aeillill
091705-020
Springheeled Jack
"Reports of a strange, otherworldly figure began to circulate through London during the early fall of 1837. By January of the following year the Lord Mayor-Sir John Cowan declared the unknown assailant a public menace and called for volunteers to search the streets for the man being called Springheel Jack.
One February night, in 1838, sisters Lucy and Margaret Scales were walking home from their brother’s house in Limehouse. At 8.30pm it was already dark as they passed Green Dragon Alley. Suddenly, a cloaked silhouette leapt from the darkness and breathed blue flame into Lucy’s face. The laughing figure jumped high over his victim and her sister and landed on the roof of a house. From there he bounded off into the night.
The name Jack was common in England during that time, and often used to refer to a male whose name was unknown. Springheel came from the phantom's unusual ability to jump a height and distance that seemed humanly impossible. He was able to avoid capture despite his attacks being witnessed numerous times, by simply leaping or jumping out of sight. The phantom was accused of pushing, shoving, ripping the clothing, and scratching some unfortunates but his intent seemed to be mischief and his goal apparently to frighten innocent people rather than to do actual harm.
Most of those who were assaulted by Springheel were woman. Their descriptions and the facts that came forth from other witnesses drew a strange picture of a tall, thin man wearing a dark cape and a close fitting cloth helmet. Observers also claimed the phantom could breath out a blue flame to drive back any group who gathered around him. Later in the 1860's the same figure or one similar was seen actually flying over treetops. Ten years later he was seen again, this time bouncing from rooftop to rooftop with an uncanny speed. So fast was he able to travel that the sentries who fired on him were not even able to slow him down."
091705-020
Springheeled Jack
"Reports of a strange, otherworldly figure began to circulate through London during the early fall of 1837. By January of the following year the Lord Mayor-Sir John Cowan declared the unknown assailant a public menace and called for volunteers to search the streets for the man being called Springheel Jack.
One February night, in 1838, sisters Lucy and Margaret Scales were walking home from their brother’s house in Limehouse. At 8.30pm it was already dark as they passed Green Dragon Alley. Suddenly, a cloaked silhouette leapt from the darkness and breathed blue flame into Lucy’s face. The laughing figure jumped high over his victim and her sister and landed on the roof of a house. From there he bounded off into the night.
The name Jack was common in England during that time, and often used to refer to a male whose name was unknown. Springheel came from the phantom's unusual ability to jump a height and distance that seemed humanly impossible. He was able to avoid capture despite his attacks being witnessed numerous times, by simply leaping or jumping out of sight. The phantom was accused of pushing, shoving, ripping the clothing, and scratching some unfortunates but his intent seemed to be mischief and his goal apparently to frighten innocent people rather than to do actual harm.
Most of those who were assaulted by Springheel were woman. Their descriptions and the facts that came forth from other witnesses drew a strange picture of a tall, thin man wearing a dark cape and a close fitting cloth helmet. Observers also claimed the phantom could breath out a blue flame to drive back any group who gathered around him. Later in the 1860's the same figure or one similar was seen actually flying over treetops. Ten years later he was seen again, this time bouncing from rooftop to rooftop with an uncanny speed. So fast was he able to travel that the sentries who fired on him were not even able to slow him down."