The Legend of Spring-heeled Jack
Dressed in white oilcloth, a long dark cape, a helmet obscuring his face, and possessing fire-like red eyes, Spring-heeled Jack terrorized the London streets. Appearing from out of darkened corners, the impossibly tall figure accosted women, ripping their clothing with metal-like claws while blue flames belched froth from sulfur-tinted breath. Luckily, it never took long for someone to run to the victim’s aid. However, upon the arrival of help, the lank figure of Spring-heeled Jack leaped from the cobbled streets to the rooftops in a single bound, disappearing into the night.
First Sightings of Spring-heeled Jack
The first reports of a nearly 10-foot tall masked man harassing the small town of Barns to the southwest of London took place in September of 1837. Descriptions from victims varied. Some described him as a masked man dressed in tight oilcloth while others reported him dressed in metal armor. Some witnesses called him an imp, a devil, or even a large white bull (Dash, 1996).
Famous Spring-heeled Jack Encounters
Two of Jack’s attacks gained notoriety. The first occurred on February 20, 1883, when 18-year-old Jane Alsop answered someone rang the bell at the gate to her family’s home around 9 p.m. Jane exited the house to check on the caller. She found a tall man at the gate who claimed to be a police officer. He ordered her to fetch a light. They had caught Spring-heeled Jack and needed a light (Dash, 1996).
Jane’s eyes hadn’t adjusted to the darkness, and she could quite make out the man, but she could tell that he wore some sort of helmet that made him look taller than he was. With no reason not to believe the man, Jane went back into the house for a candle. She heard stories of the demon, Spring-heeled Jack, so she hurried. When she returned, she handed the man the lit candle. To Jane’s surprise, the man didn’t hurry to help secure one of London’s most wanted criminals. Instead, he threw back his cloak and held the candle to his chest (Dash, 1996).
The flame illuminated the figure’s face with red glowing eyes. Strapped to his chest was something resembling a lamp. Jane knew in a moment the man wasn’t a police officer. She screamed and the man blew blue flames into her face. He then grabbed the neck of her dress, scratching her with metal claws, ripping her dress. Jane managed to get away and run towards the front door, but the man pursued her, catching her on the front steps. He yanked out clumps of her hair and scratched her arms. Jane’s younger sister, Sarah Harrison heard her sister screaming for help and ran to help her. Sarah helped Jane escape into the house and the girls shut and locked the door. But the man didn’t leave. Instead, he pounded on the door until the rest of the Alsop family cried for the police. Only when he knew that the police were on their way did the strange man run away through the fields (Dash, 1996).
Lucy Scales
Eight days after the attack on Jane Alsop, Lucy Scales and her sister were walking down an ally when a bright blue flash stunned them and left them temporarily blind. Jack didn’t lay a finger on either girl but instead hurried walked away (Dash, 1996).
Much like in Jane Alsop’s attack, neither saw Jack leap away. In both instances, he ran away. No firsthand source material of Jack leaping around exists today (Dash, 1996). Both Alsop’s and Scales’ attacks took place closer to London and received more media attention to the attacks in more rural areas.
Spring-heeled Jack, Murderer
While the modus operandi of Jack consisted of assaults and harassments, there is one death attributed to him. In November of 1845, Jack showed up on Jacob’s Island where he accosted Maria Davis, a young sex worker. He grabbed at her neck, ripping her clothes before he lifted her over his head and threw her into a nearby waterway where Maria drowned (Dash, 1996).
Yet, upon further investigation, Maria Davis doesn’t appear in any death records or coroner reports for Jacobs Island in 1845. This report is most likely a hoax (Dash, 1996).
Spring-heeled Jack Reinsurance
Largely forgotten by the 20th-century, Spring-heeled Jack found a new home among cryptid hunters and UFO enthusiasts. In a 1961 issue of Flying Saucer Review, a contributor wrote an article attributing the London spry phantom of Spring-heeled Jack to a visiting extraterrestrial (Dash, 1996). Cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard has Spring-heeled Jack listed as one of the top five flying humanoid cryptids in his book, Encounters with Flying Humanoids: Mothman, Manbirds, Gargoyles & Other Winged Beasts.
The Moniker
It’s a mystery as to how Jack received his name. By January of 1883, news outlets used the name Spring Jack and one month later, Spring-heeled Jack became the official title of the creeper. As to the reasons behind Jack, no one really knows.
Superhuman Leaping or Parkour?
Could the bodice-ripping lurker really jump 10-feet in the air? Let’s assume that Spring-heeled Jack wasn’t just a legend, but a real person who molested lone walkers in suburban London. He suggests that Jack wore some sort of spring in his shoes aiding him in leaping tall buildings in a single bound. Can spring-heeled boots even work?
Thank you, Germany
In 1938, the German army experimented with combat boots equipped with springs hoping to allow their soldiers more agility on the battlefield. What did occur were lots and lots of broken ankles. To further rebuke the spring-heeled claim of Jack was where he attacked his victims. Most of the attacks took place on uneven ground: cobblestone, country lanes, vacant rocky areas, open fields, and parks. None of these areas have flat, even ground conducive for bouncing around on spring-modded shoes.
The Art of Parkour
The Belle family of France developed Parkour in the 1980s by the Belle family. The activity became popular in the 1990s, so probably not. How about a preceding activity similar to parkour?
Georges Hébert
Before World War I, Georges Hébert observed the flexibility and agility of indigenous African tribes who didn’t train in gyms but instead used nature. Herbert took his new knowledge back to France and developed “la méthode naturelle” for the military. His method incorporated a variety of physical activities like strength and endurance, coupled with flexibility. While this is too late to influence for Spring-heeled Jack, could another traveling European had witnessed something similar and taken it back to Europe and implemented it in aiding his escape from authorities? Witnessing something akin to parkour right after an attack by a red-eyed, fire-breathing menace might make it look like they could leap to the rooftops. While it’s a nice theory, it can’t be proven.
Fire-breathing?
As for Jack’s supposed “vomiting blue flames,” only three instances where victims reported fire-breathing exist, all of which occurred in 1883. In the case of Jane Alsop, Jack throws back his cape after Jane proffered the candle and then blows blue flames out of his mouth. A few days later, Jack accosts Lucy Scales in an alleyway. Lucy’s sister who walked behind her sister observed a tall slender man dressed in a cape and tight clothing hold out a lamp and belched blue flames into her sister’s face. An earlier third-hand account mentions Spring-heeled Jack breathing flames into the face of his victim. None of the reports mention any of the victims having burns.
Later accounts of Jack adamantly denied the presence of flames. So if the three earlier accounts did indeed have fire barked at them, is there a possible explanation? In two of the three instances, Jack held a small flame, first a candle (specifically requested by Jack) and then in a lantern (something he carried). If Jack had an alcohol-based liquid on his person or held in his mouth, a flame could easily ignite it making it look like he was breathing fire.
Belief in Spring-heeled Jack
Even at the time of the attacks, most didn’t believe there was a demon roaming the suburbs. Rather, most believed Spring-heeled Jack was a group of rich douchebags running around being douches.
Spring-heeled Jack in Popular Media
After the initial attacks in 1838, Jack quickly made his way into several penny dreadfuls where he appeared either as a demon or a jilted outlaw. These stories helped solidify Spring-heeled Jack into Britain’s consciousness. Soon parents told unruly children that Spring-heeled Jack would get them if they misbehaved. Spring-heeled Jack became the scapegoat for any unsolved and mysterious crime.
Reference
Artful Dodger. “Georges Hebert and the Natural Method of Physical Culture”. https://web.archive.org/web/20050323090031/http://www.urbanfreeflow.com/articles/methode_naturelle.htm
Dash, Mike, (1996). Spring-heeled Jack: To Victorian Bugaboo From Suburban Ghost. https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/7bb090_e0f718375aa54f789586c062f29dd204.pdf
