A few years ago, I wrote an article about the apparent arrival of Spring-heeled Jack on the Gower Peninsula, mainly in the areas around Port Eynon, and Overton cliffs. I have reproduced the article, in its entirety, below, with the addition of some images not included in the original.
Introduction
Horatio Tucker was the first local historian to revive the memory of Spring-heeled Jack's activities on the Gower Peninsula, in fairly recent times. He recounted how an other-worldly apparition terrorised the inhabitants of Port Eynon and Overton, in his 1951 book, Gower Gleanings. The Gower Society investigated a little further, and Clifford Bevan gave the results of his findings in 'Spring-heeled Jack': A Nineteenth-century Gower Phenomenon. The article appeared in Volume 52 of the Gower Journal, published in 2001.
General Background
The Spring-heeled Jack phenomenon first manifested in London in the 1830s. Many theories were expounded as to Jack’s origins. Some believed he was an unearthly beast, others suggested he was from another planet, and others still thought he was the devil himself. More pragmatic Londoners suggested he was a man in a costume, carrying some kind of new-fangled, concealed apparatus which allowed him to leap great distances. He almost sounded like an evil, nineteenth century forerunner of James Bond.
Jack was described as tall, slender, and powerfully built, always clad in a black cloak. He was reputedly able to leap vertically in the air, as high as twenty or thirty feet, vaulting high walls, hedges and railings. Witnesses claimed the apparition possessed huge, pointy ears, and red, glowing eyes. He also reportedly spat blue-white flames at his victims.
His first attack was in Lavender Hill, south east London, in October 1837. He vaulted three metre high railings, and attacked a group of people, before conducting an act best described as an indecent assault. Jack tore the blouse off a woman in the group, and intimately fondled her. Another female victim claimed he kissed and fondled her, suggesting a rather more earthly motivation for his attacks, than a supernatural one. Spring-heeled Jack became notorious as his attacks increased, with rumours abounding that yet another woman had been blinded by the blue-white flames he spat at her. When he attacked a woman at Clapham, he left ground evidence which suggested he was using some kind of sprung apparatus to carry out his leaps.
At the start of 1838, Jack was declared a public menace by London’s Lord Mayor. A band of men formed to hunt him down, amongst their number an ageing Duke of Wellington. However, Jack eluded them and continued to terrorise women until 1843.
In 1845, he resurfaced across the Atlantic, in New York City. He leapt at a prostitute, as she solicited for business on a bridge, breathing blue-white flames at her. She was so terrified, she leapt off the bridge to her death.
After the New York incident, Spring-heeled Jack retired for several years, until his re-emergence in 1877. He terrorised London yet again, before moving on to Aldershot camp, where he attacked a young soldier with his fiery breath. He moved on to Lincolnshire, and then made an appearance in Birmingham in 1879. All sightings of Jack were documented in the national, as well as local press.
Spring-heeled Jack arrives on Gower
Spring-heeled Jack arrived on Gower, late one autumn in the 1880s. Clifford Bevan, in his nineties at the time the article was published, relates how Jack made his debut one night when the moon was bright. Two farm lads at Overton Farm were the first to spot the fearsome figure. At the end of a hard day’s toil, the lads were no doubt cold, tired and hungry. As they stood at the bottom of a steep field, they looked up onto the field’s uppermost level, and saw a ghastly, black-cloaked apparition looming.
The countryside can seem most eerie when bathed in blue-white moonlight. Shapes innocent by day, distort into fanciful and terrifying creatures. Shadows of tiny objects take on huge and fearful proportions. Trees and bushes hold unknown terrors, as their skyward branches become the rapacious claws of crazed witches. Overton would have had no road lighting in the 1880s, or bright, electric house lights either, adding to the macabre and sinister illusion.
Rather than confront the unearthly apparition silhouetted atop the hill, the farm hands sped home, convinced Spring-heeled Jack was springing at their own heels. When they reached the farmhouse, they sought sanctuary in the ingle nook of the hearth, quaking with terror and refusing to emerge until daylight.
Their initial sighting triggered a whole spate of similar apparitions. High vantage points around Port Eynon and Overton, became Jack's theatre stages, where he performed to an aghast audience . His terrified witnesses watched as he leapt wildly over gates, hedges and other such constructions. So fearful was his performance, that women would not venture out at night, and some of the local farmers began searching for him, armed with shotguns.
However, Clifford Bevan's own father put an end to Jack’s reign of terror. Spotting the fiend one night, the elder Mr. Bevan chased him into a field. During a brief altercation, he discovered Jack to be no monster, but a local wag having some fun. Jack's fearsome black form was an illusion created with the aid of a stout oilskin coat and sou'wester. Not wishing to be exposed, 'Jack' threatened to beat his adversary with a heavy iron plough trace. To avoid the risk of serious injury or death, Mr. Bevan agreed not to expose him, but insisted he gave up his campaign of terror. 'Jack' agreed, and no more was seen of the monster on the Gower Peninsula.
News spread quickly across the peninsula, that the fearless Mr. Bevan had vanquished the monster. His victory was so celebrated that he found himself mobbed in the centre of Swansea, by unwitting Gower folk, who were relieved at Jack's demise.
When I first read Clifford Bevan’s article, I was a little disappointed, having searched for it for a long time. It was short, and there was no real phenomenon after all, just a prankster in a long coat. But disappointment soon turned to delight.
This little anecdote sheds an interesting light on the character of yesteryear's Gower. Life was very tough by today's standards, with many people, men, women and children, turning in twelve hour days, often longer, six or seven days a week. No wonder these people also chose to play hard. It was also a time when money was scarce, so many bargains were struck, e.g. "let me plant my potatoes in your field and I'll give you a sack or two in return". The bargain struck between Mr. Bevan and 'Jack' worked to both their advantages. 'Jack' went unpunished for his mischief, his identity remaining secret, and Mr. Bevan was hailed a hero for routing him.
Common sense dictates that the legend of Spring-heeled Jack is just a myth. The initial sightings suggest he was an unscrupulous prankster with a tendency towards sexual deviance. Coincidentally, he made his appearance at a time when pulp fiction, in a form known as the penny dreadful, made popular reading. These publications featured such unearthly and fearsome characters as Varney the Vampire and the Blue Dwarf, as well as Spring-heeled Jack himself. The popular fiction of the day would have acted as great PR for the man or men behind the legend of Spring-heeled Jack. Who knows, he or they may even have been inspired by such fictional tales. Whatever the truth of the situation, the culprit or culprits must have enjoyed many a laugh at the expense of terrified citizens. However, all it took on Gower, was a fearless and pragmatic farmer, to confront and unmask the local culprit as an ordinary man, and a cowardly one at that.
Reference
Clifford Bevan 'Spring-heeled Jack': A Nineteenth-century Gower Phenomenon. Gower Journal, vol. 52, 2001.
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