Jack the Ripper also known as the Whitechapel Killer is one of the ghosts haunting the Haunted Mansion.
History[]
Background[]
Jack the Ripper is a ghostly murderer from the 19th century and resident of the Haunted Mansion, likely having joined as one of their famous ghosts. His portrait portrays him as an obese moustached man with green eyes, and high society menswear, something done to concur with the theory that the Ripper was a high-society doctor who's murders might have been a covered up. He stands in a dark alley at night in front of a lamppost as he brandishes a knife.
Origins[]
Jack the Ripper is the ghost of a famous serial-killer who roamed London in the late 19th century where he killed anywhere between five and eleven women in the alleys of Whitechapel with surgeon-like precision. Despite his fame his identity was never revealed and he was never caught by the authorities.
Development History[]
Concept Art
In concept art, the Ripper was shown to have the foot of one of his victims stuffed in his coat pocket. While historically it was known that the Ripper dissected his victims to steal body parts; this was only done with internal organs (and in one case a nose). At Tokyo Disneyland's Mansion he was supposed to be featured in the "Burial Crypt of Famous Villains" along with Nero, Dracula, Bluebeard, Medusa, and Attila the Hun.
Much like the other Sinister 11 portraits Jack's portrait features the "staring-eyes" effect which was accomplished by painting pupils on ping-pong balls cut in half. The eyes were cut out and the balls were set behind the portrait and lit, giving guests the impression that they are moving. In 2007, this effect was removed and the corridor was repurposed for the Changing Portraits with the Sinister 11 portraits being relocated throughout the Mansion.
Appearances[]
The Haunted Mansion[]
Walt Disney World[]
Jack's portrait originally appeared on the right-hand side of the Sinister 11 corridor, staring at guests. Following the 2007 refurbishment, his portrait was moved to the load area.
Tokyo Disneyland[]
In Tokyo Disneyland, the original sinister 11 corridor remains intact at the beginning of the attraction.
Trivia[]
- The portrait seems to give into the common theory that the Ripper was a wealthy doctor given his outfit in the scene. The portrait makes him look most like suspect James Maybrick but considering that Maybrick didn't become a suspect until the 1990s, this is likely a coincidence.
- Several real life analyses of Jack the Ripper's preserved genetic samples done in the mid-late 2010s put forward that Jack the Ripper was a deranged barber named Aaron Kosminski. This was not known when designing the Haunted Mansion variant of the character however and is more trivial to Jack the Ripper's real-life counterpart.
- In the 1980s, it is believed that the Haunted Mansion incarnation of Jack the Ripper served as visual reference for a make-shift Phantom of the Opera inspired character known as the Phantom of the Haunted Mansion. This character would come to be removed and replaced with the Knight of the Living Dead who served a similar function.