Free Ghosts & Gallows by Paul Adams Page B

more murders, and the cruel facial injuries inflicted on Catherine Eddowes seemed to confirm some aspects of Lees’ statement, although Archer states that an attempt was made to sever the ears of Elisabeth Stride, the first victim of the night, who was (as we have seen) found only with a cut throat. The responsibility of his foreknowledge again affected the psychic to the point that, on reading about the murders in the newspapers, Lees again suffered another nervous collapse.
    A month later, Robert Lees was dining with two American friends in the Criterion Restaurant in Piccadilly when a third premonition took place. Certain that the Ripper had struck again, the journalist hurried to Scotland Yard and made a statement only a few hours before Thomas Bowyer twitched back the curtain at Miller’s Court and saw the terrible scene that sent him running for the police. According to Fred Archer, it was at this point that the Yard, unable to apprehend the killer and seemingly in internal disarray (Sir Charles Warren, the unpopular Chief of Police, had resigned on the day of Mary Kelly’s murder), finally approached Lees with a request that he use his powers to track down Jack the Ripper.
    Accompanied by detectives the medium made his way through the streets of the East End, following a psychic trail only he could detect. Lees led the policemen across the capital until finally, at four in the morning, his ‘face worn and pallid, his eyes bloodshot’, he brought them to a large house in the West End of London and stated that the man that the whole of London sought was at that moment inside. The Scotland Yard inspector was dismayed as he recognised the address as that of a well respected and fashionable society physician, but Lees was adamant that this was the home of Jack the Ripper.
    Undecided on whether to proceed further but having come this far, the unnamed police inspector asked the medium to describe in detail the hallway that lay beyond the closed front door – if this was seen to be accurate then they would proceed with a thorough investigation of the doctor and his household. Using his powers of remote viewing, Lees immediately spoke of a black oak porter’s chair located to the right of the doorway, a stained-glass window over the staircase and, critically, a dog – a large mastiff – asleep at the foot of the stairs. As the vision faded the party approached the house and the inspector rang the bell. It was answered by a maid and as she showed the men through into the vestibule they saw that Lees’ description was accurate in every respect – only the dog was absent but when questioned the maidservant told them she had let the animal out into the garden only a few minutes before.
    Now sure of his ground and confident as to the accuracy of Robert Lees’ psychic powers, the police inspector asked to speak with the mistress of the house and a gruesome story soon began to unfold. The eminent doctor had a sinister split personality given to periodic mood swings of violent and sadistic behaviour. Only through the actions of his wife and the servants had this brutal mania for inflicting pain been kept from becoming public knowledge – she had found him on one occasion torturing a cat in his study and he had to be physically restrained several times from beating his son and causing serious injury. Recently, the doctor’s wife had noticed with ‘a great dread’ that the terrible Whitechapel murders had all occurred on the nights that her husband had been absent from the house.
    When confronted, the physician admitted to periods of memory loss during which he was unable to account for his actions. After one such blackout he regained consciousness at home with his shirtfront covered with blood and another time with scratches on his face. Soon a search of the house revealed the dark tweed suit and light overcoat that Lees had seen the murderer wearing in his first vision. Horrified that he may have committed the murders