In 1837 a person (or creature) was sighted in suburban London. Details were sketchy, but all accounts had one thing in common, this entity was able to leap great distances.
His descriptions varied from having glowing red eyes, metallic claws, and the ability to breath fire. Some say he was a spectre, while others say he was a demon, a muscular man of devilish features, or at the very least a man wearing a demonic helmet. He also wore a dark swirling cape and a skintight white costume resembling oilskin.
The first recorded description of this particular character was formulated as “devil-like” by Polly Adams, who was attacked while walking across Blackheath in south London. (October, 1837)
One story of Spring-heeled Jack was told by a Miss Jane Alsop when she recounted: About a quarter to nine o clock of the preceding night she heard a violent ringing at the gate in front of the house and on going to the door to see what was the matter she saw a man standing outside of whom she inquired what was the matter. The person instantly replied that he was a policeman and said “For God’s sake bring me a light for we have caught spring heeled Jack here in the lane” She returned into the house and brought a candle and handed it to the person who appeared enveloped in a large cloak The instant she had done to however he threw off his outer garment and applying the lighted candle to his breast presented a most hideous and frightful appearance and vomited forth a quantity of blue and white flame from his mouth and his eyes resembled red balls of fire. (Morning Chronical, February 22, 1838)
Jack quickly found his home in the news, plays, and short stories found within the penny dreadfuls. As his legend grew, so did the number of sightings, most were found in suburban London, while others reported seeing him in the Midlands and Scotland. As the press continued on with their story-telling, his legend grew, by the 1870s he became more demonic in appearance, ditching the top coat and wearing less clothes.
Jack wasn’t feared just because of the stories surrounding his supernatural abilities, he was also blamed for multiple deaths, though most were eventually proven false. In January 1838, The Morning Herald’s did an investigative piece on Jack which found plenty of people repeating the stories of Spring-Heeled Jack, but they were unable to find anyone who had actually seen him firsthand.
The escapades of Spring-heeled Jack even made its way across the Atlantic when he appeared in the March 4th 1885 edition of Beadle’s New York Dime Library.
By the late 1904 he seemed to have taken on more of a benevolent persona, acting more as a vigilante than a villain. Still donning his glossy black boots, his appearance was more human like. He once quipped “Where I am there is help for the weak and oppressed”
In the 1930’s, a phantom called the Black Flash appeared in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. There were numerous reports with witnesses describing a “man in Victorian garb who spewed blue-white flames from his mouth”, just like Jack.
So you be the judge, is he a villain, a result of mass hysteria, a vigilante or just a scapegoat for the London police’s failure to solve certain crimes?