Spring Heeled Jack: Ο τρόμος του Λονδίνου

by Anonymous, Γιώργος Μπλάνας (Μετάφραση Επιμέλεια)

[...] Ο Σπρίνγκχιλντ Τζακ δεν είναι αποκλειστικό δημιούργημα της πένας κάποιου συγγραφέα. Οι εφημερίδες της δεκαετίας του 1830 είναι γεμάτες με ειδήσεις για επιθέσεις του "Τρόμου του Λονδίνου", άλλες δίκαιες και άλλες άδικες. Κανείς δεν μπορεί να ξέρει ποιος και τι έκανε την αρχή. Απλά μπορεί ένας αναγνώστης με ζωηρή φαντασία να επισκέφθηκε τα γραφεία κάποιας εφημερίδας και να δήλωσε πως του επιτέθηκε ένα σατανικό πλάσμα. Οι συντάκτες δεν θ' άφηναν να τους ξεφύγει τέτοια "είδηση".
Αφού η διάδοση εξάντλησε τη χρησιμότητά της σαν είδηση, άρχισαν οι μυθιστορηματικές παρουσίες του Τζακ. Τα λαϊκά φυλλάδια κατέκλυσαν τους πάγκους των βιβλιοπωλών και από εκείνη την στιγμή δεν είχε πια καμιά σημασία αν ο Σπρίνγκχιλντ Τζακ υπήρξε πραγματικά. Οι αναγνώστες τον χρειάζονταν για να ψυχαγωγηθούν και να εκδικηθούν με τη φαντασία τους όποιον τους είχε αδικήσει. Έτσι εξηγούνται και οι πολλές διαφορετικές μορφές που πήρε ο ήρωας. Αρχικά έμοιαζε με διάβολο, αργότερα με κάποιο είδος Μινώταυρου και τέλος μ' έναν όμορφο νεαρό που τα καταφέρνει στις μεταμφιέσεις. Άλλωστε, όσο πιο ανθρώπινος είναι ο εκδικητής τόσο περισσότερες ομοιότητες μπορεί να βρει ο αναγνώστης με τον εαυτό του. Παρά το γεγονός πως ο Μπάτμαν αντικατέστησε ή εκσυγχρόνισε τη μορφή του Σπρίνγκχιλντ Τζακ, ο συγκεκριμένος ήρωας έδειξε μεγάλη αντοχή στο χρόνο. Άπειρα αφηγήματα, αρκετά θεατρικά έργα, μια κινηματογραφική ταινία (1946) και ένα σύγχρονο ροκ συγκρότημα αποτελούν τις καλλιτεχνικές "εμφανίσεις" του εκδικητή από το 1837 μέχρι σήμερα. (Από την έκδοση)

Οι Εκδόσεις Ηλέκτρα δημιούργησαν τη σειρά ΙΣΤΟΡΙΕΣ ΓΙΑ ΔΙΑΒΑΣΜΑ για να προσφέρουν στους Έλληνες αναγνώστες τις σπάνιες συγκινήσεις που απόλαυσαν εκατομμύρια άνθρωποι τα τελευταία 100 χρόνια διαβάζοντας τα αριστουργήματα της παγκόσμιας λαϊκής λογοτεχνίας. Τα κείμενα μεταφράζονται για πρώτη φορά στα ελληνικά, μετά από έρευνες σε αρχεία βιβλιοθηκών και περιοδικών, αφού πολλά από αυτά, μόλις τα τελευταία χρόνια συγκεντρώνουν πάλι την προσοχή των εκδοτών, σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Adventure, Pulp, Historical Fiction

114 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1885

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[ѦѺ™ · Rating 4 out of 5]

"'Ere's a question for the two 'o yeh: who's afraid of Spring-Heeled Jack?" - Scooby-Doo Wiki


Spring-Heeled Jack terrorizes London and nearby districts with his mephistophelian countenance and startling jumps. his identity and what led to his notoriety is speculated in this short book.
i was looking forward to a tale of horror but it turned out to be a story of betrayal, revenge and heroism instead. this was certainly not what i was expecting when i started reading. all the same, i still got so engrossed in the narrative.
the anonymous author may have cashed in on the popularity of penny dreadfuls during the 19th century and i think he may have gotten away with it successfully with this book.
this take on an urban legend leaves a great deal to be desired. nevertheless, i really enjoyed this piece of sensational fiction that was very popular in the era in which it was written.

[Phil J · Rating 4 out of 5]

What's your favorite flavor of cheese?


Spring Heeled Jack is a ludicrous, pulpy artifact from the Penny Dreadful era. It has the advantages of being short for the genre and starring a dashing photo-Batman character. If highwaymen, blushing beauties, righteous revenge, and sidekicks named Ned Chump are your thing, then look no farther.

[AthinaB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ήταν μία γρήγορη και ωραία ιστορία για τον Spring Heeled Jack.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

The confessions of Spring Heeled Jack, the story of a young man who was prevented his heir. I really loved this penny dreadful. Even a highwayman fled the scene when Jack appears in his costume. Great read presenting this horrific and mysterious character of the 19th century as an original hero. Clear recommendation!

[Stefi Rashkova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Πολύ όμορφη έκδοση, ενδιαφέρουσα και διασκεδαστική ιστορία. Η ομάδα του βιβλίου έκανε καλή δουλειά. Για την εποχή που γράφτηκε είναι αξιόλογη. Επίσης, μιλάμε για τον παππού του Μπάτμαν! 💖

[Libros Prohibidos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spring-Heeled Jack, personaje legendario del Londres victoriano, protagonizó diversos penny dreadful como este, en el que un autor anónimo intentó convertirlo en un héroe y de paso inició así la tradición de los vigilantes con disfraz.

Reseña completa: https://www.libros-prohibidos.com/spr...

[MB Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this on ManyBooks.net so I thought I'd get some background before reading The The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack by Mark Hodder

It was an OK read; although perhaps not exactly what I was looking for. “Spring Heeled Jack: The Terror of London” starts out with a description of (I assume) some actual reported sightings of Jack during the 1830s, then switches to a supposedly real account as taken from Jack's "Journals".

The story from the Journals is a decent read, although it ends rather suddenly; but it doesn’t even bother to try to align itself with the published reports of Jack’s deeds (or even appearance) that are recounted at the beginning.

The Journal story is simple enough: A non-inheriting son of an English baron goes to India to make his fortune. He does and suddenly, due to the death an older sibling inherits the barony. New baron dies on way back to England leaving an orphaned son, Jack. Jack is declared illegitimate by a cousin and seeks revenge. Reads like many a pulp novel or comic book.

I think I was expecting more a fictionalization of the news reports with Jack as the villain, rather than the rather standard story of a wronged noble with Jack as the hero.

But it’s short enough (50+ pages) that the simplicity of the plot, motivations and denouncement don’t distract too much from the fun.

Now I guess I’ll see if this background information is of any use at all when I read The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack .

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I admit I only downloaded this because of the Morrissey song.
The story was okay, because of the title, I was expecting something a little more terrorizing. However, for the time period I expect a weird man in a skin right red suit leaping through your windows is terrorizing enough.

[Geraldine O'Hagan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A justly forgotten Penny Dreadful, by a wisely anonymous author, significantly inferior in both quality and, more fortunately, length to bothVarney the Vampire or The Feast of Bloodand The String of Pearls.

After a few pages of rambling reference to real personages and events connected with the Spring-Heeled Jack phenomenon, we move on to the story proper and are introduced to our hero, the pseudonymous Jack Dacre. Following the death of five of his relatives in a mere half a page of narrative, all accidental drowning whilst at sea, he is washed up on shore as heir to his family’s ancestral estates in Sussex. His survival is down to a sailor, one Ned Chump, who has “taken very great interest in our hero on the voyage home.” and accordingly ties him to a hen coop in order to facilitate his survival during a shipwreck. Then they proceed to make their way from Kent to Dacre Hall, which they achieve without difficulty despite an almost complete lack of funds because “Shipwrecked mariners are always well treated in England,” What means they use to convince the various credulous people they meet on their journey that they are deserving of this special treatment goes unrecorded.

Having arrived at the aforementioned hall Jack naturally finds a distant cousin, one Michael Dacre, scheming to keep hold of the property. So desperate and evil is he, that by page 10 he has already contracted to have Jack killed by the local ruffian and poacher, Black Ralph. Fortunately Jack escapes from the would-be murderer by diving from a bell tower into a moat, a flight which he executes and has recovered from within half-a dozen lines. Jack shows the same frenetic speed in his recovery from is various tribulations, stating by page 13

"it was a terrible blow to me when my father and my mother went down in the Hydaspes--but Time, the great Healer, has softened that blow so that I should hardly feel it now, were it not for the doubts that my cousin here has cast upon my identity."

The story moves at such a hurried pace that the reader is inevitably as emotionally unaffected by events as Jack himself. The page after Jack’s miraculous and unremarked upon death-dive into the moat sees the arrival of a letter and rapidly thereafter its author: the one man alive who can prove that Jack is a legitimate heir to the Dacre estate. Apparently this personage, Alfred Morgan, holds such a position due to having been the only witness at the wedding of Jack’s parents, which seems legally tenuous and narratively convenient. For further plot convenience he is mercenary and immoral, and immediately informs Michael, without any prompting, that he is quite happy to deny Jack his inheritance for the sake of personal gain. Our hero is forthwith turned out of Dacre Hall, his uncle mockingly referring to him as “Spring-Heels” in reference to his earlier leap from the tower. The stage is thus clumsily set for Jack’s alter-ego, although how vowing to regain one’s birthright should lead to accosting random young ladies whilst wearing a mask and metal claws remains to be seen.

Left to make his own way in the world, Jack immediately demonstrates the upper class disinclination to labour of any sort, stating:

"… I do not see how I can do anything in the way of working for a living, if I am ever to hope to prove my title to the Dacre baronetcy and estates."

He also propounds the rather odd notion that due to his “oriental birth” in India, he looks more like twenty that his actual age of sixteen. This leads somehow to an immediate declaration of his intention to invest some of the money conveniently passed to him by a kindly family lawyer (who, incidentally, is never again mentioned) into the building of a pair of boots which will enable him to “spring fifteen or twenty feet up in the air, and from thirty to forty feet in a horizontal direction.” . Apparently such devices are already in use among Indian conjurors, for reasons we are not privy to. Jack however intends to use them to become the world’s oddest highwayman, thereby reclaiming some of the rents denied to him by his cousin. At this point we learn that:

“To him [Jack] pillage and robbery seemed to be the right of the well-born.
He had seen so much of this sort of thing amongst his father's friends and acquaintances that his moral sense was entirely warped.”

which seems out of keeping for a hero, but entirely in character for a member of the landed gentry.

Following this conversation between Jack and Ned, it is immediately a fortnight later and the boots are completed at Southampton, a city apparently at the forefront of magic boot production. Directly after this is mentioned the two men suddenly relocate to Dorking, where apparently the Dacre family holds lands. This enables Jack to justify his new career, since he is of course only taking what belongs to him by rights, a matter of great importance to him since “the terms robbery and thief are quite … repugnant” to him. The author continues throughout to vacillate in this manner between condemning Jack’s morals and justifying his actions, regularly to the extent of having the character himself contradict his own words of but a few paragraphs earlier. This adds little to the reader’s enjoyment of the text unless it is taken as reflecting the self-justifying psychopathy of the ruling-classes, in which case it’s the best thing about the text.

Jack’s first adventure leads to him freeing a beautiful young girl whose uncle keeps her chained in an attic and deprived of her inheritance. He achieves this by jumping at the uncle, causing the man to immediately and rather prematurely run mad. He is then able to directly make a full assessment of the legal situation of both parties, and act accordingly to resolve the situation. None of this prevents him from stealing all the money he can find on the premises, even though technically it belongs to the imprisoned girl rather than the wicked uncle. Heroism only extends so far when there are bills to pay.

There follows yet another pointless relocation, and yet more robbery, this time of the more deserving figures of Michael Dacre and Alfred Morgan. This is at least relevant if not interesting. Following this Jack accosts the two villains once again, smashing through the window of their room at an inn in order to force them to strip. Luckily for him none of the guests or staff at the inn have the wit to catch him during these proceedings, even though he remains throughout close enough to his victims to reappear after they have raised the alarm, taunting them by somersaulting about and balancing on a pump. For some reason these antics strike terror into the hearts of both witnesses.

After this there is a brief distraction, when Jack takes a detour from the plot in order to save the life of another beautiful young girl, of a better social standing than that formerly mentioned, in order that he has someone to marry at the conclusion of the tale. Her life is in danger from, in a blindingly original stroke, an evil stepmother. Luckily the plot, which has gone completely unnoticed by both the girl herself and her father Sir Charles Grahame, is instantly discovered and foiled by our plucky hero.

Having disposed of this random murder plot using the medium of tight trousers, a silly mask and some jumping, Jack proceeds rapidly toward the conclusion of the tale. After a brief detour to harass a highwayman for no particular reason, thereby coming within an inch of being shot in the brain due to the pursuit of childish high jinks, our intrepid hero pays a visit to the bed-chamber of Mr Morgan. After jumping through a diamond-paned window and head-butting the unfortunate occupant of the room to the ground through sheer clumsiness, Jack proceeds to steal some secret papers, previously unmentioned, whose existence will without doubt prove his claim to the Dacre lands. Morgan promptly hangs himself, thereby removing himself conveniently from the narrative.

In a conclusion of incredible stupidity, the papers includes a contract stating that Jack is indeed the legitimate Dacre heir, signed by Michael Dacre presumably in a moment of intense self-loathing and depression. Having completely undermined his own evil plans for no apparent reason, Michael leaves the country and the narrative with equal haste. Jack marries his one true love, and he and his trusty friend Ned settle down to a life of happiness. Meanwhile the true-love’s wicked stepmother is disposed of:

Sir Charles informed our hero that Lady Graham had consented, to avoid scandal, to become the inmate of a private lunatic asylum for not less than two years; if she behaved herself during that time Sir Charles intended to take steps for her liberation, and to provide her with an income which would enable her to live in comparative obscurity abroad.

This is entirely reasonable, since an aristocrat like Lady Grahame could hardly be expected to submit to the same brand of justice as a common plebeian. Similarly Sir Charles, being a high-born gentleman, is innately able to judge any moral or legal issue to a standard much higher than any lawyer or expert, and more than entitled to take the law, and the lives of any of his female dependents, entirely into his own hands.

All members of the nobility having been restored to their birthright, the story concludes. At no point in its 50 pages did it entertain, relate to any known facts of the case, or indeed make any sense. However I feel it deserves two stars in consideration of two facts: first, it is short; second, elements of the tale, whether intentionally or otherwise, function excellently as a satire of aristocratic arrogance and self-entitlement. However as a recounting of or tribute to the urban legend of Spring-Heeled Jack, this story fails on all counts.

[Sophia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ίσως το πρώτο "penny dreadful" που έχω διαβάσει. Για την κατηγορία λοιπόν B.R.A.CE. 2017 ένα βιβλίο συγγραφέα που χρησιμοποιεί ψευδώνυμο επέλεξα την ιστορία του προπάππου του Batman.

Είναι μια απλή ιστορία, θυμίζει λίγο το σκηνικό του Κόμη του Μόντε Κρίστο. Αδικημένος νεαρός ζητάει το δίκιο του. Ομολογουμένως διαβάζεται ευχάριστα και απνευστί. Αλλά με προβλημάτισε λίγο γιατί δεν είδα τον "τρόμο"...

[Phill Wesson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean, it’s not dreadful and it’s worth at least a penny. I’d love to know of this author, anonymised by time, who more that once paraphrases Shakespeare and who could well have created the blueprint for Batman. Alas, much line Jack himself, their true identity will remain a mystery.

It’s maybe not the short-story you deserve, but the one you need right now.

[ThatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice, quick read that does what I believe is what the author aimed for: entertain. It is an entertaining little tale, without much depth or insight, and is exactly the kind of thing I enjoy when I need to unwind. It hit the mark, and that's as much as I could have asked for.

[John J Milton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe it had something to say back then but nothing much anymore

[Lulu]

The only version I found: From "The Boy's Standard", six installments from No. 219, Saturday, July 18, 1885 to No. 224, August 22, 1885. by Alfred Burrage (as "Charlton Lea")? http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks06/0602...


The most notable fictional Spring Heeled Jacks of the 19th and early 20th centuries were:

*A play by John Thomas Haines, in 1840, "Spring-Heeled Jack, the Terror of London", which shows him as a brigand who attacks women because his own sweetheart betrayed him.

*Later that decade, Spring Heeled Jack's first Penny Dreadful appearance came in the anonymously written "Spring-Heeled Jack, The Terror of London", which appeared in weekly episodes. It too made Jack a villain, and drew as much from the plays as it did reality.


*"Spring-heel'd Jack: The Terror of London", a Penny Dreadful published by the Newsagents’ Publishing Company c. 1864–1867 was reissued in a rewritten version. The first penny his figure experienced a metamorphosis and he became a dark hero?

*"Spring-heel'd Jack: The Terror of London", a 48-part penny weekly serial published c. 1878–1879 in "The Boys' Standard", written either by veteran author of dreadfuls George Augustus Henry Sala or by Alfred Burrage (as "Charlton Lea"). It kept the same title, but totally transformed the story. Jack is no villain in these stories; he uses his powers to right wrongs, and save the innocent from the wicked. Here he is in fact a nobleman by birth, cheated of his inheritance, and his amazing leaps are due to compressed springs in the heels of his boots. He is dressed in a skin-tight glossy red outfit, with bat's wings, a lion's mane, horns, talons, massive cloven hoofs, and a sulphurous breath, he makes spectacular leaps, easily jumping over rooftops or rivers, and is immensely strong.

*"Spring-Heel Jack; or, The Masked Mystery of the Tower", appearing in "Beadle's New York Dime Library #332", 4 March 1885, and written by Col. Thomas Monstery.

*A 48-part serial published by Charles Fox and written by Alfred Burrage (as "Charlton Lea"), 1889–1890

*A 1904 version by Alfred Burrage (as "Charlton Lea"). portrayals of the character as a wronged nobleman who adopted the guise of Spring Heeled Jack in order to reclaim his stolen fortune and to right injustices, anticipated several distinguishing features of the 20th Century superhero genre.

The early works invariably presented Spring Heeled Jack as an arch-villain, but his figure experienced a metamorphosis throughout the years, and he became a dark hero. The first penny dreadful to introduce such a change was the 1860s edition, and this variation was adopted by all the publications that followed, reaching its highest development in Burrage's 1904 version.

In this version (which takes place in 1805, after Napoleon Bonaparte has conquered Europe), Spring Heeled Jack is Bertram Wraydon, a young and handsome lieutenant of the British Army, heir to £10,000 a year, who is unfairly framed for treason by his evil half brother Hubert Sedgefield. After escaping from his prison, Wraydon returns seeking revenge on the villains, assuming a secret identity and an odd-looking costume with mane and talons, fighting against evil and helping the innocent. He has a secret lair, where he has hidden what he managed to save of his inheritance, selflessly using it to fund his heroic activities. These include the design of a spring mechanism that allows him to leap over thirty feet, and a device to breathe flames at evildoers. the writing shows the "hero" using rooftops as means of observing and following culprits and 'Jack even leaves a hallmark: he carves an "S" into the forehead of his vanquished foes.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A "penny dreadful" type read and it lives up to its name. Obviously someone was just cashing in on the hype back in the day. Not much too it. The author (anonymous) was a huge Count of Monte Cristo fan because that is what they turned Spring-Heeled Jack into. Righting wrongs, doing good, and none of the more odd behavior of attacking women, tearing their clothes, nor any explanation of where breathing blue flames came from etc etc.

I still enjoyed it for what it was. I had hoped for some actual historical newspaper clippings or the like, but NONE of that is in this book. It is all a work of fiction. Oh well.

[Edward Butler · Rating 4 out of 5]

A "penny dreadful" purporting to recount the true story behind the London "Spring-Heeled Jack" sightings of 1837. Much better than I expected and left me wanting more, despite failing to deliver in certain respects. Must be judged according to the standards of its time, rather than our own; today we would naturally demand more intensity, more of the outlandish, but the Victorian sensibility craved heroism and sought after it in unlikely places.

[David Brzezinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This product of its time takes the acts of England's other Jack, Spring-heeled Jack and spins a fanciful tale of who he just may happen to be. It is a tale of betrayal and revenge, turning the extraordinary Jack into a heroic highwayman in the vein of Robin Hood. Is this an accurate history of who Spring-heeled Jack was? Not by any means, but it is a eecent depiction of common fiction from that era.

[Angela Maher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not quite what I expected. A quaint tale, that's easy to read, but not "horror" as it was classified.

[Donna Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had wanted to read this book for a while, it's an easy read and a good background to the character first introduced through the Penny Dreadful series.