The London Monster - Jan Bondeson

London's had a wide and varied history. Pretty much everything's happened there at some point. Most of it's quite dull (the growth of commerce, medieval guilds, laws about wool etc). But that's OK, the history books tend to focus on the exciting (i.e. nasty) stuff, like plagues, fires, executions, riots. Occasionally things in London get a bit crazy. Weirdness abounds. Some of the most spectacular strangeness in the city's history has focused around sensational crimes. Outbreaks of what is usually described as mass hysteria have resulted from a variety of slightly off-the-wall violent criminal acts. The Ratcliffe Highway murders, Spring-Heeled Jack ...