He was the terror of London; a demonic figure with glowing eyes and fiery breath who could leap ten feet high. The penny dreadfuls of the time wrote up his exploits in lurid terms. But who was he really?
Today I look at one of the earliest pulp legends: Spring-Heeled Jack...
#London has always attracted ghosts, and in the 19th Century they left their haunted houses and graveyards and began to wader the capital's streets. But one apparition caught the Victorian public's attention more than most...
In October 1837 a 'leaping character' with a look of the devil began to prey on Londoners. Often it would leap high into the air and land in front of a carriage, causing it to crash. The 'devil' then fled with a high-pitched laugh.
The public soon named him Spring-Heeled Jack.
More attacks followed; Kensington, Ealing, Vauxhall, Brixton. Spring-Heeled Jack seeme to be appearing everywhere: knocking on doors, lurking in alleys, jumping out at coaches before leaping away...
Sir John Cowan, the Lord Mayor of London, was having none of it. He believed these were "wicked pranks" by well-to-do gentlemen dressed up in costumes to scare the unsuspecting. Tales of a 'devil' who could leap nine feet high were simply exaggerations...
Two attacks in 1838 gained particular notoriety: in separate incidents Spring-Heeled Jack attacked Jane Alsop and Lucy Scales in Limehouse. Both young witnesses swore the creature breathed blue flames as he leapt at them.
Thomas Millbank was arrefsed after boastin in a pub he was Speing-Heeled Jack, and items he used to disguise himself were soon found. However he was was acquitted on a key point: he could not breathe blue fire, as both Alsop and Scales had testified their attacker did.
The press had a field day with Spring-Heeled Jack; soon he had his own penny dreadful magazines and his 'exploits' were widely read. Plays and songs were also written about him.
Yet sightings of Jack waned as his fame spread. It wasn't until 1843 that sightings were reported again, but this time nationwide; Northamptonshire, Devon, Norfolk. Suddenly Jack was everywhere, leaping high and breathing fire...
...and then he vanished again! It seemed Spring-Heeled Jack was intermittent, as well as itinerant!
In 1872 Jack was in Peckham. In 1873 he was in Sheffield. By 1877 he was in Lincoln. His last appearance was in Liverpool in 1904...
So who, or what, was Spring-Heeled Jack? Initial suspicion fell on the Marquess of Waterford, who had a reputation for drunken brawling, brutal jokes and vandalism. He certainly had the money and inclination to make himself into a fire-spitting monster molesting the populace.
But the longevity of the legend suggests that a form of mass psychosis, egged on by the press and many malicious pranksters lay behing Spring-Heeled Jack's appearances across England. It's a good story...
Whatever the truth, one thing is certain: Spring-Heeled Jack was one of the first pulp legends and helped set the template for the genre. Will he ever return? Who can say!
More stories another time...
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