I always thought of shj as being nothing more than pure fantasy. he was even featured as a mosnter in the old kids toy line "monsters in my pocket"
but after reading up on it I'm not so sure it's pure fanatsy anymore. acording to wikipedia the last known sighting of this goofball was in 1986.
en.wikipedia.org...
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I wonder if Jack the Ripper was actually Spring Heeled Jack on one of his sprees?
They both seemed to fancy women. Neither was caught.
Maybe SHJ did kill people, but it was covered up by claims a human did it because authorities knew what SHJ was, and didn't want the public to
know?
[edit on 11/2/09 by NuclearPaul]
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I don't think the Rooftop Madman was like the Mothman, because Mothman was supposed to be more hunched over, and The Rooftop Madman and Spring heeled
Jack stood up straight and tall
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Originally posted by NuclearPaul
I wonder if Jack the Ripper was actually Spring Heeled Jack on one of his sprees?
They both seemed to fancy women. Neither was caught.
Maybe SHJ did kill people, but it was covered up by claims a human did it because authorities knew what SHJ was, and didn't want the public to
know?
[edit on 11/2/09 by NuclearPaul]
I doubt because shj used claws and went around scaring people whereas jack the ripper seemed to use a sharp knife and have something against hookers.
plus there both from different time periods. jack the ripper surfaced in late 1888 whereas shj was first sighted in 1837. and there has never been any
reported sightings of shj in whitechapel.
en.wikipedia.org...
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Originally posted by Creepy
Nobody seems certain when Jack first appeared. Many sources say that reports of a peculiar leaping man were in circulation as early as 1817,
but it was not until 1838 that Spring Heeled Jack became a figure of considerable and widespread interest and speculation. On 9th January 1838 the
Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Sir John Cowan, revealed, at a public session held in the Mansion House, the contents of a letter he had received
several days earlier. He had withheld it, he said, in the hope of obtaining further information. The correspondent, who signed the letter �a
resident of Peckham�, wrote that, as the result of a wager, a person of the highest rank had adopted several frightening guises and set out to scare
30 people to death. He had �already succeeded in depriving seven ladies of their senses�, two of whom �were not likely to recover, but likely to
become burdens to their families.� The resident of Peckham continued:
"The affair has now been going on for
some time, and, strange to say, the
papers are still silent on the subject.
The writer has reason to believe that
they have the whole history at their
finger-ends but, through interested
motives, are induced to remain silent."
We do not know why the Lord Mayor made the contents of the letter public, nor can we judge the truth of the letter�s allegation of a press
�cover-up�, but from the quantity of letters that poured into the Mansion House it is clear that the activities of Spring Heeled Jack were common
knowledge in suburban London.
the "wager" aspect of the story is something i havnt heard of before i read this
article...thought id share it with yas  its a good read 
Spring Heeled Jack had appeared as a milk-white bull, a white bear, and an enormous baboon; he had been seen dressed in a suit of shining brass
armour, and on one occasion in one of burnished steel; once, in Hackney, he appeared as a lamplighter - who walked upon his hands and carried his
ladder between his feet. His ability to make prodigious leaps was popularly ascribed to springs attached to his boots.
has anyone who was brought up in England ever heard the story of spring heeled jack while growing up?
im curious about the locals perspective....
[Edited on 29-9-2003 by Creepy]
I remember reading a small book with pictures about spring heeled jack when I was about 9 in school. It said how he was a devil like man and that he
did terrible things in victorian times. I remember it saying he was caught by some soldiers and walked with them till they reached a huge gate which
he leaped over and wasn't seen again.
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I have always considered Spring Heeled Jack to be somewhat more than just a madman.
There is NO EVIDENCE whatsoever, that this creature either had or used Springs in his heels. The Term Spring-Heeled-Jack was coined to explain how the
creature could evade capture by leaping HUGE distances, often over high walls or onto rooftops.
The actual evidence that was presented, and reported at the time, mainly took the form of a tall, thin, "man", in tight fitting dark "oilskin"
suit and cape, with burning/glowing red eyes, pointed ears and chin, horns, metallic claws, the ability to emit blue flames from it's mouth,
following or accosting young women, and leaping into trees/over walls/onto rooftops.
Does this actually sound like a "man"?
When looking at the evidence, you have to take into consideration, that the people who encountered (and reported on) this character, were from
Victorian London. Anything out of the ordinary, had to be rationalised, anything unknown had to be described in familiar terms.
If you saw an unknown "beast", you could have been ridiculed, or worse still, branded a heretic. So, I think that the people who encountered this
being, described (as much as possible) what they were expected to describe... A man. A madman, In a cloak.
Not a fiery eyed, sharp clawed, fire spewing, winged, unknown creature.
The actual descriptions of the characteristics of this "man" sound much more like the New Jersey Devil, or Monkey Man of Delhi to me.
Inhuman devilish features, long face, pointed ears, horns, red "fiery" eyes, ability to produce blue flames, etc. Couldn't the "cloak" actually
be folded wings? Like NJD. It would certainly explain the "leaping" ability, problem was... if you described being attacked by a winged creature
back then, you would have been thought of a being a lunatic!
The sightings continued for many many years. And curiously, over the years they drifted north.
The last one that I'm aware of was in the 1980's, in Liverpool I think?
I'd love to find out more!
G
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