Who or what was "Spring Heeled Jack", The Terror of London ?

[Zuni]

I have been interested in a unsolved mystery from London in the 19th century where a person with a ghoulish appearance assaulted women, apparently breathed flames and could leap more than 15 feet into the air.
Sightings of Jack started in the late 1830s, but he was sighted many times through the rest of the century, even attacking British soldiers in the 1870s. He was seen in Liverpool in 1904, where he leapt off of a church spire and then bounded over onlookers. He might have been seen in Wales as late as 1948.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/3602/springy.html

http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/articlejack.shtml

[oneighty]

1. Pan the Goat

That was Pan. Often he could be identified by his odor of 'Jitterbug Perfume' which covered his real stench.

Indeed Major Carter.

180

[oneighty]

17. Devil in Devon

Yes that was Pan.

I have him confused with my BIL 'Spring Heels Jack'.

180

[Zuni]

18. who is this 'pan'?

Is he some sort of goat like satyr, a demon or something.
No explanation can account for that story either

[oneighty]

23. Pan is a god of the ancients.

He is half man half goat all horny and he stinks.(The lower half is mostly goat) He lives in the forests and on the plains and on the mountains; he is everywhere. He plays beautiful seductive music on his 'Pan Pipes' luring to him willing young maidens and other curious music lovers. Over a period of time he morphed into the very devil himself. (so it is said by the old people) and me. Oh wait! I am an old people.

For the most interesting of stories in which Pan is a main character read: 'Jitterbug Perfume' By Tom Robbins.

You will laugh you will say "Oh my!" and you will smell the perfume.

Beets.

180

[scarlet_owl]

2. I've read about that. It's creepy.

I'm not sure what it could have been.

[Zuni]

3. That is the thing---there is no rational explanation

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. The picture looks like Batman.

Quick...where was Bruce Wayne in 1840?

[Zuni]

5. Fighting crime in Gotham City

where he was in 1840 is a bigger mystery

[Spider Jerusalem]

6. Whoops...

my typo rate seems to be higher than normal lately. Too much damned caffeine...makes my hands unsteady.

[Zuni]

7. my hands always shake

I do not know why, but I am usually highly caffinated

[Elidor]

21. I think you've hit on something here

[BikeWriter]

8. The Jersey Devil on vacation? n/t

[Wat_Tyler]

9. It's the spring heels that bother me.

The fire-breathing and apparatus - that could be done, particularly by a circus artiste, but I can't see how the springs would work without breaking your legs very, very quickly.

[Zuni]

10. even with springs in the shoes

how does one bound over houses?

The fire breathing is even more mysterious because no one was ever burned by him, even though he was usually close enough to grab someone

[Wat_Tyler]

11. The stories would be somewhat exaggerated over time.

I'm pretty sure SHJ existed, but I don't buy the leaping over houses part. Does this tie in with the cloven footprints found all over a small town in Devon in the 1840's, even over rooftops and the weird cloven footprints found on the deserted island of Kerguelen at the same time, approximately?

I believe the Marquess of Waterford was suspected at the time, but SHJ has been sighted periodically ever since - who knows.

[Zuni]

12. The Marquis of Waterford

has been named several times in articles I have read. SHJ had a cape with a coat of arms and a W inside it. The Marquis was also a notorious prankster who was rough with the ladies.

The 'Devil in Devon' is mysterious as well, as something left footprints for 40 miles in those towns, CLoven hoofprints actually, and they went over houses, stopped at walls only to begin on the other side.
As strange as crop circles

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Hm.

Legs bound in canvas from hip to instep, and splinted, with just a bit of give at the knees, perhaps. Only way I can think of to make it work. Of course that would play hell with balance and the ability to make a clean landing.

[Wat_Tyler]

14. The landing is tricky - how do you stop bouncing, or land upright?

[Spider Jerusalem]

15. If not for the fact...

that several of the attacks took place in relatively open areas, I'd suspect a harness, rope, pulley, and a nearby confederate on the other end. But with springs on the heels, one could land on the toes, I suppose...(there IS still that balance problem, though).

[Zuni]

16. too add to this discussion

in some reports I have read the police found his footprints at the scene of one of his appearances. Witnesses said the shoes had some sort of contraption or irregularity evident in the print

[Bridget Burke]

19. Amazing. He appears in several Tim Powers books....

Powers writes fantasies--many with a historical background. His works show a deep knowledge of various periods & are highly original. (No 3rd rate Tolkien ripoffs.)

So I'll add this tidbit to his sources. Fits well with vampire-haunted Romantic poets & zombie pirates encountered on the quest for the Fountain of Youth.

[Zuni]

20. Tim Powers eh?

I am always looking for something new and original to read

[Bridget Burke]

22. Here's more info....

A pretty good fan site: http://pw2.netcom.com/~cbranch/powers.html

His historical fantasy includes The Stress of Her Regard, On Stranger Tides and The Anubis Gates. More contemporary works follow the Fisher King to Vegas & investigate the occult roots of the Cold War.

I wouldn't read the reviews at the site because some of them give away too much plot. Just check out Amazon.com or your local bookstore & start reading....