Do anagrams in Lewis Carrolls poems prove he was Jack the Ripper?
Dear Cecil: I heard there is a book purporting that Lewis Carroll and a close associate were actually Jack the Ripper. Supposedly done by a scholar, the book examined Carroll’s “Jabberwocky,” claiming there is a pattern in the nonsense words that reveals such messages as, “We killed the whores,” etc. Have you ever heard of such a theory or book? If so, any ideas of your own on the subject? “Intriguing scholarship” or “skip this sheaf of academic drool and try spinning Ozzy Osborne LPs backwards?” — A. H. Traugott, Austin, Texas Cecil replies: Stick with Ozzy. This drool doesn’t even qualify as academic. Richard Wallace, author of Jack the Ripper, Light Hearted Friend (Gemini Press, 1996), spent “25 years in the data processing field,” according to his bio, which for all I know means he spent a quarter century in the basement operating the paper shredder. The book proceeds from the following logic. Lewis Carroll loved anagrams. Anagrams reveal deep truths. The lines in Carroll’s poetry
