chambers dictionary of the unexplained art

CHAMBERS DICTIONARY OF THE UNEXPLAINED ART SERIES

In the early years of the nineteenth century, some even believed that malignant spirits roamed the streets of London. People credited Spring Heeled Jack with a supernatural origin because, despite advances in science and technology, many people in late Georgian and early Victorian England still had one foot in the superstitious past. In these accounts, Spring Heeled Jack took on the shape of a white bull or bear and would prey upon helpless women and children- or anyone who went out at night without a lantern or a stoat stick. The Morning Chronicle of 1838 described how the residents of Peckham believed they were being plagued not by a man but by ‘the pranks of the ghost, imp or devil”. Right from the first moment, Jack had ‘sprung’ into the public eye, many of the general public believed he was a supernatural entity. However, other people believed the original Spring Heeled Jack had never gone away- because he was no mere mortal. However, many people believed Spring Heeled Jack was of Supernatural Origin. Originally posted to Flickr by The British Library. “Man Frightened by a Ghost” from “The Wild Boys of London or, the Children of Night,” 1866. They wore India-rubber dresses which would puff up at will to a great size, horns, a lantern and springs in their boots.” These counterfeit Jacks terrorized both men and young women- and stole to boot- the one factor that differentiated them from their early Victorian inspiration. A gang of young men calling themselves Spring-heeled Jacks have been going about in the dusk and frightening people. On March 1, 1877, Potter noted that: “ There has been a most singular nuisance going on since Christmas around Manchester. One of those cynics was the writer and artist Beatrix Potter. In November 1872, Peckham was left “ in a state of commotion” due to the appearance of a Spring Heeled Jack wannabe known as the “Peckham Ghost.” The News of the World described this new urban terror as “Spring Heeled Jack who terrified a past generation.” Some people may well have been taken in by this sensationalist headline and believed that Jack was back in London. The first explanation for the continued manifestation of Spring Heeled Jack was the alarming possibility that the original had inspired a new generation of copycats.

CHAMBERS DICTIONARY OF THE UNEXPLAINED ART SERIES

Spring Heeled Jack may have kept on manifesting over a seventy-year period because he spawned a series of Copy Cats.

Chambers dictionary of the unexplained art