Recent blog posts. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Spring-heeled Jack. View source. History Talk 0. Do you like this video? Play Sound. Spring-heeled Jack in a illustration, circa Universal Conquest Wiki. Keep reading or hit play below to find out…. The very first sightings occurred in in London. Yet the first report appeared in the Times on January 9 about sightings in Peckham.
At the time, it was a small village south of London. The idea that Jack was a collective helped explain later sightings as the work of copycats. This first report also stirred the letter writers of London into action. The Times printed a letter by an anonymous writer, claiming to be a barrister, on January 11 In it, the writer repeats reports of attacks on women in Hammersmith. The reports evolved and the figure became more complicated and more elaborate.
The first of these newer reports came from Jane Alsop, who lived in Bearbinder Lane. When she opened her front door on 20 February , he pretended to be a policeman that had caught Spring-heeled Jack and asked for a candle.
Jane moved to fetch the candle, but then things went badly wrong. She also reported that he wore a skintight white costume and a helmet. No one was ever brought to justice for the attack. The reports were varied enough to make it difficult to identify who — or what — was terrorising the city.
While there were some similarities across reports, such as his helmet or cloak, there were also many differences. An article about him in the Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser from notes the variations in his appearance. In one sighting he wore steel armour. In one report, he seemed to leap into a waiting cabriolet to escape.
He also moved around the villages clinging to the skirts of London. Then he moved onto those to the south and east of the city. But then he seems to go quiet.
Newspaper reports are rare, or simply rehash the earlier tales. He did reappear, albeit briefly in The last reported sighting came from Liverpool in , which means this creature lurked for sixty-seven years. In London, his name was associated with the Boogeyman, which was meant to scare children into behaving. Parents would claim Spring-Heeled Jack would leap up to peer into their bedroom windows at night.
However, he has a disturbing physiognomy, clawed hands which are as cold and clammy as a corpse , and red balls of fire for eyes. He wears a black cloak with a helmet and a tight-fitting white garment. He has scared women into dangerous fits, severely wounded some with the claws on his hands, and frightened some to their death.
He can jump over entire houses, walls, and buildings. This is how he makes his escape after attacking his victims. She claims that the man jumped out from a dark alley, grabbed her with a tight grip, kissed her, and ripped off her clothes. She managed to escape, but when others tried to help her locate her attacker, no one could be found.
He jumped in the way of a carriage passing by and the driver careened off the road, severely hurting himself. Then the creature escaped by jumping over a nine-foot wall. On February 19, Aslop answered the door to a man claiming to be a police officer. He asked her for a candle and when she retrieved one for him, he threw off his cloak to reveal a hideous form with clothing that resembled oilskin. Then he tore off her clothes with his claws, which she claimed were made of a metallic substance, and she ran for safety.
During the Garotting Panic of , sensational newspaper reports led the public to believe would-be attackers lurked around every corner. Who was this mysterious fiend who roamed London attacking women?
The puzzle remains…who was Spring-heeled Jack? Related articles.
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