Rhynwick Williams & The London Monster

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2023

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

19th century London saw two of the most sensational public scares in its long history when the enigmatic Spring Heeled Jack stalked the alleyways of the capital city and in 1888, when Jack the Ripper enacted his reign of the streets, bringing about an autumn of terror that has since become infamous. One hundred years earlier, however, the streets were stalked by another threat, one that many consider a precursor to both Spring Heeled Jack and Jack The Ripper, and one that remains, to this day, one of the strangest, most bizarre cases in the entire criminal history of London. Sources Ranger, H. (1793) Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies; or Men of Pleasure kalender for the year of 1793. H Ranger, London, UK. Swift, Theophilus (1790) The Monster at Large: Or, the Innocence of Rhynwick Williams Vindicated. J. Ridgeway, London, UK. Bondeson, Jan (2000) The London Monster: A Sanguinary Tale. Free Association Books, London, UK. Bartholomew, Robert & Evans, Hilary (2009) Outbreak! The Encyclopaedia of Extraordinary Social Behaviour. Anomalist Books, TX, USA Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette (1790) St James’s, Jan 19th. Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, Tuesday 21 Jan 1790, p.3, Bath, UK. The Public Advertiser (1790) A Reward. The Public Advertiser, Thursday 15 April 1790, p.1. London, UK. The Public Advertiser (1790) The Monster. The Public Advertiser, Wednesday 16 June 1790, p.3. London, UK. The Bath Chronicle (1790) The Monster Detected. The Bath Chronicle, Thursday 17 June 1790, p.3. Bath, UK. Jackson’s Oxford Chronicle (1790) The Monster. Jackson’s Oxford Chronicle, Saturday 19 June 1790, p.1. Oxford, UK. The Derby Mercury (1790) Trial Of The Monster. The Derby Mercury, Thursday 8 July 1790, p.2. Derby, UK ------- This episode is sponsored by Babbel, check out babbel.com/darkhistories to get 55% off a subscription. -------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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	19th century London saw two of the most sensational public scares in its long history when the
0:06.6	enigmatic Springfield Jack stuck the early ways of the capital city, and in 1888, when
0:12.2	Jack the Ripper enacted his reign of the streets, bringing about an autumn of terror that has
0:16.8	since become infamous. 100 years earlier, however, the streets were stalked by another threat,
0:23.1	one that many consider a precursor to both Springfield Jack and Jack the Ripper, and one that
0:28.0	remains to this day, one of the strangest, most bizarre cases in the entire criminal history
0:34.1	of London. This is Dark History where the facts are worse than fiction.
0:42.7	Hello and welcome to Dark History, season 7, Episode 9. I'm your host Ben, as always, and today
0:49.6	I have got the absolutely most strange episode that I think I have ever, ever done for Dark
0:57.1	History's. I sort of knew that it was going to be a weird one going in, but I wasn't quite
1:04.0	prepared. Let's just get going because it's quite a long one and I said, but, but,
1:07.8	um, godly gosh, track yourself in. This is bonkers. Let's go. This episode's called
1:13.2	Rinnwick Williams and the London Monster.
1:18.5	Streets of London in the 1790s were allowed, chaotic, and often confusing place to be.
1:23.8	Hackney Carriages clattered along cobbled streets alongside scores of horse-drawn carts
1:28.3	carrying trade goods across the city from dawn till dusk. Hards of people walk the streets
1:33.6	all hours, often young economic migrants who had moved to the city from more rural areas to take
1:39.1	jobs as apprentices and domestic staff. Weaving from the larger highways, a rats nest of alleyways
1:45.7	and backstreet spread across the city in a layout that in many places had not changed since its
1:51.1	medieval inception. To add to the ceaseless din, cryers shouted the time, advertised goods,
1:58.1	and trainsmen, their services. Orange cellars and pie men, knife sharpeners and iron mungry,
2:04.3	ditties were sung for them all, bellowed out into the crowds.
	...

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