Saw “From Hell” the other day, and it rekindled my interest in the Whitechapel Murders and their so-called culprit, “Jack the Ripper.” I was curious as to whether a consensus was ever reached regarding the purported Maybrick Diary, an alleged journal-cum-confession penned by, or in the voice of, James Maybrick claiming to be the famed serial murderer. The last I heard, Michael Barrett, the individual who ushered the document into the limelight, admitted to a hoax, but even this was thrown into question. His wife maintains that the diary was passed down to her, an hierloom, of sorts, and that she gave it to one of Barrett’s closest friends with the intention of said friend passing the diary on to Barrett, himself. The idea was that the diary’s contents would jump start the struggling author’s lethargic muse, so to speak. I seem to recall that forensic tests and handwriting analysis have supported believers and skeptics alike, but all of my source material is a few years old. So, has a verdict been reached, or does the diary remain ambiguous as to the secrets it holds? Anyone with an opinion (on the diary, or on the case in general)?
Well, a quick check of Google under “maybrick diary hoax” reveals the Web to be about evenly divided between “Is not!” and “Is too!”
[shrug]
This site has some information on the Maybrick Diary. “It’s real!” “It’s a hoax!” “Just kidding, it’s real!” seems to be the summation. I haven’t read it in a while, but I think the conclusion is that it was a hoax. This site favours Francis Tumblety as the Ripper, especially if you believe that he was also The Lodger.
Perhaps it’s a real hoax? 
Thanks for the link. Actually, I’d already visited that site, but left it with my head a-whirling, the contradictory rhetoric, anecdotes, and ink-analysis results having confused my already confusion-succeptable brain. Apparently, the provedence of the Maybrick Diary has sparked more Ripperologist infighting than any other document relating to the fabled case, leading many of the invesigators to rue the day it appeared. I do have a feeling, however, that for some Ripperologists, despite sentiments to the contrary, the confirmation of Jack’s “true” identity might be viewed as a negative thing, seeing as how it would put a kibosh on the lucrative cottage industry of speculatory works published every year, each one touting a new “final solution.” It would appear, therefore, that a majority consider it a hoax, while a vocal minority are pressed to remind the former to be not so hasty. We’ll see. Or not.