From Heck ???  - a personal opinion on the new Johnny Depp movie

Email dated Friday October 26, 2001:

I went and saw the new movie "From Hell" starring Johnny Depp tonight - it is about Jack the Ripper in 1880's London. Freemasonry is a significant part of the movie. Without giving away the suspense I will summarize my take on the movie:

The Queen needs to cover up some indiscretions of her son.  A Mason, who is a madman, does the job a bit more exhuberantly than she anticipated - his brothers in the lodge cover it up but let it continue. In the end a Masonic trial is held and he gets a frontal lobotomy.

They show an abreviated version of an initiation in a lodge, combining elements of the 1st & 2nd degrees.

Lots of men are shown wearing Masonic rings and even a tie pin during the movie, and the perpetrator has a surgeons case with a square & compass on it.

I cringed quite a bit during the movie - it's very graphic in parts.

It definitely puts "Freemasonry" in the public eye, although in retrospect, apart from the cover-up, the movie does not portray Freemasonry either that badly or even good - I think a lot of people will be left wondering what the group really is about.

Oh - in case you were wondering - it's just a movie - a work of FICTION based upon a comic book !!!!!!!

The web site for the movie is at http://www.fromhellmovie.com

Navigation of the movie web site is accomplished by clicking on the points of the 5 sided star at the bottom right of the page - there are two menus - one for "The Movie" and one for "The Legend". clicking each word at the center of the star generates a different set of menu choices for each point of the star.

If you click on "The Legend" and then select the bottom right point of the star - "Ripper Sites" and then select "Victorian London" and scroll to the bottom of the list of links on that page you will find a link for Freemasonry which is directly found at : http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/f/freemasonry.html

which is short but very positive. This link is quite hidden on the site and most visitors may not find it unless they try and find everything on the site (like I did - grin).

I would expect that this movie will generate interest in Freemasonry. I wonder what info they will provide on Freemasonry when the DVD comes out..........

Happy Halloween !  (I wonder if with all this publicity my son will think it's cool to dress up as a Freemason - scary !!)

Fraternally yours

Mark P.

Here are some Masonic sites if you are interested in learning more about Jack the Ripper and allegations of ties to Freemasonry - very interesting.

Jack the Ripper (From Hell) Short Talk Bulletin - October 2001

http://www.masonicinfo.com/ripper.htm

http://www.bessel.org/ripper.htm