Spring Heeled Jack

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Spring Heeled Jack on an illustration from around 1890

Spring Heeled Jack (also: Springheel Jack or Spring-heel Jack ) is a character from English folklore who appeared in Victorian England and is said to have attacked several people. Translated into German, his name means "the guy with the spring heel". In some German-language publications, he is also referred to as the "Jumping Jack".

background

Spring Heeled Jack has been referred to as the "jumping superman" who terrified the English nation for more than 60 years. Initial reports of this person jumping from roof to roof were dismissed as pipe dreams or hysterical nonsense. The first credible record of its occurrence dates back to 1837. In January 1838, the existence of the strange creature was officially recognized after Polly Adams, a barmaid, reported that she was attacked on her way through Blackheath. The maid, Mary Stevens, also reported terrifying incidents on Barnes Common, and a woman claimed to have been ambushed in the Clapham churchyard. Numerous similar reports followed from the butcher's daughter Lucy Scales or Jane Alsop, who was almost strangled in her own home and could only be saved because the attacker was chased out of the house by family members. He was later seen across England from London to Sheffield and Liverpool , but most of the reports and incidents have come from the suburbs of London and later the Midlands . There they occurred more frequently between the 50s and 80s of the 19th century. Although some unconfirmed reports claim that Spring Heeled Jack is still active, it is generally believed that he disappeared after the last incident in 1904.

Spring Heeled Jack enjoyed thanks to the tales of his bizarre appearance and perform huge jumps his ability, at the time such great awareness and dissemination in various media that could be seen more than a traditional supernatural phenomenon in him and he in a urban legend was .

description

From his victims Spring Heeled Jack was described as a being of terrifying and of fearful appearance, among whose devilish appearance claws on its hands and bulging eyes, "like fire glowed" . One of his first victims also noticed that he was wearing a helmet and, under his black cloak, a tight-fitting robe like oilskin . In many later interrogations, the “devilish” train and the tight-fitting oilskin were also mentioned. There were different statements about the color of clothing: the majority spoke of a white robe, while others said the color was glossy black.

Many of the witnesses stated that Spring Heeled Jack was of an athletic and strong stature and capable of large, well-aimed jumps. Quite a few of them mentioned that his mouth had blue and white flames and that he had sharp metal claws on his fingertips. At least two witnesses stated that he was able to speak intelligible English, albeit in an unusually deep voice.

Early reports

First mentions of a ghost resembling this being in appearance tell of two occurrences at Hammersmith. In January 1804, the residents of the village were frightened at night by a tall figure dressed in white who jumped out from behind trees and walls in lonely alleys or squares after dark. A very pregnant woman was walking along the cemetery around ten o'clock on a moonlit night when suddenly a large figure appeared behind a tombstone. As she ran away, the figure followed and seized her. She passed out in shock, was found unconscious by neighbors and was brought home. The horror was so deep that she died shortly afterwards. On the second sighting, the ghost jumped out from behind a tree on a carriage that was occupied by 16 passengers. The driver jumped from the driver's seat in a panic. The eight horses could finally be stopped before something worse happened.

Ghost hunters

Among those who wanted to end the ghost was a young man named Francis Smith. He was convinced that a roommate had disguised himself to frighten the common country folk. He went with a gun to Black Lion Lane in Hammersmith, where the ghost had recently been seen, and hid there. When he heard footsteps in the alley approaching his hiding place, he saw a figure dressed in white. Firmly convinced that this was the spirit, he called on him. Since he got no answer and the person kept moving towards him, he shot. The figure fell to the ground, groaning. Smith was horrified to find that he had shot a man and not a ghost. He got help right away, but when the doctor arrived the man was dead. It was Thomas Milwood, a bricklayer who was on his way home from work later than usual that night, wearing a new white linen jacket. as was customary for his profession. Francis Smith was then to be sentenced to death, but the chief judge obtained a pardon in this case and the sentence was set at one year in prison. The verdict was welcomed by the population. In addition, there had been no sightings since the mason's death.

More connections

Sheffield mentions from 1808 were also partially associated with Spring Heeled Jack. The first confirmed sighting took place in London in September 1837: A businessman returning home late at night witnessed how a mysterious figure jumped over the fencing of a cemetery from a considerable height with great ease and landed directly in front of him. While there was no mention of an attack, the description provided was unsettling: a muscular man with a devilish face, including large and pointed ears and nose, and bulging and glowing eyes.

Shortly after this incident the same person jumped out of the darkness and attacked a group of passers-by [according to Haining (1977) three women and one man, according to Robbins (1991) only three women]. He grabbed a woman who, like her companions, managed to escape when her coat tore. Another woman in the group, a bar girl named Polly Adams, tripped and fell back. The police found her hours later in the exact spot where she was attacked. According to her statements, the attacker tore her blouse open, grabbed her bare chest and scratched her stomach with his claws. He left her unconscious and covered in blood, but alive.

A month later, in October 1837, a girl named Mary Stevens was attacked. After visiting her parents in Battersea , she was en route to Lavender Hill, where she worked as a maid. As she crossed Clapham Common , a strange being leapt towards her in one of the dark alleys. After holding her back with a firm grip, she began to kiss her face and at the same time to tear her clothes off. The claws with which the creature touched her body were, according to her statement, "cold and clammy as those of a corpse". In her panic, the girl screamed loudly, after which the attacker fled. The noise attracted some residents who immediately started a search for the attacker but could not find anyone.

The next day, the leaping figure found another victim near Mary Stevens' apartment. He used a procedure that was to become typical of his future deeds: he jumped in the way of a passing carriage, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle, crash with it and be seriously injured. Various witnesses alleged that the figure escaped by jumping over a nine- foot- high wall. As she did so, she let out a high-pitched, widely resounding laugh.

A few days later, another woman was attacked near the Clapham churchyard. The police investigators who were called up were able to find traces at the scene for the first time: They found two footprints that were about three inches (7.5 cm) deep and which seemed to indicate that someone had landed here from a great height. Upon closer inspection, strange prints were found inside the footprints. They suggested that the attacker was wearing some kind of device under his shoes. In the opinion of one of the police officers present, it was “ perhaps some kind of compressed springs ” (German: “perhaps a kind of compressed springs”). Despite the importance of this index, the lack of forensically trained police officers at the time ensured that this information was forgotten. And instead of making plaster casts of the tracks, the weather was allowed to erase these tracks.

In the meantime the press had picked up on the strange robberies and found a name for the strange creature for which they were responsible: Spring Heeled Jack. Jerome Clark (1993) mentions that the press made various references to "Spring-Heeled Jack", "Springheel Jack" or "Springald". This latter name could possibly be derived from a Scottish expression for an "active or springy young man". Haining (1977) affirmed that the term “springald” was the actual origin for the later name Spring Heeled Jack ; however, according to Clark, there is no evidence for this claim.

Official confirmation

A public meeting at the Mansion House , London (circa 1840)

A few months later, on January 9, 1838, a public meeting was held in the Mansion House , the official residence of the Lord Mayor of London , to collect further information. There the then Lord Mayor Sir John Cowan read an anonymous complaint that he had received a few days earlier. The scribe who signed the letter "a Packham resident" wrote:

"It seems that some persons (of what the writer believes are the highest echelons of public life) have made a wager with a frivolous and foolish fellow that he will not be able to accomplish the task of moving to a number of the nearby villages in London to visit three different disguises - as ghost, bear and devil; and that he was also unable to go into a gentleman's garden to disturb the residents of the house. In any case, the bet was made and the cowardly villain has so far robbed seven ladies of their senses, two of whom have not yet recovered and threaten to become a permanent burden to their families.
The man rang the doorbell at a house, and when the servant came to open the door, this monster stood before her, perfectly disguised as a terrifying ghost. As a result, the poor girl passed out on the spot and has been out of her mind ever since.
These strange activities have been going on for some time now, and - as strange as it may seem - the newspapers keep silent about these events. The writer has reason to believe that they are well aware of the whole story, but that they were silenced by selfish motives. "

- Jacqueline Simpson : Spring-Heeled Jack. 2001.

Despite the Lord Major's continued skepticism, one member of the audience acknowledged that "quite a few girls in Kensington, Hammersmith and Ealing tell terrible stories about this ghost or devil." The matter was reported in the Times and other national newspapers the next day . The following day, January 11, 1838, at a well-attended meeting, the Lord Mayor showed up a pile of letters from various locations in and around London complaining of similar malicious pranks.

The volume of letters received at the Mansion House suggests that Spring Heeled Jack's activities were well known in the then suburbs of London. One of the letter writers reported that he had convinced himself that a number of young women in Hammersmith had suffered severe shocks from this creature, and that some were "badly wounded by the claws that this freak has on the hand." Another writer confirmed that in Stockwell , Brixton , Camberwell and Vauxhall, several people had been scared to death and suffered other states of shock. Another letter indicated that the crook had been seen repeatedly at Lewisham and Blackheath , but the police were too frightened of the creature to act.

The Lord Mayor himself remained ambivalent about the matter: he considered the matter to be exaggerated and, moreover, to rule out the possibility that a ghost was at work here. On the other hand, he had been told from a trustworthy source that a maid in Forest Hill had been so frightened by a figure in a bearskin that she had suffered a severe shock. He was confident that the person or persons involved in this mummery would be caught and punished (see Haining (1977) - based on reports from the Times of January 10 and 12, 1838).

A special police unit was set up to catch those responsible for the attacks and rewards were offered. The Duke of Wellington , who was now in his seventies, and Admiral Edward Codrington joined the search parties. Some sources suggest that the Duke of Wellington actually encountered Spring Heeled Jack on a few occasions. However, he was not imprisoned. Instead, he seemed to have gained confidence and the number of his attacks increased.

The attacks on Lucy Scales and Jane Alsop

Depiction of the Spring Heeled Jack in an early booklet

Probably the best-known Spring Heeled Jack-related incidents were his attacks on two young girls named Lucy Scales and Jane Alsop. Both events were widely reported in the press, which fueled the gradually emerging mass hysteria . In the literature on Spring Heeled Jack there are different variants of Lucy's surname “Scales”, the name used by Peter Haining (1977) is the generally accepted version, while Berlitz (1989) offers the variant “Sales”. Cohen (1982) gives the name "Squires" based on reports from the Limehouse Police Department .

Lucy Scales

On February 18, 1838 (to Berlitz (1989) on February 20), 18-year-old Lucy Scales and her sister Margaret returned from a visit to her brother George, a respected butcher who lived on Narrow Street in the Limehouse district, back home. Lucy, who was just ahead of her sister, was passing the junction with Green Dragon Alley, a very lonely place, when a person jumped her out of the shadows. The person was wrapped from head to toe in a dark cloak, blowing blue flames on Lucy's face. Startled and blinded, she fell to the ground. Her brother, who was fortunately nearby, heard the girls' screams and ran to help. Thereupon the being clad with a cloak jumped away. Lucy Scales was unable to stand up on her own and continued to have severe seizures days later. Her testimony was confirmed by her siblings and testified on oath in court. When questioned, they stated that the attacker was tall and gaunt and more like a gentleman who carried a small lamp. No fewer than four eyewitnesses reported that the attacker escaped by hopping off the ground onto the roof of a nearby house in a single jump.

Jane Alsop

Two days later, on February 20, 1838 (after Berlitz (1989) on February 22), Jane Alsop, who was also 18 years old , opened the front door in the Bow district at a quarter to nine after the doorbell had rang several times. A man stood there claiming he was a police officer and she asked to bring him a light because he and another officer had caught Spring Heeled Jack on the street. When she came back to the door with a candle, he attacked her, tugging her dress and hair until other members of the family rushed to help her. She told the Lambeth police officers that:

"He was wearing a kind of helmet and tight-fitting white costume like an ulster. His face was hideous, his eyes resembled balls of fire, his hands had great claws, and he vomited blue and white flames. "

“He wore some kind of helmet and a tight white costume like oilskin. His face was terrifying; his eyes were like fireballs. His hands had big claws and were as cold as ice, and he spat blue and white flames. "

- Elliott O'Donnell: Chapter XI: Spring-Heeled Jack and the Brompton Road. In: Ghosts of London. P. 146.

Jane Alsop's February 1838 statement was believed to be the first authentic description of this person. The Alsops (a father with three daughters) who lived on Bearhind Lane, a lonely place between Bow and Old Ford, have been questioned extensively by the police and in court. Jane Alsop stated that the claws on his hands looked like they were made of metal. Her sister and father credibly confirmed what they said about the attack. In addition, the young woman was in severe shock and the healing of the scratches on her arms and shoulders took a long time.

More reports

A week after the attack on Jane Alsop, another black-veiled figure knocked on the door of a house, this time on Turner Street and Commercial Road. When a young servant opened the door, the visitor asked in a harsh, deep voice to speak to the master of the house. The boy wanted to turn around to call his master, but noticed that the man's eyes were glowing red. He panicked, yelled for help, and caught the attention of the neighbors. With an annoyed and disappointed growl, Spring Heeled Jack waved his clawed fist in front of the boy's face and then fled over the nearest roof ridges. In the subsequent regulatory investigation, the boy claimed that he had observed something that would later become a significant piece of evidence: When Spring Heeled Jack turned his back on him, he noticed that he was wearing a gold embroidered "W" on his shirt under his black cloak that resembled a coat of arms.

At regular intervals, a mysterious being kept appearing in different parts of the country. Sometimes it was considered certain that this being was a person who had disguised himself to either scare people by jumping over walls and hedges, robbing them or injuring them. He made these jumps with the help of very strong springs on the soles of his boots. However, some people were convinced that it must be a supernatural being. The true identity and nature of this creature remained a mystery.

The legend spreads

Image from a dime novel

After these incidents, Spring Heeled Jack had become one of the most famous characters of his time. His deeds were reported in the newspapers and were the subject of penny books and plays played in the cheap theaters that were plentiful at the time. But as his reputation spread, his appearances became rarer and also spread over a larger area.

In 1843 another wave of sightings swept the country. He appeared in Northamptonshire , in Hampshire - where he was described as "the true image of the devil, even with horns and eyes like flames" - and in East Anglia , where reports of attacks on stagecoaches became almost commonplace.

Although he terrified people with his appearance and in some cases injuries of various kinds had occurred to his victims, Spring Heeled Jack had never killed a person before.

However, that was to change in 1845. That year he was spotted in Jacob's Island (Bermondsey), a slum for the poorest of the population, full of shabby wooden huts and polluted ditches, as immortalized by Charles Dickens in his description of Fagin's lair in Oliver Twist . There he is said to have cornered 13-year-old prostitute Maria Davis on a bridge over one of the worst of these ditches, the Folly Ditch , spat fire in her face and then tossed her into the stinking water below. Witnesses reported the incident to the police, who drained the trench and discovered the girl's body. The subsequent investigation was found to be accidental death , but for the residents of the area Spring Heeled Jack had become a murderer.

Imitators

Seven years after the attacks on Lucy Scales and Jane Alsop, new sightings of the Spring-Heeled Jack occurred in Ealing and Hanwell. He scared women and children who were walking on lonely streets at night. He was described as a figure who, wrapped in a white robe and a long dark scarf, suddenly appeared in the darkness, leapt over walls and hedges, and uttered dark screams. This imitator of the spring heel Jack was soon picked up by the local police and brought to justice. It turned out his name was Richard Bradford, and he was a Brentford butcher known for making macabre jokes. Since the injured party did not show up for the hearing, he got away with a warning.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Spring Heeled Jack was seen across England. Sometimes they were proven imitators, as in the case of Richard Bradford, but often the opinion was expressed that it was either an evil spirit or the devil himself who did mischief there.

However, the most common sightings occurred in the Midlands . On the night of February 8, 1855, during an unusually severe winter, long rows of footprints appeared in the snow in over thirty different locations in Devon . Each of them was over three and a half inches (about 8.7 cm) long and three inches (about 7.5 cm) wide. The tracks were reminiscent of a donkey's hoofprint, and some of them seemed split. Allegedly they went over roofs, high walls and haystacks and thus reinforced the impression of the supernatural. The Times picked up the story on Feb. 16 and reported that it "caused an uproar of commotion among the inhabitants in general" and that "some of the particularly superstitious" ("several of the very superstitious ”) said it“ must be the marks of Old Nick ”, one of the common names in England for the devil. Others were convinced that it was the traces of Spring Heeled Jack.

Panic was spreading in the Newport, Lincolnshire neighborhood of someone dressed in a kind of sheepskin with a tail and spiky ears. It was said of this Jack that when he was followed by a mob armed with sticks and stones, he jumped onto the roofs of huts or over fifteen feet high walls and thus escaped. Even when shot at, he didn't seem to mind the bullets.

The last sightings

In the early 1870s, Spring Heeled Jack was seen repeatedly both in London and still in distant locations.

In November 1872 the News of the World reported that London “ in a state of commotion owing to what is known as the 'Peckham Ghost', a mysterious figure, quite alarming in appearance ” (German: “is in a state of excitement, owed to a mysterious figure of frightening appearance known as the ghost of Peckham. ") The editors suggested that it was none other than" Spring Heeled Jack, who terrified an earlier generation "(" Spring Heeled Jack, who terrified a past generation ”). In April and May of 1873 there were numerous sightings of a "Park Ghost" in Sheffield, which the local papers identified as the Spring Heeled Jack. Events culminated in thousands of people gathering at night to hunt the ghost.

Aldershot Barracks, 1866

This news was followed by other reports of his appearance, until in April 1877 Spring Heeled Jack made one of his most spectacular appearances in front of a group of soldiers at Aldershot barracks . One of the night guards named John Regan was on guard at North Camp when a strange figure, hopping across the street, making a metallic noise, caught his attention. The soldier called the man but got no answer and the figure disappeared from Regan's sight for a few moments. When he went back to his post, she appeared next to him and gave him several blows in the face with "one hand as cold as that of a corpse". Several men rushed up, attracted by the noise, and later stated that the figure jumped several feet over their heads and landed behind them. According to her statements, Spring Heeled Jack just stood there, watching her, and grinned as if he were waiting and asking her to make her next move. One of the guards shot him, which, however, had no visible effect other than angering him. Some sources suspect that the soldiers shot him with the blank cartridges used for warning shots. The strange figure now attacked her and spat blue flames from her mouth in her direction, whereupon the guards left their posts in a panic. Then the figure disappeared into the surrounding darkness.

There were several more attacks by Spring Heeled Jack on guards in Aldershot. In all of these incidents, the descriptions matched: tall, muscular in appearance, wearing a helmet and a tight-fitting robe made of white oilskin.

In the late 19th century, the geographic pattern of sightings of the Spring Heeled Jack suggested that it was heading towards the west of England.

In September 1904, Spring Heeled Jack appeared on the top of the roof of Saint Francis Xavier Church in Everton , north of Liverpool . Witnesses reported that he suddenly jumped down and landed behind a nearby house. As they rushed to the spot, they were faced with a tall, muscular man clad entirely in white, wearing an egg-shaped helmet, and waiting there. He laughed hysterically at the crowd and rushed towards them, causing some women to groan in horror. With one gigantic leap he left them all behind and disappeared behind the neighboring houses.

The Liverpool incident is believed to be the last time Spring Heeled Jack was seen. However, there are reports of later sightings, such as the recent 1986, some outside of England (even in the US), but these are too rare and not clear enough to be confirmed.

Explanatory approaches

The fact that Spring Heeled Jack was never caught, coupled with his extraordinary abilities and the very long period of time he has been up to mischief, has led to all sorts of theories trying to determine his nature and identity. While some authors seek a rational explanation for what happened, others put the fantastic details of the story at the center and suggest a range of speculative paranormal explanations.

The position of the skeptics

Skeptical researchers have repeatedly rejected the stories of Spring Heeled Jack. Some of them claim that it is nothing more than the exaggerated story of a madman who danced and jumped over the rooftops and claimed that the devil was following him ( e.g. Randles (1994) ).

Other researchers believe that one or more people were behind the matter, who were later followed by imitators (see Dash (1995) ). It is worth noting in this context that neither the press, the authorities nor the general public viewed Spring Heeled Jack as a supernatural being when he first appeared and in the years thereafter, but rather him for one (or perhaps more than one) person with one had a macabre sense of humor that delighted in scaring and harassing women. This idea is consistent with the first letter to the Lord Mayor of London, in which a group of young aristocrats who have made an irresponsible wager are charged as guilty.

Henry de La Poer Beresford, third Marquess of Waterford (1840)

A well-known rumor that emerged from 1840 at the earliest pointed to an Irish nobleman, Henry de La Poer Beresford, the third Marquess of Waterford , as the prime suspect behind the events. The responsibility of the Marquess has been accepted by several modern authors who suggest that a shameful event with a woman and a police officer may have given him the idea to create this character in order to appeal to the police and women in general to avenge ( e.g. Haining (1977) ). These authors also suggest that he (with the help of friends who were experts in applied mechanics) might have invented some kind of device to equip his shoes with springs and that he might have invented the supernatural impression of his figure , Practiced fire-breathing techniques. Finally, they refer to the embroidered coat of arms with the letter "W" that the young servant had observed during the incident at the Ashworth house, which matches his title suspiciously.

Indeed, in the late 1830s, the marquess was talked about more often because of his drunken brawls, brutal jokes, and wanton destruction, and was also said to have done anything for a bet. His conspicuous behavior and his well-known contempt for women earned him the nickname The Mad Marquis ("the Mad Marquis"). It was also common knowledge that he was in London at the time Spring Heeled Jack first appeared. Already the Reverend EC Brewer, who attested to the Marquess that he "usually amused himself by jumping on travelers unexpectedly, frightening them, and from time to time there were others who followed his stupid example" ("used to amuse himself by springing on travelers unawares, to frighten them, and from time to time others have followed his silly example ”; quoted in Simpson [2001]), portrays him as the culprit in 1880. In 1842 the marquess married and settled in Curraghmore House in Ireland, where he reportedly led an exemplary life until he died in 1859 after falling from his horse.

Meanwhile, Spring Heeled Jack remained active for decades afterwards, leading the aforementioned modern writers to the same conclusion as Brewer: The Marquess may well have been responsible for the first attacks, but other pranksters must have mimicked him on occasion to continue the task.

Some rumors even say that Jack is actually not a human, but a kangaroo who had been put into various disguises by a trainer.

Whether the story about Spring Heeled Jack originally came from an incident involving a mentally ill person or whether it was caused by a specific person (or group of people) who later found imitators, the skeptical researchers unanimously agree that the Story of Spring Heeled Jack through the onset of mass hysteria , a social process to which many factors contributed, was exaggerated and changed. These factors include, among other things, unconfirmed rumors and gossip, superstition , forms of existing oral traditions, sensational publications, and a folk culture that includes supernatural beings of malevolent character. The old wives tales of Spring Heeled Jack's powers, his supposedly diabolical appearance and his ability to thwart any attempt to arrest him captured the minds of the superstitious audience and gave his character an aura of the supernatural. This became more and more the "truth" the more time passed and the impression arose that Spring Heeled Jack was not subject to the changes caused by aging. As a result, an urban legend was founded around the figure, which in turn was reflected in contemporary publications and, in turn, increased public awareness in a kind of vicious circle, as explained on the Skeptical Enquirer website from July 2002.

Paranormal approaches

A multitude of different speculations have been presented by authors who assume that Spring Heeled Jack was of supernatural origin. The following are just a few of the most popular:

  • One common hypothesis is that Spring Heeled Jack is an extraterrestrial being that is somehow stranded on earth. Supporters of this theory use this to explain its non-human appearance and properties (e.g. reflective red eyes or phosphorescent breath). Also his jumping power (fed from the idea that he originally came from a planet with a far greater gravitational force and that his movements are thus similar to those of the astronauts on the moon), his strange behavior (which is due to a psychosis that can be attributed to his isolation , or the result of inhaling gases from the earth's atmosphere) and its longevity can be attributed to it (cf. Berlitz (1989) ).
  • He was a visitor from another dimension who came here through a wormhole or a dimensional gate , as is suspected on the Cassiopaean website, for example .
  • Spring Heeled Jack is a demon that was either accidentally summoned into this world by an occultist or who manifested itself here of its own accord, simply to create a spiritual turmoil, a thesis that John Keel (author of The Mothman Prophecies ) and Jacques Vallée .

Proponents of the supernatural explanation consider the fact that no one has yet succeeded in constructing an apparatus that enables jumps in the manner of Spring Heeled Jack as a supporting argument for their theses. They point out that the German army carried out experiments with devastating effects during the First World War . Allegedly, these experiments had an average failure rate of 85%, including broken legs and ankles, of the test subjects, as detailed on The Triangle - Sci-Fi website . From the failure of an official military project, they conclude that there could have been no prospect of success for an individual, even decades earlier. In this context, it may be noteworthy that a fun sport device that allows similar jumps has been marketed for some time under the name 7Meilenstiefel . However, it is clearly visible on the body and requires modern materials such as the latest carbon fibers.

reception

In addition to the literary use of the figure in poems and novels, there have also been film adaptations of the topic, plays and music.

Poems and Lays

  • Lilian Winser: Lays and Legends of the Weald of Kent.
  • Richard D. Remler: The Legend Of Spring-Heeled Jack.

Novels and short stories

  • Thomas Hoyer Monstery: Spring Heel Jack, or, The masked mystery of the tower: a story of strange facts of many years ago (=  Beadle's New York dime library . No. 332 ). Beadle and Adams, New York 1885, OCLC 984263592 (English).
  • Charlton Lea, Frank Pettingell: Spring-Heeled Jack, the Terror of London . Charles Fox, London 1890, OCLC 317835307 (English).
  • Mark Hodder: The Curious Case of Spring Heeled Jack: Novel . Bastei Lübbe, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-8387-1887-3 ( books.google.de - reading sample).
  • Karl Bell: The legend of spring-heeled Jack: Victorian urban folklore and popular cultures . Boydell & Brewer, Incorporated, Woodbridge, UK 2012, ISBN 978-1-84383-787-9 (English).

Reports

  • The Spring Jack . In: Franklin's Miscellany . tape 1 , no. 7 , January 27, 1838, OCLC 1117277987 .
  • Authentic particulars of the awful appearance of… Spring-Heeled J .; together with his extraordinary life etc. London 1838, OCLC 560542091 .

Spring Heeled Jack in Folklore and as "Urban Legend"

The widespread modern saga that formed around Spring Heeled Jack influenced many areas of life in Victorian England , particularly contemporary entertainment.

The Oxford English Dictionary notes that by the late Victorian era his name had become a general term for the type of mugger who jumped at people to scare or rob them and who relied on their speed to run away when it came to it went to escape. It quotes an 1887 Cheshire source in which a maid who had just received her annual wages was afraid of going out on the streets with so much money while "there were so many of those Spring Heeled Jacks there" ( “There are so many of these spring-heeled Jacks about”; quoted in Simpson (2001) ). Also, his name has been synonymous with the black man for decades , who was used as a means to scare naughty children by telling them that the Spring Heeled Jack would jump up and look through their bedroom windows at night if they weren't good.

Aside from that, it was primarily in the field of popular literature where Spring Heeled Jack was most influential because of its claimed extraordinary nature. Almost from the moment the first events became known to the public, he turned into a successful fictional character and became the main character in many dime novels from 1840 to 1904 . In addition, there have been a number of plays in which he starred.

Literary processing

The most significant adaptations of "Spring Heeled Jack" in the literary work of the 19th and early 20th centuries:

  • In 1840 the play Spring-Heeled Jack, the Terror of London by John Thomas Haines appears . It depicts him as an outlaw who attacks women for betraying his own lover.
  • During the same decade, the first of the trivial novels about Spring Heeled Jack was published under the same title ( Spring-Heeled Jack, The Terror of London ) . It appears in weekly installments.
  • In 1849, WG Willis' play The Curse of the Wraydons comes out. Here Spring Heeled Jack is a traitor and spy in the service of Napoleon , who uses his murderous tricks for camouflage.
  • In 1863 there is a play by Frederick Hazleton Spring-Heel'd Jack: or, The Felon's Wrong (Spring Heeled Jack or The Rogue's Crime) .
  • 1864–1867, another trivial novel appears under the title "Spring-heel'd Jack: The Terror of London" . It is published by the Newsagents' Publishing Company .
  • 1878–1879 Spring heel'd Jack: The Terror of London is another serialized novel in weekly deliveries in The Boys' Standard magazine, either by the veteran author of such works, Georg Sala, or by Alfred Burrage under his pseudonym Charlton Lea comes from.
  • Published March 4, 1885, Colonel Thomas Monstrey under the title Spring-Heel Jack; or, The Masked Mystery of the Tower is another booklet novel. It appears as No. 332 in Beadle's New York Dime Library .
  • 1889–1890 the material is available as a 48-part series by Alfred Burrage under his pseudonym Charlton Lea, published by Charles Fox.
  • Another version by Alfred Burrage appears in 1904 (see Simpson (1995) and Nevin (2005) ).
  • In 1928, the Swiss surrealist writer Maurice-Yves Sandoz wrote a new version of the play The Curse of the Wraydons , which served as the basis for a film of the same name in 1946.

Change of character - from villain to superhero

While the early works all depict Spring Heeled Jack as an arch villain, his character changes over time until she has completely transformed into a superhero . The first dime novel to initiate this change dates from the 1860s. This change was carried over to all subsequent publications and reached the climax of its development in the 1904 work of Burrage.

In these stories (set after 1805 after Napoleon conquered Europe) Spring Heeled is Jack Bertram Wraydon , a young lieutenant in the British Army who is wrongly accused of treason by his evil half-brother Hubert Sedgefield, inheriting an annual income of £ 10,000 . After escaping from prison, Wraydon returns to seek revenge on the villain. In his fight against evil and to save the innocent, he adopts a secret identity and wears a strange looking costume with a mane and claws. He has a secret hiding place where he hides what he was able to save from his inheritance and selflessly uses it to fund his heroic deeds. That includes developing a jumping device that will enable him to jump over thirty feet and a device that he can use to spit fire. He also leaves a trademark at the place of his deeds, the letter "S", which he scratches with his rapier as soon as his mission is completed.

Spring Heeled Jack in the entertainment culture today

While lacking enduring literary value, these Spring Heeled Jack series have made an important impact as the predecessors of today's Pulp Magazines and comic book superheroes. It should be noted that they appeared twenty years before the first adventures of Zorro and half a century before the invention of characters like Batman or the Lone Ranger . This enduring influence and the resulting cultural significance had largely been forgotten for most of the 20th century.

In recent years, however, interest in the stories about Spring Heeled Jack has flared up again. Various English cartoon characters such as Jumping Jack, the Leaping Phantom , Spring-Heeled Jock and Spring-Heeled Jackson have been created directly after his model since the early 1970s.

Even today, the story continues to spark the imagination of writers such as Philip Pullman , author of the bestselling trilogy "His Dark Materials," who wrote his short story Spring Heeled Jack - A Story of Bravery and Evil ( ISBN 0-440-86229-9 ; German: "A story of bravery and evil") published in 1989. He takes back the concept from the Victorian dime books of the good Spring Heeled Jack , who disguises himself as a devil to scare the villains. A complex paranormal explanation for Spring Heeled Jack can be found in The Anubis Gate by Tim Powers . Even Stephen King describes in his history of Strawberry Spring a modern Spring Heeled Jack . The story first appeared in 1968 in Ubris , the literary magazine of the University of Maine at Orono ; in 2001 an American short film by Doveed Linder emerged from her.

In 1991, a series of toy figures with folk motifs came on the market called Monster in My Pocket , which also featured a Spring Heeled Jack . In the cartoon series The Adventures of Jackie Chan (Jackie Chan Adventures), which is popular with children , he appears in one episode as a troll-like being who, according to his name, wears springs on his shoes. Here he is defeated after coming into contact with a pinch of salt.

Recently, some comic book writers like Ver Curtiss, Kevin Olson and David Hitchcock have made Spring Heeled Jack the main character in various adventures. The latter can be seen on the Black Boar Press website . In these series, some of which are set in a gloomy and postmodern environment, he again has the role of a superhero.

In the science fiction series Primeval , the "Spring Heeled Jack" appears as a raptor who has entered the 19th century through a time window. Spring Heeled Jack can also be seen as a role model for the Predator in the films of the same name. The extraterrestrial being depicted in it has an athletic figure, enormous physical abilities, wears a mask and uses metal claws as its main weapon.

There are echoes of Spring Heeled Jack in the comic figure “Phantomias” (including Walt Disney's Funny Pocket Books No. 41: “Donald with a Difference”): Although “Phantomias” is a paraphrase of the film character Fantomas, it uses “spring boots”, reminiscent of Spring Heeled Jack.

The character has also inspired musicians. In 1994 singer Morrissey released a song called Spring Heeled Jim on his album "Vauxhall and I" . Other musicians such as the English duo Spring Heel Jack , the American ska band Spring Heeled Jack or the Swiss rock band Spring Heeled Jack from St. Gallen have named themselves after him.

In 2004, Spring Heeled Jack appeared as a sinister super villain in the instruction book for the role-playing game Omlevex . Here he is portrayed as the archenemy of Lacie Delmont, a tough detective with paranormal abilities.

In the 3-volume "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novel "Gatekeeper", Spring Heel Jack plays an important role.

In addition, there is an NPC in Bethesda's action role-playing game “Oblivion” , from whom you have to steal the “Boots of Spring Heel Jack” in the course of a thieves' guild task.

There is an expansion for the board game Mr. Jack , which also includes a character called Spring-heeled Man , which is based on Spring Heeled Jack.

In the fantasy series Sanctuary , in the first episode of the fourth season, Spring Heel Jack is portrayed as an abnormal (mutant).

Spring Heeled Jack also appears in the 2nd and 4th volumes of the fantasy book series Skulduggery Pleasant . There he is portrayed as a monster that nobody (not even Jack himself) knows exactly what it is. In the German translation of the books, his name is translated as "Springer-Jack". He has another appearance in the novella "Die nuchlosen Sieben" (original title: "The Maleficent Seven") connected to the book series

The character also appears in the game Assassin's Creed Syndicate . The main characters (twins) are commissioned by Dickens to get to the bottom of mysterious events. In the end, it remains to be seen whether the character is a ghost.

The legend of Spring Heeled Jack also plays a role in the computer game Sherlock Holmes, published by Frogwares in 2009, when Jack the Ripper is pursued. It even uses the image shown in this article from a dime novel.

literature

  • Charles Berlitz: Charles Berlitz's World of Strange Phenomena . Fawcett, New York 1989, ISBN 0-449-21825-2 .
  • Jerome Clark: Unexplained! Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences & Puzzling Physical Phenomena. Visible Ink Press, Detroit 1993, ISBN 1-57859-070-1 .
  • David Clarke: Strange South Yorkshire: Myth, Magic and Memory in the Don Valley . Sigma Press, Wilmslow 1994, ISBN 1-85058-404-4 .
  • Daniel Cohen: The Encyclopedia of Monsters . Dodd Mead, New York 1982, ISBN 0-396-09051-6 .
  • Mike Dash: Spring Heeled Jack . In: Steve Moore (Ed.): Fortean Studies . John Brown Publishing, London 1995, ISBN 1-870870-55-7 .
  • Mike Dash: Borderlands: The Ultimate Exploration of the Unknown . Dell, New York 2000, ISBN 0-440-23656-8 .
  • Peter Haining: The Legend and Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack . Muller, London 1977, ISBN 0-584-10276-3 .
  • Jess Nevins: The Encyclopaedia of Fantastic Victoriana . Monkey Brain Inc., 2005, ISBN 1-932265-08-2 .
  • Jenny Randles: Strange & Unexplained Mysteries of the 20th Century . Sterling, New York 1994, ISBN 0-8069-0768-1 .
  • Joyce Robbins: Borderlands. The World's Greatest Mysteries. Bounty Books, London 1991, ISBN 1-85051-698-7 .
  • Jacqueline Simpson: Spring-Heeled Jack . International Society for Contemporary Legend Research. Penguin, London 2001, 2005, ISBN 0-14-100711-7 .

Web links

Commons : Spring Heeled Jack  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ellen Castelow: Spring Heeled Jack Historic UK (English).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Elliott O'Donnell: Chapter XI: Spring-Heeled Jack and the Brompton Road . In: Ghosts of London . P. Allan, London 1932, p. 145–155 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  3. ↑ Jacqueline Simpson: Spring-Heeled Jack. Penguin, London 2001
  4. ^ Neil R. Storey: Spring Heel'd Jack the Terror of London . In: London: Crime, Death & Debauchery: Crime, Death & Debauchery . History Press, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7509-5404-4 ( books.google.de ).
  5. ↑ Lilian Winser: Spring-heeled Jack . In: Lays and Legends of the Weald of Kent . Elkin Mathews, London 1897, p. 6-18 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  6. ↑ The Legend Of Spring-Heeled Jack Poem by Richard D. Remler poemhunter.com.