Spring Heeled Jack (Victorian Legends 1838 to 1904) – Spring Hill Jack was a phantom type figure who was meant to have terrified London and then later the rest of England. The description of him would vary greatly but it was always menacing and sinister he was a pale looking man breathing out blue and white flames with razor sharp metallic claws on his fingertips and fireballs for eyes. He looks like the devil dressed as a gentleman. Sometimes he was a hideous monster with a deformed face. His alleged attacks were numerous though no one was ever seriously hurt in any of the claimed encounters with Spring Heeled Jack. Some were scratched but mostly his victims were left terrified. The only thing his attacks shared in common was spring-heeled Jack’s ability to escape afterward by effortlessly jumping over tall walls and leaping with great agility from rooftop to rooftop.
Where this character got his name from we are unsure but most likely it was because Jack was one of the most popular names in the Victorian era. Sometimes there would be a number of reported attacks in a matter of weeks then he would disappear for months or sometimes years at a time. There is no doubt his popularity was enhanced greatly by his exploits being heavily sensationalized by the press. Especially the hugely popular penny dreadfuls which loved two prints lurid far-fetched tales of gruesome intrigue and adventure, but also more respectable media like The Times reported on him regularly.
It all started on January 9th, 1838 there had been growing public concerns about strange sightings from different parts of London. So many that the Lord Mayor of London Sir John Cowan was forced to address the issue when he received an anonymous complaint that it was all part of an elaborate prank. Supposedly two members of high society had a wager that one of them in three different disguises as a ghost a bear and a devil would visit several villages near London and cause mischief. The Mayor was not convinced the story was true but the next day the newspapers nationally took up the story and on January 11th the mayor felt compelled to show the public a huge pile of letters he received from across London complaining of similar pranks or sightings. Subsequently, a reward was then offered for the culprit’s arrest.
A famous and much-publicized encounter with Jack happened just over a month later on February 19th in London. When a teenage girl Jane a slob answered the door to what she thought was a police officer who said they had caught spring-heeled Jack nearby and requested a candle Jane went and got a candle as requested. On her return, the man threw off his cloak and she later said he had a most hideous and frightful appearance breathing blue and white flames from his mouth while his eyes looked like red balls of fire. He then began tearing at her gown with what seemed like metallic claws her screams caused her sisters to come running to her aid and the creature fled into the night leaving Jane terribly upset and in shock. Several more sightings were reported quickly afterward all over London and one newspaper falsely claimed that in Stockwell, Brixton, Camberwell and Vauxhall several people had died of fright and others had had fits because of their terrifying encounter with spring-heeled Jack.
Real panic started to spread and people’s belief in him was quickly reinforced by parents telling their misbehaving children that if they did not go to bed quietly Springhill Jack would come and get them. Such was his notoriety he became a firm favorite in churches on a Sunday where he was regularly used as a metaphor for sinful behavior. In the 1870s the army even set up traps after sentries reported being attacked in the night with a wet fish or an icy hand by Spring Hill Jack. For nearly 70 years he was spotted in places as far afield as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, and Lincoln.
The last reported sighting was in Liverpool in 1904 and after that spring-heeled Jack quietly faded into history never to be heard or seen of again. So what are we to make of the phenomenon that was Spring Heeled Jack is it simply mass hysteria fueled by media sensationalism or could it be one of the more far-fetched theories put forward. One of the most credible fairies was it was indeed a prank that was later continued by copycats his more inhuman abilities exaggerated by the media and mass hysteria. A common feature of the encounters with Jack was the many props he seemed to use to enhance his appearance to make himself more menacing like masks metallic claws cloaks and helmets. Some even suggest it could have been the Marquess of Waterford who was famous for drunken brawling brutal jokes and vandalism. He was also known for erratic behavior problems with women and police officers earning him the title the mad Marquess and was said to do anything for a bet. This seemingly mass hysteria was fueled regularly by the media for over 70 years but over a hundred years later we are no closer to knowing the truth behind Spring Hill Jack.