Original subtitles

(eerie music)

- Good evening.

Tonight, I'm going to tell you

another strange and unusual story

of the unexplainable (fire crackling)

from behind the Veil.

Ever since man was first able to think,

he has tried to find reasons for those happenings

that he has been unable to explain.

Yet even today,

with the knowledge of our universe which we have amassed,

despite the myths that we have exploded,

there are still areas about which we know nothing.

The world beyond our understanding,

the world behind the Veil.

Our story tonight concerns the dark

and violent circumstances surrounding

one of the most famous Criminals in history.

George Durst was a normal citizen of his time.

A man completely average in all respects.

All respects but one...

- [Judith] 1 knew it,

tucked away down at the bottom of the page,

Mr. Walter Durst will give the last

of his lectures on clairvoyance

tonight at the Cumberland Hall.

- What?

- The advertisement.

It's so discreet, it's practically invisible.

- ] thought it was quite tasteful.

- You should let me deal with that side of the business,

you have no head for publicity.

- ! had such an odd dream last night...

- Not black horses again, I couldn't stand another funeral.

- It was most frightening, 1 wish I knew what it meant.

- Good heavens, they've discovered petroleum in Cheshire.

- Judith, please listen to me.

- Walter, 1 am sorry, I didn't realize you were so upset

- Last night...

Judith, do you really believe 1 somehow have an ability

to see into the future?

- Good heavens dear, we know you do.

] mean, some people are left-handed,

others have perfect pitch.

And you-- - It's happened

before, hasn't it? Time after time.

The fire in the hotel at Bournemouth,

the diptheria epidemic.

- Walter, what is it?

- Judith...

last night I saw murder done.

Why must it happen to me?

Why not to someone who understands these things?

I, l don't want tt.

- Now Walter, don't be so foolish.

We have to make a living, dear,

and, and I'm not sure that you'd

be very good at anything else.

- l was so frightened last night.

- And why didn't you wake me?

- You were so sound asleep, I didn't like to.

Just after I went to sleep, the most odd feeling

as though something were trying to get inside my head,

something pushing and probing.

And then an odd sound like nothing I'd ever heard before.

And then the picture, misty at first,

with the buildings all blurred.

And then, all at once, it came quite clear.

l was walking along a darkened alley in the East End.

There was no sound.

1 could hear nothing but my own breathing.

1 wanted to save the woman.

And at the same time, 1 Knew I couldn't stand

to see what was happening.

(eerie music)

Suddenly I found myself

outside some horrible drinking house.

l remember hearing the ticking of a clock.

(clock ticking)

1 knew it was important to see the time.

My body floated

as though it were no more than mist.

And the light at the corner of the lane seemed

to draw me to It.

l felt as if something were guiding me, begging me,

to look up at the street sign,

Bucks Row.

I saw it quite clearly,

and yet I'd never even heard of the place before.

1 wish I knew what it all meant.

- Darling, why should it mean anything?

It's probably just an ordinary old nightmare

after all that lobster you had last night.

- No, no, no, there was such purpose to it,

almost as though I've been made to see it for some reason.

- "In the early hours of this morning,

Timothy Durant, cart driver, was returning

to his lodgings in Whitechapel,

and he saw what he thought

was a tarpaulin lying in the gutter.

He crossed the road for a closer look,

only to discover that it was a woman lying there.

A lighted match revealed that her throat had been cut.

The body has been identified as that of Mary Nichols, 42,

a woman of unfortunate reputation,

had last been seen alive, but very drunk,

just before 2:30.

The police surgeon has stated

that in addition to the throat wounds which caused death,

the body had been almost completely--

- Does it say where it happened?

- Yes,

the body was found in Bucks Row.

- Truly?

- The doctor also stated that, in his opinion,

the crime had been committed by somebody

with a considerable knowledge of surgery.

- Yes, the surgeon's knife, the scalpel.

- And moreover, it was the same person

who brutally murdered Martha Turner three weeks ago

on the night of August the seventh.

An inquest is being held.

- All the details...

- Walter, you've got to go to the police.

- The police?

- There can't be any motive

for killing these terrible women,

so the man is probably mad.

Don't you see,

there may be more murders.

- And more dreams...

- Walter, think what it would mean if you could go

to the police and tell them exactly when

and where the next killing would be.

- No, won't have any part of it.

It's nothing to do with me.

- Walter, that is a disgraceful attitude!

The seeing of justice done isn't merely

the business of the police,

it's the responsibility of,

of every member of the community.

Why, it might mean the saving of countless young lives.

- Oh they were hardly young.

- Walter, it is your duty to go to the police.

- All right, 1 suppose you're right,

as usual.

- And darling, think of the publicity.

(stirring music)

- Yes, sir?

- Oh, good morning.

l want to see someone about the Whitechapel murders.

- On what connection?

- Well, it's rather a personal matter.

Ah, I prefer to see whoever's in charge of the case.

- All right, aname, sir?

Clairvoyant? - Yes.

- You are new, aren't you?

- l beg your pardon?

You haven't been in before?

- No.

- Ah...

Well, Inspector McWilliam's in charge of the case,

I'll tell him you're here.

Uh, perhaps, if you don't mind waiting a while.

(pensive music)

1 mean all those people have a lot of money, sir.

Brought 'em all out today, Gypsy Jim, One-Armed Nell,

and the old lady with a crystal ball,

she can tell us the identity of Jack the Ripper

for a mere fifty pounds.

- Jack the Ripper?

- Well, that's what the newspapers have tagged him.

Oh, we have them all, sir, especially on a case like this.

- But Constable, I assure you, I didn't come here

because of any reward.

Last night in a dream,

] saw the exact circumstances

of the Bucks Row murder, several hours before it occurred.

The time, the place, everything.

- Now, sir, you look a nice, sensible, sort of gent.

You know, the wife had the same trouble,

wake me up in the middle of the night she would, just

to tell me about these here dreams.

So I got her some stuff called slumber pills.

Only a cheap medicine, you know,

but efficacious, very efficacious.

Never had more trouble with her since.

- Thank you, Constable, ! assure you you'll have no

more trouble with me either, good morning.

- Emily, don't lag behind.

l wish to see someone about Jack the Ripper.

My little girl has some information

1 know will prove invaluable.

- Have a seat--

- It happened yesterday afternoon

during my usual Tuesday seéance.

Emily was in rapport with Learte, her little Aztec friend.

When suddenly there was a swirl of orange ectoplasm,

a ghastly, grinning face appeared--

- Charlatans! Charlatans!

- A city of millions,

once teeming with life after dark, now becomes silent

and deserted with the setting of the sun.

Children are off the streets

with the beginning of nightfall.

Women go nowhere unless accompanied by their men.

Doors are locked, windows boarded up,

London becomes a city of panicky individuals.

No man trusting his neighbor or friend.

Newspapers demand in their boldest type,

the apprehension of this mad killer.

The rewards mount. (fire crackles)

Every available police officer is on duty.

Groups of men,

self-appointed vigilante committees,

hunt through dark streets and back alleys,

but to no avail.

The man they seek might well have been a ghost.

(Suspenseful music)

(carriages driving)

(Walter grunts)

(Walter groans)

(eerie music)

(Walter pants)

- Judith! Judith!

Judith! (silverware clangs)

- Walter?

- Look, look at my hand!

Look, it happened again,

quite suddenly.

l saw the body, he cut an ear off.

It was lying in the gutter, I picked it up,

you see the blood still on my hand?

- But, Walter...

- No, l won't wipe it off,

they can see it at Scotland Yard.

It's a manifestation.

They'll have to believe me.

- Walter, it's your blood,

you must have dug your nails into the palm.

- No, I saw, 1 saw it though.

There was a, ared flower in her dress

and, uh, she had a bunch of grapes and

she was still clutching the bunch of grapes.

- My dear, you must eat something before you go.

- Go, where?

Oh no, no, no, no, not the police,

they'd only laugh at me again.

- Then we'll have our dinner,

and they can laugh at both of us if they want to.

I'm coming with you this time.

(carriages clacking) (background chatter)

- Fares please, thank you.

Two pennies. Yes, madam.

Fares, please.

- I think I've got some pennies.

We'll change at Oxford Circus and take...

Walter? (eerie music)

- He's here, 1 can feel it,

somewhere quite near.

- Oh, what are you talking about?

- Jack the Ripper.

He's here on this bus.

Jack the Ripper, he's here on this bus.

- Where?

- ! don't know, but I can feel the vibrations.

It's the same man, the man in the dream.

- [Conductor] Regent's Park!

- Walter, are you certain?

- Of course.

- Then we must do something,

try to find him.

- It's vanishing, it's fading away.

- [Conductor] Regent's Park.

- Walter, quickly, walk. - But Judith...

(eerie music)

- No, Judith, it's madness, it's too dangerous.

(bell chiming)

- There! Going into the park!

(bus rumbling)

(cart wheels clacking)

- Walter, don't stop me.

Which way did he go?

- ! don't know, I can't feel it anymore.

- Well try, concentrate, you must.

- No use, he's gone, it just isn't there.

- Oh! To be so close.

- Well, I'm sorry,

1 couldn't help it, besides it would've been madness.

Now, I think we ought to go and tell the police.

- Tell them what?

- Why, that Jack the Ripper's in the park.

They might close the gates.

- Walter, sometimes 1 despair of you.

Come on, we're going to Scotland Yard.

(door clicks)

- Oh, I didn't expect to see you here again, sir.

- [ want to see, Inspector McWilliam, isn't it?

- Ah, he's busy,

we're trying to find someone called Jack the Ripper,

perhaps you've read about it.

- But Constable-- - Walter, Walter, let me...

Constable, today is the thirtieth September

- It is.

- And it may be remembered as the day

that Jack the Ripper committed his fourth murder.

That ts, if you just stand

there and do nothing to prevent it.

- Ma'am, I have my orders, that's all.

- But please, you must let me see the inspector now.

This afternoon I had a vision of a murder

that I know is going to take place tonight.

You must understand, we can stop it, otherwise

their blood will be on my hands as much--

- Walter, Walter.

- SO a woman will be found dead

tomorrow with her ear severed from the head.

- What did you say?

- l saw itin the dream.

The ear was lying beside her in the gutter.

- Constable.

- Er, this way, ma'am.

- I'm Inspector McWilliam.

What's all this about a dream?

- Um, my name is Walter Durst.

I'm a professional clairvoyant.

Perhaps my card would...

- And what did you dream?

- Well I, l imagined 1 was walking

along a lane in the East End.

There was a woman, her throat had been cut,

and the ear was lying beside her in the gutter.

It's not the first time, you see,

the night that Mary Nichols was killed,

I saw it just as it happened.

The time, the place.

- When did you send the note?

- What?

- The note we received this morning.

- Oh, I haven't sent any note.

] have been here before,

the constable will tell you.

- I'd like a specimen of your handwriting,

sit down Mr. Durst, will you.

- Well, I don't see what my handwriting's got to do with it.

- Er, please write.

- Well, what shall I write?

- Just three words.

Dear old boss. (paper rustles)

- Dear old boss,

l wish you'd explain.

- Mr. Durst, you didn't

by any chance dream the location of this murder.

- No, not this time, but I'm sure--

- What do you mean, "not this time".

- Well, I told you, the other dream,

the night that Mary Nichols was killed.

- But you didn't write to us last time.

- ! don't know what you're talking about.

(ominous music)

Then you must believe me, inspector,

I told you that I saw it.

- No one knew of this letter, except the men in my office,

and the man who wrote the letter.

Did you write this letter?

- No, I didn't write it, 1 didn't!

Judith! Judith!

- You will be kept in custody

until we can make further investigations in the morning.

- Please, let me go, don't you see what you're doing?

- That's enough, that's enough, come on.

- But the woman, I saw what he did to her, you,

you couldn't tell it was a human face.

You could save her!

- Perhaps I have.

- Please, please let me help you.

- All right, Constable.

- Well then, God help you.

(Suspenseful music)

What time is it?

- Are you still awake?

- The time, please, they took my watch away.

- Oh, I dunno, it's a bit after one,

you'd better get some shut-eye.

- Not this night.

Tell Inspector McWilliam

to have a good night's rest!

Tomorrow he may not sleep quite so easily.

(eerie music)

(whistle blowing)

(footsteps thump)

(lock clanking)

(door thuds) (keys jangle)

- All right, they want to see you at the Yard.

Can you hear me?

(footsteps tapping)

- Ehh, God forgive them.

Forgive them. (collar sliding)

(footsteps tapping)

(door clicks)

(footsteps thump) (gate clicks)

(gate thuds)

- So it happened.

And it was in your power to have saved that life.

- Two lives.

Two women murdered within an hour.

One in a yard at the back of Berners Street,

the other in an archway off Mitre Square.

Both of them hacked to pieces.

You were right in every detail.

Every man available was on duty in the East End last night.

And every suspect we had was under lock and key.

It's impossible,

yet it happened.

It's impossible!

But you knew. How?

- That's a question I've been asking myself all my life, Inspector,

perhaps the answer will come later.

- I trust, sir, that you'll accept

my apologies for what happened last night.

- Inspector, 1 owe you my supreme gratitude.

This was no imprisonment,

it was a release.

Until last night,

I've been afraid of this gift I have,

ashamed because I was not quite normal.

My wife had to have my courage and my convictions for me.

Now I know this power was given to me for a purpose.

Respect must be paid to it, and to me.

- ! wish to heaven I had believed you last night.

But should you dream again,

of course, I shall act immediately.

- We can act now.

- Walter, last night?

- No, this was no dream,

but I can find Jack the Ripper, probably tonight.

- This time I shan't even ask how,

every policeman in London is at your disposal.

- And that won't be necessary.

Shall we meet at my house at seven o'clock?

- At seven.

(footsteps tapping)

(Somber music)

(Suspenseful music)

(footsteps tapping)

- And this is where The Ripper lives.

- G.R. Willowden, the FRCS.

- Do we knock?

- ! don't know,

1 don't think we can wake them at this late hour.

- This is where he lives.

- It's incredible.

A large house in Holles Street, FRCS.

- Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

- Inspector, there's a dog lying at the foot of the stairs.

- Seems to be a light on, sir.

(dog barking) (door thumps)

- [Woman] Pagan.

Pagan! Come on! (knocker clacking)

(barking continues) Stop barking!

Yes, what is it?

- We are from Scotland Yard,

I'd like to speak to Mr. Willowden.

- Who is it? (footsteps thump)

- Mrs. Willowden?

- Yes.

- I'm Chief Inspector McWilliam,

Mr. Durst.

I'm sorry to disturb you so late,

but we should like to ask you a few questions.

- ! must ask you to leave, it is very late.

- Mrs. Willowden, this concerns the Whitechapel murders.

It would be very easy for me to get a search warrant.

(door clicks)

(door thuds) - The police?

- Mr. Willowen?

- No, my name is Hatherley,

I'm Mrs. Willowden's doctor,

may I ask the reason for this visit?

- ! would like to see Mr. Willowen.

- That's impossible, he--

- Will you come into the library, gentlemen?

(door clicks) - Alright, Constable.

- The funeral is tomorrow.

- I'm sorry Mrs. Willowden.

(door thuds)

When did this happen, doctor?

- Cerebral hemorrhage, late yesterday afternoon.

You can understand why Mrs. Willowden is very distressed.

- ! should like to see inside.

- Inspector, this is outrageous!

l insist you take your men, and leave this house instantly.

- Did you sign the death certificate, doctor?

- I did.

- May I see it, please.

- It's not here, it's at my surgery.

- Why did you come here?

- We have reason to believe

that your husband knew something

about the Whitechapel murders.

- Why?

- I'm not at liberty to say.

- You think he's Jack the Ripper?

- Mrs. Willowden, I'm here to ask questions,

not make accusations.

- This isa strange time--

- Did you notice anything unusual

about your husband's behavior these last few weeks?

- Mr. Willowden has been ill for some time--

- I'm talking to Mrs. Willowden.

Will you please answer my question?

- You know, don't you?

You know. (sobs)

- Moira...

- Of course they know, don't be such a fool.

Why else would they have come here?

They followed him.

They saw the blood

- Blood?

- Mrs. Willowden is hysterical, you understand--

- What blood?

- He was wearing his new coattails, wasn't he?

l was standing on the stairs when he came in,

blood

all over his white waistcoat.

- Moira, I beg you.

- It doesn't matter now,

1 don't want the secret any longer.

- Why didn't you tell the police?

- He was my husband,

I loved him very much once.

He was so gentle then.

Seems quite a long time ago when he had

to give up the practice.

Oh, it was terrible seeing the change in him.

1 wonder what made him do those things.

One day I heard Pagan screaming down here in the library.

He wasn't allowed in here at all.

When I came in,

he was sitting just over there,

biting at his paw.

There was a hairpin right through it.

(gasps)

He used to love the dog so much too.

And there were the bats.

Do you know that he paid boys off the street

to catch bats for him?

They'd bring them in a bag to the back door.

1 saw once what he did with them.

He dipped them in paraffin and lit them,

so that he could see the poor burning things

go flapping round his head, and he'd

clap his hands and laugh like a child.

Then at night, he began to go out...

(whimpers) (object crashes)

- So the funeral is tomorrow?

- Yes, to all intents and purposes,

the obituary notice has appeared in The Times

and a few relatives have been invited

to a simple service in the morning.

- Where is he, doctor?

(paper rustling)

A certificate of insanity?

- Yes, Willowden was sent this morning

to an insane asylum outside Edinburgh.

- May I keep this?

- You will find it registered

and in order, you realize what this means?

- Yes, yes, yes, of course.

- Yes, once certified and committed to an institution,

a person is beyond the jurisdiction of the courts.

Not even the law can touch Willowden now.

- Well, there's nothing more we Can do.

- No, it's better we should never know.

And now, if you'll excuse us, Inspector,

this has been an agonizing ordeal for Mrs. Willowden,

and she has to rise early in the morning for the funeral.

- Inspector,

is it a terrible thing to hope

there will be more murders in Whitechapel?

(eerie music)

- Dr. Willowden was beyond the reach of English law.

His guilt or innocence could never be proved.

But strangely enough, (fire crackling)

the slaughter in Whitechapel ended that night.

Jack the Ripper never claimed another victim.

But what of Walter Durst?

How does one explain his gift of precognition,

his ability to foretell the future?

How could he foresee in such detail the victims,

and the circumstances surrounding their deaths?

He'd never seen any of the women involved.

He'd never even been to

the places where they met their death.

And most of all, how was he able to lead the police

to a man he did not even know existed?

There is no explanation known to us.

But this we do know,

on that night over seventy years ago,

ended a reign of terror unlike any known before or since.

Please join me again for another journey into the world

of the unexplainable,

which lies behind the Veil.

Good night.

(eerie music)

(eerie music continues)

(eerie music continues)