s on the bus. I know it. I feel it.” (06:09)
• The suspect escapes, and another murder happens that night.

Clairvoyant Investigation: Following the Psychic Trail (06:40–07:06)

• The police, now desperate, allow Weiss to guide them using his visions.
• Narrator: “Through the maze of London streets walks the strange group mile after mile, Weiss follows the psychic trail, never hesitating until they reach the west end.” (06:48)

The Ripper Identified: Dual Personality Revealed (07:13–07:57)

• Arriving at a grand home, they are let in by a woman who confesses her husband is “the kindest man alive” when sane, but dangerous otherwise.
• Mrs. Blank: “The doctor's insane. When he's in his right mind, he's the kindest man alive. But when this other thing takes hold of him, there's no saying what he might do.” (07:34)
• The murderer, Dr. Blank, is revealed as suffering from a dual personality—an allusion to Jekyll and Hyde.

Aftermath: The Official Cover-Up (07:57–09:05)

• Dr. Blank is committed to an asylum after being declared insane. His death is faked to explain his disappearance.
• Narrator describes the mock funeral: “Surely that mock funeral attended by the prominent people of London was one of the strangest rites that old city ever witnessed.” (08:00)

Rationalizing Clairvoyance: A Detective’s Reflection (09:58–13:03)

• In a flash-forward years later, Inspector Lester discusses the use of clairvoyants in police work with a London editor.
• Detective Inspector Lester on the subconscious: “Weiss was more than an ordinary clairvoyant. He was fully susceptible to the subconscious mind… the subconscious has no measurement of time. Past, present, or future is all one…” (11:45)
• The nature of clairvoyance is compared to a radio receiver picking up signals (11:33–11:35).

Philosophical Conclusion (12:14–13:03)

• The inspector believes that some day, when the police embrace clairvoyance, crime will be much rarer.
• Detective Inspector Lester: “…when the police of the world wake up to the value of this study, catching criminals will be a simple matter. But when that day comes, criminals will be few and far between.” (12:43)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Fantastic, but utterly impossible. You say fantastic, yes. Ghastly, yes. But impossible, no." – Narrator (00:22)
  Sets the supernatural tone connecting fact and fiction with the Jekyll and Hyde motif.
• “But that's just it. When James dreams things like that, they have happened.” – Margaret Weiss (03:49)
• “Weiss was more than an ordinary clairvoyant. He was fully susceptible to the subconscious mind. And the subconscious has no measurement of time...” – Detective Inspector Lester (11:45)
• “Almost like a radio set... Suddenly the station comes on the air and the message is received. Pretty good explanation.” – Detective Inspector Lester (11:33–11:35)
• “The doctor's insane… I've lived in constant dread. I've been afraid that he might even commit murder.” – Mrs. Blank (07:34)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:22 | Opening narration; Jekyll and Hyde comparison | | 03:00 | James Weiss recounts his prophetic dream | | 04:13 | Murder discovered, matching Weiss’ dream | | 05:18 | London’s panic, rise of Ripper killings | | 06:04 | James senses Ripper’s presence on the bus | | 06:40 | Clairvoyant-led investigation; following the psychic trail | | 07:34 | Mrs. Blank reveals her husband’s dual nature | | 07:57 | Aftermath: Dr. Blank’s fate and official secrecy | | 09:58 | Inspector Lester explains the theory of clairvoyance | | 11:33 | Radio analogy for psychic impressions | | 12:43 | Visionary optimism about future police work |

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Tone & Style

The episode maintains an atmospheric, suspenseful tone typical of classic radio mysteries, blending gothic horror and rational detective reasoning. Dialogue is crisp and period-appropriate, with a melodramatic flair, especially in descriptions of the supernatural and the psychological elements underlying the Ripper case.

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For listeners who enjoy dramatic old radio shows with a blend of history, mystery, and a touch of the supernatural, this episode offers a fictional yet engaging look at one of crime’s most enduring enigmas.

Transcript

[Announcer]

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[Narrator]

Unsolved myster. Out of deference to persons who may still be living, character names in some of these true unsolved mysteries have been changed. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. A remarkable and somewhat ghastly piece of fiction written by the famous Robert Louis Stevenson. Fantastic, but utterly impossible. You say fantastic, yes. Ghastly, yes. But impossible, no. For a Jekyll and Hyde complex was the answer to the crimes which horrified and terrified London in the late 80s. The famous Jack the Ripper murder.

[Sam]

It's sam.

[Narrator]

The scene is London. The time. Evening. A thick, rolling fog shrouds the Thames Embankment and the lights lining Blackfriars Bridge have a ghostly tinge. High in the fog, Big Ben booms the hour. And over at Scotland Yard, Detective Lester, hearing the familiar chime of the old bell, looks at his watch, decides that it is time to be off and is closing his desk when the door opens. And in walk a man and a woman.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Yes, what can I do for you?

[James Weiss]

My name's Weiss. James Weiss. And, yes, this is my wife.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

I'm delighted to meet you. Won't you sit down?

[James Weiss]

Thank you, sir.

[Sam]

But, you see, I made James come and see you. Yes, James had a dream.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Yes, one does have dreams occasionally. But are you quite certain you came to the right place? This is Scotland Yard.

[Sam]

Oh, yes. This is the right place. Tell them about your dream, Jane.

[James Weiss]

Last night it was, sir, I wakened and told my wife I saw a murder committed.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

You what?

[James Weiss]

In my dream, I mean.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Oh, I see. Well, I admit that's rather a horrible dream, but.

[James Weiss]

But it was too real. In Spitzfield it was. I could see the woman walking along and I could see the man following her. I tried to warn her. I tried as hard as I could. It was ghastly to watch her just walking along like everything was all right. And him creeping up behind her and me trying to cry out and couldn't. And then he killed her. She didn't have a chance. Not even a chance to scream.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Wait. Wait. You'll have me turning up the Yard. You're so realistic. You'll have me believing that it happened instead of being just a dream.

[Sam]

But that's just it. When James dreams things like that, they have happened.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

But this time James must be wrong. Because, you see, we haven't found any murdered women in London, let alone Spitfield.

[James Weiss]

I told you they wouldn't listen. Margaret, let's get going.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

I don't wish to appear unappreciative, but you realize, don't you, that I can't do anything? After all, what would my superior say if I arrested someone because of a dream?

[James Weiss]

Yes, I understand. Sorry to have taken up your time.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Good night, madam.

[Sam]

Good night.

[Narrator]

Next morning, Detective Inspector Lester walks into his office at Scotland Yard. He hangs up his hat and coat, seats himself at his desk, lifts up the morning report and starts to read. Suddenly, he stops. His eyes start from his head. He reads again, then turns stuttering to his secretary. What the.

[Sam]

You.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

What is this? A joke?

[James Weiss]

A joke, sir?

[Detective Inspector Lester]

What? Report of a woman found murdered in Spitfield. There's nothing to joke about there, sir. She was a horrible sight. Ripped to pieces, sir. Never even had a chance to cry out. But. But it's impossible. Impossible, sir? What's impossible about it, sir? The body's in the morgue. If you want to go and look at it. Although I don't advise it. It's a messy one and I've seen lots of them. Who investigated? Brown, sir. Get him in. Yes, sir. What time was he found?

[Narrator]

3 o'.

[James Weiss]

Clock.

[Narrator]

You wanted me, sir?

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Any progress on this murder in Spitzfield, Brown? Not yet, sir. Know who she is or was?

[Narrator]

Oh, yes. Just one of the many women around that neighborhood at that time of night.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

No motive then? So far, no.

[Narrator]

There isn't a clue as to who could have murdered her?

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Not a thing. Nobody heard her scream, Although I don't think she had a chance to scream. All right, Brown, get hold of McCarthy and have him searched London until he finds a chap by the name of James Weiss and his wife Margaret. I want them here. I want them as quickly as you can find them. Yes, sir.

[Narrator]

But James Weiss and his wife Margaret were not to be found. And the body lying in the morgue was not the only one Scotland Yard was to view. In the following months, London was in a state of panic. Hardly a week passed that a woman was not found brutally and horribly murdered. The newspapers called the unknown fiend Jack the Ripper. And women were advised not to walk alone after dark in the Whitechapel district, where the majority of the crimes were committed. But one day, all unmindful of the police search for him, James Weiss and his wife returned from their trip to The Continent. Board a bus at Notting Hill in the very heart of London.

[James Weiss]

Viper. Viper, sir?

[Narrator]

Step forward in the bus, please.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Bears, please.

[Narrator]

Tuttons to Marble Arch, sir.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Yes, sir.

[Sam]

Why, what's the matter, James? You. You look ill.

[James Weiss]

I've got that feeling I had that night. I had the dream.

[Sam]

What do you mean?

[James Weiss]

The man I saw killed a woman. He's on the bus. I know it. I feel it.

[Sam]

Look around. Get a grip on yourself.

[James Weiss]

In the opposite corner.

[Sam]

He's getting off. Quick, James, quick. Follow him.

[Narrator]

But the stranger got into a cab and was driven off. Weiss appealed to a policeman who only laughed at him when he asked for the stranger's arrest that night. Another Jack the Ripper murder. And in the morning's papers, Weiss reads that the police are looking for him before London is astir. Weiss is at Scotland Yard, and the inspector and two sergeants take the clairvoyant to the scene of the latest killing.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Now, Mr. Weiss. This is where the murder was committed.

[Narrator]

Do you look at him?

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Quiet.

[James Weiss]

He.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

He's going into a trance.

[Narrator]

He's tearing off into space.

[Sam]

He's.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

He's starting to walk.

[Narrator]

Through the maze of London streets walks the strange group mile after mile, Weiss follows the psychic trail, never hesitating until they reach the west end. Then, outside an imposing house, Weiss stops, staggers. His glazed eyes turn imploringly to the inspector as again he staggers and almost falls to the ground.

[James Weiss]

Look out there. Catch him.

[Narrator]

What's the matter?

[James Weiss]

Are you all right in there? In that house? The murderer. The man you want. Jack the Ripper.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

All right, boys, we'll take a chance. Be ready for fireworks.

[Narrator]

Maybe we're on a wild goose chase.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Does seem kind of. Someone's coming.

[Sam]

Yes, gentlemen?

[Detective Inspector Lester]

The police officers. We wish to search this house.

[Sam]

Come in. I. I suppose there's no use hiding it any longer.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Well, no, madam. No use hiding it any longer.

[Sam]

The doctor's insane. When he's in his right mind, he's the kindest man alive. But when this other thing takes hold of him, there's no saying what he might do. I've lived in constant dread. I've been afraid that he might even commit murder.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Then you. You don't know who he is? I mean, why we are here.

[Sam]

Who he is? Why, he's Dr. Blank. I am Mrs. Blank. He's in there.

[Narrator]

And Dr. Blank. He was, when in his right mind. But when his dual personality took hold of him, he became Jack the Ripper. The monstrous fiend who killed for the love of killing. A Group of eminent British doctors examined him and when it was definitely decided that he was insane, he was committed to an asylum and all were sworn to secrecy. His death was announced to account for his disappearance. And surely that mock funeral attended by the prominent people of London was one of the strangest rites that old city ever witnessed. A strange, fantastic rite and a fitting close to the unsolved mystery of Jack the Ripper. In just a moment you will hear a solution to the clairvoyant's extraordinary trance.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Sa.

[Sam]

Sam,

[Narrator]

Ladies and gentlemen, in as much as any solution must of necessity be supposition, liberties of time, place and characters have been taken in the solution for which you have been waiting. It is many years after the famous Jack the Ripper murders and Detective Inspector Lester is discussing the Ripper case with a well known London editor, now dead.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

You see, Tom, the Ripper case isn't the only case where we've had the Yard use a clairvoyant. And this clairvoyant has helped us out when we couldn't find a starting place. Of course. Well, it just doesn't do to let that sort of thing get spoken about in the papers. What other keys can you tell me of? Well, it was the Crumbles case. We were at a dead end. A medium was consulted and she described the murderers. But more than that, she told us where they were living. The arrest and proof were simple.

[Narrator]

But there must be some explanation to such peculiar happenings.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Yes, there is. Look at it this way. Mediums or clairvoyants, I don't particularly care what they're called, make a practice of going into a trance so many times that they become more and more susceptible. I mean that there are times when merely because they're not thinking about anything in particular, their minds are open to suggestion. Although at that particular time they may not be aware of it.

[Narrator]

Yes, I can understand that.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

Now, here is a peculiar thing. What emotion, next to an effort to save one's life, do you think is uppermost in nine persons out of ten who are murdered? Why, I never gave that a thought. What is an overpowering desire to have the police know who killed them? Now that desire for, well, call it revenge, coupled with fear of discovery of the murderer produces a tremendously powerful thought wave which is received by a clairvoyant who is receptive to suggestion at the moment.

[Narrator]

Almost like a radio set which has

[Detective Inspector Lester]

been left switched on and tuned to a station which is off the air. Suddenly the station comes on the air and the message is received. Pretty good explanation. Yes.

[Narrator]

I accept all this. But how was Weiss seeing the murder

[Detective Inspector Lester]

at Spitzfield before it was even committed? Weiss was more than an ordinary clairvoyant. He was fully susceptible to the subconscious mind. And the subconscious has no measurement of time. Past, present, or future is all one to the subconscious. And therefore to the subconscious, it made no difference whether the murder was committed, was being committed, or was to be committed. In other words, the trances that mediums have that are apparently meaningless would not be meaningless if they could be linked

[Narrator]

up with the proper time, the right

[Detective Inspector Lester]

place and people affected. Exactly. In the Jack the Ripper case, the Crumbles case, and half a hundred others that I know of, the ordinary law of coincidence permits a certain number of occurrences in which all the elements are present, and that results in a workable application of clairvoyance. Amazing, isn't it, to think about? Amazing, yes, because we don't understand it. But someday, yes, someday, when the police of the world wake up to the value of this study, catching criminals will be a simple matter. But when that day comes, criminals will be few and far between. Why? Because criminals, too, will be able to see and to know what awaits them, if not in this world, then in the next.

[Sam]

Sam.

[Detective Inspector Lester]

It.

[Sam]

Sam.

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