Spring Heeled Jack's First Attack — Lavender Hill, London (1837)

In October 1837, a young servant named Mary Stevens was walking through Bearbinder Lane in the Lavender Hill area of Battersea, London, when she was accosted by a terrifying figure that leapt from a dark alley. The attacker grabbed her, kissed her face with what she described as cold, clammy lips, and tore at her clothing with hands that felt like iron claws. When Stevens screamed, the figure bounded away with supernatural agility, leaping over walls that no ordinary person could scale. The following day, the same or a similar figure leapt in front of a horse-drawn carriage near Lavender Hill, causing the coachman to lose control and crash, seriously injuring him. Witnesses described the attacker escaping by jumping over a nine-foot wall while cackling maniacally. These incidents are generally considered the earliest reliably documented Spring Heeled Jack attacks. Over the following months, reports multiplied across London and eventually spread to other parts of England. The Lord Mayor of London, Sir John Cowan, declared Spring Heeled Jack a public menace, and vigilante groups patrolled the streets hoping to catch the mysterious assailant.