Spring Heeled Jack

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...

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 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

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...

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.

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

Originally posted by Creepy

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....

Well, I live in London, and I first heard about Spring Heeled Jack when I was 8 or 9. My dad gave me a poster of an old penny dreadful-type print about SHJ. It's not something that's particulary well known any more, at least not amongst people I know. I think there's a tendency for people to laugh when they hear the story too, given that it's one of the wackier folklore characters. For me though, the timeline and geography of the attacks that's most interesting. As the above poster stated, the attacks moved north. And this wasn't something that started on the playground and got out of hand, it was reported in The Times! People were issuing statements about it. There were victims. Quite a few of them. And the idea that this was a hoax doesn't ring true for me - first of all, the sheer gymnastics alone would be difficult enough (impossible?) for one person to master, but we have attacks spanning what, 80 years? Are we seriously suggesting that Spring Heeled shoes were passed down, father to son, as well as the appropriate training needed to escape large angry crowds on said heels? Not to mention the tendency toward attacking women, and spitting flame. So if it's a hoax, it's a generational one. Either that or it was a pensioner leap-frogging around, attacking northerners.

As for what it actually was, it's pure speculation. I personally think it was some kind of demon. Not in the religious sense, but something from a different plane of existence.

Originally posted by Gordi The Drummer

The last one that I'm aware of was in the 1980's, in Liverpool I think? I'd love to find out more!

I wasn't aware of a sighting from the 1980's, you have any more detail on that? Funny thing - I'm originally from Liverpool, and I was aware that the last sightings of SHJ occurred there (though it was 1904 as I understood it), which obviously peaked my curiosity as a child. Well, I've lived in London for several years now, and recently I did some reading up on the subject (which eventually lead me here), and I realised that on top of the Liverpool connection I've manged to live in several areas where Jack was sighted. Lewisham, Blackheath, Peckham, Camberwell. Forrest Hill too, at one point. Yeah, I found that quite synchronistic.




[edit on 18-5-2010 by Scalvador]

[edit on 18-5-2010 by Scalvador]

Originally posted by Gordi The Drummer
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

I haven't heard of Springheel Jack for years. I remember reading about how one night two ladies opened the door to him and he had a box on his chest that emitted some gas and they passed out. That made me think of some of the older alien sightings. Wasn't he also a suspect in the Jack the Ripper case?

I do know there was a sighting of some sort of demon man in Scotland around 1995-6, or thereabouts. SHJ popped into mind when I heard it. Some men in a van went to a warehouse one night and this thing was on the roof and jumped down from a good height as if it were a couple of feet. One of the witnesses was severely traumatised, said it was a demon, or devil. Sorry no more info on that.

If you think about it, Springheel Jack sounds suspiciously like a deranged chimney sweep. It strikes me as possible that a tall, lanky sweep bounding about the rooftops at dusk might account for some of the more earnest sightings. With the sexual tension of the Victorian era, "hysterical" women may have embellished their encounters. At least, this has always been my suspicion concerning the origin and development of what is clearly an urban legend.

reply to post by Creepy


What has happened actually is he just changed his name and now posts on the biggest conspiracy site around. You can find him if you look hard enough. Why all these replies and no flags? All you posters thus far are cheapos. Star and flag my friend, good thread.

reply to post by Scalvador


Hi, sorry for the delay in replying!

It took me a while to find the source for the 1980's sighting near Liverpool, but I'm fairly sure that it was this one;

Years later, in 1986, a former British army officer named Marshall was in South Herefordshire riding (presumably on a bicycle) on a quiet country road near the Welsh border. Motion in the fields to his left drew his attention, and he was astonished to see a man leaping over hedgerows in a single bound. The man reached the road and slapped Marshall hard enough to knock him to the ground and leave a red handprint on his face for hours.

from: LINK to TheCobrasNose website

Hope this helps?
cheers,
G

reply to post by wigit


Yeah, the "Leaping" ability of SHJ, as reported in many witness testimonies, is absolutely astonishing.
He was seen jumping from one rooftop to another one... On the OPPOSITE side of the road!
Easily clearing an 8 foot high wall in one bound.
Running through fields in great leaps of 50-60 feet at a time.
etc.

I had an extensive and very interesting discussion with a founder of a New Jersey Devil (NJD) website.
I came across their website whilst researching SHJ, and was amazed at the number of similarities between SHJ and NJD.
(Glowing red eyes, Talons/Claws, Ability to emit blue flames, Ability to leap huge distances, Black Cloak/Wings, Horns, Long "devilish" Face, hooved feet, etc)
To me, the similarities were too many, for the two not to be connected in some way. I think that they may even be the same thing. Just in different circumstances/location.

A very interesting topic to say the least!

regards,
G

reply to post by Gordi The Drummer


Much appreciated. It's actually quite fascinating to think this guy may still be out there, bounding around, a century after he was first sighted. Also, I'd never made the connection between SHJ and NJD. My research of NJD consists of basically googling it after watching a film which used the legend as it's backstory (it's called The Last Broadcast, you should look it up), so my knowledge of it isn't particularly extensive. Most of the pictures I've seen depict it as a kind of dog/donkey with wings, so SPJ never really popped into my head at the time. But then I've never given the depictions of Jack much credence either (the period illustrations always look a little quaint) so the M.O. similarities seem quite plausible.

Bearing that in mind, if they are 'kin', or at least of the same species, what's your take on what they are?





[edit on 22-5-2010 by Scalvador]

reply to post by Scalvador


OOOooooooohhhhhh!!! Now THAT's a question!!

I do suspect that SHJ and the NJD are indeed related.

My gut feeling is that both are "animal" (not human).

I think that SHJ was identified as a "man" because you would have been labelled as crazy if you admitted to seeing a devil-like creature in Victorian London!
I believe that his "cape" was actually the same as NJD's wings.

The glowing eyes and fiery breath would suggest something... supernatural? Certainly not your standard, common or garden animal!

I was thinking of what other fire-breathing, winged creatures there were from history or mythology, and Dragons immediately sprang to mind.

Horned, winged, fire-breathing, often depicted with glowing eyes, etc
Although usually much larger than our current pair under discussion?

Did real dragons exist? What were they? Could they be related in some way to SHJ and the NJD?
I honestly don't know.

There's other stuff to consider too... Mothman maybe?
Winged creature, red glowing eyes...

Who knows!

Any thoughts on the matter yourself?