How did the guy who wrote Alice in Wonderland become a Jack the Ripper suspect? Authors often come under fire when people believe they read hidden messages into their works. Such is the case with Lewis Carroll.
Early Life
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, alias “Lewis Carroll” was born into a middle-classed family, the son of a reverend. He was described as a tall man, not unattractive, who had the look of a daydreamer and a bit of a stutter. A religious man, he became friends with a church dean named Henry Liddell, and his family, especially the three little girls. One of the girls, Alice Liddell, inspired him to write down Alice in Wonderland after he told it to her. “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' was published under the name Lewis Carroll in 1865. He never married, though he had several relationships with women. He died of pneumonia on January 14, 1898.
The Fictitious vs. the Real Lewis Carroll
After the death of Dodgson, biographers began to portray the fictitious “Lewis Carroll” in an unreal light. His interest in the new art of photography and his photographing of nudes was considered socially scandalous at the time, and caused some to view him as a kind of pervert who collected images of naked girls and ladies. He also became perceived as a man who could only relate to children and whose unhealthy passion for Alice Liddell inspired his creativity, even though the rumors that he proposed to Alice had no basis in truth.
The Light-Hearted Friend
Richard Wallace was first to claim that Dodgson was Jack the Ripper in his book Jack the Ripper-Light-Hearted Friend, published in 1996. He put forth the theory that Dodgson and his Oxford friend Thomas Vere Bayne were responsible for the Jack the Ripper murders. His belief was based on anagrams and veiled messages he claimed were hidden throughout Dodgson’s works which he believed served as hidden confessions. According to his theory, hidden passages such as, 'She wriggled about so! But at last Dodgson and Bayne found a way to keep hold of the fat little whore’ can be made by a crafty rearrangement of letters and phrases.
Mysterious Anagrams
The anagrams “discovered” in Dodgson’s work are similar to the clues believed to be concealed in artist Walter Sickert’s paintings. Another Jack the Ripper suspect, some of Sickert’s paintings contained similar poses and wounds as the murder victims. Since both men can’t be Jack the Ripper, chances are neither one was. At the time of the murders neither were serious Scotland Yard suspects. Like Walter Sickert, the suspicion on Lewis Carroll came at a much later date. The similarities found in their works are just as likely to be a matter of perception, based on the interpretation of the observer rather than artist or author.
To read about more current Jack the Ripper suspects see Jack the Ripper: Case Still Open.
Free Course: Jack the Ripper: Case Study
Click here to purchase a copy of Light-Hearted Friend.
