James Carnac
The Autobiography of Jack the Ripper
A recently discovered manuscript written in 1929
Bantam Press ( 2012)
This fascinating manuscript from 1929 purports to be written by James Carnac, confessing to being Jack the Ripper. It is unique for being the earliest known account of a serial killer’s crimes to be written in the first-person. The manuscript was discovered by Alan Hicken amongst the many items, which he had acquired for his TV, Radio and Toy Museum in Montacute, Somerset, from the family of the illustrator and children’s author, Sydney Hulme Beaman, now chiefly remembered for his Toytown stories, featuring Larry the Lamb. The text is an original and compelling narrative. If the Whitechapel murderer is not its actual author, he is almost certainly its principal source of information on the crimes.