Rhynwick Williams & The London Monster

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

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