Spring Heeled Jack

February 28, 1838 - On this day an 18-year-old girl and her sister were attacked by a mysterious character known as Spring Heeled Jack. His reign of terror is well documented but completely unexplained.

Lucy Scales and her sister were walking through London when they approached a cloaked man in a passageway. As Lucy came close, the man looked up and breathed a bluish flame in her face which momentarily blinded her. Terrified she dropped to the ground and started having convulsions. The thin character in the cloak quickly made his getaway as Lucy's sister came to her aid.

The description of the attacker was consistent with other sightings of Spring Heeled Jack. Witnesses described a man in a dark cloak with a ghoulish face and a menacing smirk. He sometimes had claws for hands and the amazing abilities to breathe blue flames and bounce over high walls with ease.

Reports of Spring Heeled Jack had been coming in since 1837 and they would continue on and off until 1904. There are a couple of encounters with soldiers and angry mobs who actually claim to have shot Spring Heeled Jack, but the bullets had no effect. Spring Heeled Jack simply bounced away and disappeared.