Springheel Jack

In Victorian times streets were lit by gas lamps and each flickering shadow in the many dark alleyways was the perfect breeding ground to bring all manner of imagined terrors to life. Then there were the 'Penny Dreadfuls' the small booklets full of Gothic horror that only served to feed the imagination of just what horrors, real or unreal, lurked in the darkness, so it was no surprise that Springheel Jack flourished in this enviroment...........but was he man or myth ? that is a question still to be answered.

For weeks London had been a buzz with tales of a man monster stalking the outskirts of the city attacking anyone unfortunate enough to come into his path. It was said by those who became this victims that he had 'eyes of hell' which glowed a fiendish red, his hands weren't those of any human being not flesh but steel claws which he used to scratch and claw at his victims, but worse than this was the fire which shot from his mouth. Some had tried to catch this monster but to no avail, just when they thought he was trapped he would spring up on to a nearby roof and bound away.

As long as this talked about monster stayed outside the city Londoners could sleep easy in their beds, then in 1838 Spring Heel Jack came to the eastend. Then there came the vague reports of a strange figure carrying a lantern near Bow Fair Fields in Bromley by Bow, which was then still a village, and again at Old Ford and walking along Bearbinder Road what was then a quiet country road, which became Tredegar Road and part of the eastend proper. These were just fleeting sightings and could have been nothing sinister except Bearbinder Road was the sight of the first confirmed attack. The Alsop family lived at 1 Bearbinder Road which was surrounded by farmland at that time. Mr Alsop was an invalid and the household consisted of himself, his wife and their three daughters.

One evening in Febuary 1838 there came an urgent ringing at the gate, it was 8.45 an unusal time for visitors to call so a little apprehensively Jane the twenty year old daughter went to answer it, she saw a shadowy figure standing in the lane as she reached the gate he said ''I'm a police office, for God's sake bring me a light we have caught Spring Heeled Jack in the lane''.He spoke with such authority that Jane simply obeyed without hesitation and ran into the house to fetch a candle. When she returned she handed the lighted candle to the man she thought was a policeman who in the very next moment proved her assumption to be wrong.

With one quick movement he discarded his long outer garment and holding the candle to his chest Jane saw his hideous face staring at her with red glowing eyes. From his mouth flames of blue and white shot out from his mouth, for a moment Jane froze but was alert enough to notice that he was wearing a large helmet and a tight fitting white garment that resembled oil-skin. Once she gained her senses Jane turned to run up the path towards the house but the stranger leapt towards her catching hold of her dress and the back of her neck, as she struggled to free herself he grabbed her around the neck and with her head tightly under his arm began ripping her clothes with what seemed to her to be metal claws.

With considerable force she managed to to get free and continued to run along the path, but again he caught hold of her just as she reached the steps leading to the open front door, with all her strength she screamed as loud as she could as her once again tore at her dress, her neck, her arms and as his metal claws reached to her hair she felt clumps being pulled from her head. At last her sister heard her screams who managed to grab hold of Jane and bundle her inside slamming the door behind them. 

Even with the door closed and bolted he continued to bang loudly again and again, it only went quiet when the Alsop family appeared at the upstairs window and called loudly for the police. It's resonable to suggest no-one sleep much that night in the Alsop house especially Jane who was suffering from the shock of the nights events plus the pain from the injuries that had been inflicted as she struggle to get away from the grip of Springheel Jack for she was certain it was the monster who had been causing such fear in the outlying villages who had visited the Alsop house early that evening.

The police at the time throughly investigated the attack and at first suspected it had been a drunken 'prank' by a local man, for quite a few were seen out and about in the lanes that evening. After questioning, and at Jane Alsop's insistance that her attacker hadn't been a local man otherwise she would have recognised him, so eventually this became the first confirmed case against Spring Heel Jack.

A few days later two sisters were visiting their brother William who was a butcher at 20 Narrow Street Limehouse. During that evening their conversation had,. quite natually, turned to Spring Heel Jack so it's likely they were a little apprehensive when taking their leave and making their way home that evening. According to birth records Lucy was sixteen and the eldest of the sisters, Elizabeth was two years younger. As they turned into Green Dragon Alley Lucy was a little ahead of her sister and in the shadows she thought she saw a woman. The figure was tall and to Lucy's eyes appeared to be wearing a cape and bonnet.

No sooner had this thought ran through her mind when the figure emerged from the shadows but it was no woman but a fire spurting monster, she sceamed and tried to run but it was too late for in that instant she was to become the latest victim of Spring Heel Jack. As the flame hit Lucy's face she became blinded and fell to the ground where she became seized with fits that lasted for several hours. Seeing her sister attacked in this way Elizabeth screamed out for help, her brother heard her screams and ran to the alley where her found Elizabeth kneeling over her striken sister trying to help her back to conscienceness.

Once he had carried Lucy back to his house he learned from Elizabeth what had happened. The assailent she described as tall and thin wearing a cape and carrying a bullseye lamp, he didn't try to touch either of them but simply walked away as Lucy fell to the ground. She also added that he had a gentlemanly demeanour. Thankfully Lucy's blindness proved to be temporary, eventually she recovered from her ordeal and on the 1851census when she is twenty nine we find her recorded as a servant living in the home of a Mr and Mrs Chapman of Streatham. Seven years later she married George Heath who was a widower five years older than herself and went on to have two sons.

His last appearance in the eastend was at at the house of a Mr Ashworth in Turner Street Whitechapel. As at the Alsop's home there was a knock at the front door which a young servant boy answered. On being asked for his employer the young boy turned to fetch him as he did so he caught sight on the clawed hands so instead of fetch Mr Ashworth the young boy sent out the cry that Spring Heel Jack was there and soon the street began to fill with people. It's said, by the young boy, that Jack only escaped by jumping over a roof of one of the houses. As well as telling the police that before leaving Jack had shook his clawed fist in his face while his eyes glowed red, while doing this the boy said he saw the inside of the cape and the large decorative letter 'W' embroidered there.

It was that one single letter, seen or imagined by the young boy, which caused suspicion to fall on the Marquess of Waterford. Henry de la poer Beresford third Marquess of Waterford was suspected because of his reputation as a hoaxer, perhaps that is too a mild word to use for he had been described as a rowdy boisterous ruffian, who had a streak of cruelty in his nature. Seeing that he was also in London at the times of the attacks is perhaps why he was considered, as we say in todays parlance, a person of interest.

His companions were no different, the rich and idle who got their fun by being an annoyance to anyone who came there way. Also he enjoyed the company of prize fighters and prostitutes anyone in fact that were on the edge of accepted society.

His sense of humour was a destructive one, he used to find it hilarious to challenge complete strangers to a fight, he fought a duel, painted Melton red, and once painter the pasons horse with aniseed then proceeded to chase him down with blood-hounds.

Although he seemed to be the person that many people regarded as being responsible for the emergence of Spring Heel Jack he was never charged or even questioned. Although the attacks stopped in London reports of Spring Heel Jack continued from different parts of the country.

Then in 1859 it was reported that the Marquess had died in Ireland following a fall from his horse. Those that had been victims of Spring Heel Jack must have breathed a sigh of relief that no-one else would come face to face with the fire breathing monster. However that proved to be a little previous for the attacks by Spring Heel Jack continued until 1904...............So just who, or what, was it that terrified the country for over sixty years and brought terror to the eastend in 1838?

However fifty years after Springheel Jack's first attack in the eastend another Jack roamed the crowded streets in that part of London and his terror was such that even now his crimes remain some of the most gruesome in history.