Spring-Heeled Jack: Unsolved Mysteries

Las historias de Jack el Destripador o la del monstruo del lago Ness son bien conocidas en todo el mundo, pero en la tradición popular británica hay muchos otros misterios que siguen sin resolverse, como el de este enigmático delicuente saltarín del siglo XIX.

Bandera UK
Rachel Roberts

Speaker (UK accent)

Actualizado a

Illustrations from an 1867 publication titled Spring-heel'd Jack: the Terror of London. A romance of the nineteenth century.

Escucha este articulo

Imprimir

In late 1837, an elderly lady was visiting the cemetery at Clapham in south-west London when she saw a figure in a dark cloak who made an ungodly jump over a high fence and disappeared into the darkness. Shortly after, a young girl called Mary Stevens was attacked by a similar figure, who jumped out of a dark alley and then escaped by leaping over a high wall. 

When the Lord Major, Sir John Cowan, received an anonymous letter describing a demonic creature, who was able to leap from rooftop to rooftop, he thought it was nonsense10. However, similar accounts started pouring in and Cowan was forced to hold a public debate. The press got hold of the story and named the mysterious attacker Spring-Heeled Jack for his ability to jump great heights.

No culprit was ever identified, but for a while suspicion focused on Henry de La Poer Beresford, the 3rd Marquis of Waterford. A former boxer, the Marquis was young, athletic and known as the Mad Marquis for his drunken and outrageous behaviour. His presence in London also coincided with the first Spring-Heeled Jack assaults. When the Marquis of Waterford left London in 1842, there were no further reports of Spring-Heeled Jack in the city. However he was sighted in various other locations around the country for many years. The last report was in 1904 in Liverpool, when he was seen leaping from the road to the rooftops and back! 

Monopoly: The Game Goes Mobile

Culture

Monopoly: The Game Goes Mobile

Desde que alcanzó el éxito comercial durante la Gran Depresión, este juego de espíritu capitalista nunca ha perdido su relevancia. Ahora se adapta a los tiempos con una versión digitalizada.

Alex Phillips

More in Explore

TODAY’S TOP STORIES

Aprende a usar 'at' en inglés ¡sin errores¡ (con PDF gratis)

Grammar

Los 4 usos esenciales de la preposición 'at'

La preposición "at" en inglés es esencial para describir correctamente lugares, horas, eventos, direcciones. Aprende a usarla con esta explicación sencilla, ejemplos claros y una útil tabla en PDF.

Jennifer Jenkins

SPECIAL OFFER! Mejora tu inglés por solo 1€/mes ¡Es el momento! Mejora tu nivel de inglés con un método sencillo que se adapta a ti. Cancela cuando quieras.