Frederick Bailey Deeming (WHO? Keep reading pal!) was basically what would happen if a con man, a Victorian soap opera villain, and a malfunctioning theater actor were all trapped in the same human body.
The man spent the late 1800s traveling around the world committing fraud, marrying women under fake names, murdering entire families, and somehow still finding time to dramatically accessorize himself with jewelry and cigars like he was auditioning for “Murderous Fancy Lad Weekly.”
Deeming started out as a troubled kid in England and quickly developed the important life skill of “becoming somebody else whenever bills were due.” He ran away to sea, traveled internationally, lied constantly, and committed fraud the way other people collect refrigerator magnets.
At some point he apparently decided:
“You know what would really complement my criminal lifestyle? Bigamy.”
So he married multiple women under fake identities while already having a wife and children. Victorian society frowned on this, mainly because it complicated the stationery.
Then things escalated from “colorful scoundrel” to “Oh Hell No!”
In 1891, Deeming murdered his first wife and four children in England. Not content with merely killing them, he buried their bodies under the floorboards and covered them with cement, because apparently he had watched too much 19th-century HGTV.
Then — and this is the part where even Victorian police probably paused and said “Good heavens” — he went to Australia, remarried, and murdered THAT wife too, then hid HER corpse under a fireplace.
The problem with hiding corpses under your house is that eventually neighbors begin asking questions like: “Why does your dining room smell like Satan’s port-o-potty?”
This led police to start lifting floorboards, which is never good news in a murder story. Historically speaking, if authorities begin prying up your floorboards, your week is about to rapidly deteriorate.
Once caught, Deeming became a full-blown media sensation. Newspapers went absolutely berserk over him because he had everything:
murder
mystery
international travel
fake identities
hidden bodies
insanity claims
dramatic speeches
cigars
and possible connections to Jack the Ripper.
And honestly, Victorian newspapers were basically one step away from printing:
“PSYCHO PLUMBER MAY ALSO BE SATAN.”
Some people thought Deeming WAS Jack the Ripper because:
he was violently unstable
liked knives
traveled a lot
already had an extremely troubling resumé.
But historians mostly have concluded that the whole "Deeming is Jack The Ripper" thing is bunk. Mainly because timelines and evidence stubbornly continue to matter.
Still, Mr. Deeming absolutely ate up the attention. While awaiting execution he reportedly hinted he might be the Ripper without fully admitting it, which is the Victorian equivalent of posting vague cryptic tweets for engagement.
At trial, his lawyers tried the insanity defense, which honestly seems reasonable considering the phrase:
“Murdered entire family and buried them under the floor.”
But then Deeming got up and delivered a long, articulate speech defending himself, thereby accidentally proving to the jury: “This man is clear-headed enough to hang.”
The public was fascinated. Thousands gathered outside to watch his execution because the 1890s had not yet invented YouTube.
And in perhaps the most Victorian detail imaginable, Deeming walked calmly to the gallows smoking a cigar like a man trying to check into a hotel with no vacancies.
The whole story feels less like real life and more like somebody put "penny dreadfuls", true crime tabloids, and untreated mental illness into a blender.
It was the Victorian era after all.
Which, to be fair, pretty much sums up the 1890s.
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