Selección Terror: Yo, «El Destripador»

# Museum Catalog Note

Curtis Garland's Yo, "el Destripador" (I, "the Ripper") is a first-person crime narrative presenting fictional memoirs of Jack the Ripper during the 1888 Whitechapel murders. The story takes the form of a killer's diary beginning August 6, 1888, narrated by an educated, methodical murderer who claims surgical knowledge and targets East End prostitutes. The first chapters detail the murders of Martha Turner (39 stab wounds) and Mary Ann Nichols ("Polly," age 42), describing the killer's stalking methods, victim selection, and the crimes themselves with graphic precision. The narrator maintains clinical detachment, expressing contempt for his victims' poverty and profession while presenting himself as a gentleman. Garland's prefatory note claims the work is partially based on historical documentation, specifically invoking Dr. Thomas E. A. Stowell's research, while acknowledging imaginative elaboration, particularly regarding the killer's identity and ultimate fate.