Unsolved Mysteries
You’re sitting in a small, dark room in London in late 1888. Outside is the filthy underbelly of London where prostitutes known as unfortunates have been brutally murdered recently. You cannot be seen or heard, you cannot move objects. You move right through them as a ghost but you can move around. You experience the heat of the room, the smell of the room – all just as if you were there. Against one wall of the room is a bed where in one hour, Mary Kelly will be murdered by Jack the Ripper. He will eviserate her, slice her neck, cut off her breasts, place a breast, her uterus and a kidney under her head and he will take her heart.
You are given a choice. You may leave the room right now you may stay. If you stay, you will not only witness the murder but will see Jack the Ripper’s face and know his identity. You will not be harmed and he will not know you are there. The events that happened that night will proceed just as they did then.
Do you stay to learn Jack the Ripper’s identity or do you leave?
Once the murder is over, you will be right where you are now. This would occur as an out of body experience or a dream in first person. Would you stay solely to know his identity? If your answer is no, would you stay if, upon returning back to your current life, you could somehow (don’t concern yourself with how) be able to prove his identity and thereby gain both fame and fortune?
The heart of the question is this: Would you witness this murder in exchange for knowing Ripper’s identity?
If you could learn the trutn about any mystery from the past, what would it be? You would witness the events (or those events surrounding the event). Would you choose to watch the Egyptians build the pyramids? See what is at the very bottom of the deepest ocean? Find out the truth about the JFK assassination?
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Just a random attorney writing about daily life with Little Filthy, my rotten dog.
October 9th, 2007 at 7:35 am
I’d watch because it’s one of those things I was always fascinated by as a kid. The stories, movies, etc have always interested me. My wife and I even did a super cheesy Jack the Ripper walk in London to boot.
Mystery I’d like to watch? That’s a tough one, but maybe the start of the universe. Why? Why not…
October 10th, 2007 at 11:34 am
Would the sounds/smells of her being killed bother you – either while it was happening or after it was done?
That’s the part I don’t think I could get past – the horror of it all – the physical horror of it (sight, smell, sounds, etc.).
Start of the universe is a fantastic mystery to witness.
October 10th, 2007 at 11:50 am
I suppose so but if you can’t interact, would it feel like a movie or would it feel like the real thing? That’s why I think I could do it… in the end, the past is written and I’m watching it with front row seats.
Hrmmm…
October 10th, 2007 at 11:59 am
This is true, the writing is on the wall already and looking or not looking would not change what will happen. I suppose the difference would be the physical realities – you would feel much more connected to the action than you might in a movie. You could smell it, etc.
I seem to be stuck on the smell thing.
Question – how much of it could you watch?
I hadn’t thought of it in terms of already having been done and my witness to it playing no role in the outcome but for perhaps identification of a killer years from then. I might be able to be there if I removed myself a bit from the situation (like thinking of it as a movie, etc.).
October 29th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I wouldn’t stay to witness the murder unless knowing his identity could somehow get him captured — back in his own time/place. I wouldn’t witness such a thing just to get rich/famous in my own time because I’m pretty horrified by brutal crimes toward innocent victims and I dont’ think I’d recover from that. I read Patricia Cornwell’s book about it and have seen From Hell, and I was pretty shaken up and that was without actually seeing the acts themselves.
One that’s always made me wonder is the truth about Marilyn Monroe’s death and whether that was really a suicide or a homocide (since you already mentioned JFK).
January 21st, 2008 at 8:50 pm
I would stay in the room. Shut my eyes during the actual killing and breasts being cut off part…then open them to see who he was…does that count? I just wouldn’t want to faint and or scream and reveal myself.
January 21st, 2008 at 8:56 pm
Ms Single Mama – Yes, you can do that. I should note that you can’t reveal yourself and he could not see you under any circumstances.
You’re a curious one!