SPRING-HEELED JACK

It all began one evening when I started to watch 'University Challenge'. I was a bit late settling down - the introductions were over and the questions were starting. Before I really started to pay attention I half-heard the start of a question which mentioned a nick-name and Queen Victoria. There was a buzz, a contestant was named, and then came the answer. "Spring-Heeled Jack". "Correct", said Jeremy Paxman, and, in his usual manner, proceeded on to the bonus questions without giving the remainder of the starter question. Which left me knowing the answer to a question without having the faintest idea what the question was.

So, who was Spring-Heeled Jack? Is he fact or fiction, a mysterious figure from the past or a bogeyman used to scare children into being good? It turns out he was fact, though nobody knows for sure who he was, though one name has been put forward as a suspect.

During the 1830's, Spring-Heeled Jack terrorised England. Described as tall, thin, powerful, wearing a black cloak, he could jump 20 to 30 feet vertically. It was reported that he had a long nose, large pointed ears and red glowing eyes, and capable of spitting an odd white and blue flame from his mouth. Spring-Heeled Jack - was he a creature, an alien, or a man wearing some strange costume and a hidden jumping apparatus?

The first sighting seems to have occurred in London during the September of 1837. A businessman, returning home from work late one night, was walking past the railings surrounding a cemetery when a mysterious figure vaulted over the railings. Now these railings were at least 10 feet high, but the creature effortlessly leaped over them and landed directly in the path of the man.

Spring-Heeled Jack was said to have attacked a group of three women the following night. Leaping over the cemetery railings once more he attacked one of the girls, Polly Adams. He tore off the top of her blouse, grabbed her breasts, and began clawing at her stomach, at which the other girls screamed their heads off and ran away. The attack knocked Polly unconscious where she lay until being discovered by a policeman.

The following month, Mary Stevens, a servant, was returning to her employers home on Lavender Hill. While passing through Cut Throat Lane in Clapham Common, Spring-Heeled Jack sprang from an alley, caught her in a bear hug, kissed her on the face and began running his hands down her blouse. Mary screamed, and her attacker ran away. Some local men heard the screams and quickly arrived on the scene, but their searches found nothing.

The next day, at a location very near Mary Stevens' home, something or someone sprang in front of a passing carriage causing the horses to panic and run out of control. Witnesses at the scene claimed that Spring-Heeled Jack escaped by springing effortlessly over a 9 foot wall.

Soon after this incident, Spring Heeled Jack accosted a woman near Clapham Church. This time he left physical evidence - two footprints three inches deep. The depth of the prints seemed to suggest some type of 'spring mechanism' in the shoes. (I have heard that the Germans experimented with a spring apparatus during the war. It was not very successful, as 85% of the men experimenting with the device broke an ankle or two).

In the January of 1838, London's Lord Mayor, Sir John Cowan, declared Spring-Heeled Jack a 'public menace'. A posse of men were formed to search for the individual responsible for the attacks. In spite of their efforts Spring-Heeled Jack was never found.

His next appearance was on the evening of February 20th, when eighteen year old Lucy Scales and her sister Margaret were returning from their brother's house in the Limehouse area at about half past eight. Reports say that he jumped out in front of Lucy and spat blue fire in her face. Statements taken at the time say that Lucy was 'blinded'. Whether this blindness was temporary, permanent or just a figure of speech is not known. Witnesses claim that after this attack, the assailant escaped by jumping from the ground to the roof of a house.

Two days later he struck again. The Alsop family was spending a quiet evening at home, when a violent knocking was heard at the front door. Jane Alsop (who lived with her father and her two sisters) got up to answer it. When she opened the door she saw a man standing in the shadows near the front gate. He swung around. "I'm a police officer," he said. "For God's sake, bring me a light, for we have caught Spring-Heeled Jack in the lane!" As Jane ran to fetch a candle, she thought how exciting it would be to see Spring-Heeled Jack arrested. When she gave the candle to the man at the gate, she realised she had made a terrible mistake, for the man held the candle to his breast to reveal the hideous features of Spring-Heeled Jack himself! Jane screamed as he spat a blue and white 'gas' into her face. He then grabbed her and tore at her clothes with his sharp claws. She tried to get away, but the man caught her and continued his attack. One of her sisters managed to pull her out of his grasp and drag her back into the house. Witnesses claim that Spring-Heeled Jack left quickly, dropping his coat in a field by Jane's home. Another person was seen scooping up the coat and leaving the area leading police to believe that Spring-Heeled Jack may have an accomplice. Jane described her inhuman attacker to the police, saying that he wore a tight-fitting costume that felt like oilskin, and a kind of close-fitting helmet on his head. His hands were as cold as ice and like powerful claws. But the most frightening thing about him was his eyes. They shone like balls of fire.

The following day another incident occurred. Once again Spring-Heeled Jack knocked on the front door of a house in Turner Street. When a servant boy answered the door, Spring-Heeled Jack asked to speak to the master of the house. The boy turned to call his master when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that the visitor was none other than Spring-Heeled Jack. With glowing orange eyes and clawed hands, Spring-Heeled Jack waved his fist at the boy and leapt over the houses on Commercial Road. The lad was able to supply an additional piece of evidence. Under his cloak, the lad noticed that Spring-Heeled Jack had an embroidered letter 'W' on his shirt, similar to a coat of arms. The servant boy's description of the attacker's monogram led police to suspect Henry, the Marquis of Waterford. The Marquis was an Irish nobleman known for his sometimes cruel and unusual sense of humour. In addition, Waterford had strangely protuberant eyes, which matched the various descriptions of Jack. Police surmised that the Marquis accomplished his leaping feats via springs hidden in his shoes. In 1842, prime suspect Marquis of Waterford married, settled in Ireland, and reportedly led an exemplary life. He died tragically in 1859 when he was thrown from his horse. But even after his marriage and emigration attacks continued. In 1845 Spring-Heeled Jack is supposed to have murdered a girl - in New York. He was last seen in 1904 at Everton in Liverpool, bounding up and down the streets, leaping from cobbles to rooftops and back! He vanished into the darkness when some brave souls tried to corner him and he has not been seen from that day to this!

BILL HUTCHINGS