Spring Heeled Jack

Spring-Heeled Jack began as a ghostly presence haunting the streets of Victorian England and transformed into a character in fictional stories. The first report of Spring-Heeled Jack was by 18 year old Jane Alsop. 

An excerpt of her report that appeared in a media source at the time is taken from the book The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack- Victorian Urban Folklore and Popular Cultures (25):

“Miss Jane Alsop… stated that, at about a quarter to nine o’clock on the preceding night [20th] she heard a violent ringing at the gate in front of the house, and, on going to the door to see what was the matter, she saw a man standing outside, of whom she inquired what was the matter, and requested he would not ring so loud. The person instantly replied that he was a policeman, and said ‘For God’s sake bring me a light, for we have caught Spring-heeled Jack here in the lane’. She returned into the house and brought a candle, and handed it to the person, who appeared enveloped in a large cloak, and whom she at first really believed to be a policeman. The instant she had done so, however, he threw off his outer garment, and applied the lighted candle to his breast, presented a most hideous and frightful appearance, and vomited forth a quantity of blue and white flame from his mouth, and his eyes resembled red balls of fire. From the hasty glance which her fright enabled her to get at his person, she observed that he wore a large helmet; and his dress, which appeared to fit him very tight, appeared to her to resemble white oil-skin. Without uttering a sentence, he darted at, and catching her, partly by her dress and the back part of her neck, placed her hand under one of his, and commenced tearing her gown with his claws, which she was certain were of some metallic substance. She screamed out as loud as she could for assistance, and by considerable exertion got away from him, and ran toward the house to get in. Her assailant, however, followed her and caught her on the steps leading to the hall door, when he again used considerable violence, tore her neck and arms with his claws, as well as a quantity of hair from her head; but she was at length rescued from his grasp by one of her sisters. Miss Alsop added that she had suffered considerably all night from the shock she had sustained, and was then in extreme pain both from the injury done to her arm and the wounds and scratches inflicted by the miscreant about her shoulders and neck by his claws or fangs.”

Spring-Heeled Jack’s identity collided with fiction and fantasy when he started appearing in Penny Dreadful stories. I created my own mock-Penny Dreadful issue based on the account of Jane Alsop. Following the story is a brief examination of the sensation and criticism of Spring-Heeled Jack’s appearance in the Penny Dreadfuls. 

Penny Dreadful No. 50 

Spring Heeled Jack: The Terror of London

Chapter 1: The Case of Jane Alsop

She looked in the mirror, her face dimly shown by the candle beneath it. Jane observed her own reflection and studied each feature that blossomed with youth and femininity. Her eyes were unquestionably blue, but they were masked with strands of dove-grey. Her lips and nose were thin; much opposite of her younger sister that was not as dainty as Jane. Jane stroked her cheek and before she could take another note of her beauty, a ring at the gate demanded her attention. While otherwise a normal occasion, Jane was aware of the late hour and was chilled by the strange occurrence. She sat still, hoping that whoever caused this disturbance was merely making a mistake and had moved onward.

A moment passed and Jane’s nerves had nearly settled when a second terribly vicious and angry ring sprung Jane from her chair. She hurried down the steps and took a breath before opening the door just a crack. She peered through the window of outside air and could barely make out a figure standing over her.

“And why must you be ringing so desperately this hour of night?” Jane scolded the visitor, folding her arms as she presumed a concerned mother would.

The visitor stared back at Jane, however she was still blind to his demonic skin and monstrous eyes.

“I am, in fact, a policemen in London and it is my duty to visit your home on the precedent of this home’s safety ma’am. If you will, fetch a light so I am able to properly address you”.

Jane knew the authority of a policeman and right away closed the door and retreated into her home, returning moments later with the candle she had just used for her own reflection. Jane held the candle with one arm and the door with the other. Slowly, she extended her arm toward the face of the respectable visitor. As the light approached closer, Jane was given a better glimpse of the man’s face. He was not a man, but a demon! Her arm shook with fright and grasped the candle tighter to not be left in the dark with the nightmare in front of her. His eye color was hidden under a layer of fire. A helmet created a shadow that nearly covered his entire face. His skin consisted of oil. A woman’s dress wrapped around his body tightly. The only justification Jane could make was that she was facing the devil. As if he was about to scream, the monster open his mouth side and his tongue slung out. A vomit of blue and white flames gushed from his throat and flowed down his chin.

The sight of the hideous beast paralyzed Jane; she was mesmerized and struck with fright. As if Jane was not dealt enough, the pain hadn’t yet seized. The monster’s claw, three times the size of Jane’s, wrapped itself around the entirety of her neck and yanked her close enough to feel the heat of his breath. Sharper than a knife, his other claw reached for her satin nightgown and tore it down the slope of her back. Jane knew her last moments were approaching and opened her mouth to scream but found that even her lungs frozen with terror. Jane had never felt such a horrifying panic, but knew she had one last chance and nothing to lose. Gathering every feeling of passion and strength she had Jane screamed a second time. It was deafening and rang, and the beast lost his hold. She was going to be safe.

Her legs moved as fast as they could away from the perpetrator. The humble, unassuming house that held Jane’s childhood and safety was in sight. Closer and closer she came, running so fast Jane didn’t know what was controlling the movement of her legs. She lifted her arms leaping into the doorway-

And tripped.

While in mid-fall and plunging into the concrete, her assailant clutched a thick knot of Jane’s hair; the same hair Jane carefully stroked every night and vowed to never let scissors come near it. Her prized possession was torn from her scalp. The beast crunched her arms, neck, and shoulders as if he had acquired seven more claws and ten times the strength as before.

Once more time Jane let out a shrill. It echoed into her father’s home and only by a miracle, Jane’s younger sister flung open the door and fought the monster for her sister’s body. Her strength miraculously beat that of the monster and Jane’s sister managed to pull Jane inside the doorway. Quickly her sister shut the door behind them. After a minute of silence, Jane and her sister heard the sounds of the footsteps of the monster slowly sink away from the door and into the darkness. Jane’s muscles immediately weakened and she collapsed into the comfort of her sister’s arms. Both of their bodies were pressed against the side of the door that assured them safety. Jane was immobile for several hours. The pain she experienced was unearthly. Her bruises swelled into intimidating purple and black gashes. The beast left her body to rot, but stole her purity and corrupted her innocence. The event forced Jane into bed rest for several days. Her family and neighbors feared what Jane would become after her trauma and prayed Jane’s morals and integrity would not vanish. Jane had been saved, but there was talk amongst the town of who the creature would target next. The evening stalker was eventually awarded the name of Spring-Heeled Jack. He became the nightmare that disrupted every child’s sleep and the shadow that made everyone scuttle a little quicker to make it home before the sun set. Every location was deemed unsafe and every person walked in fear, for Spring-Heeled Jack could always be lurking behind you.

Afternote

In 1837, the first appearance of Spring-Heeled Jack was recorded. His entity was not random however, and resulted from the chaotic context of Victorian England. Prior to and during the birth of Spring-Heeled Jack, issues of Catholic rights had caused riots and movements for certain populations. Gothic and sensational works of literature were being produced and spread ideas of supernatural and extreme experiences. In other words, the boundary between fiction and reality grew thinner. At this time, London was also a developing urban environment which caused unease for the citizens who lived there. In 1830-31, there was a Cholera outbreak which highlighted the poverty and poor public health. In Karl Bell’s book The Legend of Spring Heeled Jack, he explained how such fears and unease created an alternate London, the dark one, which was illustrated by critics of this time, including Dickens. Bell explained, “[they] did much to help construct the image of a dark, mysterious ‘other’ London, and Spring-Heeled Jack’s repeated emergence from the shadows granted him the role of herald to this hidden metropolis” (51). Finally, the emergence of Spring-Heeled Jack had a lot to do with the public that allowed his  creation. Bell defined the citizens of London at this time a “sensation-hungry public” (71) and claimed his fervor was largely due to the tendency of mass hysteria. The context of the Victorian Era was the perfect stage for the concept of Spring-Heeled Jack to appear. However, the physical fear he caused soon shifted into a mental fear of reading about him.

The transformation of concern was due to his reconfiguration into a literary character that appeared in ghost stories and comic books, one of them being Penny Dreadful. “Even as the folkloric demon faded, this stronger association with penny dreadfuls pushed him further into the realm of literary fiction, causing obfuscation of his increasingly muted existence as a ‘real’ entity” (Bell, 43). At this time, people were beginning to doubt the reality of his existence as a singular identity and instead became sensationalized with the stories that featured him. With the invention of the printing press came the increased market for mass produced material. In his article “‘Disseminating Impure Literature’: The ‘Penny Dreadful’ Publishing Business Since 1860”, John Springhall reveals the effect of such literature. The Penny Dreadful was a cheap and convenient source of entertainment that Springhall (by quoting Hoggart) says, “became by far the most alluring and low-priced form of escapist reading available to ordinary youth” (568). Producing short sensational stories was the easiest way for writers and publishers to successfully meet the demands of the public. While the stories were filled with excitement and adventure, Penny Dreadfuls and similar publications were controversial to the conservative population.

Many Victorians did not approve of the captivation that occurred when someone read a sensational story. Critics asserted that it was dangerous for boys to read tales about criminals and murderers. In Patrick A. Dunae’s article “ Penny Dreadfuls: Late Nineteenth-Century Boys’ Literature and Crime”, he outlines several arguments people made opposing Penny Dreadfuls. While some made the claim that the Penny Dreadful “was associated primarily with lower-class youths — youths who, it was believed, were most often responsible for juvenile crimes” (135), others disputed that the action-filled stories mesmerized the upper class as well. Dunae reports a quote that Lord Shaftesbury spoke at a Religious Tract Society meeting in 1878 who said, “It is creeping not only into the houses of the poor, neglected, and the untaught, but into the largest mansions; penetrating into religious families and astounding careful parents by its frightful issues” (139). While there was difference in opinions regarding specifics, people mostly agreed on the influence that a literary character had on the population of boys. They were aware of a fictional story’s power to create intense and overwhelming feelings in the body. Immorality was a largely untouched subject before this period, and like many new trends, it’s existence was upsetting to many. Also similar to other trends however, the new branch of storytelling opened doors to social change and open discussions. Dunae (150) even points out that it wasn’t the content in the literature that changed after this era, but the attitudes of the conservative minds.

Works Cited

Book:

Bell, Karl. The Legend of Spring Heeled Jack- Victorian Urban Folklore and Popular Cultures.

The Boydell Press, 2012.

Articles:

Dunae, Patrick A. “Penny Dreadfuls: Late Nineteenth-Century Boys’ Literature and Crime”.

Indiana University Press, vol. 22, no. 2, 1979, pp. 133-150.

Springhall, John. “‘Disseminating Impure Literature’: The ‘Penny Dreadful’ Publishing Business

Since 1860”. The Economic History Review, New Series, vol. 47, no. 3, 1994, pp. 567-584.

Pictures:

“Spring Heeled Jack”  No. 1, 9 & 10, 19 & 20. From The San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. https://library.osu.edu/blogs/cartoons/2013/05/03/found-in-the-collection-spring-heeled-jack/