Spring Heeled and Fancy Free

October 28, 2004 3:21 AM

1837! Victorian England is being terrorised by a bouncing marauder! Who could this masked pervert be? Was he a Lord? Was he a striped stuffed animal? Was he the 19th Century Batman? A Ska band? Why no! It's Spring Heeled Jack, scourge of the rooftops of London, Engerland...(A little pre-Halloween scare for you and a break from Election tedium for those of you requiring one)
posted by longbaugh (12 comments total)

After having taken a random interest in Victorian-era stories and ephemera I found a number of fun sites about a little known precursor of Jack the Ripper, Spring-Heeled Jack! A deviant, degenerate pervert was he, Jack terrorised the public from 1837 and there are some sightings suggesting his existence even to this very day (even in my home town…). So sit down around the hearth, cover up any extraneous limbs and indulge yourself in tales of TERROR!
posted by longbaugh at 3:21 AM on October 28, 2004

Not to be confused with Spring Heel Jack - London Drum and Bass duo....
posted by mattr at 3:45 AM on October 28, 2004

Or Spring Heel Jack, who are jazz musicians (the same musicians mattr mentions, they had a slight change of direction more recently)....
posted by davehat at 4:34 AM on October 28, 2004

London has some fantastic tales of mass hysteria. My favorite is the London Monster who allegedly stabbed over fifty women in the butt in the 1790's. There's a suprisingly awesome book about it.
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:12 AM on October 28, 2004

Great post, longbaugh. I'd never heard of this spring-heeled fellow.
posted by orange swan at 5:28 AM on October 28, 2004

Very cool.
posted by putzface_dickman at 6:08 AM on October 28, 2004

Thanks MC - that's way cooler than that horny devil Ron Jeremy who stabbed a good couple of hundred women in the butt from the 1970's onwards...
posted by longbaugh at 6:12 AM on October 28, 2004

What a great story. This reminds me of one of my favorite books: The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers. Sweet link.
posted by ssmith at 6:17 AM on October 28, 2004

He could be confused with Spring Heeled Jack the Freakylinks mascot. I love Spring Heeled Jack.
posted by bclark at 7:23 AM on October 28, 2004

Maybe he had a pair of these...
posted by rushmc at 7:50 AM on October 28, 2004

Awesome post, longbaugh!
posted by shoepal at 7:53 AM on October 28, 2004

This is excellent! Please, sir, may I have some more [UKFilter]?
posted by initapplette at 11:48 AM on October 28, 2004