Mary & Jack

London - 1888Warning - gruesomeness ahead
Jack the Ripper held Whitechapel, in London, in terror in 1888. He left a series of brutal murders of prostitutes, not only killed but mutilated with body parts missing. The murderer, who was never found, also taunted the police, writing letters to them & the press and sending body parts as credentials.

From hell
Mr Lusk
Sor
I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece
I fried and ate it was very nise. I may send you the bloody knif that took it out if you only wate a whil longer.
signed
Catch me when you Can Mishter Lusk.

While London was no stranger to murder at the time, the brutality of his crimes and his insane rants on paper and scrawled on walls were incredibly shocking to the citizenry.
Naturally, the press milked it for all it was worth.
Bear in mind that women didn't have the career opportunities then that they have now. Prostitution wasn't that uncommon. Being shut out of most jobs, a woman's best career move was pretty much finding a man who would marry her & provide for her in exchange for sex, maid service & baby creation - not a huge leap from prostitution.
While all the murders attributed to Jack were on the street, the last one attributed to him was in a woman's apartment and the madman, unhurried, took his time…
November 9, 1888 Jack the Ripper murdered & mutilated Mary Kelly.Crime scene photography was also new at the time. All of the fiend's victims were photographed.
Police reports described Kelly's loins as being "flayed to the bone". A number of details that can probably be easily explained caught the public's attention & spread rumours of the supernatural & deviltry. The door of the victim was locked from within & a teapot hanging in the fireplace was partially melted - indicating an unnaturally hot fire.
Serial killers have been around forever. In the United States, today, it's estimated there are 35-50 at any given time. This particular maniac caught the public's eye due to his original use of media, however, and ushered in the kind of "modern age" of an ancient horrible tradition.