springheel jack

ive long been interested in this shadowy character and always believed he was restricted to a brief period of victorian history however i was browsing links about him the other day and i found a website (sorry lost the link) claiming there have been sightings of him reported this century! anybody know anything about this?

Those are a pair of Acrobatic boots from the game "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion"

Ha ha thats funny

This story was one of the first i remember reading as a child, it was probably what got me started on the path of unknown / unexplained phenomenon, which has since expanded to encompass all conspiracies etc.

I hadn't realised there were also reports from this century (20/21?)

Didn't Stephen King write a short story titled, "Springheel Jack"?

Can't remember which book it was in. "Night Shift" maybe?

There's a man called Tom Slemen who writes a series of books called Haunted Liverpool and he's actually wrote about him. I've heard stories from my nan who lives in Everton about Spring Healed Jack, yet he's also known as The Golosherman ( I think thats how its spelled) He used to jump around on the rooftops causing mischief and trouble.

One story that got me was when I was in a pub, there was a lock in until like 6am and everyone was wasted. Anyway I got talking to this old man and he said one of his relatives was hanging clothes out to dry in her yard and she heard a giggle. When she looked around she seen a man on the rooftops sort of stalking crouched down and then jumped down off the roof.

Springhealed Jack is quite the mystery. Was he an alien? Did he just find some new tech? Stuff like this angers me because we are likely to never know about such an amazing being.

I remember him being mentioned in one of Terry Deary's books... True Monster Stories I think....

After vanishing for a few years he returned with a new trick, breathing fire!

If I remember rightly, after a short return, he disappeared again for quite a few years. Most believe he retired and that the follow-up sightings/incidents were copycats.

Kyle.

There are a lot of stories of springheel and springheelesque things.
en.wikipedia.org...
en.wikipedia.org...

for starters

found a bit more up to date info here just wish there was a bit more detail in the reports
www.thecobrasnose.com...

found a whole online book about him have not had a chance to read it yet but it looks very interesting

www.mikedash.com...

Originally posted by jerico65
Didn't Stephen King write a short story titled, "Springheel Jack"?

Can't remember which book it was in. "Night Shift" maybe?

I thought it was a big worm thing in Night Shift (the movie anyways).

I always thought the springheel jack was a British version of the leprechaun.

Originally posted by mthgs602
Those are a pair of Acrobatic boots from the game "Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion"

Ha ha thats funny

I'd hate to be the mean spirited one here, but seriously.....Go outside...Read a book...Turn the game off.....

Believe it or not, life does not imitate your games, but the other way around.....

Spring Heeled Jack is a legend Centuries old and is known the world over...

I feel like your game feeds you recycled garbage....Every great story has been told already...

Rocket boots......smh

Hi, I really enjoy everything about the SHJ legend, and had a very interesting discussion with one of the founders of the Jersey Devil Hunters website regarding the similarities between SHJ and the NJD!!

The discussion was based around my own (speculative!) theory that SHJ was NOT in fact human.

Whilst researching SHJ, it became clear that "he" had several powers/features that were not human-like at all.
e.g. Glowing red eyes, Long (metal-like) Talons, hooves or cloven feet, ability to breath blue-coloured flames or "fire", a fantastic ability to leap over high walls or onto rooftops from a standing start without any visible means of propulsion etc.
SHJ was also always described as wearing a dark/black coloured "oilskin" cape. Oilskin is so-called because it was originally made from oiled animal skin. The oils made it more waterproof, and gave it a glossy sheen. (Later versions used woven fabric instead of skin) So it literally did look like an oily skin "cape".
What if this oily skin cape was actually oily living skin... wings maybe?

This got me thinking about the possibility that SHJ could in fact have been a non-human creature of some sort.
So I started searching for other creatures with similar characteristics, and that's when I found the New Jersey Devil.

Guess what his main characteristics are?
Yep... Glowing red eyes, Long (metal-like) Talons, hooves or cloven feet, ability to breath blue-coloured flames or "fire", a fantastic ability to leap over high walls or onto rooftops AND Black or very Dark Wings of oily skin!

Could it be that the stiff-upper lipped, populace of Victorian London, wary of being ridiculed or worse for seeing a fantastic, demonic "creature" with these abilities, chose instead to believe that it was nothing more than a caped "man"?

The similarities between the two entities are striking, and the differences few.
The main difference being that SHJ was described as having human features, whilst NJD was described as having a horse-like head.

Both legends are fascinating, both remain a mystery. But I have a hunch that they might be linked in some way.

For those who are unaware of the NJD - Heres a LINK to the DevilHunters website
The discussion I had was via email, with Laura Leuters, one of the founders of that site.

regards,
GTD

I actually do not remember ever hearing of this person, or whatever it is. I have an idea, which is just a theory at this point, and again I don't know much about the subject, but the actions sound strangely similar to Dave Chappelle's descriptions of crackheads, who seem to like to do a lot of scurrying, and are especially fond of climbing trees. BUT, that particular form of the drug had yet to be invented, so I suppose that idea is void. What does everyone else think? lulz.

Maybe 'Jack' might have been the founder of free running/urban running. Just a thought...... I'll get my coat.

Daz

this is also one of the very first paranormal events that i read about and was fascinated by when i was younger and still am. was he a time traveler?, from another dimension?, a demon?, a tulpa? i think that some witnesses described him as having pointed ears and nose! and smiled with a terrible, diabloic grimace! > en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by dashdespatch


I too, have penchant for the tales of the mysterious figure.
Spring-Heeled Jack is probably a tale of a acrobat who may have
attempted an amorous advance on one of the many 'loose' women
in London in those times.
With a possible confrontation with a Peeler -or Policeman, somersaulted
away from the situation and fled into the night.

The newspapers and Penny-Dreadfuls that were always on the look-out
for 'upbeat' tales that destracted the public from the squalour and poverty of
the time took up the yarn -and then the account was embroidered and blown
out of all proportion.

As today, a story passes along and acquires more-and-more outrages parts,
until Spring-Heeled Jack leaps buildings and emits fire from his mouth!

I have a tale that may help.
In the early 70's and one evening, my friends and I were playing football (soccer) in
a small street where private gardens lined the side of the road.
The ball bounced into one of those gardens and a friend went to retrieve it.

Behind a bush of around four-feet, he suddenly disappeared and thinking he was
messing about, we entered the garden to see what the problem was.

There he lay with a bloodied face and a terrified expression, we helped him up
and asked him what happened.
"There was a man... a man waiting in the dark of the hedge and he beat me up!"
he told us. He went on to say the man had 'hairy teeth'!!
I told many of my friends that evening and went on with my life.

30 years later, I visited a friend in the same area of the town and her child
told me of a harrowing episode.
"My friend once saw a man with hairy teeth!" the child told me... "She was in
the park when it was getting dark and as she passed a hedgerow, she could see
him hiding in the leaves... he was horrible and had long claws!"

So... was there a man who hung around for thrity years in the dark, never seen
during daylight hours with his disfigurement...? or was it a bearded guy who enjoyed
beating up children and never apprehended or even looked for by the Police?

I'll gamble it was a tale that had hung around all those years and like a rolling snowball,
gathered more-and-more detail from children's imagination.

Good thread.

My fourth novel is about Spring-Heeled Jack! I love this guy. Not 'love' in the sense that I'd want him to come by for a visit, of course, as by all accounts he's a real dick.

reply to post by dashdespatch


Mothman always makes me think of spring-heel jack.

Also, I remember some years ago reading of a creature or person who was spotted in India. Whatever it was appeared to leap from roof to roof and the people were scared to sleep outside for a while (rooftops being their favourite place to bed down). I'll try and google more info on that. The stories had a SHJ feel to them.


Well that didn't take long, Monkey Man. Lots of similarities with spring-heel Jack.

The recent monster-inspired panic in India has historical precedents, such as Spring-Heeled Jack, but has been more dangerous than most of them

Descriptions of the Monkey Man of India, first mentioned in police calls on May 13, 2001, have shown little consistency. So far, some described the entity as having a metal claw or claws, while others likened it to a cat with glowing eyes. Another claimed it had flaming red eyes and that green lights glowed upon its chest. These descriptions were but a few among many.

www.strangemag.com...

i think that the gas or mist that he sprayed at people came not from his mouth,but from a device that he wore strapped to his chest.that had buttons or dials on it that he manipulated.this was probably some kind of anesthetic that he used to disorient and confuse people...i wonder if this mist was actually used to hypnotize people or suspend them? then he could have "abducted" them or whatever else.i don't think they studied "missing time" back then? like they do now. but i'd be willing to bet that these people did have that happen to them...

reply to post by blocula

en.wikipedia.org...

dont forget this guy he fits right in with monkey man and jack