First and foremost this is an awesome rendering of Spring Heeled Jack. I had never seen this, only old drawings. Anyway, Spring heeled Jack, one of the craziest most unknown legends. To this day no one has officially decided what really happened.
Before Jack the Ripper began his reign of terror, Victorian England was terrorized by another un-catchable demon: Spring Heeled Jack. It is not certain if Jack was a man or beast. Witnesses report him having long, sharp fingernails that looked almost like claws. His eyes had a crazed look about them that some said glowed red as he was about to strike. Reports said the being spit fire and had a mechanical laughter. We will dive more into the descriptions later. The name Spring heeled Jack came from what happened when the beast turn and ran from those it attacked.
Jack was said to easily bound over fences that were above seven ft tall, as well as leap across roof tops. The reports regarding this creature or spirit are absurd and are nothing like anything known to science or paranormal researchers. If you don’t know about this story, then good, you certainly will enjoy this.
Spring Heeled Jack was first reportedly seen in 1837 in the Black Country, an area in the West Midlands that was the heart of the 19 th-century industrial revolution in England. It was very easy for stories - true or imagined - to spread like wildfire and, as is the case in a largely oral culture, to become embellished along the way. Nor is it surprising to read of Spring-Heeled Jack being seen on the roofs of pubs or churches; his image was certainly being employed by local preachers as a warning against the perils of drink.” And yet the number of eyewitness accounts of the demon may suggest otherwise.
In 1837, a local man was going home after work, same as every other evening. His path took him past the town’s cemetery, which was normally of little concern. However, on this night, a cloaked figure emerged out of the darkness of the graveyard. The businessman stood terrified as the figure leaped over the high cemetery gates and landed softly in the lane. Before waiting to see what happened next, the man ran home as fast his legs could carry him. This was the least harmful story of Jack.
The descriptions stayed fairly similar but again were of an incredibly alien figure. As I stated. Long metallic like finger nails, red glowing eyes. The outfit he wore resembled a tight thin white material covered over by a gentlemen's long coat and top hat. It is said he could breathe blue and white fire. Some even said he could speak some English.
A side note. To me this being actually sounds like an extremely advanced automaton. Cold metallic appendages, glowing eyes, said to breath smoke and “flames” could be parts releasing light. Imagine a see through controller or something back lit by an led type light. However in those times would have been steam powered. Imagine if you will the robots from I robot if created in Victorian England, just add a coat and top hat. ha-ha
Back to the story, few believed this story until a few months after the first sighting, when a young woman named Mary Stevens was attacked on her way home from work in the factory. This was the most famous incident for a while. A dark figure emerged from an alleyway and grabbed the girl. “He began to kiss her face and attempted to cut her clothes off with his talon-like fingernails, his hands ‘cold and clammy as those of a corpse’” She reported that the beast opened his mouth and light and steam came out. The girl began to scream hysterically, causing a number of people to come to her aid.
This is where the name truly began. Upon hearing the womans screams and the foot falls of people coming to her aid. Jack ran off scaling a fence easily and was lost to the night. There were a few other reports of women being attacked or groped by a similar "devil" they called it. Some only seeing the being and fainting immediately. Reports were similar, some adding the clothing he wore, some saying light came from its mouth or body, while others said it breathed blue and white fire.
Still to this day the mystery of Jack has never been solved. It is interesting to add that this is only twenty years before the birth of Tesla. we know what he created in his life span. Look at legends of doctor Frankenstein as well. So while Jack could have been some type of cryptid or demon, it just really sounds like an automaton. Back lit LED lighting lol, steam, cold metal like hands, Enhanced movements. It is hard to believe, but witnesses claim the reports are true and that Jack was as real as you or I. Maybe one day he will make his rounds again.