The "From Hell" letter was a letter sent with half of a preserved human kidney to George Lusk, the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, in October 1888. The author of this letter claimed to be the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who had murdered and mutilated at least four women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London in the two months prior to Lusk receiving this letter, and whose vigilance committee Lusk led in civilian efforts to assist the police in identifying and apprehending the perpetrator.
A photographic copy of the now-lost "From Hell" letter, postmarked 15 October 1888
An 1888 Punch illustration depicts the murderer as a demonic spectral figure, the "Nemesis of Neglect", stalking London.
George Akin Lusk was a British builder and decorator who specialised in music hall restoration. He was the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee during the Whitechapel murders, including the killings ascribed to Jack the Ripper, in 1888.
Lusk c. 1885
The 'From Hell' letter sent to Lusk