In 1811 a series of brutal murders on the Ratcliffe Highway in the east end of London shook the locals to the very core with their unrivalled brutality and seemingly random, everyday targets. The murders exposed a fear in the city that had been bubbling away beneath the surface for several years and made some of the first inroads into the long debate over the reform of the way the police operated throughout the country. Considered as the crime of the century and unparallelled in the fear and panic it provoked amongst the population of the city, it was only overshadowed by a group of five murders in Whitechapel during the summer and autumn of 1888, attributed to the elusive and infamous Jack the Ripper. SOURCES Flanders, Judith (2011) The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime. Harper Press, London, UK James, P.D. & Critchley, T.A. (2010) The Maul and The Pear Tree. Faber & Faber, London, UK. Phillips, Watts (1855) The Wild Tribes of London. Ward & Lock, London, UK. King, Peter (2010) The Impact of Urbanization on Murder Rates and on the Geography of Homicide in England and Wales, 1780-1850. The Historical Journal, Vol. 53, No. 3 (SEPTEMBER 2010), pp. 671-698, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. Morning Chronicle (1811) Horrid And Unparalleled Murders. Mon 9 Dec, 1811, p3. London, UK. Morning Chronicle (1811) Depositions Before The Magistrates. Sat 21 Dec, 1811, p3. London, UK Morning Post (1811) The Late Horrible Murders. Wed 25 Dec, 1811, p3, London, UK. ------- This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp, check out betterhelp.com/darkhistories to get 10% off your first month.-------   For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at [email protected] or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.