July 22, 2025 • 41 mins
Abby just couldn't get enough. This week is a true deep dive into the history of one of the most bizarre phantoms to haunt a major city. Reports and sightings of Spring-Heeled Jack were commonplace in Victorian London.
Join the discussion on Discord. Check out Abby's book Horror Stories. Available in eBook and paperback. Music by Michaela Papa, Alan Kudan & Jordan Moser. Poster Art by Pilar Keprta @pilar.kep.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of the Lunatics Radio Hourpodcast.
My name is Abbey Branker andtoday I am back to talk to you
more about Spring-Heeled Jack.
There's nothing incrediblygraphic about this topic, but
there is some allusions tosexual assaults and just being
attacked personally, beingattacked by somebody which you
(00:40):
know I think can be a little bitintense.
So I'm just going to put outthat soft warning at the
beginning of this episode.
I talked a bit aboutSpring-Heeled Jack a few
episodes ago, during our veryfirst episode on the history of
superhero horror, and, candidly,it was a tale that I'd been
vaguely aware of.
You know I have Spring-HeeledJack coffee from last podcast on
(01:01):
the left but I didn't reallyunderstand the lore behind it,
and so when it came up as partof the superhero research, I was
really hooked into it, and partof the reason why I was so
hooked into it is becausethere's so many firsthand
sources and interviews viaarticles and reporting on when
it happened, which was in themid 1800s in England.
(01:25):
So I wanted to dive a littlebit more deeply into the
research of this phenomenon, ifyou will.
We don't really know exactlywhat it was, whether it was a
prank or just an amalgamation ofdifferent copycats or whatever
it could have been.
It's very rare I feel like tohave so much reporting on
something like this, on folklore, and that's why I wanted to
(01:47):
just give it a little bit moreairtime and read you some of
these articles from the 1830sthat talk about people's
experiences.
I think that's pretty cool.
I want to say thank you toApril Brinker, who found so many
firsthand sources in the formof these newspaper articles.
I'm going to quote from theseextensively in this episode and
I will cite them as I go, butthank you so much to my mom,
(02:09):
april Brinker, for her help withthat.
There's going to be a littlebit of redundancy to how I
talked about this a few episodesago, but we're going to fill it
in with much more history andagain with these articles in
this episode.
The thing about these sightingsof Spring-Heeled Jack, which are
so fascinating, is that whilethere's so many reports, all of
(02:30):
them vary quite a bit andthere's some similarities, of
course, that string thesetogether, but generally there's
quite a lot of variance and Ithink that maybe Lens we'll talk
about this more at the end, butprobably Lens itself a bit to
the theory of a copycat or aprank where multiple people were
doing something, once thelegend became a newspaper
sensation.
I think it's always been thecase of humanity that when
(02:52):
something is being reported onor made public, it suddenly
becomes very interesting andexciting for people to try to
use that as some sort ofplatform, even if they're masked
, right?
Even if they're hiding behind acostume or this existing
caricature of a high jumpingdemon.
You know, however, we want todefine Spring-Heeled Jack.
I still think that's certainlya motivator here.
(03:13):
So Spring-Heeled Jack, like Isaid, is a figure from Victorian
London.
I mean, really, I would sayhe's in some ways like an urban
cryptid, for lack of a betterword, right.
There's tons of sightings, tonsof sort of variants around the
legend, but he has this sort ofcryptid energy to him and a lot
of the articles that we're goingto reference today.
(03:34):
He's called a ghost and at thetime that was certainly part of
the zeitgeist.
One of the reasons why we loveVictorian England so much is
because it's so inherentlyspooky, right?
And one of the reasons why isbecause there was just a general
commonplace belief in ghostsightings.
Some city goers believed thatpale entities would stalk and
attack anyone walking home aloneat night, and that's something
(03:57):
that we've seen.
A lot of different cautionarytales that are told to kids
right, don't walk home alone atnight because it's unsafe.
And so this legend comes about,whether it's parents telling
kids or whatever it is, but it'sthis cautionary tale, but just
setting the scene a bit right.
So about 30 years a little bitmore than 30 years before
Spring-Heeled Jack, around 1803and 1804, sightings of something
(04:18):
called the Hammersmith Ghostwere reported on the western
side of London.
There were also rumors of aSouthampton Ghost, both of these
, of course, taking the namesfrom the neighborhoods that they
were spotted in.
I want to take a second here,because there's actually a
really fascinating real life,real event associated with this
belief in the Hammersmith Ghost.
So there was actually a murdercase in 1804 which set a really
(04:44):
important legal precedent in theUK when it came to self defense
.
The idea is that someone couldstill be held responsible for
their actions, even if they werethe consequences of a mistaken
belief.
So the Hammersmith ghost wasbelieved by many local residents
to be the spirit of someone whohad taken their own life, and
sadly, on January 3rd, someonewho had taken their own life and
(05:08):
sadly, on January 3rd 1804, a29-year-old excise officer which
is like a tax officer namedFrancis Smith, shot and killed
bricklayer Thomas Millwood.
He mistook the white clothesthat Millwood was wearing
because he was a bricklayer forliterally a ghost Like.
He thought that he saw this mandressed in white and he must be
a ghost.
So he shot him.
And while that's horrifying andtragic which it is it also just
(05:30):
shows you how much peoplereally believed in this right.
Like someone believed in it somuch that they shot and killed
someone.
And obviously I don't know thestate of Francis Smith's mental
health or anything else thatgoes into it.
But still just to say therumors of the Hammersmith ghost
were so relevant that that washis defense.
The court found Smith guilty ofmurder and actually sentenced
(05:53):
him to death, but later thesentence was commuted to one
year hard labor, which seemslike quite the pivot to me, and
a lot of the issues that weresurrounding this case were not
settled for 180 years.
It was actually finally decidedby an appellate court in 1984.
There's also another interestingpoint of discussion that comes
(06:14):
about with the legends of theHammersmith ghost and that's
about those who decide to taketheir own lives and this local
belief that they should not beburied in the churchyard.
And so this person who hadtaken their own life and that
locals believed was the entity,the Hammersmith ghost, was
buried in Hammersmith churchyard.
And people believe that becausehe was buried in Hammersmith
churchyard and because youshouldn't be buried in a
(06:35):
churchyard, if you had died thatway, the belief was that their
soul would not rest right.
The soul was active and outevery night, haunting the town.
Sometimes the entity wasdescribed as ghostly white,
right Of course, like we see allother ghost stories in the
world, but sometimes there wasan added description of this
(06:56):
entity wearing a calfskingarment with horns and large
glass eyes.
So again, some variants similarto Spring-Heeled Jack, some
variants glass eyes.
So again, some variants similarto Spring-Heeled Jack, some
variants According to locallegend, which I have not vetted
historically, but part of thislegend reported is that two
different women had claimedhaving been walking alone at
night near this churchyard, tohave been attacked and held by
(07:19):
the Hammersmith ghost.
One of them was an elderly woman, one of them was a pregnant
woman, and the local legend saysthat both of them eventually
were so frightened that dayslater they died.
Local Thomas Groom alsotestified that while he was
walking along the churchyardlate at night, an apparition
rose from behind the tombsomewhere around 9 pm and
(07:40):
grabbed him by his throat.
Another example on December29th, william Grindler, a night
watchman, claimed to have seenthis apparition near Beaver Lane
.
He actually decided to chasethe ghost.
So I know that the Hammersmithghost is not Spring-Heeled Jack,
but it's just interesting.
This was 30-something yearsbefore the sightings of
Spring-Heeled Jack started andthere's so much similarity.
(08:01):
In this case it's a bit morecontained, right, because the
Hammersmith ghost is part of theHammersmith neighborhood of
London, which is right next toKensington and near Chelsea, and
this is just one example rightFrom one neighborhood in London
that was happening as aprecursor to Spring Hill Jack.
But this certainly isn't theonly example, right.
It's just a really goodreflection of the belief at the
(08:23):
time.
I've also read here and therethat part of the reason why
there was so much fear of theparanormal, but fear in general
in London at this time wasbecause the police of the city
were really disorganized and sogenerally people just didn't
feel safe.
In 1837, residents of a Londonneighborhood started to report
strange encounters and incidentswith a mysterious and
(08:45):
terrifying man.
Spring-heeled Jack was a folkfigure that scared locals.
Though some believed he was ademonic, fire-breathing
demon-like entity, othersbelieved him to just be an
incredibly agile human.
But the through line with a lotof these sightings seems to be
that Jack has this supernaturalability to jump really high.
(09:06):
Almost all of Jack's claimedattacks happened against women
not all, but most of them andthe very first sighting of Jack
is often traced back to Octoberof 1837.
It was reported by a womanworking as a servant who is
named Mary Stevens.
She was walking on LavenderHill after visiting her parents
in Battersea.
As Mary walked through ClapmanCommon, a terrifying shadowy
(09:29):
figure leaped out in front ofher.
The man held her arms andkissed her while he ripped at
her clothing.
She described his hands asquote cold and clammy, as those
of a corpse end quote.
After screaming, the man fledthe scene and a search ensued,
but he was never found.
The very next day a figure leaptout in front of a traveling
(09:49):
carriage, causing a crash.
So Jack seemed to attack in afew different ways.
Sometimes he was reported toring a doorbell and again he
would use what people describedas claws, quite often to shred
the clothing of the personcoming to the door.
Other times it was reportedthat he would attack people as
they walked along this street or, like in this case, even
(10:11):
jumping out in front of acarriage.
Other reports around this timealso claimed that the assailant
presented as a ghost or a bear.
And again, I know that maybethat sounds ridiculous to us,
right, but thinking back to theHammersmith ghost, people were
so afraid of ghosts in London atthis time that even a
bricklayer who was simplywearing his white uniform was
(10:31):
shot and killed because somebodybelieved that he was actually
an apparition.
Some reports of Jack claimedthat he was wearing red shoes
and armor, and others that hecould breathe blue fire.
So again, it's sort of all overthe place, but the unifying
factor seems to be his abilityto jump and then also the way
that the attacks come aboutright, either while you're
(10:51):
walking home alone at night orcoming to answer your door.
So while the press reported onthis quite a bit and we're about
to get into some of thefirsthand articles that talk
about this they generallyremained pretty skeptical of the
reports.
But they still published them,and in January of 1838, john
Cohen, the Lord Mayor of London,actually made a public
(11:14):
statement.
It had become that much of anuisance right that he needed to
address it publicly.
He tried to reinforce thetheory that the attacks were due
to a band of wealthy mencausing chaos.
We'll talk a bit about some ofthe theories at the end, but
let's talk a little bit aboutthe report of Jane Alsop.
So in 1838, a man rang thedoorbell of Jane Alsop or the
(11:35):
Alsop house right, but Jane cameto the door.
He was yelling that Spring HillJack had been caught but that
they needed her help.
Jane delivered a glowing candleto the man on the street
outside of her home, but herewarded her by blowing blue
flames into her face and againshredding her clothes and
scratching her with metal claws.
Jane was unable to get awayuntil her sister came to her
(11:56):
rescue.
She would later describe theman as having red, fireball-like
eyes, wearing a tight whiteoutfit and a helmet.
So this account is reallyimportant because it helped to
fuel the rumors that Jack indeedwas a devil.
I'm going to read you thisexcerpt from the Examiner, which
was published on February 25th1838.
(12:17):
Lambeth Street Outrage on ayoung lady.
Many among the public havehitherto been incredulous as to
the truth of variousrepresentations made to the Lord
Mayor of the gambles ofSpring-Heeled Jack, the suburban
ghost.
The following particulars,however, will remove all doubt
on the subject.
At Bearbind Cottage in BearbindLane, a very lonely spot
(12:48):
between the villages of Bow andOld, ford, accompanied by his
three daughters, waited upon MrHardwick and gave the following
particulars of an outragecommitted on one of the latter.
Miss Jane Alsop, a young lady18 years of age, stated that at
about a quarter to nine o'clockon the preceding night she heard
a violent ringing at the gatein front of the house, and on
going to the door to see whatwas the matter, she saw a man
(13:09):
standing outside of whom sheinquired what was the matter and
requested he would not ring soloud.
The person instantly repliedthat he was a policeman and said
for God's sake, bring me alight.
We have caught Spring-HeeledJack here in the lane.
She returned into the house andbrought a candle and handed it
to the person who appearedenveloped in a large cloak and
whom she at first reallybelieved to be a policeman.
(13:30):
The instant she had done so,however, he threw off his outer
garment and, applying thelighted candle to his breast,
presented a most hideous andfrightful appearance and vomited
forth a quantity of blue andwhite flame from his mouth, and
his eyes resembled red balls offire.
From the hasty glance which herfright enabled her to get at
(13:51):
his person, she observed that hewore a large helmet, and his
dress, which appeared to fit himvery tight, seemed to her to
resemble white oilskin.
Without uttering a sentence, hedarted at her and, catching her
partly by her dress and theback of her neck, placed her
head under one of his arms andcommenced tearing her ground
with his claws, which she wascertain were of some metallic
(14:12):
substance.
She screamed out as loud as shecould for assistance and, by
considerable exertion, got awayfrom him and ran towards the
house to get in.
Her assailant, however,followed her and caught her on
the steps leading to the halldoor when he again used
considerable violence, tore herneck and arms with his claws, as
well as a quantity of hair fromher head, but she was at length
(14:34):
rescued from his grasp by oneof her sisters.
Miss Alsop added that she hadsuffered considerably all night
from the shock she had sustainedand was then in extreme pain,
both from the injury done to herarm and the wounds and
scratches inflicted by themiscreant about her shoulders
and neck with his claws or hands.
Miss Mary Alsop, a youngersister, said that on hearing the
(14:55):
screams of her sister Jane, shewent to the door and saw a
figure, as above described,ill-using her sister.
She was so alarmed at hisappearance that she was afraid
to approach or render anyassistance.
Mrs Harrison said that, hearingthe screams of both her sisters
, first of Jane and then of Mary, she ran to the door and found
the person before described.
In the act of dragging hersister Jane down the stone steps
(15:17):
from the door with considerableviolence, she, mrs Harrison,
got hold of her sister and bysome means or other, which she
could scarcely describe,succeeded in getting her inside
the door and closing it.
At this time her sister's dresswas nearly torn off, both her
combs dragged out of her head aswell as a quantity of her hair
torn away.
The fellow, notwithstanding theoutrage he had committed,
(15:40):
knocked loudly two or threetimes at the door and it was
only on their calling loudly forthe police from the upper
windows that he left the placeget out of bed.
(16:02):
But such was the alarm of thenight before that they both got
out of bed and he managed to getdownstairs and found his
daughter, jane, with her clothestorn and having all the
appearance of receiving the mostserious personal violence.
The article goes on, but I'mgoing to stop there.
So again, that was a quote froman article in the Examiner
which came out February 25th1838.
I know it was a little bit long, but I just thought it was
interesting because it talks inso much detail about what
(16:23):
happened, but also because somany of the Alsop family saw
this right.
And then the police came andthey saw it right.
So it was validated in manyways.
And also all three of thesisters saw the attacker,
according to this account.
So I think what it validates isthat the attack is real right.
Whether or not we believe thatthe entity is supernatural isn't
that important, because I thinkgenerally most of us don't, but
(16:46):
it's that there was copycats atleast, or someone claiming to
be this figure going aroundLondon, and whether it was one
person or many people we maynever know, but that the attack
itself certainly seems to havehappened.
A few days after Jane Alsop wasattacked, a woman named Lucy
Scales was walking with hersister in a different London
neighborhood when a man jumpedin front of the pair.
(17:08):
Again, he was described asbreathing blue flames.
This time Jack's breathactually caused one of the women
to have a seizure-like fit, andboth of the attacks on Lucy and
Jane happened closer toLondon's city center than the
others, which took place mainlyin the suburbs.
So this article from theMorning Post, which was a London
newspaper from March 7th 1838,talks a bit about Lucy Scales'
(17:33):
encounter, lambeth Street, theghost alias Spring-Heeled Jack.
Again Spring-Heeled Jack again.
Yesterday Mr Scales, arespectable butcher residing in
Narrow Street Limehouse,accompanied by his sister, a
young woman 18 years of age,attended before Mr Hardwick and
made the following statementrelative to the further gambles
of Spring-Heeled Jack.
(17:54):
Ms Scales stated that on theevening of Wednesday last, at
about half past eight o'clock,as she and her sister were
returning from the house oftheir brother and while passing
along green dragon alley, whichsounds very cool, they observed
some person standing in an anglein the passage.
She was in advance of hersister at the time and just as
she came up to the person, whowas enveloped in a large cloak,
(18:17):
he spurted a quantity of blueflame right in her face which
deprived her of her sight and soalarmed her that she instantly
dropped to the ground and seizedwith violent fits which
continued for several hours.
In reply to the question of MrHardwick, miss Gale said that on
approaching the individual shethought it was a woman, from the
headdress being apparently abonnet or something of that
(18:39):
description, but she wasafterwards satisfied that it was
a man.
He appeared to her to be talland thin, but her sister, who
was with her, could give a moreaccurate description of this
person as she had a betteropportunity of noticing him.
But she was not at home whenthe officer called, else she
would have attended.
Mr Scales said that on theevening in question, in a few
(19:00):
minutes after his sisters hadleft his house, he heard the
loud screams of one of them andon running up Green Dragon Alley
he found his sister, lucy, whohad just given her statement, on
the ground in a strong fit, andhis other sister endeavoring to
hold and support her.
What had happened?
She described the person to betall, thin and gentlemanly in
(19:21):
appearance, enveloped in a largecloak, and carried in front of
him a small lamp or bull's eyesimilar to those in the
possession of the police.
On her sister, who was a littlebefore her coming up to the
person, he threw open his cloak,exhibited the lamp and puffed a
quantity of flame from hismouth into the face of her
sister, who instantly dropped,and such was the effect of the
(19:42):
light upon her eyes that she hadto cover them with her hands
for an instant or two when shewent to the assistance of her
sister.
She also stated that theindividual did not utter a word,
nor did he attempt to lay handson them, but walked away in an
instant.
Mr Scales remarked that it wasnot a little singular that one
of his sisters had been readingin a newspaper a few minutes
before they left his house, theaccount under the head of his
(20:03):
office of Springfield Jack.
When he remarked that it wasnot likely that this personage
would come to his neighborhoodfrom the account, so far from
alarming his sister appeared tohave a different effect.
Mr Scales then handed in acertificate of which the
following is a copy quote thisis to certify that on Wednesday
the 28th, I visited Lucy Scalesof Week's Place, limehouse, who
(20:25):
was suffering from hysteria andgreat agitation, in all
probability the result of afright Charles Pritchard surgeon
.
End quote.
So by April, spring-heel Jackseemed to have found his way to
the coast, according to thisarticle from the Times,
published on April 14, 1838.
Quote Spring-Heeled Jack has,it seems, found his way to the
(20:46):
Sussex coast.
On Friday evening between nineand ten o'clock he appeared, as
we are informed, to a gardenernear Rose Hill in the shape of a
bear or some other four-footedanimal and, having first
attracted attention by a growl,then mounted the garden wall,
covered as it was with brokenglass, and ran along it upon all
(21:06):
fours, to the great terror andconsternation of the gardener,
who began to think it time toescape.
He was accordingly about toleave the garden when
Spring-Heeled Jack leapt fromthe wall and chased him for some
time.
The dog was called, but slunkaway, apparently as much
terrified as his master, havingamused himself for some time.
(21:26):
So I find this one to be reallyinteresting, because I don't
really know the tone of thisarticle.
Is it a parody?
Is it purposefully being silly,or do we believe that it was
(21:48):
this bear?
You know, it's hard to reallyinterpret that one right now
with the historical knowledgethat I have.
So if there are historianslistening, that might have a
better idea about the tone ofthis short little snippet
claiming that this bear wasSpring-Heeled Jack.
Is it just that there was thisincident with a bear and the
reporters being cheeky.
(22:08):
Or did the gardener believethat?
You know?
I don't quite know, but Ithought that was an interesting
one to throw into the mix here.
Sightings of Spring-Heeled Jacklasted until 1904.
So from 1837 until 1904, peoplecontinued to report sightings
of Spring-Heel Jack andobviously there's a different
range to these right.
(22:28):
Some of them are more, some ofthem maybe feel more concrete
than others, and many believethat the last sighting of
Spring-Heel Jack actuallyhappened in Liverpool.
So in 1888 in Everton, which islike a neighborhood in North
Liverpool, it was believed thathe actually appeared on the
rooftop of a church that was onSalisbury Street called St
(22:49):
Francis Xavier's Church.
And then the final sightingthat is kind of well known or
documented is from 1904.
And it was claimed that heappeared on William Henry Street
in Liverpool.
It was claimed that he appearedon William Henry Street in
Liverpool.
So let's talk a little bit aboutsome theories and then what I
really want to talk about is theimpact of this legend on horror
and pop culture and generallyjust day-to-day life in
(23:11):
Victorian London.
So this was a point ofcontention when we first talked
about Spring Hill Jack inepisode 158.
But the term that was used wasa group of fancy men, meaning
that was their group of wealthysort of school boys or young
gentlemen out in London drinkingone night and just causing a
bit of a ruckus, right?
(23:32):
Maybe they were.
I'm picturing them as sort oflike private school athletes,
right, who are jumping aroundand just being obnoxious and
worse and attacking women, andmaybe something like that turned
into a copycat situation.
Or maybe there was one personright who had some kind of
advanced athletic ability tojump and obviously had some
(23:53):
costuming, right.
I think that's the importantthing here.
He's using props and one of thereason I really like that
article about the scalesencounter, the Lucy scales
encounter, is because they talkabout this lantern.
He has this cloak and he hassomething on his head.
Both of the Jane Alsop and theLucy encounters talk about
something on his head in thiscloak, but then he's using
(24:15):
something to breathe blue flamesand he's using this lantern.
So it seems like he has propsand tools and stage magic to
some degree.
Right, he has something thathe's trying to create, this
illusion of the supernatural andright at this point I'm clearly
in the camp that this is notsupernatural.
This is a person who's causingchaos.
But to me I think maybe it's aperson who's causing chaos
(24:38):
dressed up in a certain way,using, again, stage props or
something to kind of create thisillusion.
And then I think you have somecopycats that are fueling the
fire a bit and other people whoare running around causing, you
know, a muck.
But really what all of thischaos went on to do was kind of
create this atmosphere of aboogeyman.
(24:59):
In London at the time, you know, people thought that he was
looking in at them from theirwindows at night while they
slept Spring-Heeled.
Jack was memorialized in ahandful of penny dreadfuls.
For anyone who doesn't know,penny dreadfuls are sort of like
affordable serial pamphlets orliterature kind of predating
comic books, I suppose, thatwere released during the 19th
(25:22):
century and a lot of them werequite spooky or dark, but anyway
.
So he became a character in ahandful of Penny Dreadfuls
released in the late 1800s.
Interestingly, he was first avillain in these and then he
turned into a hero, which Ithink is quite fascinating and
also quite related, I would say,to this very thin line that we
(25:42):
talked about a lot during thehistory of superhero horror
series between being a superheroand being a supervillain and
how and like.
That's why Batman is so popular, right?
Because?
Or why I love Batman so much isbecause I think it's really
hard to be in the position of asuperhero and be purely good.
To have that much power and bepurely good or evil is just kind
(26:05):
of boring and flat right, and Ithink all people, if we're
speaking of human nature, havedark sides and light sides and
all those things, and so ascharacters, they're much more
interesting that way.
So, anyway, just think it's fun.
That kind of Jack flipped thescales there.
But he wasn't only memorializedin Penny Dreadfuls.
His legacy has lived on in afew different ways.
(26:26):
So in 1989, philip Pullman'sSpring-Heeled Jack was a graphic
novel that made Jack again intothe hero, something that I find
really interesting, especiallybecause it sounds like the truth
of the whole thing, if we'reasking me, is that he was kind
of a really bad human being,right, he was also depicted in
the alternate history timetravel novel, the Strange Affair
(26:48):
of Spring-Heeled Jack from 2010.
But really a lot more like he'sin video games.
He's in different things, buteven if we don't think about how
he's, you know, sort of pluckedout of history and transcribed
verbatim into something we couldalso think about how his legacy
has shaped the history of popculture also, the history of
folklore, the history ofcryptids, the history of all
(27:08):
these different thingssuperheroes, right, it's really
interesting.
If you poke around online,you'll find a lot of really
interesting theories.
I mean, I have been trying tobe better about doing this
lately, but if you do head tohis Wikipedia page it's quite
extensive.
And then under theories,there's a section for skeptical
(27:32):
theories and paranormalconjectures.
And again, while I don'tbelieve that he was a paranormal
entity, it's really interestingthat some of the belief there
is actually around him being anextraterrestrial entity, which I
think is so interesting becauseyou don't think of a figure
from Victorian London, a folkfigure, you know, being
described as an extraterrestrial, and I love when there's sort
of that like weird mind bendingexplanation for something, even
(27:54):
if, again, we don't believe thatit's true.
But those who believe in itrefer to his weird red eyes, his
breath right, his ability tobreathe blue flames, his
unworldly ability to jump, Isuppose just like the aliens and
signs there.
Authors Lorraine Coleman andJerome Clark put him in a
category called phantomattackers, which I think is a
(28:16):
perfect way to describe him.
Another person in this categorywould be the Mad Gasser of
Mattoon.
So they describe phantomattackers as being kind of these
entities that appear human butthat display these inhuman
abilities.
In the mid-1900s there wasactually a sort of counterpart
or copycat that popped up inPrague, who became known as the
(28:40):
Spring man of Prague and wasreported to have been seen in
Czechoslovakia from 1939 untilabout 1945.
And I'm saying this becausethere's something really
interesting about this copycator whatever this is, which is
that people start to make theconnection perhaps that we're
(29:01):
going to tie it all together now, ready that there is a prog
bear, a type of bear that canjump really high.
And a lot of this comes fromMike Dash, who is a researcher
and writer who's done a lot ofresearch, um on, on
Spring-Heeled Jack.
But I think that's reallyinteresting.
Okay, what if the bear thing,or some people, claimed it was a
(29:22):
bear?
Maybe it was a bear, right,maybe it was a mix of all of
these things.
It was a fancy man who wasdrunk and being silly and
dangerous, and some people whowitnessed from afar bears who
can jump really high andmisinterpreted that as
Spring-Heeled Jack or as theSpring man of Prague?
I don't know, just throwing itout there.
I want to read one more articlefrom the Morning Post.
(29:45):
This one is dated Wednesday,april 4th 1838.
Capture of Spring-Heeled Jack.
Yesterday, james Painter, ayouth about 18 years of age and
footman to Mrs Chather ofKilburn, was charged at
Marylebone Police Office, beforeMr Rawlinson and Lord Merriford
, with having for some time pastkept the fair inhabitants of
(30:08):
the above village inconsiderable alarm by sallying
out upon them during theirevening preambulations,
disguised as a ghost.
Mrs Anne Amsnick, a mostrespectable married lady living
in the place above named, statedthat a little before eight
o'clock on Saturday evening shewas walking along Waterloo Place
contiguous to Miss Charter'sresidence, accompanied by a
(30:31):
female friend who was present,when all of a sudden she found
herself seized by a mostghastly-looking figure, habited
in a white sheet and wearing ahideous mask from which depended
a long beard.
The figure on clasping herexclaimed who the devil are you?
And her friend, havingrecognized the voice of the
ghost, replied very promptlywe'll let you know who we are
(30:53):
and that we are not to befrightened by you.
The ghost then beat a retreat,followed by complainant and her
friend, and seeing it vanishover the wall surrounding and
seeing it vanish over the wallsurrounding Miss Charter's
premises, she was pretty wellconvinced that the defendant was
the ghost.
However, to make sure of thematter, they asked a water
carrier named Snell, who had agood view of the ghost and who
(31:15):
assured them that it was thedefendant.
Ms Charlotte Haggerstone, thecompanion, after corroborating
her statement, said that sheknew the defendant well.
He had for a considerableperiod been playing his
mischievous tricks upon females,some of whom he had frightened
in a very serious manner.
She recognized his voice themoment he spoke and he had
attempted upon several previousoccasions to frighten her.
(31:38):
Samuel Snell, the water carrieralluded to, gave corroborative
evidence.
The defendant denied theoffense and called the coachman
for the purpose of proving analibi in which he failed.
He then proceeded to state thatMrs Amsnack had been to his
mistress's house in a greatpassion and, seizing him in the
hall, had bestowed summarypunishment in the shape of
sundry hard smacks on his face.
(31:59):
So I'm going to leave this onehere.
But this ends up being aninteresting sort of Spring Hill
Jack caught moment, and clearlythere's tons of different
sightings and attacks thathappened after this date.
This is only April of 1838.
And this goes on until 1904.
But I think it tells you rightthat there are at least some
(32:20):
copycats out there.
So we have some proof for thattheory.
Here's a quote from the NewYork Sun, may 16th 1838.
And so this I just find it tobe really interesting, because
this is a New York paper that'stalking about this London
phenomenon, right ofSpring-Heeled Jack.
The London ghost turns out to bea very unceremonious and
villainous personage.
(32:41):
Up to the 24th of February hehad not been caught, and what
added to the mischief was thatmany other persons thinking in a
capital joke played the ghosttoo.
From his quickness of heel, theunknown scamp has worn the
subrack of spring-heeled Jack.
The following is a specimen ofhis conduct, thus described by a
young lady who was attended tothe police office by her father.
(33:03):
And then it goes on with theJane Alsop story, another
sighting from the Morning Postdated Saturday May 26, 1838.
Spring-heeled Jack.
No little sensation has, withinthe last few weeks, been
created among the inhabitants ofthe peaceful village of
Carshalton, surrey, by themischievous pranks of some
individual who has beenpersonating the character of
(33:25):
Spring-Heeled Jack.
We regret, however, to add thatin one instance his conduct has
been attended with melancholyconsequences For a few days,
since a youth of the name ofThomas Worth, about 14 years of
age, the son of a poor,hard-working widow woman living
in the village, while going tohis work at about six o'clock in
the morning, was pursued,unperceived by the scoundrel in
(33:47):
some awful disguise, whosuddenly jumped upon his back,
which so alarmed the unfortunateyouth that he instantly became
bereft of reason, in which statehe still continues.
He is totally unable to giveany description of the fellow,
who will therefore escape thepunishment he so richly merits.
End.
Quote from the From the LondonDispatch and People's Political
(34:08):
and Social Reformer.
Sunday October 28th 1838.
Foul myth Spring-heeled Jack.
On Saturday night, as MissSimmons' eldest daughter of Mr J
Simmons, who had been spendingthe evening with some friends,
was returning to her father'shouse, attended by a manservant,
when she had nearly reached thegate some miscreants caught
hold of her dress, whichterrified her to such a degree
(34:30):
that on entering the house shebecame seriously ill and
continued so until Tuesdaymorning when she expired from
the effects of the fright".
I mean, that is just a horrible, horrifying story.
So this newspaper article isfrom 1887, from the Newscastle
Weekly Chronicle, saturdayFebruary 29th Spring-Heeled Jack
by W Lees, fleetwood.
(34:52):
It has never been ascertainedwho carried out the
extraordinary series of freaksor, to speak the truth,
something much worse than freaksthat the title of our subject
will bring to the recollectionof people a little past middle
age, but they were verygenerally, though without any
proof, attributed to therecollection of people a little
past middle age, but they werevery generally, though without
any proof, attributed to theMarquis of Waterford.
(35:12):
The probability appears to bethat a number of young bloods
worked together to produce theappearance we are going to
describe.
In that case, of course,spring-heeled Jack was not one,
but many persons.
However, as Jack was nevercaught in any of his
performances, it is not nowlikely that the mystery will
ever be cleared up or that weshall ever know whether one or a
dozen or score performed thepart.
Certain it is that for somemonths, jack created the
(35:34):
greatest terror in London andits neighborhood, and so this
article goes on to describe, youknow, the sightings of
Spring-Heeled Jack and all ofthe history.
It's a really interesting one.
I'll pop it on to our Patreon.
I'll put all these on to ourPatreon if you guys want to read
them firsthand.
It's very long so I'm not goingto quote the whole thing.
But I think it's fascinatingthat it's saying, first of all,
(35:54):
that it's common knowledge thatthe Marquis of Waterford is the
person responsible for this, orat least who led, was involved
in this, and I also love thelanguage of saying this was a
part that many people played andthey played it, you know, just
like we kind of mentionedearlier in the episode, with
like stage magic or stage props.
That's how it's kind ofdescribed in this article.
(36:15):
So I just looked up who was theMarquis of Waterford in 1837.
And that's a title, right ofcourse.
And it was held at the time byHenry Beresford, the third
Marquis of Waterford.
He was referred to as the MadMarquis and was remembered as an
eccentric.
So that tracks.
We're not making any assumption,we're not making any
(36:35):
accusations in this podcast.
I'm just chasing down thethread of that article.
So this Marquis was born in1811, which would make him 26 at
the time that these attacksstarted, which I feel like is
the proper age, to be honest.
So there was a popular rumorI'm just finding this all out
live now but there was a popularrumor that connected him to
(36:56):
Spring-Heeled Jack.
But the wrench in this theoryis that this man died in 1859,
and these sightings went on longafter that.
However, of course, again we'vetalked about the fact that this
could have been multiple men,right, multitudes of people
claiming to be Spring-HeeledJack, and maybe some bears
thrown in there too, so hard tosay.
So this piece is a little bitdarker, but generally the theory
(37:18):
holds that he had maybe ahumiliating experience with a
woman and a police officer andso, in order to kind of get
revenge with women in generalwhich is horrible behavior and
with police in general, hedecided to create this character
and then maybe employ orencourage some of his friends to
(37:40):
help live it out.
And I will say this I don'tknow if any of this is true or
not, but if it was true and ifit was somebody in power, I
could understand maybe why thepolice never caught him.
You know, if it was widelyknown.
Again, I'm not saying it is,we're not making any accusations
.
The theory around him goes evenfurther that maybe, because he
has, you know, access, he couldhave had someone help him design
(38:03):
like even boots that hadsprings, some sort of spring
apparatus in them to help withthat piece of it.
But generally, you know theMarquis of Waterford at the time
was seen as not just eccentricbut, I would say, problematic.
He was in the news up until thelate 1830s for getting into
drunk bar fights and, you know,vandalism and really kind of
(38:25):
inappropriate jokes.
There was a saying that hewould do almost anything for a
bet.
So I don't know, it seems likea possibility, certainly a
possibility.
Thank you guys so much forlistening.
I hope this has been as much ofan adventure for you as it has
felt like it has been for me.
It's been really interesting.
It was even just reallyinteresting to see where this
(38:46):
thread sort of went right,following these different
theories and finding out aboutthe Marquis of Waterford, this
well-known secret that a lot ofthese articles don't mention.
So that was fascinating, asalways.
Appreciate very much you guyslistening.
I hope everyone is hanging inthere, staying safe, staying
spooky.
We'll talk to you soon.
Bye.
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode
of the Lunatics Radio Hourpodcast.
My name is Abbey Branker andtoday I am back to talk to you
more about Spring-Heeled Jack.
There's nothing incrediblygraphic about this topic, but
there is some allusions tosexual assaults and just being
attacked personally, beingattacked by somebody which you
(00:40):
know I think can be a little bitintense.
So I'm just going to put outthat soft warning at the
beginning of this episode.
I talked a bit aboutSpring-Heeled Jack a few
episodes ago, during our veryfirst episode on the history of
superhero horror, and, candidly,it was a tale that I'd been
vaguely aware of.
You know I have Spring-HeeledJack coffee from last podcast on
(01:01):
the left but I didn't reallyunderstand the lore behind it,
and so when it came up as partof the superhero research, I was
really hooked into it, and partof the reason why I was so
hooked into it is becausethere's so many firsthand
sources and interviews viaarticles and reporting on when
it happened, which was in themid 1800s in England.
(01:25):
So I wanted to dive a littlebit more deeply into the
research of this phenomenon, ifyou will.
We don't really know exactlywhat it was, whether it was a
prank or just an amalgamation ofdifferent copycats or whatever
it could have been.
It's very rare I feel like tohave so much reporting on
something like this, on folklore, and that's why I wanted to
(01:47):
just give it a little bit moreairtime and read you some of
these articles from the 1830sthat talk about people's
experiences.
I think that's pretty cool.
I want to say thank you toApril Brinker, who found so many
firsthand sources in the formof these newspaper articles.
I'm going to quote from theseextensively in this episode and
I will cite them as I go, butthank you so much to my mom,
(02:09):
april Brinker, for her help withthat.
There's going to be a littlebit of redundancy to how I
talked about this a few episodesago, but we're going to fill it
in with much more history andagain with these articles in
this episode.
The thing about these sightingsof Spring-Heeled Jack, which are
so fascinating, is that whilethere's so many reports, all of
(02:30):
them vary quite a bit andthere's some similarities, of
course, that string thesetogether, but generally there's
quite a lot of variance and Ithink that maybe Lens we'll talk
about this more at the end, butprobably Lens itself a bit to
the theory of a copycat or aprank where multiple people were
doing something, once thelegend became a newspaper
sensation.
I think it's always been thecase of humanity that when
(02:52):
something is being reported onor made public, it suddenly
becomes very interesting andexciting for people to try to
use that as some sort ofplatform, even if they're masked
, right?
Even if they're hiding behind acostume or this existing
caricature of a high jumpingdemon.
You know, however, we want todefine Spring-Heeled Jack.
I still think that's certainlya motivator here.
(03:13):
So Spring-Heeled Jack, like Isaid, is a figure from Victorian
London.
I mean, really, I would sayhe's in some ways like an urban
cryptid, for lack of a betterword, right.
There's tons of sightings, tonsof sort of variants around the
legend, but he has this sort ofcryptid energy to him and a lot
of the articles that we're goingto reference today.
(03:34):
He's called a ghost and at thetime that was certainly part of
the zeitgeist.
One of the reasons why we loveVictorian England so much is
because it's so inherentlyspooky, right?
And one of the reasons why isbecause there was just a general
commonplace belief in ghostsightings.
Some city goers believed thatpale entities would stalk and
attack anyone walking home aloneat night, and that's something
(03:57):
that we've seen.
A lot of different cautionarytales that are told to kids
right, don't walk home alone atnight because it's unsafe.
And so this legend comes about,whether it's parents telling
kids or whatever it is, but it'sthis cautionary tale, but just
setting the scene a bit right.
So about 30 years a little bitmore than 30 years before
Spring-Heeled Jack, around 1803and 1804, sightings of something
(04:18):
called the Hammersmith Ghostwere reported on the western
side of London.
There were also rumors of aSouthampton Ghost, both of these
, of course, taking the namesfrom the neighborhoods that they
were spotted in.
I want to take a second here,because there's actually a
really fascinating real life,real event associated with this
belief in the Hammersmith Ghost.
So there was actually a murdercase in 1804 which set a really
(04:44):
important legal precedent in theUK when it came to self defense
.
The idea is that someone couldstill be held responsible for
their actions, even if they werethe consequences of a mistaken
belief.
So the Hammersmith ghost wasbelieved by many local residents
to be the spirit of someone whohad taken their own life, and
sadly, on January 3rd, someonewho had taken their own life and
(05:08):
sadly, on January 3rd 1804, a29-year-old excise officer which
is like a tax officer namedFrancis Smith, shot and killed
bricklayer Thomas Millwood.
He mistook the white clothesthat Millwood was wearing
because he was a bricklayer forliterally a ghost Like.
He thought that he saw this mandressed in white and he must be
a ghost.
So he shot him.
And while that's horrifying andtragic which it is it also just
(05:30):
shows you how much peoplereally believed in this right.
Like someone believed in it somuch that they shot and killed
someone.
And obviously I don't know thestate of Francis Smith's mental
health or anything else thatgoes into it.
But still just to say therumors of the Hammersmith ghost
were so relevant that that washis defense.
The court found Smith guilty ofmurder and actually sentenced
(05:53):
him to death, but later thesentence was commuted to one
year hard labor, which seemslike quite the pivot to me, and
a lot of the issues that weresurrounding this case were not
settled for 180 years.
It was actually finally decidedby an appellate court in 1984.
There's also another interestingpoint of discussion that comes
(06:14):
about with the legends of theHammersmith ghost and that's
about those who decide to taketheir own lives and this local
belief that they should not beburied in the churchyard.
And so this person who hadtaken their own life and that
locals believed was the entity,the Hammersmith ghost, was
buried in Hammersmith churchyard.
And people believe that becausehe was buried in Hammersmith
churchyard and because youshouldn't be buried in a
(06:35):
churchyard, if you had died thatway, the belief was that their
soul would not rest right.
The soul was active and outevery night, haunting the town.
Sometimes the entity wasdescribed as ghostly white,
right Of course, like we see allother ghost stories in the
world, but sometimes there wasan added description of this
(06:56):
entity wearing a calfskingarment with horns and large
glass eyes.
So again, some variants similarto Spring-Heeled Jack, some
variants glass eyes.
So again, some variants similarto Spring-Heeled Jack, some
variants According to locallegend, which I have not vetted
historically, but part of thislegend reported is that two
different women had claimedhaving been walking alone at
night near this churchyard, tohave been attacked and held by
(07:19):
the Hammersmith ghost.
One of them was an elderly woman, one of them was a pregnant
woman, and the local legend saysthat both of them eventually
were so frightened that dayslater they died.
Local Thomas Groom alsotestified that while he was
walking along the churchyardlate at night, an apparition
rose from behind the tombsomewhere around 9 pm and
(07:40):
grabbed him by his throat.
Another example on December29th, william Grindler, a night
watchman, claimed to have seenthis apparition near Beaver Lane
.
He actually decided to chasethe ghost.
So I know that the Hammersmithghost is not Spring-Heeled Jack,
but it's just interesting.
This was 30-something yearsbefore the sightings of
Spring-Heeled Jack started andthere's so much similarity.
(08:01):
In this case it's a bit morecontained, right, because the
Hammersmith ghost is part of theHammersmith neighborhood of
London, which is right next toKensington and near Chelsea, and
this is just one example rightFrom one neighborhood in London
that was happening as aprecursor to Spring Hill Jack.
But this certainly isn't theonly example, right.
It's just a really goodreflection of the belief at the
(08:23):
time.
I've also read here and therethat part of the reason why
there was so much fear of theparanormal, but fear in general
in London at this time wasbecause the police of the city
were really disorganized and sogenerally people just didn't
feel safe.
In 1837, residents of a Londonneighborhood started to report
strange encounters and incidentswith a mysterious and
(08:45):
terrifying man.
Spring-heeled Jack was a folkfigure that scared locals.
Though some believed he was ademonic, fire-breathing
demon-like entity, othersbelieved him to just be an
incredibly agile human.
But the through line with a lotof these sightings seems to be
that Jack has this supernaturalability to jump really high.
(09:06):
Almost all of Jack's claimedattacks happened against women
not all, but most of them andthe very first sighting of Jack
is often traced back to Octoberof 1837.
It was reported by a womanworking as a servant who is
named Mary Stevens.
She was walking on LavenderHill after visiting her parents
in Battersea.
As Mary walked through ClapmanCommon, a terrifying shadowy
(09:29):
figure leaped out in front ofher.
The man held her arms andkissed her while he ripped at
her clothing.
She described his hands asquote cold and clammy, as those
of a corpse end quote.
After screaming, the man fledthe scene and a search ensued,
but he was never found.
The very next day a figure leaptout in front of a traveling
(09:49):
carriage, causing a crash.
So Jack seemed to attack in afew different ways.
Sometimes he was reported toring a doorbell and again he
would use what people describedas claws, quite often to shred
the clothing of the personcoming to the door.
Other times it was reportedthat he would attack people as
they walked along this street or, like in this case, even
(10:11):
jumping out in front of acarriage.
Other reports around this timealso claimed that the assailant
presented as a ghost or a bear.
And again, I know that maybethat sounds ridiculous to us,
right, but thinking back to theHammersmith ghost, people were
so afraid of ghosts in London atthis time that even a
bricklayer who was simplywearing his white uniform was
(10:31):
shot and killed because somebodybelieved that he was actually
an apparition.
Some reports of Jack claimedthat he was wearing red shoes
and armor, and others that hecould breathe blue fire.
So again, it's sort of all overthe place, but the unifying
factor seems to be his abilityto jump and then also the way
that the attacks come aboutright, either while you're
(10:51):
walking home alone at night orcoming to answer your door.
So while the press reported onthis quite a bit and we're about
to get into some of thefirsthand articles that talk
about this they generallyremained pretty skeptical of the
reports.
But they still published them,and in January of 1838, john
Cohen, the Lord Mayor of London,actually made a public
(11:14):
statement.
It had become that much of anuisance right that he needed to
address it publicly.
He tried to reinforce thetheory that the attacks were due
to a band of wealthy mencausing chaos.
We'll talk a bit about some ofthe theories at the end, but
let's talk a little bit aboutthe report of Jane Alsop.
So in 1838, a man rang thedoorbell of Jane Alsop or the
(11:35):
Alsop house right, but Jane cameto the door.
He was yelling that Spring HillJack had been caught but that
they needed her help.
Jane delivered a glowing candleto the man on the street
outside of her home, but herewarded her by blowing blue
flames into her face and againshredding her clothes and
scratching her with metal claws.
Jane was unable to get awayuntil her sister came to her
(11:56):
rescue.
She would later describe theman as having red, fireball-like
eyes, wearing a tight whiteoutfit and a helmet.
So this account is reallyimportant because it helped to
fuel the rumors that Jack indeedwas a devil.
I'm going to read you thisexcerpt from the Examiner, which
was published on February 25th1838.
(12:17):
Lambeth Street Outrage on ayoung lady.
Many among the public havehitherto been incredulous as to
the truth of variousrepresentations made to the Lord
Mayor of the gambles ofSpring-Heeled Jack, the suburban
ghost.
The following particulars,however, will remove all doubt
on the subject.
At Bearbind Cottage in BearbindLane, a very lonely spot
(12:48):
between the villages of Bow andOld, ford, accompanied by his
three daughters, waited upon MrHardwick and gave the following
particulars of an outragecommitted on one of the latter.
Miss Jane Alsop, a young lady18 years of age, stated that at
about a quarter to nine o'clockon the preceding night she heard
a violent ringing at the gatein front of the house, and on
going to the door to see whatwas the matter, she saw a man
(13:09):
standing outside of whom sheinquired what was the matter and
requested he would not ring soloud.
The person instantly repliedthat he was a policeman and said
for God's sake, bring me alight.
We have caught Spring-HeeledJack here in the lane.
She returned into the house andbrought a candle and handed it
to the person who appearedenveloped in a large cloak and
whom she at first reallybelieved to be a policeman.
(13:30):
The instant she had done so,however, he threw off his outer
garment and, applying thelighted candle to his breast,
presented a most hideous andfrightful appearance and vomited
forth a quantity of blue andwhite flame from his mouth, and
his eyes resembled red balls offire.
From the hasty glance which herfright enabled her to get at
(13:51):
his person, she observed that hewore a large helmet, and his
dress, which appeared to fit himvery tight, seemed to her to
resemble white oilskin.
Without uttering a sentence, hedarted at her and, catching her
partly by her dress and theback of her neck, placed her
head under one of his arms andcommenced tearing her ground
with his claws, which she wascertain were of some metallic
(14:12):
substance.
She screamed out as loud as shecould for assistance and, by
considerable exertion, got awayfrom him and ran towards the
house to get in.
Her assailant, however,followed her and caught her on
the steps leading to the halldoor when he again used
considerable violence, tore herneck and arms with his claws, as
well as a quantity of hair fromher head, but she was at length
(14:34):
rescued from his grasp by oneof her sisters.
Miss Alsop added that she hadsuffered considerably all night
from the shock she had sustainedand was then in extreme pain,
both from the injury done to herarm and the wounds and
scratches inflicted by themiscreant about her shoulders
and neck with his claws or hands.
Miss Mary Alsop, a youngersister, said that on hearing the
(14:55):
screams of her sister Jane, shewent to the door and saw a
figure, as above described,ill-using her sister.
She was so alarmed at hisappearance that she was afraid
to approach or render anyassistance.
Mrs Harrison said that, hearingthe screams of both her sisters
, first of Jane and then of Mary, she ran to the door and found
the person before described.
In the act of dragging hersister Jane down the stone steps
(15:17):
from the door with considerableviolence, she, mrs Harrison,
got hold of her sister and bysome means or other, which she
could scarcely describe,succeeded in getting her inside
the door and closing it.
At this time her sister's dresswas nearly torn off, both her
combs dragged out of her head aswell as a quantity of her hair
torn away.
The fellow, notwithstanding theoutrage he had committed,
(15:40):
knocked loudly two or threetimes at the door and it was
only on their calling loudly forthe police from the upper
windows that he left the placeget out of bed.
(16:02):
But such was the alarm of thenight before that they both got
out of bed and he managed to getdownstairs and found his
daughter, jane, with her clothestorn and having all the
appearance of receiving the mostserious personal violence.
The article goes on, but I'mgoing to stop there.
So again, that was a quote froman article in the Examiner
which came out February 25th1838.
I know it was a little bit long, but I just thought it was
interesting because it talks inso much detail about what
(16:23):
happened, but also because somany of the Alsop family saw
this right.
And then the police came andthey saw it right.
So it was validated in manyways.
And also all three of thesisters saw the attacker,
according to this account.
So I think what it validates isthat the attack is real right.
Whether or not we believe thatthe entity is supernatural isn't
that important, because I thinkgenerally most of us don't, but
(16:46):
it's that there was copycats atleast, or someone claiming to
be this figure going aroundLondon, and whether it was one
person or many people we maynever know, but that the attack
itself certainly seems to havehappened.
A few days after Jane Alsop wasattacked, a woman named Lucy
Scales was walking with hersister in a different London
neighborhood when a man jumpedin front of the pair.
(17:08):
Again, he was described asbreathing blue flames.
This time Jack's breathactually caused one of the women
to have a seizure-like fit, andboth of the attacks on Lucy and
Jane happened closer toLondon's city center than the
others, which took place mainlyin the suburbs.
So this article from theMorning Post, which was a London
newspaper from March 7th 1838,talks a bit about Lucy Scales'
(17:33):
encounter, lambeth Street, theghost alias Spring-Heeled Jack.
Again Spring-Heeled Jack again.
Yesterday Mr Scales, arespectable butcher residing in
Narrow Street Limehouse,accompanied by his sister, a
young woman 18 years of age,attended before Mr Hardwick and
made the following statementrelative to the further gambles
of Spring-Heeled Jack.
(17:54):
Ms Scales stated that on theevening of Wednesday last, at
about half past eight o'clock,as she and her sister were
returning from the house oftheir brother and while passing
along green dragon alley, whichsounds very cool, they observed
some person standing in an anglein the passage.
She was in advance of hersister at the time and just as
she came up to the person, whowas enveloped in a large cloak,
(18:17):
he spurted a quantity of blueflame right in her face which
deprived her of her sight and soalarmed her that she instantly
dropped to the ground and seizedwith violent fits which
continued for several hours.
In reply to the question of MrHardwick, miss Gale said that on
approaching the individual shethought it was a woman, from the
headdress being apparently abonnet or something of that
(18:39):
description, but she wasafterwards satisfied that it was
a man.
He appeared to her to be talland thin, but her sister, who
was with her, could give a moreaccurate description of this
person as she had a betteropportunity of noticing him.
But she was not at home whenthe officer called, else she
would have attended.
Mr Scales said that on theevening in question, in a few
(19:00):
minutes after his sisters hadleft his house, he heard the
loud screams of one of them andon running up Green Dragon Alley
he found his sister, lucy, whohad just given her statement, on
the ground in a strong fit, andhis other sister endeavoring to
hold and support her.
What had happened?
She described the person to betall, thin and gentlemanly in
(19:21):
appearance, enveloped in a largecloak, and carried in front of
him a small lamp or bull's eyesimilar to those in the
possession of the police.
On her sister, who was a littlebefore her coming up to the
person, he threw open his cloak,exhibited the lamp and puffed a
quantity of flame from hismouth into the face of her
sister, who instantly dropped,and such was the effect of the
(19:42):
light upon her eyes that she hadto cover them with her hands
for an instant or two when shewent to the assistance of her
sister.
She also stated that theindividual did not utter a word,
nor did he attempt to lay handson them, but walked away in an
instant.
Mr Scales remarked that it wasnot a little singular that one
of his sisters had been readingin a newspaper a few minutes
before they left his house, theaccount under the head of his
(20:03):
office of Springfield Jack.
When he remarked that it wasnot likely that this personage
would come to his neighborhoodfrom the account, so far from
alarming his sister appeared tohave a different effect.
Mr Scales then handed in acertificate of which the
following is a copy quote thisis to certify that on Wednesday
the 28th, I visited Lucy Scalesof Week's Place, limehouse, who
(20:25):
was suffering from hysteria andgreat agitation, in all
probability the result of afright Charles Pritchard surgeon
.
End quote.
So by April, spring-heel Jackseemed to have found his way to
the coast, according to thisarticle from the Times,
published on April 14, 1838.
Quote Spring-Heeled Jack has,it seems, found his way to the
(20:46):
Sussex coast.
On Friday evening between nineand ten o'clock he appeared, as
we are informed, to a gardenernear Rose Hill in the shape of a
bear or some other four-footedanimal and, having first
attracted attention by a growl,then mounted the garden wall,
covered as it was with brokenglass, and ran along it upon all
(21:06):
fours, to the great terror andconsternation of the gardener,
who began to think it time toescape.
He was accordingly about toleave the garden when
Spring-Heeled Jack leapt fromthe wall and chased him for some
time.
The dog was called, but slunkaway, apparently as much
terrified as his master, havingamused himself for some time.
(21:26):
So I find this one to be reallyinteresting, because I don't
really know the tone of thisarticle.
Is it a parody?
Is it purposefully being silly,or do we believe that it was
(21:48):
this bear?
You know, it's hard to reallyinterpret that one right now
with the historical knowledgethat I have.
So if there are historianslistening, that might have a
better idea about the tone ofthis short little snippet
claiming that this bear wasSpring-Heeled Jack.
Is it just that there was thisincident with a bear and the
reporters being cheeky.
(22:08):
Or did the gardener believethat?
You know?
I don't quite know, but Ithought that was an interesting
one to throw into the mix here.
Sightings of Spring-Heeled Jacklasted until 1904.
So from 1837 until 1904, peoplecontinued to report sightings
of Spring-Heel Jack andobviously there's a different
range to these right.
(22:28):
Some of them are more, some ofthem maybe feel more concrete
than others, and many believethat the last sighting of
Spring-Heel Jack actuallyhappened in Liverpool.
So in 1888 in Everton, which islike a neighborhood in North
Liverpool, it was believed thathe actually appeared on the
rooftop of a church that was onSalisbury Street called St
(22:49):
Francis Xavier's Church.
And then the final sightingthat is kind of well known or
documented is from 1904.
And it was claimed that heappeared on William Henry Street
in Liverpool.
It was claimed that he appearedon William Henry Street in
Liverpool.
So let's talk a little bit aboutsome theories and then what I
really want to talk about is theimpact of this legend on horror
and pop culture and generallyjust day-to-day life in
(23:11):
Victorian London.
So this was a point ofcontention when we first talked
about Spring Hill Jack inepisode 158.
But the term that was used wasa group of fancy men, meaning
that was their group of wealthysort of school boys or young
gentlemen out in London drinkingone night and just causing a
bit of a ruckus, right?
(23:32):
Maybe they were.
I'm picturing them as sort oflike private school athletes,
right, who are jumping aroundand just being obnoxious and
worse and attacking women, andmaybe something like that turned
into a copycat situation.
Or maybe there was one personright who had some kind of
advanced athletic ability tojump and obviously had some
(23:53):
costuming, right.
I think that's the importantthing here.
He's using props and one of thereason I really like that
article about the scalesencounter, the Lucy scales
encounter, is because they talkabout this lantern.
He has this cloak and he hassomething on his head.
Both of the Jane Alsop and theLucy encounters talk about
something on his head in thiscloak, but then he's using
(24:15):
something to breathe blue flamesand he's using this lantern.
So it seems like he has propsand tools and stage magic to
some degree.
Right, he has something thathe's trying to create, this
illusion of the supernatural andright at this point I'm clearly
in the camp that this is notsupernatural.
This is a person who's causingchaos.
But to me I think maybe it's aperson who's causing chaos
(24:38):
dressed up in a certain way,using, again, stage props or
something to kind of create thisillusion.
And then I think you have somecopycats that are fueling the
fire a bit and other people whoare running around causing, you
know, a muck.
But really what all of thischaos went on to do was kind of
create this atmosphere of aboogeyman.
(24:59):
In London at the time, you know, people thought that he was
looking in at them from theirwindows at night while they
slept Spring-Heeled.
Jack was memorialized in ahandful of penny dreadfuls.
For anyone who doesn't know,penny dreadfuls are sort of like
affordable serial pamphlets orliterature kind of predating
comic books, I suppose, thatwere released during the 19th
(25:22):
century and a lot of them werequite spooky or dark, but anyway
.
So he became a character in ahandful of Penny Dreadfuls
released in the late 1800s.
Interestingly, he was first avillain in these and then he
turned into a hero, which Ithink is quite fascinating and
also quite related, I would say,to this very thin line that we
(25:42):
talked about a lot during thehistory of superhero horror
series between being a superheroand being a supervillain and
how and like.
That's why Batman is so popular, right?
Because?
Or why I love Batman so much isbecause I think it's really
hard to be in the position of asuperhero and be purely good.
To have that much power and bepurely good or evil is just kind
(26:05):
of boring and flat right, and Ithink all people, if we're
speaking of human nature, havedark sides and light sides and
all those things, and so ascharacters, they're much more
interesting that way.
So, anyway, just think it's fun.
That kind of Jack flipped thescales there.
But he wasn't only memorializedin Penny Dreadfuls.
His legacy has lived on in afew different ways.
(26:26):
So in 1989, philip Pullman'sSpring-Heeled Jack was a graphic
novel that made Jack again intothe hero, something that I find
really interesting, especiallybecause it sounds like the truth
of the whole thing, if we'reasking me, is that he was kind
of a really bad human being,right, he was also depicted in
the alternate history timetravel novel, the Strange Affair
(26:48):
of Spring-Heeled Jack from 2010.
But really a lot more like he'sin video games.
He's in different things, buteven if we don't think about how
he's, you know, sort of pluckedout of history and transcribed
verbatim into something we couldalso think about how his legacy
has shaped the history of popculture also, the history of
folklore, the history ofcryptids, the history of all
(27:08):
these different thingssuperheroes, right, it's really
interesting.
If you poke around online,you'll find a lot of really
interesting theories.
I mean, I have been trying tobe better about doing this
lately, but if you do head tohis Wikipedia page it's quite
extensive.
And then under theories,there's a section for skeptical
(27:32):
theories and paranormalconjectures.
And again, while I don'tbelieve that he was a paranormal
entity, it's really interestingthat some of the belief there
is actually around him being anextraterrestrial entity, which I
think is so interesting becauseyou don't think of a figure
from Victorian London, a folkfigure, you know, being
described as an extraterrestrial, and I love when there's sort
of that like weird mind bendingexplanation for something, even
(27:54):
if, again, we don't believe thatit's true.
But those who believe in itrefer to his weird red eyes, his
breath right, his ability tobreathe blue flames, his
unworldly ability to jump, Isuppose just like the aliens and
signs there.
Authors Lorraine Coleman andJerome Clark put him in a
category called phantomattackers, which I think is a
(28:16):
perfect way to describe him.
Another person in this categorywould be the Mad Gasser of
Mattoon.
So they describe phantomattackers as being kind of these
entities that appear human butthat display these inhuman
abilities.
In the mid-1900s there wasactually a sort of counterpart
or copycat that popped up inPrague, who became known as the
(28:40):
Spring man of Prague and wasreported to have been seen in
Czechoslovakia from 1939 untilabout 1945.
And I'm saying this becausethere's something really
interesting about this copycator whatever this is, which is
that people start to make theconnection perhaps that we're
(29:01):
going to tie it all together now, ready that there is a prog
bear, a type of bear that canjump really high.
And a lot of this comes fromMike Dash, who is a researcher
and writer who's done a lot ofresearch, um on, on
Spring-Heeled Jack.
But I think that's reallyinteresting.
Okay, what if the bear thing,or some people, claimed it was a
(29:22):
bear?
Maybe it was a bear, right,maybe it was a mix of all of
these things.
It was a fancy man who wasdrunk and being silly and
dangerous, and some people whowitnessed from afar bears who
can jump really high andmisinterpreted that as
Spring-Heeled Jack or as theSpring man of Prague?
I don't know, just throwing itout there.
I want to read one more articlefrom the Morning Post.
(29:45):
This one is dated Wednesday,april 4th 1838.
Capture of Spring-Heeled Jack.
Yesterday, james Painter, ayouth about 18 years of age and
footman to Mrs Chather ofKilburn, was charged at
Marylebone Police Office, beforeMr Rawlinson and Lord Merriford
, with having for some time pastkept the fair inhabitants of
(30:08):
the above village inconsiderable alarm by sallying
out upon them during theirevening preambulations,
disguised as a ghost.
Mrs Anne Amsnick, a mostrespectable married lady living
in the place above named, statedthat a little before eight
o'clock on Saturday evening shewas walking along Waterloo Place
contiguous to Miss Charter'sresidence, accompanied by a
(30:31):
female friend who was present,when all of a sudden she found
herself seized by a mostghastly-looking figure, habited
in a white sheet and wearing ahideous mask from which depended
a long beard.
The figure on clasping herexclaimed who the devil are you?
And her friend, havingrecognized the voice of the
ghost, replied very promptlywe'll let you know who we are
(30:53):
and that we are not to befrightened by you.
The ghost then beat a retreat,followed by complainant and her
friend, and seeing it vanishover the wall surrounding and
seeing it vanish over the wallsurrounding Miss Charter's
premises, she was pretty wellconvinced that the defendant was
the ghost.
However, to make sure of thematter, they asked a water
carrier named Snell, who had agood view of the ghost and who
(31:15):
assured them that it was thedefendant.
Ms Charlotte Haggerstone, thecompanion, after corroborating
her statement, said that sheknew the defendant well.
He had for a considerableperiod been playing his
mischievous tricks upon females,some of whom he had frightened
in a very serious manner.
She recognized his voice themoment he spoke and he had
attempted upon several previousoccasions to frighten her.
(31:38):
Samuel Snell, the water carrieralluded to, gave corroborative
evidence.
The defendant denied theoffense and called the coachman
for the purpose of proving analibi in which he failed.
He then proceeded to state thatMrs Amsnack had been to his
mistress's house in a greatpassion and, seizing him in the
hall, had bestowed summarypunishment in the shape of
sundry hard smacks on his face.
(31:59):
So I'm going to leave this onehere.
But this ends up being aninteresting sort of Spring Hill
Jack caught moment, and clearlythere's tons of different
sightings and attacks thathappened after this date.
This is only April of 1838.
And this goes on until 1904.
But I think it tells you rightthat there are at least some
(32:20):
copycats out there.
So we have some proof for thattheory.
Here's a quote from the NewYork Sun, may 16th 1838.
And so this I just find it tobe really interesting, because
this is a New York paper that'stalking about this London
phenomenon, right ofSpring-Heeled Jack.
The London ghost turns out to bea very unceremonious and
villainous personage.
(32:41):
Up to the 24th of February hehad not been caught, and what
added to the mischief was thatmany other persons thinking in a
capital joke played the ghosttoo.
From his quickness of heel, theunknown scamp has worn the
subrack of spring-heeled Jack.
The following is a specimen ofhis conduct, thus described by a
young lady who was attended tothe police office by her father.
(33:03):
And then it goes on with theJane Alsop story, another
sighting from the Morning Postdated Saturday May 26, 1838.
Spring-heeled Jack.
No little sensation has, withinthe last few weeks, been
created among the inhabitants ofthe peaceful village of
Carshalton, surrey, by themischievous pranks of some
individual who has beenpersonating the character of
(33:25):
Spring-Heeled Jack.
We regret, however, to add thatin one instance his conduct has
been attended with melancholyconsequences For a few days,
since a youth of the name ofThomas Worth, about 14 years of
age, the son of a poor,hard-working widow woman living
in the village, while going tohis work at about six o'clock in
the morning, was pursued,unperceived by the scoundrel in
(33:47):
some awful disguise, whosuddenly jumped upon his back,
which so alarmed the unfortunateyouth that he instantly became
bereft of reason, in which statehe still continues.
He is totally unable to giveany description of the fellow,
who will therefore escape thepunishment he so richly merits.
End.
Quote from the From the LondonDispatch and People's Political
(34:08):
and Social Reformer.
Sunday October 28th 1838.
Foul myth Spring-heeled Jack.
On Saturday night, as MissSimmons' eldest daughter of Mr J
Simmons, who had been spendingthe evening with some friends,
was returning to her father'shouse, attended by a manservant,
when she had nearly reached thegate some miscreants caught
hold of her dress, whichterrified her to such a degree
(34:30):
that on entering the house shebecame seriously ill and
continued so until Tuesdaymorning when she expired from
the effects of the fright".
I mean, that is just a horrible, horrifying story.
So this newspaper article isfrom 1887, from the Newscastle
Weekly Chronicle, saturdayFebruary 29th Spring-Heeled Jack
by W Lees, fleetwood.
(34:52):
It has never been ascertainedwho carried out the
extraordinary series of freaksor, to speak the truth,
something much worse than freaksthat the title of our subject
will bring to the recollectionof people a little past middle
age, but they were verygenerally, though without any
proof, attributed to therecollection of people a little
past middle age, but they werevery generally, though without
any proof, attributed to theMarquis of Waterford.
(35:12):
The probability appears to bethat a number of young bloods
worked together to produce theappearance we are going to
describe.
In that case, of course,spring-heeled Jack was not one,
but many persons.
However, as Jack was nevercaught in any of his
performances, it is not nowlikely that the mystery will
ever be cleared up or that weshall ever know whether one or a
dozen or score performed thepart.
Certain it is that for somemonths, jack created the
(35:34):
greatest terror in London andits neighborhood, and so this
article goes on to describe, youknow, the sightings of
Spring-Heeled Jack and all ofthe history.
It's a really interesting one.
I'll pop it on to our Patreon.
I'll put all these on to ourPatreon if you guys want to read
them firsthand.
It's very long so I'm not goingto quote the whole thing.
But I think it's fascinatingthat it's saying, first of all,
(35:54):
that it's common knowledge thatthe Marquis of Waterford is the
person responsible for this, orat least who led, was involved
in this, and I also love thelanguage of saying this was a
part that many people played andthey played it, you know, just
like we kind of mentionedearlier in the episode, with
like stage magic or stage props.
That's how it's kind ofdescribed in this article.
(36:15):
So I just looked up who was theMarquis of Waterford in 1837.
And that's a title, right ofcourse.
And it was held at the time byHenry Beresford, the third
Marquis of Waterford.
He was referred to as the MadMarquis and was remembered as an
eccentric.
So that tracks.
We're not making any assumption,we're not making any
(36:35):
accusations in this podcast.
I'm just chasing down thethread of that article.
So this Marquis was born in1811, which would make him 26 at
the time that these attacksstarted, which I feel like is
the proper age, to be honest.
So there was a popular rumorI'm just finding this all out
live now but there was a popularrumor that connected him to
(36:56):
Spring-Heeled Jack.
But the wrench in this theoryis that this man died in 1859,
and these sightings went on longafter that.
However, of course, again we'vetalked about the fact that this
could have been multiple men,right, multitudes of people
claiming to be Spring-HeeledJack, and maybe some bears
thrown in there too, so hard tosay.
So this piece is a little bitdarker, but generally the theory
(37:18):
holds that he had maybe ahumiliating experience with a
woman and a police officer andso, in order to kind of get
revenge with women in generalwhich is horrible behavior and
with police in general, hedecided to create this character
and then maybe employ orencourage some of his friends to
(37:40):
help live it out.
And I will say this I don'tknow if any of this is true or
not, but if it was true and ifit was somebody in power, I
could understand maybe why thepolice never caught him.
You know, if it was widelyknown.
Again, I'm not saying it is,we're not making any accusations
.
The theory around him goes evenfurther that maybe, because he
has, you know, access, he couldhave had someone help him design
(38:03):
like even boots that hadsprings, some sort of spring
apparatus in them to help withthat piece of it.
But generally, you know theMarquis of Waterford at the time
was seen as not just eccentricbut, I would say, problematic.
He was in the news up until thelate 1830s for getting into
drunk bar fights and, you know,vandalism and really kind of
(38:25):
inappropriate jokes.
There was a saying that hewould do almost anything for a
bet.
So I don't know, it seems likea possibility, certainly a
possibility.
Thank you guys so much forlistening.
I hope this has been as much ofan adventure for you as it has
felt like it has been for me.
It's been really interesting.
It was even just reallyinteresting to see where this
(38:46):
thread sort of went right,following these different
theories and finding out aboutthe Marquis of Waterford, this
well-known secret that a lot ofthese articles don't mention.
So that was fascinating, asalways.
Appreciate very much you guyslistening.
I hope everyone is hanging inthere, staying safe, staying
spooky.
We'll talk to you soon.
Bye.
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