Spring Heeled Jack
How about some spooky stories for Halloween? Here's one to kick off with:
Spring-heeled Jack
English folklore has its fair share of spooky stories and spring heeled Jack is one of them. However, this hardly sounds like a folk story when you read the eye witness accounts.
The creepy legend dates back to the Victorian era where the first sighting happened in 1837. Mary Stevens was walking to work through Clapham Common, London when she was grabbed and groped by a figure she described as having glowing red eyes, like balls of fire and claw like hands which felt clammy as they tore at her clothes and fondled her skin. As she screamed for help, he fled from the scene, leaping great distances in a spring like manner. People ran to the girl's assistance and then scoured the streets for her assailant but he could not be found.
19 February 1838, another incident occurred, which was later widely covered in the newspapers and also drew the attention of the Mayor of London, Sir John Cowan. A teenager called, Jane Alsop heard shouting from outside her father's home which was then followed by heavy pounding on the door. Jane stated he was shouting for a candle and claiming to be a police officer, saying they had just caught spring heeled Jack in the lane outside her house. Jane fetched a candle and then opened the door - to be confronted by a figure in a long, black cloak and wearing a helmet. She described him as having glowing red eyes and was spewing out blue flames from his mouth. It then opened the cloak, revealing a tight fitting garment which resembled white oilskin. Jane began to flee and scream for help, but before she could get away, the creature grabbed her and tore at her neck and arms with its claws. Her sister ran to the scene and startled the assailant, which then fled into the night.
The most recent sighting of what is described as a spring heeled Jack character, was ran by the Surrey Comet. The article revealed how late one evening, on 14 February 2012, Scott Martin and his family were being driven home in a taxi down the Ewell bypass, Stoneleigh, England. All of a sudden a dark figure, with no features ran at great speed in front of the vehicle, vaulting over road barriers and then clearing a 15 foot hedge on the other side of the bypass.
The taxi driver was so traumatised by the event, he was unwilling to drive back over the bypass alone.
Martin said. "He didn't want to drive back alone. I am honestly baffled by this sighting and we are intrigued by it because it was so real but so strange."
By J Stevens copyright 2013
Sources - Surrey Comet - Terrified family confronted by dark figure
http://www.surreycomet.co.uk/news/epsom/9546587.Terrified_family_confronted_by__dark_figure__on_bypass/
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