Rhynwick Williams & The London Monster

19th century London saw two of the most sensational public scares in its long history when the enigmatic Spring Heeled Jack stalked the alleyways of the capital city and in 1888, when Jack the Ripper enacted his reign of the streets, bringing about an autumn of terror that has since become infamous. One hundred years earlier, however, the streets were stalked by another threat, one that many consider a precursor to both Spring Heeled Jack and Jack The Ripper, and one that remains, to this day, one of the strangest, most bizarre cases in the entire criminal history of London. Sources Ranger, H. (1793) Harris’s List of Covent Garden Ladies; or Men of Pleasure kalender for the year of 1793. H Ranger, London, UK.   Swift, Theophilus (1790) The Monster at Large: Or, the Innocence of Rhynwick Williams Vindicated. J. Ridgeway, London, UK.   Bondeson, Jan (2000) The London Monster: A Sanguinary Tale. Free Association Books, London, UK.   Bartholomew, Robert & Evans, Hilary (2009) Outbreak! The Encyclopaedia of Extraordinary Social Behaviour. Anomalist Books, TX, USA   Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette (1790) St James’s, Jan 19th. Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, Tuesday 21 Jan 1790, p.3, Bath, UK.   The Public Advertiser (1790) A Reward. The Public Advertiser, Thursday 15 April 1790, p.1. London, UK.   The Public Advertiser (1790) The Monster. The Public Advertiser, Wednesday 16 June 1790, p.3. London, UK.   The Bath Chronicle (1790) The Monster Detected. The Bath Chronicle, Thursday 17 June 1790, p.3. Bath, UK.   Jackson’s Oxford Chronicle (1790) The Monster. Jackson’s Oxford Chronicle, Saturday 19 June 1790, p.1. Oxford, UK.   The Derby Mercury (1790) Trial Of The Monster. The Derby Mercury, Thursday 8 July 1790, p.2. Derby, UK   ------- This episode is sponsored by Babbel, check out babbel.com/darkhistories to get 55% off a subscription. ------- For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9 Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/ Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices