Ghosts Of The Past: Melbourne’s Springheeled Jack

In this series I look at some historical accounts of ghostly encounters that have been published in newspapers. In this issue we look at claims of a potential poltergeist in Melbourne who bore a resemblance to the infamous Springheeled Jack! It became such a sensation that the local press bombarded the area, all because they wanted to catch a glimpse or experience Springheeled Jack’s rappings.

The following article was published Saturday, July 29, 1950 in Smiths Weekly

Five frightened women, alone in a big, old, creaking house on top of a hill, a ‘fabulously rich’ octogenarian widow on her deathbed, swirling fog, sinister knocking on doors and windows – these were the thriller ingredients of the Melbourne “Springheel”. Jack” mystery from last week.

WHETHER the knocker is a man or a poltergeist, a prankster, or someone with cruel intent, or simply the creaking planks of an old
house and plainclothes Sherlock Holmes smashing their pipes may never be known. After a thorough and calm investigation into the mystery, Smith’s is willing to admit that one or more of these alternatives may be the solution. The Melbourne Daily Press
reached semi-hysterical heights last week, giving a beating description of the affair. The story went round in Australia
a ‘Black Prowler’ knocked on the doors and windows of a creepy twelve-room, two-storey house in the most exclusive part of Heidelberg,
a suburb of Melbourne.

Constant vigil

Inside the house, three highly skilled nurses and a niece kept constant vigils to protect Mrs. J.’s ebbing life.
Byrne, a wealthy widow. The knocking noises could be heard between 8 p.m. and 2 a.m. for two weeks for the frightened women
called the police. And that’s where the daily press came in. They descended like locusts into the ‘haunted house’. Readers
They were told that the prowler could run like a deer, jump like a kangaroo and vanish into thin air. One night the furious police claimed that it was not possible to poke a bush or look behind a nearby tree without finding a pressman.

Press photographers’ flashlights pierced the fog, the headlights of press cars slowly moving down the block were enough to scare away even the bravest spirit – and seriously hampered the police’s plans to trap the ‘thing’. to lure.

“From Front Page”

A police chief told Smith in disgust, “If this continues, the Korean issue will soon be off the front page!A nearby neighbor threatened to shoot any pressman who came near his house. Despite the vigilance of the press, only one person had “seen” the prowler.
until Smith went to press. He was Detective Rayner, who reported:
“I was in the house after dark when I had the strange feeling that I was being watched. Suddenly I heard it rapping! I ran out into the front yard, pistol in hand. I saw a lithe man just a few feet away. He appeared to be dressed in black and wore black
gloves and something black on his head. I told him to stop, but he ran quietly to a hole in the hedge. As I fired, he jumped cleanly and lightly over the seven-foot fence and disappeared
in the darkness!“

Smith’s doesn’t even suggest that a calm, experienced, efficient detective like Rayner could believe in ghosts. It’s possible his bullet went right through the intruder. But who ever heard of a bullet worrying a poltergeist? Smith has spoken to neighbors; none of them had heard the knocks. A neighbor openly mocked the suggestion that a “Springheel defect” is active in the neighborhood. Mrs. Byrne is almost perpetually in a coma and knows nothing about the beating.

Since Detective Rayner’s “description” of the prowler was published, people have reported “seeing” and “hearing” him in other places.

Spring heel jacket

Springheeled Jack is an old English legend about a devil-like figure who jumped from roof to roof in south London. In 1838, a local barmaid named Polly Adams was assaulted. So was Mary Stevens, Lucy Scales, and even Jane Aslop was nearly strangled by the mysterious figure.

Image: Public Domain

In her description to the police, she stated:

“He was wearing some kind of helmet and a tight white suit like an oilskin and he was spewing blue and white flames!“

During the 1950s and 1860s, sightings of Spring-heeled Jacks were reported all over London, with even the Duke of Wellington taking to the streets on horseback to catch the enemy. In 1870, the army set traps to catch him and the locals also claimed to fire bullets at him. They were unsuccessful and he was seen laughing and escaping by jumping fences and over buildings. Springheeled Jack’s identity was never confirmed, but it was suspected to be the eccentric Marquess of Waterford. Springheeled Jack was last seen in Liverpool in 1904, where he disappeared into the darkness never to return.

References

https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Spring-Heeled-Jack/

https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/s/Spring_Heeled_Jack.htm