230 FROM HELL
Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes (killed by mistake as
she uses the alias “Mary Kelly”) and fi nally Mary/Marie Jane Kelly (although Moore
off ers the possibility that another prostitute sharing her room might have been this
victim). Th eir deaths are presented as shockingly violent (the fi nal murder spans over
30 pages) and the women’s bodies are systematically and sexually mutilated. Gull con-
ducts the murders as ritual killings rather than simple executions and receives a series
of pseudo-religious and mystical visions, causing his behavior to become increasingly
erratic. Inspector Frederick Abberline is assigned (against his wishes) to investigate the
murders, with no success, until Robert Lees, a fake psychic, maliciously accuses Gull.
Both Lees and Abberline are amazed when Gull confesses everything. However, their
report is ignored (teacher Montague Druitt has been framed for the murders and his
suicide faked by police) and Abberline quits the police force as a consequence. Gull is
tried by a Masonic council, his death and funeral are faked, and he is imprisoned in an
asylum under a false name for many years. Th e story closes with an extended vision in
which Gull travels through time, fi nally encountering Mary Kelly. Th e prologue and
epilogue are set in Bournemouth, 1923, with an aged Abberline and Lees refl ecting on
the case and visiting Druitt’s grave.
Footnotes evidencing Moore’s extensive research into Masonic customs, police, and
witness evidence, and a vast number of Ripperology books are included in current edi-
tions of From Hell as an appendix, and demonstrate that almost every detail of the story
is supported with possible evidence. Th e plot is largely credited to Stephen Knight’s
Heather Graham as Mary Kelly and Johnny Depp as Inspector Fred Abberline, in the 2001 film
From Hell , directed by Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes. Twentieth Century Fox/Photofest
