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Spring heeled Jack is an English character who appears to have started as a practical joke and gradually developed into a folk hero.

He is first mentioned in a report from 1837 when he jumped clear over a cemetery railing and landed in the path of a startled business man. No actual attack occurred it seems, but Jack's appearance was enough to shock the business man, for the tall figure was caped and devilishly attired and had red burning eyes.

Later in the same year he molested a girl in London called Mary Stevens jumping out of the shadows of Clapham Common one night, scaring her half to death, then grabbing her, smooching her face whilst clawing at her belly with hands she later described as "cold and clammy as those of a corpse". She screamed and off he ran.

The very next day Jack struck again bounding before a carriage and causing it to crash. Witnesses then described how, with a babbling, high-pitched and ringing laugh he leaped over a nine foot high wall in a single bound and thus escaped the scene... which feat explains his name.

I can't believe I've never heard of this character before, but apparently from 1837 until 1870 he was seen any number of times, appearing without warning all over England and causing mayhem where ever he went. Later sightings continued right up until the last in 1986 but obviously these must have been other people... right?

Even with springs under ones shoes, leaping over walls and buildings isn't something old people are wont to attempt. I certainly wouldn't! Spring heeled Jack got his name from the news paper accounts and the ever popular Penny Dreadfulls which immortalized his reputation (and no doubt spawned his many followers). His ability to leap over walls was thought to be done by means of some kind of compressed mechanism in his heels, a conclusion reached after the police examined foot prints he left at the scene of his carriage ambush. He was described as a tall, muscular man, wearing a black cape, or cloak, usually wearing some form of black, grey or white skin tight garment, and on some occasions he wore a white egg-shaped helmet. Manic laughter also seems to have been a trademark of Spring heel Jack, and given the nature of his antics, I can't say I'm surprised.

He was also thought to have appeared in other costumes, as a ghost or a bear, but its usually as a cloaked devil with burning red eyes (and sometimes long pointed ears) that he makes his appearance. He also seems to have had a fondness for scaring girls, often grabbing them with metallic claws, or (and this is a nice touch) vomiting blue white flames at them, though in some accounts the blue fire is emitted from his chest.

Who or what on Earth this man was remained something of a public mystery, but there were several rumours and suspects. The Lord Mayor of London at the time, Sir John Cowan appeared to know something about it, for in 1838 he quoted an anonymous letter he had received.

It appears that some individuals (of, as the writer believes, the highest ranks of life) have laid a wager with a mischievous and foolhardy companion, that he durst not take upon himself the task of visiting many of the villages near London in three different disguises — a ghost, a bear, and a devil; and moreover, that he will not enter a gentleman's gardens for the purpose of alarming the inmates of the house. The wager has, however, been accepted, and the unmanly villain has succeeded in depriving seven ladies of their senses, two of whom are not likely to recover, but to become burdens to their families.

At one house the man rang the bell, and on the servant coming to open door, this worse than brute stood in no less dreadful figure than a spectre clad most perfectly. The consequence was that the poor girl immediately swooned, and has never from that moment been in her senses.

The affair has now been going on for some time, and, strange to say, the papers are still silent on the subject. The writer has reason to believe that they have the whole history at their finger-ends but, through interested motives, are induced to remain silent

Wikipedia article.


Things went from bad to worse however, for not long after this Spring heeled Jack appears to have have murdered a prostitute, which I don't think really fits in with the other stories about him, and I think perhaps at this point the legend had taken on its own momentum and people were subverting the character to their own ends...

But later that year as Lucy Scales (or "Squires") and her sister walked home on a London street, Jack jumped out of the shadows and spat blue flames in her face, temporarily blinding her, then retreated into the darkness. This attack and others were widely reported by the press, so when Jane Alsop heard a knock at the door and the words, "I'm a police officer-for God's sake, bring me a light, for we have caught Spring Heeled Jack in the lane!" she ran outside eager to assist. She handed a candle to the tall, thin man standing at the gate, but though he wore a helmet and cloak like a police officer, when he took the light and drew it toward himself, Alsop could see he was wearing tight white oilskin clothing and had glowing red eyes. He spat blue and white flames at her, then pinning her head under one arm, began to tear at her face, neck, and clothing with his icy claws. Alsop's sister, hearing screams, ran outside and dragged Jane into the house. Spring Heeled Jack waited at the door, and knocked several times, then fled when the help the girls called for finally arrived. He easily eluded them, but dropped his cape. It was picked up by an accomplice who also got away. Witnesses reported seeing Jack leaping from rooftop to rooftop, and even climbing a church steeple, throughout the rest of the year. He also tried the same trick he pulled on Jane Alsop, but the servant boy on the other side of the door called out for help and Jack left. Then there were no Spring Heeled Jack sightings for an entire year; and for a while after that, they were sporadic and occurred mostly in the country. In 1842, prime suspect Marquis of Waterford married, settled in Ireland, and reportedly led and exemplary life. However, starting in 1843, a wave of Jack attacks occurred all over England, the most serious being the 1845 murder of thirteen year old prostitute Maria Davis.

The Legend of Spring Heeled Jack.

Who or what ever this man (or men?) was, he was never caught. On a few occasions people would shoot him, but this only seems to have resulted in a distinct metallic sound and Jack merely leaped away. In 1877 a soldier on guard at Aldershot barracks was amazed to see a peculiar figure bounding across the road towards him, making a metallic noise. He issued a challenge but lost sight of the figure for a moment. When he turned about, there was Jack who slapped him across the face several times with "a hand as cold as that of a corpse" (this seems to have been Jack's favourite method of assaulting men by the way). Several other guards ran up to see what the noise was about but Jack leaped into the air and clear over the approaching soldiers in a single bound. Some what taken aback one of the soldiers shot Jack, but this had no effect and he departed, laughing madly as usual.

Hundreds of sightings and bizarre attacks have been attributed to Spring heeled Jack who seems to have turned up all over England, though was mostly seen in London. Later he made numerous spooky (and bullet proof) appearances in the USA too.

I wonder if he was a time traveller? Wearing a skin tight white/grey suit beneath his cloak, seen wearing an white egg-shaped helmet, apparently impervious to bullets, able to defy gravity, emitting a metallic sound as he bounded through the night...? Red glowing eyes and other pyrotechnics? Perhaps he was a temporal trickster which might explain how he was able to keep appearing abruptly for 150 years?