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springheeled jack
Reports of a strange leaping figure began in south-west
London in 1837; the descriptions of the strange character
ranged from a monster with wings and horns to a powerfully
built man in a shiny suit with helmet and cloak spitting
fire. "Devil-like" was the only description given of the
strange figure that escaped with incredible leaps and
bounds after attacking Polly Adams, a farmer's daughter who
worked in a south London Pub; the description was given of
the assailant of another woman in Clapham churchyard. But
it wasn't until a year later, in 1838, that the rumors were
terrifyingly confirmed.
In January 1838, the Lord Mayor, Sir John Cowan, drew
public attention to a letter he had recieved from a
resident of Peckham giving details of an attack by the
so-called "Spring-Heeled Jack"; this public acceptance of
the rumors by the Lord Mayor then led to a flood of letters
from individuals who had been too frightened and
embarrassed to report their own encounters previously.
A few weeks later, on a February night, young and pretty
Jane Alsop, who lived with her father and two sisters,
answered a violent knocking at her front door. There was a
man in the shadows by the front gate who identified himself
as a police officer, and asked her to bring a light... he
claimed to have captured the infamous "Spring-Heeled Jack"!
Excited, Jane fetched a candle and hurried it out to the
gate
.
As she handed it to the man, he grabbed her neck and
pinned her head under his arm, then began to rip up her
dress and body. Screaming, she freed herself and ran only
to be caught again; holding her by the hair, the wildman
clawed at her face and neck. One of Jane's sisters, hearing
the struggle, ran into the street and called for help; but
before anyone could stop him, Spring-Heeled Jack leapt away
into the shadows.
Jane Alsop later described her attacker as wearing a
helmet and a tight-fitting white costume, "like an
oilskin," under a black cloak. His face was hideous, with
eyes like balls of fire; he had claws on his fingers, and
vomited blue and white flames.
Jane was not the only victim. Lucy Scales (or Squires)
was 18 years old when she met Jack, only a few months after
Jane. The sister of a butcher, she had just left her
brother's house to walk home with her sister. As they
entered Green Dragon Alley in Limehouse, an empty street, a
tall, cloaked figure leaped from the shadows and belched
blue flames into Lucy's face, blinding her.
Sometime after the attack on Lucy Scales, a strange
figure was seen scaling the spire of a London church,
leaping away into the darkness after a short time. Rumors
spread of the same unknown entity being seen on the Tower
of London.
Spring-Heeled Jack was sighted all over England through
the 1850's and 1860's (especially in the Midlands). In the
1860's, according to one report, the villain had been
cornered by a mob only to escape by jumping a hedge.
Parents kept their children off the streets for fear of the
bouncing terror. In the 1870's army authorities set traps
for him after he slapped sentries with his icy hands and
jumped atop their guard boxes. One night in 1877, angry
townspeople tried to shoot him, to no avail. The last time
Jack was definitely seen was in Liverpool in September
1904, where he was jumping from street to rooftops and back
again, and/or just jumping over a building in William Henry
Street. When some brave citizens tried to corner him, he
simply leaped away into the darkness. Some say that
sightings of Spring-Heeled Jack continued until after World
War II, but these are unconfirmable.
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