9. James Maybrick & The Ripper Diary
In the early 90s a discovery was made that would change the fabric of Ripper investigation. A diary was given to Michael Barrett that put forward information about the identity of Jack the Ripper, written in the hand of the Ripper himself. The person who wrote the diary was soon discovered to be James Maybrick- a cotton merchant from Liverpool who would take the lives of the prostitutes in order to take out his anger over an unfaithful wife. There was much of the diary that was consistent with public knowledge at the time of 1991, but not with 1888, making people of the modern era believe in the validity of the diary. However, there were tell-tale signs that it may have been a forgery. For example, why were the first 20 pages or so of the scrapbook from which the diary was written torn out? Furthermore, why did Michael Barrett claim that it was he who wrote the diary rather than James Maybrick? This is not to mention the fact that Maybrick's 'normal' handwriting bore little resemblance to the scrawl that was in the diary. While advocates of the diary believe this is because he wrote in his other persona, many are sceptical. Having said that, there is nothing totally ruling Maybrick out as a suspect and so the diary remains one of the great maybes of the Ripper story.