The Terror of London: Spring Heeled Jack

Yesterday's London Times

Some stories just feel like OCTOBER stories.
We know that Victorian Londoners enjoy a good craze. But what will they make of a social panic? Today our story begins in 1837, the first year of the Victorian era.

In this episode, someone - or something - is assaulting Londoners; springing out at them. Was it a ghost? A devil? Maybe bear, bull, or baboon? Who would be next?

We’ll hear the facts behind what became the legend. Then, we’ll consider…

· How does a true story become a legend? What elements are retained, and which are contrived?

· What does this story tell us about the culture of Victorian London, and maybe our own lives today?

· What ae the elements of a social panic? Or there certain conditions that give rise to public scares?

· What is our relationship to urban spaces, especially women in cities?

We’ll deconstruct the story and look at rumor, press, suspicion, vigilantes, elements that influenced this story, and that this story later influenced?

We’ll consider the most recent recorded rise of this tale, withing the last decade.

Finally, we’ll examine a plausible theory of who the culprit may have been.
How did a short string of incidents so embed themselves into the popular culture and the psyche of a time and place?

Photos and links can be found in our show notes HERE.
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