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THE
COMPLETE SPRING HEELED JACK PAGE
This page is based on research generated by the SHJ series of walks and a talk at the South East London Folklore Society
This is the folk legend of Spring Heeled Jack that we have inherited from some very real events occurring all over England throughout the 19th Century. But what was the truth behind it? Springald, as he was also sometimes known, was without doubt the most famous 'bogeyman' of Victorian society, and enjoyed a status akin to that Bigfoot or 'little grey men' do today. He was also the first of his kind. While legends of strange phantoms have existed since the beginning of history, Spring Heeled Jack was the first to enter the official record as a real phenomenon, or at least as one whose witnesses could be found and would testify to the veracity of their experience. Part of this may have been due to the changing culture of the early nineteenth century, and the rise of mass printing technology, the first newspapers were largely responsible for the general publics awareness of the events, but there was also something unique about him. There were other similar changes at the time too, for instance the first identifiable witnesses to the infamous 'phantom horse and carriage' and the classic 'haunted mansion' also date to the early nineteenth century, perhaps for similar reasons, and even the aforementioned Bigfoot was first spotted in Canada in the mid 1830's according to some researchers, but none captured the public imagination as Jack did. He can in many ways be regarded as Britain's patron saint of weirdness. The
Beginning False
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'TO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR, 'My Lord
- The writer presumes that your lordship will kindly overlook the liberty
he has taken in addressing a few lines on a subject which within the
last few weeks caused much alarming sensation in the neighbouring villages
within three or four miles of London. The writer briefly describes a typical encounter before going on to say: 'The affair has now been going on for some time, and, strange to say, the papers are still silent on the subject. The writer is very unwilling to be unjust to any man, but he has reason to believe that they have the history at their finger-ends but, through interested motives, are induced to remain silent. It is, however, high time that such detestable nuisance should be put a stop too…' 'I remain your Lordship's most humble servant, 'A RESIDENT OF PECKHAM.' Though some people take the theory expressed in the letter at face value, from today's standpoint we can recognise the kind of alarmed conspiracy theory that emerges in times of deep insecurity, especially when facing the unknown, and also the anxiety behind it. It seems the Mayor took it in a similar spirit, for he first seems to have dismissed it, at a meeting at Mansion House in the City, describing the writer as probably 'one of the women who lost their senses', and declaring that the events were not within his jurisdiction anyway. But when further witnesses emerged to give corroborative testimonies he decided to hold another public meeting to discuss the matter. Here he declared his belief that one or more criminals were behind these attacks, but suggested they had been greatly exaggerated. The emerging press, looking for sensational stories to boost their circulations, were enthralled by the accounts, and the London Times carried an in depth report on them for the next two days, with many other newspapers following the same lead. This of course only served to magnify the scare, but brought forward even more witnesses and stories. By the time this was public news the phenomena had spread as far north as Hornsey and southeast into Forest Hill, Lewisham and Blackheath. The Mayor had been informed by a 'reliable source' that a serving girl in Forest Hill and been scared into fits by a phantom clad in a bearskin worn over chain mail, and news emerged of a gentlemen offering the princely sum of £5 for the capture of the ghoul that had terrified his daughter into fits in Dulwich. The girl described the figure as 'wrapped in a white sheet and surrounded by a blue flame'. Vigilante committees are said to have formed to try to capture the phantom, with one allegedly led by a geriatric Duke of Wellington, but though sightings of the rascal were sometimes reported, the phantom always escaped and even seemed impervious to bullets.This has become part of Jack lore, though isn't corroborated in the media. However it is a deeply held belief and It appears it was at this point that tales of his incredible leaping ability began to be widely reported and so I'm inclined to believe there is some truth to this tale. At first he was said to be able to leap from a run over a 10ft obstacle, later though, undoubtedly exaggerated, claims have him leaping over entire buildings and even appearing to fly. But despite all these apparently supernatural abilities the press was convinced the whole thing was a hoax, and supported the wager theory, or alternatively thought it the work of a madman, comparing it with the likes of the London Monster, a lunatic who was stabbing young ladies bottoms with a sharp instrument only a few years earlier. The spring-loaded boot theory began to be put forward more seriously now and circulated in press reports. Yet despite this general public opinion, particularly in the villages, tended to favour a supernatural theory. This was evidenced not just by the folklore associations that accrued around the phantom, but also the name he was given at this time, variously Spring Jack, Spring Heeled Jack, or just plain Springald. While ostensibly referring to the spring loaded boot theory, and evoking images of a then popular and deeply disturbing children's toy, called the Jack-in-the-Box, the name none the less drew on a tradition of naming sprites 'Jack'. A practice found in examples ranging from Jack Frost, through Jack-o-Lantern and Jack-o-Kent, to Jack-in-the-Green. This taken with other associations indicates that historically the name 'Jack' clearly denoted a supernatural entity. Some folklorists have even stretched the point to equate this with the French name Jacques, and demonstrate a linguistic connection with the Greek deity name Iacchus. Be that as it may the local rural population were certainly pinning supernatural attributes onto their phantom. This dual image was typical of the cultural dualism of the 1830's which we'll explore in a moment. It was probably from the interplay of these two perspectives on Jack that the idea of him as a devilish figure in a long black cloak emerged and became his dominant image. The first classic account of this look given by an elderly woman who claimed she had encountered a strange man by a cemetery in Clapham Road, dressed in a dark cape, with a hat pulled over his eyes. After he passed by she caught a glimpse of a dark shadowy object jump over the high fence around the graveyard, and on turning around she found the man was no longer there. Odd footprints were later found inside the cemetery. This was in the same area that one Mary Stevens had earlier reported an 'assault' at Lavender Hill, by a mysterious laughing man in dark clothes, who 'leapt extraordinarily high', and near to where the following night a similar man had caused horses to bolt after he leapt across Streatham High St. All three stories were associated by their tellers with Spring Heeled Jack. The accounts were collected at the beginning if the 20th century, by Elizabeth Villiers, for her book on highwayman, and nocturnal assailants, Stand & Deliver, and tentatively dated to early 1838. Sources were not given but at least one account came from an eyewitness (by then presumably very old!) and the stories were claimed to have been well known at the time. Unfortunately they do not appear in any contemporary newspapers, so their veracity is still an open question. The name
Spring Heeled Jack came to denote a 'very swift criminal' or a sprightly
youth hard to catch. The general consensus is that this was derived
from the name of the phantom, and later applied to others, however it
is also possible that the reverse was the case, as some claim the name
was part of Scottish slang long before the phantom emerged, either as
a general term or perhaps a fragment of preserved folklore. The issue
remains unresolved. Curiously the name Jack is believed by some etymologists
to have been ultimately derived from the biblical name Jacob, which
is associated with a pun on 'heel' in Hebrew. The story being attached
to this was that Jacob had supplanted Esau of his land and inheritance
by symbolically tipping his heel. Arab legend says Jacob's heels couldn't
touch the ground after his battle with an angel.
Spring Heeled Jack and the East End Terror The most dramatic and confirmable encounters with Jack occurred in what is now the East End of London. This should not be surprising as any glance at a map showing the spread of Jack reports reveals them spreading out north, south and east from Barnes before curving round pincer like on the east end from both sides. This area also saw the last events in the first wave of the scare, which can be fairly said to have climaxed here. Again the inititial focus was not in London itself but in villages to the east of the city, primarily Bromley by Bow, a small hamlet amidst farm land on the main road between London and Essex. It was here that rumours of Jack's latest antics began to circulate, and sightings reported of a strange caped figure carrying a small lantern in Bow Fair Fields (formerly the site of a local fair as the name implies). Similar sightings were reported from the nearby village of Old Ford (the original crossing of the Lea river, and its marshes, before the bow bridge was built at Bromley), as well as in a long quiet country road called Bearbinder Lane (now Tredegar Road). It was at 1 Bearbinder Lane, on the 21 February around 8:45 in the evening, at the home of one of the areas most well to do families, that the most infamous Spring Heeled Jack encounter occurred. Jane Alsop, the 18 year old daughter of the then invalid John Alsop and his wife, was at home with her two sisters, when she heard an urgent ringing of the bell at the gate. On investigating it, a black cloaked figure in the path exclaimed, "I'm a policeman. For Gods sake, bring me a light, for we have caught Spring-heeled Jack here in the lane". Jane went to fetch a light for the man. She returned with a candle and as she was handing the light to the man, it shone on his face and she 'realised that it was Spring Heeled Jack'. The man is then said to have grabbed the candle and cast off his cloak, revealing him to be wearing a white oilskin-like coverall and large helmet which fitted him very tightly. His face was 'most hideous and frightful' according to Jane, and his eyes glowed a fiery red. Without warning he spat balls of a blue and white fire into her face, stunning her, before grabbing her neck and proceeding to assault her with his metallic claws. She attempted to run back into the house but he held her firmly in head lock and began tearing into her flesh and clothes with his claws. Freeing herself in the struggle she fled back up the stairs, but Jack held tightly to the back of her hair, ripping a large chunk of it from her head. Fortunately one of her sisters, alerted by her screams, managed to pull her out of his grasps and drag her back into the house, slamming the door in the phantoms face. Jack continued banging loudly on the door for some time, before hastily leaving when the family yelled for the police from the upper windows of the house. Unidentified witnesses claimed that Spring Heeled Jack left quickly, dropping his coat in a field by Jane's home. It was later also claimed that an 'accomplice' retrieved the cloak, but this is not mentioned in any contemporary report. The first definitely on the scene were a group from the nearby John Bull pub who had heard their cries for help, it was later said that they had passed a man in long black cloak on their way, who had told them to hurry to the scene as Spring Heeled Jack was at Mr Alsop's house and the police were needed. The family reported the event before magistrates at Lambeth Street, and a police investigation was launched which concluded the attack was genuine. The police
investigation was inconclusive alas, official investigators concluded
the assailant was a local man who must have known the area and the Alsop
family very well, but while suspects were known they could not positively
identify any culprits. One early case was made against a bricklayer
called Payne and a carpenter called Millbank. Their accuser was one
James Smith, a wheelwright, who claimed to have been the first person
on the scene and to have witnessed part of the attack. He had met Payne
and Millbank, the latter dressed in a white hunting suit and carrying
a candle, leaving the scene of the crime along Bearbinder Lane in some
hurry, and later again saw them in the crowd, which had gathered outside
the Alsop's house, talking with Mr Alsop (an unlikely thing for the
assailant?). Later still he claimed to have encountered them again near
the Morgan Arms pub in Coburn Street, across the road from Millbank's
residence, and alleged they had all but confessed to the crime to him
before entering the pub. Both men denied this however, and claimed they
had been attracted to the scene by the screams from the house. The publican
of the White Hart Pub in Old Ford claimed they had in fact been on his
premises at the time of the crime, though had left shortly after, and
Millbank had bought a candle at a nearby store to light his way home,
later found in his pocket (however it need be born in mind that clocks
were not accurate, or well synchronised, in this period). More damningly
though he said they had both been drunk, particularly Millbank, who
said himself he could remember little of the night in question. Jane
Alsop had said her assailant was most definitely not drunk and very
much in charge of his senses, nor could she recognize the suspects (one
of whom, Payne, was known by her father). Details of Smith's account
of the attack also differed slightly to Alsop's, and it may be that
he had a grudge against Millbank and Payne. A friend of Smith's, a shoemaker
called Richardson, had claimed he had also encountered a strange man
in a long cloak, accompanied by a young boy, near the Alsop residence
just after the attack, who laughingly declared that Spring Heeled Jack
'was in the lane that night', but he also failed to identify either
Millbank or Payne. Confusingly a man called Mr Fox, who said he was
too ill to attend the hearing, then sent a letter to the magistrates
declaring his belief that he was the man with the boy, but had worn
no cloak, and was merely attracted to the house by the screams. One
of Mr Alsop's children also testified that this was so. Millbank had
also left the scene along Bearbinder Lane according to Smith, while
the party from the John Bull pub, in Roman Road, who encountered another
caped figure, must have approached the house along another country lane,
now Parnell Street, and not Bearbinder Lane. The police abandoned the
investigation. By this time Jack seems to have been a familiar figure further west in the east end of London, as a report from the Chelmsford Chronicle, a local Essex newspaper, dated 23 February 1838, describes an encounter (probably occurring on the 13th Feb) under the heading 'a Cockney Ghost in The Country'. Here a butcher from Upminster reported a midnight encounter a huge 'grisly spectre' clothed in silver grey. The butcher for some reason is said to have identified this 'hobgoblin' with an amalgam of all the animals he had ever slaughtered. He attempted to escape but found the creature blocking his path at every turn. He finally fled the way he had come. The newspaper identified the spook with Jack but also displayed a mocking scepticism towards the report. On the 25 February at around 8pm there was a knock on the door at 2 Turner Street, in the wealthier quarter of Whitechapel in the heart of the east end. The servant who answered the door was asked, by a tall shadowy figure in a long black cloak, if his employer Mr Ashworth was at home. On answering the figure cast off its cloak to reveal itself as a horrendous fiend. The servant fell back inside and slammed the door, and his terrified cries alerted the house and whole neighbourhood. Unidentified witnesses claim to have seen the figure bound off down the street (a later account declared it then 'leapt over a house' in its flight). Haining claims the servant saw a crest on the creature's costume, that was later identified as that of the Marquis of Waterford. None of these more sensational and elaborate details appear in contemporary news reports however which stick to the basic story from the servant, and it is possible they derive from the fictionalised retelling of the story. Three days later at about 8:30pm Lucy Scales, the 18 year old sister of a Limehouse butcher, was walking along Narrow Street, returning with her younger sister from her brother's house. As she turned into Green Dragon Alley ('the second on the left about nine doors down from Mr Turner's wharf, leading into Risby's rope walk') she was confronted by a tall, thin figure in a large black cloak, standing at an angle in the passage. She approached him and noticed he was carrying a bulls eye lantern and seemed to be wearing a bonnet (for which reason she initially assumed it was a woman), but no sooner than she had noticed this the figure spat a quantity of blue flame and fumes into her face, and she collapsed on the floor in fits. Her younger sister screamed upon witnessing this and soon her brother came running along Narrow Street, to find her trying to assist Lucy who was having violent fits on the pavement. There was no sign of the stranger. This incident was also investigated by the Lambeth Street magistrates who found that the two sister's descriptions of the event matched exactly, and that it was supported in part by her brother's testimony, and declared their belief that this was a real occurrence, and that the culprit was the same as in of the Bow and Whitechapel attacks. A doctor also testified that Lucy's fits had lasted for several hours after the attack, and that she had been 'temporarily blinded' by the blue flames. Curiously the brother declared they had been reading a newspaper report of the Bow incident minutes before leaving the house and he had assured them that Jack would never dare visit Limehouse. Some reports say the figure bounded away after the attack, but Lucy's sister testified that it turned silently and left with extreme speed. This was the last event in the East End Scare, though not the last that would be heard of Spring Heeled Jack.
Not surprisingly Spring Heel Jack caused a wave of panic to spread not only across 19th century London but the whole country, the result being that any odd occurrence was quickly attributed to him, and local traditional bogey men often eclipsed or absorbed into the new stereotype. Such a figure was bound to capture the imagination of creative artists and from as early as the 1840's he would become the star of various gothic horror plays, and the subject of early graphic novels called 'Penny Dreadfuls'. These representations did much to shape his image in the minds of the British public over time, particularly when real sightings began to subside and memories faded, as well as cause much confusion between fiction and fact as we have already seen. The first fictional account seems to have been as early as 1840, a play called 'Spring-Heeled Jack, the Terror of London', by John Thomas Haines, in which Jack is a dastardly villain who attacks women after he is jilted by his sweetheart; it was soon followed a few years later by the W. G. Willis play 'The Curse of the Wraydons', in which Jack is a traitor during the Napoleonic War who spies for Napoleon, and stages murderous stunts to deflect attention. Later in the 1840s came the first Penny Dreadful to feature Jack, also entitled 'Spring-Heeled Jack, the Terror of London' which appeared in weekly episodes and was written anonymously; it too made Jack a villain, and drew as much from the play as it did reality. A Penny Dreadful from 1843,'The Old Tar and the Vampire' had featured a mysterious fiend called 'Jack' who leapt around the streets of the east end of London, and set at least one person alight with his pyromaniacal skills, but he was not overtly identified with Spring Heel Jack. In 1863 another play, 'Spring-Heel'd Jack: or, The Felon's Wrongs', was written by Frederick Hazleton. Between 1864 and 1867 'Spring-Heeled Jack, the Terror of London' was reissued in a rewritten version. 1878 saw the third Penny Dreadful which appeared in 48 weekly instalments, probably written by George A. Sala or Alfred Burrage under the pseudonym of Charlton Lea. It kept the same title, but totally transformed the story. Jack is no villain in these stories; he uses his powers to right wrongs, and save the innocent from the wicked. Here he is in fact a nobleman by birth, cheated of his inheritance, and his amazing leaps are due to compressed springs in the heels of his boots. He is dressed in a skin-tight glossy red outfit, with bat's wings, a lion's mane, horns, talons, massive cloven hoofs, and a sulphurous breath; he makes spectacular leaps, easily jumping over rooftops or rivers, and is immensely strong. In 1889 this version was reprinted, and in 1904 Charles Burrage's version was published. Finally a remake of 'The Curse of the Wraydons', was written in 1928 by surrealist Swiss author Maurice Sandoz ,and later made into a film. Jack has appeared in a variety of fictional mediums ever since. What is particularly interesting about the publication dates is that they were often published around a year after a wave of SHJ reports, indicating they were feeding on the reports rather than the other way around, despite their influence on Jack's image. One interesting aspect of the later fictional stories is how they arguably manifest the first notion of the 'superhero'.The basic image survives in the prototypes of the spooky 'masked crimefighters' of a later age, such as the Shadow, and even more so in their more famous culmination. As an heir of a wealthy family, who initially seeks revenge for some wrong done, disguising himself in a tight jumpsuit with a bat like cape and a pointy eared cowl, and using sophisticated gadjets he has invented to give him superhuman abilities, Jack is not too dissimilar to another well known character of almost exactly a century later, who appears to have been particular influenced by him. The reality of course was very different.
Jack Returns! Or Does He? Other sightings of Jack were reported through out the1840s, along with the successful apprehension of various copy cat hoaxers, but none were as dramatic as the Febuary events. They occurred all over Britain but were also quite different. The first was in mid 1838 in Marylebone were a youth as accosted by two Jacks, both tall men in long black cloaks, their faces speared with red brick dust, whom he narrowly escaped from. In 1847 a 'goblin-like form' in a bull's hide, with a white moustache, was encountered by a terrified woman in Teignmouth, before it quickly fled with 'great agility'. The only notable feature of all these cases was the occasional agility of the assailants, however no claws, blue flames or any other features of the earlier events were described. Their form varied almost as much as the original sightings, and apart from their agility, the only other feature that identified them as Jack was their black cloaks or white clothes. Significantly no act they performed was incompatible with that possible of the most amateur young hoaxer, and given the number of identified pranksters arrested in this period (see below) this is exactly what they probably were. The 1850s and 60s were relatively free of any phenomena genuinely attributable to Spring Heeled Jack, though various mysterious deaths in this period were blamed on him, particularly those in inaccessible places or on country roads, and those few with 'deep scratches' or 'burns' on the body, but with little if any evidence. Some were later found to have other more common explanations. The situation
was a little different in the 1870's, with the 'Peckham Ghost' of 1872,
the Sheffield's 'Park Ghost' of 1873 and the 'Aldershot Ghost' and 'Newport
Jack' of 1877, which do have genuinely strange aspects, not least the
presence of poltergeist phenomena associated with the Peckham events.
All of these phantoms were associated in the public imagination with
Spring Heeled Jack, though seldom by the press, simply due to Jack's
reputation, and the fact that they were said to be extremely agile when
chased, and could apparently leap great heights. Their appearance was
only superficially like Jack's as well, being generally tall figures
in various kinds of white clothing, sometimes including the stereotyped
white sheet. Most in fact sound like hoaxers again, though the Peckham
phantom, often seen in his 'natty white costume and feathered cap' sounds
at least a little more imaginative. Their modus were also unlike that
of the original Jack, being content to leap out on victims and scare
them rather than attack. With only the Aldershot Ghost (popularly attributed
to a prankster) physically interacting with his victims, solders on
nocturnal guard duty at the barracks, and only then with a slight slap
to the face before bounding off. The only intriguing connection with
the original Jack being a single report from Herne Hill - near to where
the Peckham Ghost had a few days earlier jumped a six foot fence in
a path next to Nunhead Cemetery, after previously appearing nearby with
a 'flaming face' - in which the leaping figure was said Spring Heeled Jack's last accredited British performance was said to be in Liverpool in 1904. But the details of this are vague. An undescribed figure refered to as 'Jumping Jack' was certainly reported in the area in 1888, specifically in Shaw Street, Everton, at one time climbing the spire of a local church. But Mike Dash's research in local newspaper libraries only reveals tales of a poltergeist at the same site in 1904, which locals attributed to the then legendary Spring Heeled Jack. There appear to be no first hand accounts of any phantom in Liverpool at this time. The last time anything like Jack seems to have been experienced in Britain was in the 1920s, when the Bradford Ghost eluded his pursuers with amazing agility and speed in the September of 1926. Like his earlier predecessors this phantom was a figure in white, this time a sheet and cowl, making him look like a one of the Klu Klux Klan according to some. Again the figure haunted an area for a short time before vanishing never to be heard of again. Other phantoms of a similar nature have been reported worldwide since then, with one, the Provincetown Phantom, being almost a Canadian clone of London's Jack, but these will be explored later. Hoaxing The fact that some of Jack's antics were actually the work of pranksters is undeniable. Many individuals have been named as suspects the most famous will be explored in a moment. But we don't really have to look for great individual pranksters. In the 1840s newspapers published news reports of the apprehension of several Spring Heeled Jack hoaxers, and the veiled identification of 'suspected pranksters', and sometimes their misidentification, was common place by the mid 19th century. For example, the wave of sightings of Jack around 1843 in Epping Forest, as a black caped, 'fire breathing' figure who spooked travellers, were attributed to the high jinks of an unnamed local man, whose identity is still said to be held secret by his family; in 1845 a Worcester man, Thomas Lowland, was sentenced to three years hard labour for impersonating Spring Heeled Jack and terrorising his neighbourhood (including the local police, which perhaps explains his atypical sentence); in the same year a butcher in Brentford, Richard Bedford, was cautioned for jumping out on a young woman disguised as a ghost; and also in 1845 a feverish, elderly man named Purdy had 'inadvertently' created a scare in Yarmouth when he wandered into the street in a sheet, only to be killed by a terrified local youth. A few years later in 1847 another elderly man, Edward Finch, was convicted in Teignmouth of several sexual assaults while disguised as Jack. These were probably only the tip of the iceberg of many other apparent pranks all over Britain whose perpetrators went undetected in the 1840s (far too many for even a small group of hoaxers). As early as March 1838, a youth of Kentish Town, called Daniel Granville, was cautioned for impersonating Spring Heeled Jack by donning a 'hideous mask' with blue glazed paper at the mouth to simulate flames, and an 18 year old potman from Kilburn was fined £4 for leaping out at people in white sheet, mask and false beard. Shortly before this an Islington blacksmith, named James Priest, had been sentenced to three months hard labour for indecent assault on several young women while impersonating Jack. This pattern would be repeated in the subsequent 'Spring Heeled Jack' scares of the late 19th century. It is thus likely that Jack's entire history, was peppered with hoaxes. Some of course
claim these hoaxers were just amateurs and the real pranksters were
far cleverer and responsible for more ingenious hoaxes. Such claims
often draw on the story of the aristocratic wager. However these claims
have very little evidence behind them. In fact the wager theory crops
up again and again across the decades in different place, indicating
that it is probably an urban myth. It is not impossible that some of
the hoaxers came from the upper class, in fact it is quite likely given
that pranks have no class distinctions and the aristocracy always had
the spare time and resources. But despite claims in fictional works
no plausible suspect has ever been found. The most famous being the
Marquis of Waterford, an Irish noble residing in London, and then notorious
for his riotous drunken behaviour and high jinks, and has been put forward
since at least 1880. Though no evidence links him to the scares, and
none of his other known behaviour matches Jack's predilections. Haining's
book, 'The Bizarre Crimes of Spring Heeled Jack', tries to point the
finger at him, but is undermined by bogus accounts of Jack's exploits,
wrongly used as evidence, without which no case exists. Curiously the
later Penny Dreadfuls spend an inordinate amount of time exonerating
Waterford, pointing out that he was often known to be elsewhere when
Jack struck. This may have been due a need to dispel to popular rumour,
or to earlier fictional claims, in order to strengthen a new plot, either
of which could have been Haining's ultimate source. The biggest flaw
with the Waterford theory and its ilk though is its claim that the spectacular
leaps were made with the aid of spring loaded boots. As anyone with
even the slightest engineering knowledge will realise this is extremely
unlikely, especially on uneven ground. An unsourced but plausible report
claims that the Germans tried to create an identical pair of boots for
use by their special forces in WWII, over a century later, but the technology
proved impossible, with 85% of the 'test pilots' breaking their ankles.
Another popular candidate is the High Court Judge, later Baron Brampton,
Sir Henry Hawkins, who was said to have been a Spring Heeled Jack impersonator
in Hitchin while a bored law student. But as this was in 1836, a year
before the first sighting, and included an alleged confession to the
use of spring loaded boots, it is an unlikely claim! We can't exclude
any possibility of an aristocratic prankster however, as the hoaxers
of the period probably came from all sorts of backgrounds.
Note: I'm
grateful to Steve Wilson for pointing out that those who would have
have the greatest access to such props, as well as perhaps clawed gloves
and theatrical skills, were the acting profession and those who assisted
them in the theatre, and that in the 1830s the latter were then organised
into a secretive mutual aid and drinking society known as the Order
of Buffaloes. Further research reveals that the first degree of this
order was called The Kangeroo. The society maintained its own mythic
origins in a 'bull cult' of Ancient Egypt, passed down through the knightly
orders of the crusades to showmen. It is likely that a lodge of this
'secret society', known as 'the working man's Freemasonry', was associated
with Bow Fair. So hoaxing
was probably a big part of the Spring Heeled Jack affair and the resources
for it were there. But was there more to it than this? Psychogenic Phenomena It seems unlikely that the hundreds of alleged encounters were all hoaxes, not least because such hoaxes seem not uncommon and the scare was so unprecedented and widespread. As even the newspapers admitted, something must have started it. Another reason being the difficulty in hoaxing some of the attributes of the original case, the apparently impossible leaps and the fire phenomena in particular. There may however be another explanation for these that explains much of the phenomenon as a whole. Some have suggested the apparently paranormal elements were exaggerated, and this was probably true with second hand stories, but given the hysteria they caused in many victims as reported first hand this seems unlikely overall. But the clue may be in the hysteria itself. Psychologists have long known of a rare phenomena they have called psychogenic disorder. In reality it may be rather common. The term basically means 'born in the mind' and covers a wide range of so called psychosomatic conditions. Its most dramatic forms however are Mass Hysteria and Collective Hallucination. The following condensed information is based on information distributed to universities, with a few additions, and gives a general idea of the nature of the phenomena (highlights added): Information
Concerning Mass Collective Behavior and Psychogenic Illness Another type of collective behavior according to Kerckhoff and Back(1968) is a "hysterical contagion". It consists of the quick dissemination within a collection of people of a symptom, or a set of symptoms, for which no physical explanation can be found. Typical cases today include illness caused by alleged food poisoning, insects bites, toxic fumes, or environmental pollutants for which no pathogenic agent can be found. In this type of collective behavior something happens to affected individuals and they view themselves as victims. This type of behavior is typically referred to as " mass hysteria" or "mass psychogenic illness". "Mass psychogenic illness" or "contagious psychogenic illness" is defined as the collective occurrence of a set of physical symptoms and related beliefs among several individuals without an identifiable pathogen (Colligan and Murphy 1982:33). Symptoms included fits, convulsions, twitching, muscle spasms, abdominal cramps nausea, and headaches). Symptomology
and Characteristics of Mass Psychogenic Illnesses 2. Predominantly young female populations. From 60 to 90% of victims of psychogenic illnesses have "historically been young females" (Colligan and Murphy,1982:41). 3. Victims
often know each other or are in the same friendship circles. Observing
a friend become sick is the best predictor of the development of symptoms
(Small, et al 1991; Colligan, Pennebaker, Murphy 1982;Stahl and Lebedun,
1974) 6. Underlying
psychological or physical stress. Individual stress from an unfamiliar
environment or performance anxiety; social stress including war, rapid
technological change, or epidemic diseases; and school and work related
stress including the beginning of the school year are common (Sirois
1982;Rockney and Lemke 1992; Colligan, Pennebaker, Murphy, 1992). Another,
though apparently rarer, form of psychogenic phenomena is Collective
Hallucination. This is broadly similar to Mass Hysteria and over laps
with it to a certain extent. Its unique feature is the production of
shared hallucinations (visual, audial or cognitive) in a group of people.
The delusion is usually found initially in one person but can spread
by contagion. The phenomena is most common in affinity groups at the
site of some shared activity. Otherwise it is similar to Mass Hysteria. What seems
a highly likely explanation for this is that the phenomena was a 'symbiotic'
combination of hoaxing and hysteria, both feeding off each other and
extending the panic. But while we have seen that hoaxing was commonplace,
and that a psychogenic contagion was a highly plausible component of
the scare, there are other questions that need to be answered before
we jump to such an easy conclusion. Were all the physical events possible
for hoaxers, are all the reports of 'paranormal phenomena' explicable
through psychogenic explanation, and were the necessary conditions for
such psychogenic contagion really present? Possible Paranormal And Other Inexplicable Elements The problematic elements of the 1838 Spring Heeled Jack encounters in terms of conventional explanation are basically fourfold: 1) The incredible leaps and swiftness reported of the phantom. 2) It's fire breathing and other incendiary phenomena. 3) Parallel poltergeist phenomena. 4) The phantom's alleged imperviousness to bullets. While other elements such as the strange appearance of the assailant can be put down to disguise or perceptual distortion, and features like the apparent metallic claws attributed to the involvement of a rogue blacksmith or theatrical supplier, the four elements listed above are harder to explain. The last of these might be the easier to account for though. Mike Dash's detailed investigations revealed that the aim of the average panicking civilian sounds often quite below par, as might be expected, and the professional marksmen involved, if any, seem to have more often fired blanks in warning than in any serious attempt to bring down their target. The phantom's evasion of live bullets seems less amazing in this context (the cases are also more common in the 1877 Aldershot Barracks affair than in the 1838 scare). But despite valiant attempts by many researchers the remaining three elements are far more difficult to explain away. The leaps were the characteristic attribute of Jack, but as we have seen the idea that he really had springs in his boots is patently absurd. A more serious question is did they really occur? An examination of the verified reports shows that most didn't include leaping ability, and tales of his notorious evasions from pursuers are hardly documented at all. In fact only in a handful of accounts across the entire span of the 19th century is he actually credited with leaping obstacles of six feet or more. Of course even this would be hard for a hoaxer, and the fact that at on at least one occasion they facilitated his escape indicates they could not have all been hallucinated or fabricated. However this account comes from one of the Villiers interviews, rather than a verified newspaper report, so we might be tempted to dismiss it, on the flimsy grounds of 'common sense'. If we take it at face value it seems hard to account for. Some have argued that for cases where Jack sprang towards his victim over a hedge, or fence, a hidden springboard could have been involved, though this does not seem to have occurred very often, if at all. Others invoke the modern sport of freerunning, which includes the use of various pieces of street furniture, and other walls, as environmental springboards to assist a vault over a high obstacle. If so Jack must have been a trained acrobat, and while this may work in a cluttered urban environment it is difficult to see how it could be put to use in the open countryside that saw most of Jack's alleged leaps. Thus the only prosaic explanation seems to be their denial, though we are really in no justifiable position to do this. As has been pointed out many times, he wasn't called Spring Heeled Jack for nothing. Of course it may have been his name merely reflected his speed and stride, which may have even been really assisted by weakly springed heels, with the rest being exaggeration, but we still have the odd eyewitness report to account for. Less prosaic explanations, short of purely paranormal accounts, include the apparently superhuman abilities of the insane or possessed but no such suspects have ever been identified. The fire
breathing appears easily explicable at first glance. The presence of
a blue flame is characteristic of an alcohol based fuel, and so indicative
of a simple 'circus act'. The fact that it was an objective phenomenon
seems indicated by the distributed witnesses of the blue flame, with
no apparent knowledge of each other (apart from the Scales and Alsop
incidents), the lack of any previous instance or folklore regarding
it, as well as the possible physical damage done to Scales by the flames
(if it were more than hysterical as the doctor seemed to imply). This
combined with the leaping ability might be further evidence that Jack
was a circus performer. However things are not as simple as they seem. Finally we
have the poltergeist phenomena, the strongest evidence of all for a
paranormal element to the scare. Though curiously while both the Peckham
Ghost scare of 1872 included a poltergeist factor (in the form of a
'stone throwing ghost'), as did the Liverpool events of 1904 (another
'stone throwing ghost'), no such reports were associated with the 1838
scare. However figures flying over six foot hedges may seem psychokinetic
enough for some! Moreover the fact that these later two scares were
confined to a relatively small area while the 1838 case was spread all
over what is now Greater London would have made the identification of
such diverse phenomena difficult. And as it appears the 1830s were full
of ghost and poltergeist accounts, it might be considered odd if there
wasn't a parallel phenomena going on in some places. In conclusion while prosaic explanations may just be possible, for the events of 1838 at least, they seem to stretch plausibility for the sake of explaining away awkward facts. Though it has to be admitted that no hard evidence currently exists for a paranormal component to the original scare. The question thus remains open. Though the fact that few, if any, hoaxers have managed to recreate the phenomenal of 1838 in the past two hundred years almost, despite many attempts, may indicate how difficult it would have been then.
The Hoaxers Club It is clear there was no shortage of hoaxers involved in the SHJ scares. Most were amateurs and opportunists. Were any more than this, and if so how organised were they? Given the effort some may have taken: learning fire breathing or acrobatic skills, fabricating steel clawed gloves, and maybe even springed shoes, it seem they were taking their game strangely seriously and for no apparent reason. But a slightly more plausible possibility is that Spring Heeled Jack was the product of a well resourced group with time on its hands, who attracted skilled hoaxers, or could pay talented hirelings for specific tasks.Certainly newspaper reports of the time often referred to a hypothetical 'Spring Heeled Jack gang'. For this reason many have postulated that a resourceful hoaxers club was behind some of the events. A bizarre hypothesis, yet no more bizarre than some of the alternatives. It is really an extension of the 'wager theory', taken to its extreme. But how plausible is it? We've seen that in at least two case more than one culprit was involved, and that a well planned operation appears to have been involved in some cases. But what would motivate people to do this? While a bunch of aristocrats making a wager, and deploying what ever they had to hand in it, seems just plausible a more dedicated project seems hard to believe. And even the 'wager theory' doesn't seem adequate, with the recurrence of the story over and over again in the 19th century, at different places and times, indicating that it is probably an urban myth. Though perhaps one triggered by a grain of truth. Another kind of hoaxers club may have been found in rural communities. Given that much of the early 'guises' of Jack involved material available to 'folk societies', animal costumes, masks, armour etc, and that the early forms were so like folklore characters, it seems possible that some traditional rural group was involved, perhaps even something akin to a local coven or other secretive association. But again we are left with the question of motivation. An answer
to both these may be in the social conditions of the period. The 1830s
was a time when London's population was soaring and the urban poor were
moving into the countryside (along with solders returning from the Napoleanic
Wars). It was also a time when the mercantile class who were moving
into large new country houses in the developing 'green belt' areas on
the fringes of London. There is reason to believe that this may have
caused social tensions and resistance to change in these rural communities.
Could this have been a motive behind any organised scare tactics? Certainly
a few years earlier social tensions had erupted further out in the countryside
into full scale riots and rebellions, under the control of the mysterious,
'Captain Swing' (a collective name used by many). Most of these rebels
were hung in 1831, but could part of the Spring Heeled Jack affair have
been related to this, a more low key revolt? Its tempting
to think so, particularly as many of the targets seem to have been members
of these new middle class families moved into rural areas. However this
is by no means universal and so can't be a complete explanation.
Demons, Spooks and Wizards Many people regarded Spring Heeled Jack to be an evil spirit, or at least a supernatural entity, and some still do. And considering his apparent abilities this is not surprising. Certainly as a Fortean I would not dismiss the possibility. And this does seem to be how most rural people regarded the phenomena in 1838, linking his appearance in particular with those creatures traditionally associated with spirit manifestations, the white bull, the bear or the more obvious folkloric entities of devil, imp and ghoul (and this is not necessarily mutually exclusive with the idea of hoaxers exploiting the same imagery). Jack was regarded as a malign supernatural force by many, so much so that any later phantom assailant, regardless of modus, tended to be refered to under his name. Even the Whitechapel Murderer was refered to as 'Spring Heeled Jack' in his early days, at least according to local accounts, before his more grizzly deeds led to him be given the 'Ripper' epithet! Such explanations are obviously rejected by science, but a look at some of the folklore associated with these ideas can at least give us an insight in to how some of his contemporaries may have viewed him. Jack may have been a term for the Devil for some, as was the more familiar 'Old Nick', but the indications are that many held a dark fascination with the figure, perhaps informed by the less 'demonic' and more 'pagan' associations of 'Jack lore'. There are many Jacks in folklore who are considerably more 'morally ambiguous' than 'demonic'. The figure of Jack-in-the-Green is a well known one, the leafy actor in traditional rural festivities and mumming plays, believed by some to represent a nature spirit (controversially linked with the Green Man by neo-pagans). Jack Frost is less well known and appears to be his opposite. This figure has Nordic origins, where he was called Jokul ("icicle") Frosti ("frost",) son of the Norse god of wind, Kari. When Jokul moved to England, he became Jack Frost, and was pictured as an elf like being who coloured tree leaves and the ground with frost and painted patterns on windows. But other more human Jacks are also interesting, apparently preserving memories of sorcerers and shamans. The most famous being the Jack who acquired special seeds that enabled him to grow a beanstalk to the heavens. But there are others even more interesting. Jack-o-Kent was a character in Welsh legend who outwitted the Devil. In early stories he was a Giant or Elf who challenged the Devil to a boulder throwing contest from a nearby mountain, the boulders that landed becoming standing stones. In later stories he is a trickster or a wizard, and sometimes even an occult minded vicar. In his youth he plays the role of a scarecrow in some tales, but later sold his soul to the Devil to gain supernatural powers. He became so powerful that he could challenge the Devil, and often outwitted him (winning in a standing stone tossing contests being but a lesser victory of his). Eventually he died and the Devil awaited his soul, as Jack had pledged the Devil could have it 'whether his body was buried in a Christian cemetery or outside of it'. But Jack won again by leaving instructions to be buried under the cemetery wall (neither in or outside the cemetery). He also left instructions that a piece of liver was to be staked out on the wall at his funeral, and that a white dove and a black crow would fight over it. If the crow won he would be in hell, if the dove won he would escape to heaven. Witnesses say this happened and the dove won, but others say the battle was inconclusive and Jack is now neither in heaven or hell. An obviously liminal figure. Even the jack-o-lantern, the Halloween pumpkin lamp, has similar mythic associations. According to an Irish legend, jack-o-lanterns were named for a man named Jack, who could not enter heaven because he was a miser. He could not enter hell either, because he had played jokes on the Devil. So instead, he had to walk the earth with his lantern until judgment day. Perhaps it was no accidental feature that our Jack was also said to carry a lantern? Apart from the actual manifestation of these various supernatural entities, there is also the worldwide belief in possession to consider. However we account for such phenomena there seems to be the universal belief that it gives it subjects apparently supernormal abilities. This is then another factor that needs consideration. While on the subject of Folkloric Jacks, the famous nursery rhyme 'Jack be Nimble' may also be relevant. The short verse 'Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick' is universally agreed by scholars to refer to the custom of candle jumping practised at English fairs since a least the 16th century, and believed to be derived from an ancient tradition of bonfire leaping, thought to bring good luck. But no one is sure who Jack is supposed to be. One story has him as Black Jack, a 16th century pirate who constantly eluded the authorities, another as a clergyman in the time of Henry VIII, who couldn't decide if he was a Catholic or Anglican, on pain of being burned at the stake, and so oscillated between the two (again a neither one nor the other state), while a few see him as the memory of a shaman. The first publication date of the rhyme was 1798, just a few decades before Spring Heeled Jack first appeared. The Jacob connection mentioned earlier is also interesting, not only is Jacob (and so Jacques and Jack) punned with 'heel', but is also said to mean 'protector', and is mythically connected with two related groups fighting over territory (something more than relevant given the social circumstances of rural Britain in the1830s). Given the way European folklore mixed half remembered 'pagan lore' with Christian material we can only guess at the kind of mythic associations that may have accrued around, or been utilised by, 'Jack', much of which may now be lost. But could Jack really have been a spook or even a magician of somekind? Perhaps, but there are other explanations.
A popular interpretation of Jack today is that he was actually from outer space! This isn't quite as ludicrous as it sounds, it has its own distorted logic, in the hypothesis that a being from a high gravity planet might leap around effortlessly as our astronauts can on the moon. Comparisons have also been made with the apparent anti-gravity technology of the occupants of UFOs. The originator of the UFO connection was John Vyner who wrote an article on Jack for the May-June 1961 edition of Flying Saucer Review, in which he compared him with the 'Ufonauts'. Vyner unfortunately bolstered his case with a false description of Jack, drawn from a distorted version of the Alsop case, changing his helmet and 'oilskin' into a spacesuit and inventing a 'lamp' on his chest and a 'ray gun' from which his blue fire emerged (described by Vyner as an electro magnetic energy beam). Alas more reliable Ufologists such as Jacques Vallee and John Keel took Vyner's description at face value, without checking the original reports, and the myth of 'Jack the Spaceman' entered Ufology, to be championed today by the likes of Loren Coleman. The idea did not begin with Vyner however as Valentine Dyall's sensational accounts of Jack in the 50s also drew speculation that perhaps he was an alien from a planet with different gravity. A popular speculation in the age of the Flying Saucer. In fact the idea could even be much older than even this. As far back as the 1840s, if not earlier, the phenomenon we call the UFO was taking shape, with people reporting strange balls light of light in the sky, or emerging from or entering the worlds oceans. Similarly strange 'geometric' silhouettes were seen moving across the solar and lunar discs by astronomers, looking like nothing nature could produce. And as we have seen mysterious aerial explosions were heard in various parts of Europe, often accompanied by a strange soot like material falling from the sky (in one case quite near a set of strange footprints in Scotland). All of which is well recorded in the writings of Charles Fort. It is quite likely that a few imaginative people could have easily interpreted all this as somekind of 'extraterrestrial visitation' (certainly Fort later toyed with the idea). This is quite probable when we consider the Great Moon Hoax of 1835, just two years before Jack appeared. This was launched by the New York Sun newspaper, hoping to boost its low circulation. This it certainly did with its revelation that the famous astronomer Hershel had made astounding discoveries through his observations of the moon. As one author succinctly puts it, 'the article continued on and offered an elaborate account of the fantastic sights viewed by Herschel during his telescopic observation of the moon. It described a lunar topography that included vast forests, inland seas, and lilac-hued quartz pyramids. Readers learned that herds of bison wandered across the plains of the moon; that blue unicorns perched on its hilltops; and that spherical, amphibious creatures rolled across its beaches. The highpoint of the narrative came when it revealed that Herschel had found evidence of intelligent life on the moon: he had discovered both a primitive tribe of hut-dwelling, fire-wielding biped beavers, and a race of winged humans living in pastoral harmony around a mysterious, golden-roofed temple. Herschel dubbed these latter creatures the Vespertilio-homo, or "man-bat"'. It was the image of the man-bat that caught the publics imagination most (perhaps resonating with similar images from folklore). Christian evangelists even inquired of the current possibility of travel to the moon, in order to convert the aliens to their faith. While others feared any contact least the visit be returned. Amazingly, Yale University, in awe perhaps of Hershel's reputation, initially endorsed the story and hailed it the greatest moment in Earth's history! By 1836 the story had spread all over the World and was being reprinted in British newspapers. Though it had all been revealed as a hoax by 1837 this was not universally accepted in all quarters of the general public, who as ever whispered of cover up, and for everyone else the possibility of alien visitation was now at least real. While no news reports linked Jack with any possible extraterrestrial visitations, and it is unlikely that rural witnesses would have made the connection or even conceived of it, it is likely that the association would have been made by some in London. What may indicate this is some of the later Penny Dreadful representations of Jack which give him an increasingly bat like appearance (culminating in a more famous 'batman'). While this may have been derived from folklore we can't exclude the obvious influence of the Vespertilio-homo. Certainly we seem to see it re-emerge in the 1960's with the infamous 'Mothman'. Not even fictional representations of Jack overtly state this possibility however and if it was considered at all was probably very much a minority view at this time. But regardless of public perception was the idea possible? Obviously the gravity hypothesis is absurd, and the modern argument based on misrepresentation, but it remains a vague possibility. However even amongst serious Ufologists the idea of physical extraterrestrials is left to the lunatic fringe and more and more obvious parallels between folklore entities and 'ufonauts' are being realised. A identification strengthened by the increasing unlikelihood of sentient life anywhere else in our galaxy. So perhaps this explanation is little improvement on the previous.
This theory popularised by John Keel, and held in other forms by many modern Ufologists, is essentially a rationalisation of the previous observation, that today's 'aliens' and yesterday's 'spooks' may in fact be one and the same. It is interesting in that rather than reduce one to the other, in either direction, as others have tried, it postulates a third class of entity that has been historically misinterpreted in different ways. Keel calls these the 'ultraterrestrials' and envisions them as sentient beings from 'another dimension' who have always coexisted with us on Earth. Popularised today by the film the Mothman Prophecies, these beings seem to work by a logic alien to the human mind, though whether this indicates a subhuman irrationality or a superhuman incomprehensibility or neither is something even Keel seems unsure of. One thing that is certain is that many of these alleged entities have features very similar to Jack's, rapid movement, an apparent disregard for the laws of nature, a dark shadowy basic form, and often glowing red eyes. Another interesting feature of his theory, based on a historical study of the phenomena, is the idea that these entities need our input, both in terms of energy and imagery, to manifest in our world. At times Keel's description of them sounds positively vampiric! Other theorists have taken a less radical stance and postulated that the 'ultraterrestrials' are really creations of our own minds derived from our imagination and 'psychic energy', much like the Tibetan concept of the Tulpa, or 'thought form', a kind of dream creature that can manifest in the real world given enough energy. Even the Tibetans claim these entities can become 'autonomous' however, and so it is unclear where the line is to be drawn with Keel's theory. All agree however that the source of energy for these creatures is largely psychological and emotional in nature. Which brings us to another possibility. Psychogenic Explanation Earlier we
discussed the possibility of Mass Hysteria and Hallucination. Were the
psychological conditions for this present? It seems they may well have
been. The 1830s were a time of great change for many, not only were
they a time of technological advancement and cultural change, seeing
both an intensification of the Industrial Revolution and the gradual
indigenisation of a scientific worldview over former superstition, but
they were also a time of great socio-economic instability, Britain had
been almost bankrupted by the Napoleonic Wars and was struggling to
recover, and there was a corresponding high degree of poverty and social
unrest. For a while there were real fears of revolution (particularly
with new ideas increasingly seeping into Britain from France at this
time, now the two countries were no longer at war). We thus have all the conditions of a psychogenic event, underlying psycho-social stress, major cultural change and increasing class conflict, the insecurity of the newcomers in a potentially hostile community, and perhaps their boredom away from the entertainments of the city, all with a general period of unease and tension. All that was needed was the right stimulus for the hysteria to break out. It appears that what ever happened in Barnes in September 1837 was the trigger. The case for this is very strong, but as we have seen a psychogenic outbreak alone, even with parallel hoaxing doesn't seem quite enough. Parapsychogenics There is another possible element to all this that may clear up some of the problems, alas it is a very under researched one. That is the idea that real paranormal phenomena may be triggered by psychological disorder. The literature of clinical psychology is full of apparent paranormal phenomena occurring around the mentally ill. Poltergeist phenomena in particular are often associated with mental instability or psychological tensions and tribal shamans are often picked from those suffering from epilepsy. It is thus a short step to posit that what may be possible in individuals is also possible in groups and communities. A perfect example of this might be what I've called parapsychogenic phenomena, the potential psychic disturbances associated with contagious mass hysteria, and possible paranormal events resulting from this. In an occult context this may be related perhaps to the notion of thought forms generated by the human psyche and their susceptibility to human psychology and states of consciousness. This is admittedly an adventurous piece of speculation, but one that may be necessary to explain the events that actually happened in 1837-38. Cholera Connection A final curious piece of speculation that may be relevant to the mystery, or at least requires mention, is the cholera connection. In 1838 London was in the grip of a serious sanitation problem, the growing population of London and the inadequacies of its sewerage system were causing serious potential problems for Londoners and their neighbours. The inhabitants of Limehouse in particular were very much aware of this, at the point of exit into the Thames not only of one of London's largest canals, the Regents Canal, but also its major sewerage outlets. Drainage in East London was very poor then, as indeed it was over the whole of London. The Commissioners of Sewers, set up by Henry VIII, collected a rate and were meant to maintain the sewers in their area. However, many of the sewers were open ditches, and those which did run underground had not always been properly surveyed, so that the course became blocked up, and sometimes even overflowed into the streets. The worst drain was the 'Black Ditch', an open sewer running from the parish of Christ Church Spitalfields and emptying into Limehouse Dock. The Tower Hamlets Commissioners of Sewers had made an attempt to drain it by diverting the flow, but this had made the stream stagnant and more offensive. The Act for the Prevention of the Cholera Morbus came into force in February 1832 and allowed boards to perform some compulsory cleansing of houses for the first time, but was passed too late to have much effect on an epidemic already in progress. Throughout this period local rumours were spreading of 'giant black pig-like creatures' at large in the sewer system beneath Limehouse, as recorded in Mayhew's accounts of Dickensian London. Not only was this a potential source of further social anxiety, it also reveals a parallel with the closing events of other perhaps similar hauntings. The most famous of these being the famous events at Point Pleasant, West Virginia, around the infamous Mothman, which culminated with the collapse of a major traffic bridge and the deaths of many local people. Similar fatal disasters have been associated with other hauntings (today often absorbed into a so-called Mothman phenomena). In Limehouse just a few years after Spring Heeled Jack was last seen here, and the rumours of 'black pigs' were at their height, the biggest Cholera outbreak in the history of London erupted, decimating the local populus. An outbreak that soon spread to other impoverished areas and significantly reduced the population. The resultant depopulation of Limehouse was largely responsible for its later reoccupation by Chinese immigrants, and the emergence of the Limehouse of Sax Roemer later in that century. Could the earlier hauntings have been connected to this effectively man-made disaster in some way? If this were the only instance it may be dismissed as coincidence, but the history of 'Spring Heeled Jack' has other cholera connections. The most obvious being the 'Park Ghost' of Sheffield, who was regular spotted emerging from the Cholera monument in 1873, erected in 1834 in memory of 402 local victims of the disease. Similarly the SHJ events in Liverpool were very near the scene of the famous Cholera Riots of 1832, and Bradford was also an area badly hit by Cholera. Coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps not (it should be remembered that many areas in the North of England were effected by Cholera, not just Bradford, Liverpool and Sheffield, and also another epidemic in the 1850s that saw no sign of Jack, so the mystery remains).
The Spring Heeled Jack scare remains a mystery, and the reader is thus left to draw their own conclusions, hopefully not too biased by the dogmas of either religion or scientism. Alternatively they may wish to maintain an open mind and a healthy state of suspended judgement, regarding a mystery that may never be solved. My own conclusion is that all of the above theories have an element of truth to them in some way, and that some complex combination of them is the most likely solution. Beyond this I accept the mystery. The arrival
of Spring Heeled Jack was also the arrival of Forteana. The emergence
of the anomalous, when science began its popular assent at the beginning
of the 19th century and attempted an all encompassing rational materialist
worldview that was ultimately doomed to failure. References Appendix One :: The Latter Day Jacks The Provincetown Phantom - aka the Black Flash of Cape Cod, Canada. From Halloween 1938 - Dec 1945, Provincetown was haunted by a seven foot tall, black clad figure, who spooked children and lone adults. He was said to have 'fierce eyes and pointed ears', 'spat blue flames into his victim's faces' and leapt over 10ft walls. The phantom was said to be sometimes sighted in more than one location simultaneously. Local Police suspected three men of a hoax, but no one was ever charged. This case is odd as it not only occurred almost exactly one hundred years after the original SHJ scare but is also the nearest phenomenon to it to ever occur again. One problem however with the case is that it is not mentioned until the 1980s and no contemporary records seem to exist. It is tempting to dismiss this as a hoax, given the areas status as a seaside tourist area, if not for the fact that one of the major witnesses to it was the city's chief of police. The Springer
- Prague 1940-1945, a black clad phantom with amazing leaping abilities
who allegedly taunted the German The Baltimore
Phantom - A hideous black clad figure in a cape of 1951, who 'ran
and jumped like a gazelle'. He ran The Jumping Manikins - Or 'Spiral Hoppers', strange white clad, bouncing midgets in East Germany in the 1950s. Possibly connected to the Springer legend. The Sante Fe 'Rooftop Madman' - A current phantom (early 2005). Witnesses claim he stands two meters tall, and has a long, wavy mane of white hair, is entirely clad in black and wears a balaclava; he sports a cape and his eyes glow red. The individual is able to cross the streets by leaping from one rooftop to the next, taking acrobatic leaps that can be of up to five meters high and ten meters long! He can allegedly also climb up smooth walls like Spiderman. In one case the 'ghost' pressed its face against a girl's bathroom window, waggling his large claws in a menacing gesture, while 'fixing a stare' on her. Mass panic has set in, and vigilantes have appeared in vast numbers, wielding heavy clubs, sharp machetes, stilettos, penknives and even humble kitchen knives. Again this phantom is very close to the original Spring Heeled Jack, as is the response to him.
Written by Steve J Ash (wyrdwalks@yahoo.co.uk) |
