A controversial memoir suspected of being the diary of Jack the Ripper has allegedly been confirmed to be real.
Discovered in 1992, the book was purportedly penned by a Liverpool cotton merchant named James Maybrick, who confessed in the diary to being Jack the Ripper.
Details surrounding how the book had been found were shrouded in secrecy, leading many to suspect that the diary was simply a clever forgery.
However a new book claims to have successfully traced the origins of the book back to Maybrick's home and, thus, strengthens the case that he was, indeed, Jack the Ripper.
Researchers looking into the memoir determined that the Ripper suspect's home was being renovated in 1992.
An investigation into the contractors working on the job managed to connect them to the man who eventually emerged with the memoir attempting to sell it to literary agents in London at that time.
It is their belief that the book was found hidden beneath the floorboards of Maybrick's former bedroom in the home and then stolen when the nature of the diary was discovered.
Fear of being prosecuted for the theft is why the workers kept the story of its discovery secret, the new Ripper book suggests.
Although the research indicates that the book very well may have been written by Maybrick, the matter of whether or not he was actually Jack the Ripper remains debatable, since simply confessing to the crimes does not necessarily mean that he had committed them.
Coast Insiders can also delve deeper into the Jack the Ripper mystery by checking out the 9/15/2005 edition of the program featuring retired British Police Detective Trevor Marriott.
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Source: The Telegraph