We suppose you do expect a degree of death and debauchery from the royal family; it's kinda their stock in trade. Or it used to be, anyway, now it's all sitting on chairs and sticking babies in floor-length gowns. You probably expect the same of Satanists, too or at least, based on the popular conception of Satanists, with all the ritual sacrifices and goats and the like. In reality those who hail Satan are more just selfish dudes who like to wear black than actual murderers, but you try telling that to the people who think Jack The Ripper was a guy paying tribute to the dark lord by carving up innocent women on the rain-slicked streets of Whitechapel. They will not listen. This is a hill they are willing to die on. One such Satanist was Robert D'onston Stephenson, who allegedly swanned around in a cloak to prove how easy the Ripper's disguise would work, and kept five dress ties stained with blood under his bed. Woops. That's a story told by Aleister Crowley, pioneering devil worshipper and occultist, who may have just been trying to deflect attention from himself. He was an interesting chap, for sure, but we're pretty sure he never killed anyone. Regardless, historian Mark Beynon blamed him for six of unrelated murders (something to do with the Curse Of Tutankhamen, natch) and then, since he was in London at the time, suggested he was probably Jack The Ripper and all. Plus he'd already stuck his oar in by reporting Stephenson as a potential suspect, which obviously made him a suspect himself.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
