The London Monster: A Sanguinary Tale

By Jan Bondeson

Book Overview

A century before Jack the Ripper haunted the streets of London, another predator held sway. In the late eighteenth century, the city was gripped by fear, outrage, and Monster Mania. A psychopath who had lashed out violently at over fifty women during a two-year crime spree roamed the city. After stalking and verbally harassing his unsuspecting victims, the Monster would assault them with blades shrewdly crafted for his methods of attack. Sometimes he jabbed his victims squarely in the hips and buttocks. Some he kicked in the backside with knives fastened to his knee. Others he invited to smell an artificial nosegay, only to stab the fine lady right in the nose with a sharp spike hidden within the flowers.

The details of these encounters--the bloodshed, the women's ripped clothing, the dark figure calmly observing his victim's screams of anguish before disappearing down the closest alley seconds before help arrived--became deeply ingrained in London's collective psyche. After an immense reward was offered for the capture of the perpetrator by the wealthy philanthropist John Julius Angerstein, one of the founders of Lloyd's, the public's excitement rose. Armed vigilantes patrolling the streets only added to the mayhem, and newspaper reports of each attack roused even greater panic. Fashionable ladies did not dare walk outdoors without copper pans over their petticoats to protect them against the Monster's rapier. And still, the attacks continued.

Finally in June 1790, an ungainly young Welshman named Rhynwick Williams, who worked in a factory for artificial flowers, was arrested as the London Monster. He appeared an unlikely Monster, with a reasonable alibi for one of the worst attacks. But after two long, ludicrous trials, where he was defended energetically by the eccentric Irish poet, Theophilus Swift, Williams was convicted.

Was Rhynwick Williams guilty after all? Or was he unlucky enough to fall into the hands of authorities when they needed someone, anyone, to pay for the Monster's peculiar crimes? Was there even a Monster at all? Considerable doubt has been cast. In The London Monster, Jan Bondeson writes a lively, detailed account of one of London's most notorious sons and assesses evidence for the guilt or innocence of the convicted Williams. He presents a wealth of contemporary evidence from learned and popular sources, as well as research on mass hysterias and moral panics, to reinterpret Monster Mania and compare it to historical and modern instances of similar phenomena. Indeed, in the magnitude of public frenzy it incited, the story of the London Monster bears similarities to the Ripper murders in 1888; in its stature as urban legend, it is of the bogeyman tradition of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. As Bondeson reveals, the London Monster occupies a unique space in London's criminal history and imagination, somewhere between fact and fiction.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812235762
• ISBN13: 9780812235760
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

An Short, Entertaining Slice of Gruesome History

Jan Bondeson's The London Monster (A Sanguinary Tale) is a marvelous look at the city of London in the 1790's through a horrifying story of terror and mania and a touch of humour. The tale will travel through the dark streets filled with shrieks as a stalker prowls along cutting both women's garments and flesh into the taverns where the Monster hunters gather and to the Old Bailey and the somewhat farcical trials of young Rhynwick Williams. The author keeps the story moving along at a brisk pace while yet still creating more than sufficient atmosphere for the reader almost to taste the London fog in the air while reading. In the last chapters he helpfully expands the scope of the book to give the reader a broader perspective on the case. A very entertaining and informative read to be saved especially for the history buffs when the nights grow a little longer and the wind howls just a little louder.

A cautionary tale....

Even as I write, the region of Delhi, India, is in the grip of a panic: a mysterious "monkey man" is attacking people all over the area, scratching them with long metal claws! At least two people have died in a panic attempting to escape after someone cried that the monkey man had come, falling downstairs or off roofs. However, in no case is there the slightest physical evidence, either of an attacker or of an attack.In what I believe is his fourth book, Jan Bondeson tells us all the facts concerning a possibly similar case in 1790 London, in which the "London Monster" slashed women with a knife (or a blade hidden in a nosegay of artificial flowers, or with spurs fixed to his knees or his toes, or, or, or...). Was this a case of mass panic, as in India, or was it the work of one man, or the confluence of many otherwise independent "copycat crimes," and was the man arrested, convicted and sentenced guilty or innocent? Bondeson covers all the possibilities in an admirably even-handed manner.London in 1790 was a strange place to modern eyes, and perhaps strangest of all was the almost total absence of any law enforcement agency. In the rare instances that people were convicted of crimes, the death penalty was meted out for even the most trivial offenses. In one of the most notorious cases, a starving woman picked up a bit of linen, perhaps tempted to steal it, but lost her nerve and immediately put it back. Observed by the shopkeeper, she was brought before a magistrate, tried, convicted and executed! Bondeson gives us all the needed background to appreciate all the circumstances of the "London Monster" case.In fact my only reservations about the book involve its printing. Only two fonts are used, a text font that is quite unattractive to the eye, and an italic font which does not match in either size or style to the normal text font. The very yellowish paper used makes the ink seem much greyer than it actually is, and the book overall is a very unattractive (and unfortunately very typical) university press product. It might pay to wait for a mass-market trade paperback.

The Ripper's Predecessor

Everyone knows of Jack the Ripper, but you probably don't know of The London Monster. You won't forget him after reading _The London Monster: A Sanguinary Tale_ (University of Pennsylvania Press) by Jan Bondeson. Bondeson is a physician who lives in London, and whose previous books include _The Feejee Mermaid_, a look at various "unnatural" specimens like fake mermaids and vegetable lambs. His current book is a gothic-comic history, full of unnatural specimens such as a hero known as "The Catamite" and "The Cowardly Fishmonger," unreliable alibi witnesses who worked in an artificial flower factory, corrupt judges, and The Monster himself, Rhynwick Williams, or maybe it wasn't.The Monster had a career of crime not of disemboweling his victims as his criminal descendant The Ripper did, but of following them in the street, insulting them, cutting their clothes, slicing their buttocks, and making his foul and stealthy escape into the night. He also would approach a woman, insist that she examine the bouquet of artificial flowers he carried, and then cut her with a blade concealed in the bouquet. His exploits were heavily covered by the press; one reporter wrote that certain ladies had been "wounded by some MONSTER (for such the perpetrator of such horrid deed must be, as there was not one but laid strong claims to beauty)." His career lasted from 1788 to 1790, and Bondeson lists fifty-eight women who were his supposed victims. Such a list is highly questionable, because of the notoriety of The Monster. Newspapers, poems, caricatures, and posters for rewards (all well reproduced here) meant many false leads.Not only has Bondeson described the career of The Monster with verve and humor, but he has given a brief history of similar episodes of "epidemic hysteria." While it is true that there was a Monster, and he did cut ladies up, the exaggerated response of the public was similar to the phantom gas attacks by the nonexistent Mad Anesthetist of Illinois in 1944, or the Halifax [England] Slasher of 1926 in which people were cut up, but it turned out they were cut up by their own selves. Bondeson has thrown light on the forgotten crime spree that was a sensation in its time, and has given a picture of how justice, and tabloid justice, worked two hundred years ago. A sanguinary tale indeed.

THE MONSTER RULES!

This is the most amazing book I have read for some considerable time. I bought it to read on the flight from NY to London and could not put it down. The story is that in 1790, London is plagued by a bloodthirsty monster stalking young and beautiful women, and cutting their posteriors with a sharp instrument. The city is in a turmoil and mob justice rules: there is an immense reward and many people are falsely accused, some even lynched. The women dare not emerge outside without wearing protective clothing. Finally, after more than 50 Monster attacks, a man named Rynwick Williams is arrested by a vigilante. Far from a typical monster, he used to be a ballet dancer before becming an artificial flower maker. The book follows the misfortunes of this decidedly non-macho character: he is pelted by the mob, branded as the most hated man in London, and subjected to two ludicrous trials. The narrative reads like a highly imaginative novel, but it is all true, and backed up by an impressive list of sources.In my mind at least, Rynwick Williams was clearly innocent, although Bondeson presents some evidence against him. Even more pertinent is the question whether there really was a Monster, or if the whole thing was a remarkable case of mass hysteria. Far from just giving a descriptive account of the Monster-mania in 1790, Bondeson astutely links it with modern examples of collective delusions, some of which involve mystery assailants. There is much more to this book than just a remarkable story: like the best books on true crime, it gives a fascinating piece of social history. My only wonder is how, with 100 books published about Jack the Ripper, it took so long for this remarkable Monster story to be discovered.

What a surprise!

For those who enjoy Caleb Carr's books, this is the real thing. Bondeson has done a terrific job of conveying the atmosphere of 18th-century London and keeps the suspense up in this unusual story. Nobody dies, but the psychological profile of this bizarre criminal, the dozens of memorable characters--such as the Monster's Monty Pythonesque lawyer Theophilus Swift, and the panic surrounding the Monster's deeds make this book a must for those who want to read a one-of-a-kind true crime and trial story. Well done!