Reading about Jack the Ripper, and one of the favorite suspects is Walter Sickert because he’s a painter who became associated with JTR. A painter-serial killer is a pretty grim combo, but I believe the theory was introduced in the late 70s and discredited.

But it got me thinking how you could live a seemingly normal life, maybe even be a random witness to a crime. But then some hack 100 years later will comb through the files and see if your name was ever the main subject, and if not, suddenly they got 500 pages dedicated to your life and shady behavior. Then it reaches the NYT Best Seller.

Investigators and researchers may dismiss it or even acquit you if the author is convincing enough. But still. Imagine your only legacy is showing up in the search results of murder or terrorist suspects.

  • IMF_DOOM [she/her, undecided]
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    edit-2
    3 months ago

    Reminds me of this alt history I read as a child from a generally pretty lib shit series called Time Riders or something like that where one of the characters goes back in time and kills Jack the Ripper and the reveal to the public that a rich nobleman is hunting working class women for sport kicks of a load of events that lead to a socialist revolution in Britain, then the freeing of their colonies and has the Democratic People's Republic of the United Kingdom (DPRUK) leading their version of the Warsaw pact in the future

    • Moss [they/them]
      ·
      3 months ago

      Wtf that kicks ass. I think I read those books but I don't remember that at all, was this the series where they go to dinosaur times in the second book? And there was a pirate book, that was my favourite, and I think one in ancient Rome?

      • IMF_DOOM [she/her, undecided]
        ·
        3 months ago

        yeah, that series was cool af, i think the jack the ripper one was later in the series so that might be why you dont remember it-

        time rider spoilers

        also it ended with america starting a nuclear war and the DPRUK being destroyed so it was still pretty depressing in the end smh, still, it was surprisingly in favour of a socialist uk ngl, like i think i remember the irish character praising it as being a better future or something (at least before the nuclear war started)

        maybe the author was pushed to the left while he was writing it, idk

        • StalinStan [none/use name]
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          edit-2
          3 months ago

          Publisher stopped caring so long as the work made deadlines so they realizesd they could have fun with it. Which also is pretty much what happened to anamorphs so I assume the same here

    • booty [he/him]
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      edit-2
      3 months ago

      Democratic People's Republic of the United Kingdom (DPRUK)

      why would it still be a kingdom lol, surely it would be like the democratic people's republic of england (and wales, scotland, northern ireland/all of ireland maybe) if it got that far, or just like the democratic people's republic of britain