Spring-Heeled Jack
Was Spring-Heeled Jack human or myth?
4.1 (13)
37 mins
Explore the terrifying 1837 wave of attacks across London by a clawed, fire-breathing phantom who could leap over city walls. Discover the horrifying encounter of Jane Alsop and the failed trial of Thomas Millbank, who escaped conviction because he could not breathe flames. Learn about how decades of copycat attacks, hoaxes, and penny dreadful novels transformed a mysterious assailant into an enduring Victorian legend.
Ep 1:
The Birth of a Victorian Nightmare
In the smog-choked streets of 1837 London, a fire-breathing, leaping terror begins attacking women—and soon the Lord Mayor himself is forced to confront a monster the city can no longer ignore.
Ep 2:
Flames, Claws, and Copycats
A savage attack on a respectable young woman draws in the Duke of Wellington himself, while across England a wave of bizarre copycats—baboons, ghosts, and a future athlete—muddy the hunt for the real Jack.
Ep 3:
The Marquis, the Myth, and the Science
The legend spreads for decades, military bullets bounce off him, and a scandalous aristocrat emerges as the prime suspect—until science and psychology offer a far stranger explanation for the chaos.
Ep 4:
From Phantom to Caped Crusader
A Victorian demon gets a Penny Dreadful makeover into a masked avenger, revealing an astonishing hidden link to Batman—and the deeper truth about why society needed this monster at all.
Discussions (5)
Reid
Level 9 · 9 hours agoSpring Heeled Jack was basically Batman before Bruce Wayne got the memo
Amos
Level 7 · 9 hours agoBatman debuted 1939 checks out
Billy
Level 5 · 9 hours agoSpring-Heeled Jack: the original Batman with worse PR
