Unmasking the Chilling Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack

[@ViciousBabushka]

Dear Simon: you are a resident of Prague. Please can you have your writers give you a script about the famous Golem of Prague? Originally a Jewish legend, the Golem is also a Czech folk tale and a comic book superhero!

[@mrwookie72]

also the first horror film franchise was based on the Golem!

[@awlig]

Do this!

[@Textile_Courtesan]

I also think that this would be awesome!

[@SCaRsILove]

Yes please!

[@shaneschluter]

Good choice

[@kpturn42]

Can I just point out that Simon managed to say "effortlessly" in this episode....... effortlessly? Not a single snag. Good job!

[@wolfsbaneandnightshade2166]

👏👏👏👏 fact boy

[@ThatWriterKevin]

I even deliberately rewrote that sentence to force him to stumble over the word, too :(

[@kpturn42]

@@ThatWriterKevin F in the chat for Kevin's dastardly plan

[@kathrynbillinghurst188]

@Katie… you guys are too funny… I can’t stop giggling! Thanks made my day!!! 🤭😂😝🤓✌️

[@benjamintravers4217]

We can just pretend Jen hid like 5 outtakes to effortlessly build up Simon's self-confidence.

[@Hare_deLune]

Here's my theory: Spring Heeled Jack, as presented in this show, was most likely a Carnival sideshow worker. We are told that he could spit blue fire, vault over high walls, and that he seemed to be dressed in a long white oilskin coat. On one occasion he asked for a light, on another he carried a lamp. If he was a man who put on a fire breathing act at a carnival, and who also happened to be an acrobat, this type of character would be child's play. In each case, he had a flame to ignite the flammable liquid he would've had to spit out to produce the flame. Oilskin coats at that time were often made of a medium to heavy cotton duck canvas, which was treated with oil to become waterproof. Counterintuitively, this would probably have provided good protection against accidently setting himself on fire. Similar to the heavy coats traditionally worn by firemen. If he was an acrobat it would've been easy enough for him to vault over a high wall, especially if he began with a high jump, and there was something to grab onto in order to get quickly over the top. Finally, these Carnivals were traveling shows, which would also explain his short-lived escapades (barring copycat encounters). As for the claws, I have no idea. The clawed gloves idea makes sense, but if these were borrowed from some practical purpose, the only thing that comes to mind would be to help with the vaulting of walls. However, that seems unlikely. Thanks to all at Decoding The Unknown for a chance at some quite amateur sleuthing.

[@orangutanenthusiast5631]

Papers chatting shit with paid witnesses combined with attention seekers e.g the rich one who pretty clearly staged it with her sister

[@ryaniversen8653]

That is a very sound theory considering how popular those kind of shows were back then. Plus being a traveling show means our dear "demonic" perpetrator could easily avoid capture by just moving with his troop to a new town.

[@TheSheilaff]

This is such a perfectly logical theory and I was going to comment the same thing

[@nicholasjanke3476]

Hmmm. Yes. Your theory is very likely. A deranged carnival worker. It sounds like the plot from an Arthur Conan Doyle novel.

[@ssreeser95]

14 Views? Last time I was this early to a Simon video, his basement was empty of writers.

[@ItsHyomoto]

Shit, don't tell me the basement got left open! Simon's been saving those writers for a special occasion!

[@cresswell6753]

False he would never.

[@Benspooky]

I am an hour late his now at 4k 😀

[@richardheinz]

I'm an hour late, too. It's now 212k. Wow! Good for everyone who's apart of this channel. They deserve all their success.

[@boziewz6125]

@@richardheinz that's page subs lol

[@jasonritner9662]

"Non-immortal demon, Simon." Everyone in unison: "Allegedly"

[@Tyrany42]

“Non-immortal demon Simon” That’s EXACTLY what an immortal demon would say!

[@3ch1dna07]

He's trying to throw us off by "announcing" it's not him. I, for one, will not fall for such trickery!

[@kpturn42]

No no see, he’s just telling us all that he’s not immortal. He’s still a demon.

[@Fanney47]

@@kpturn42 exactly!

[@fredk.2001]

So a very nearly but not exactly immortal demon then. Explains the baldness.

[@ATopdog007]

Long time listener, first time caller. I had no idea that SHJ was a real thing. I learned about him from playing Oblivion where you need to acquire his boots so you dont die from falling from the tallest building around.

[@lukea7468]

“although the increased police presence didn’t seem to slow Jack down so he could have just been an arsehole” I spat my drink 😂

[@ThatWriterKevin]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@whom382]

@@ThatWriterKevin Dude, your scripts are the best. Keep up the great work!

[@ThatWriterKevin]

@@whom382 Thanks!

[@JustinWillisDevil240Z]

The audacity on Simon to even question if one of us hasn't seen a movie he has. Simon you have only seen 5 movies!

[@decodingtheunknown2373]

the 5 best movies. Face/Off, Face/Off, Face/Off, Face/Off, and The Weather Man.

[@jolynn89]

We have here a man of culture

[@Kari.F.]

@@jolynn89 Clearly! 😂👍

[@ClassicRiki]

To his shame…it’s The Fast & the Furious 1-5. He’s never finished an entire franchise…then again nor have the producers of those movies

[@markkarasik2211]

😎 um, that would be “five movies and part of Kung Fu Hustle” 6:47

[@grumpybearinblue]

I love whenever someone mentions ghosts, Simon says "It's not ghosts. Ghosts aren't real. Check your carbon monoxide detector". It always makes me laugh.

[@nonjabiznas]

How long has your sense of humor been so daft?

[@Ahalaya]

It's practically a reflex by now.

[@BIGNOIDS]

He's too dismissive of the spiritual world.

[@darlenefraser3022]

I love it, too! Gives me a chuckle every time

[@1003JustinLaw]

Remember. Carbon monoxide detectors are absolute trash, total waste of space and money. At least according to Callum.

[@the-chillian]

I wonder if Simon ever figured out that Kung Fu Hustle was supposed to be a parody.

[@harryheathen4733]

Judging by his "jokes" id say not

[@tosaiblu]

He also never figured out it's an absolute gem. The heathen.

[@mikemcchesney2555]

Simon's Posh English Gentried Background would have given him a very dry deadpan sense of humor. Probably a big fan of Monty Python, Basil Fawlty, and maaaaaaybe The Young Ones(SPG)? Kung Fu Hustle is only understandable to those who loved old 1970s Kung Fu Movies. Sooooo many cameos and homages to classics. Imagine watching Benny Hill in the morning, then to Kung Fu Hustle?

[@feralcyborggaming1531]

​@@mikemcchesney2555 I can imagine. I've lived it.

[@Guy-cb1oh]

I would like to suggest an episode of Decoding the Unknown on the very famous Princes in the Tower mystery.

[@Guy-cb1oh]

Another good idea for an episode would be on the green children of woolpit.

[@houghtonred]

When I was in secondary school, in the library, was a news cutting from, I think from 30's, about spring heeled Jack, in my home city of Liverpool.

[@steveharrison76]

Here’s a suggestion: The Rendlesham Forest Incidents of Christmas 1980. Commonly held to be the British Roswell. I have my theories about what happened, but I’d be interested to hear your take. I mean, the people involved weren’t given to making stuff up; very senior USAF personnel. Though… there’s other theories out there and now-declassified documents from the time that could explain it… there’s a lot to consider! I reckon you guys would make a bloody good episode out of that.

[@martinsear5470]

I lived near to Rendlesham when that happened, it caused a bit of a stir locally, lots of military trucks roaring around.

[@MCsCreations]

It's not uncommon for the military to give drugs to their men, you know... Even without their knowledge.

[@steveharrison76]

@@martinsear5470 yeah, it’s down the road from me, too! It was an interesting time, certainly, though I was only little.

[@steveharrison76]

@@MCsCreations indeed not, though some of the reports were from very senior staff who I imagine were unlikely to be subjected to stuff like that, though it is possible and as you say, not without precedent. Personally, I think the probable answer is much more banal: weapons testing (proto-drones?) + the exact same cover stories that were used in the United States throughout the ‘80’s and early ‘90’s (it was a USAF base, as I say) = spoopy aliens. No proof for that, just the old Occam’s razor, really.

[@steveharrison76]

@@redred7289 oooh! I’ll have to check that out; thanks for the pointer!

[@Mayor_Of_Eureka17]

My father was once tied for 3rd in the world in high jump at 7 f 3 in . It's a pretty dope thing about my pops. 8.3 is absolutely insane.

[@cmaden78]

He could've been a pole vaulted. Jack, not ur dad. That's really cool about ur dad tho😊

[@rachelwitherspoon4394]

I KNEW it was Kevin as soon as I heard the title, lol!!! This is gonna be fuuuuun!!! One for my playlist!! Thanks Kevin, and of course,Simon and Jen!!!Eta: Glad Simon found The Ring as creepy and unsettling as I did,lol. That chick FREAKED ME OUT!!!! Didn't wanna watch ANY movies for a while after that one!!

[@ThatWriterKevin]

Thanks!

[@jimmiedmc1]

Should give your writer a raise since he's started to preactivley write in your tangents

[@nbarnes6225]

The Halloween candy murder is what's known as pseudo-ostension, where someone is aware of a contemporary legend (urban legend) and reenacts a version of the narrative. The poisoned candy legend already existed and the murderer used it to try to get away with killing his son.

[@f1rewolves]

He tried to actually kill both of his kids but his daughter survived thankfully.

[@nbarnes6225]

@@f1rewolves that's right...I think there were some neighborhood kids involved, too. I studied it a couple of years ago and don't remember all the details.

[@tarille1043]

@@nbarnes6225 Yeah, dude was trying to get a payout from life insurance on his 2 kids. So he poisoned some candy and passed it out to his kids and his neighbours 2 kids (The candy was Pixy Stix, he'd opened them and replaced the top of it with cyanide) Then in the evening before bed each kid was allowed to eat one of their candies and the dude urged his son to eat the poisoned candy instead of the one he wanted... Only the guys son died, as none of the other children ate the pixy stix (One of the neighbours kids did pick it, but was thankfully unable to open it due to how the guy stapled it shut) With the reason why he almost killed his neighbours kids was to try and play off the urban legend of people giving out poisoned candy (Since he pretended to have gotten the pixy stix from a house that didn't answer the door after the kids ran off ahead)

[@7Lace77]

@@tarille1043 How did they know, and prove, it was him?

[@tarille1043]

@@7Lace77 Several factors; 1) The house that he alleged that he got the candy from was lived in by a single man who worked as an air traffic controller and was at work on Halloween (Confirmed by multiple people at the workplace). So no-one could have been in the house to give out the poisoned candy. 2) Dude took out 3 life insurance policies on his kids in the months leading up to Halloween. 3) Dude showed up at a chemical supply store asking to buy cyanide. 4) Literally the first thing he did when his son died, was call the insurance company. 5) Everyone he knew, testified that he kept talking about cyanide and how much would kill a person. 6) His wife testified that he forced his son to eat the pixy stix instead of his preferred candy. 7) At the sons funeral, dude kept talking about how he was going to use the life insurance money to go on a vacation and buy a bunch of stuff. Dude was real messed up. Shocking how cold he could be to his own children.

[@dexter111344]

I just watched The Histocrat's video covering Spring-Heeled Jack and now Simon. Love it!

[@hypocriticalcritic6915]

Came here from Spotify just to compliment how good the writing and research of this episode. I put off listening to this one because I've heard of Spring heeled Jack more than once before and I wasn't particularly interested in a rehash of the same stuff, but this is the best Spring Heeled Jack episode/podcast I've heard so far. It was very satisfying to listen to.

[@instaperil]

We do love when Simon gives advice to criminals. ❤️

[@NickDBaker]

Such a great story from the steampunk universe! Thanks again whistleboy

[@thatguy66199]

I remember having to retrieve the Boots of Spring Heel Jack in the video game Elder Scrolls Oblivion

[@ignitionfrn2223]

6:55 - Chapter 1 - The 1st sightings 11:40 - Chapter 2 - The terror of london 20:40 - Chapter 3 - A media sensation 25:05 - Chapter 4 - Jack's legacy 29:05 - Chapter 5 - Theories 36:15 - Wrap up

[@oldworldpatriot8920]

7 Fcking minutes of him prattling on

[@maledictionwolf]

Speaking of the Ring, Okiku, the original "girl in the well" ghost out of Japan is a pretty ghost good story for our writers to present to Simon. The ending, in particular, which features a Samurai jumping out from a corner and shouting "ten!" to end her curse, is pretty glorious. Also the Japanese legend about a dude who bends over, drops trou, and stares at you with the eye in its arsehole would be a good one. I think these might be more suited to Blazing than Decoding, although the origins of Japanese legends could be quite an interesting topic. That said, I pretty sure there's at least one Brain Blaze on mythology and I suspect the butthole eye guy may have popped up in it. I shall have to go watch it (after this, of course. Our revered leader Simon needs his watch time). Bloody Mary is actually based on a scientific phenomenon where if you stare into a dark mirror for long enough you start seeing weird shit, so there is a kernel of truth to that urban legend as well.

[@7Lace77]

An Ass eye? 🤨

[@KarinaMilne]

Interesting…..

[@shanerasmussen5225]

@@7Lace77 Now I'm suddenly hearing Damon Wayans as Major Benson Winifred Payne.

[@ZAV1944]

@@7Lace77 yes it's a Yokai called the Shirime and it's name literally translates to "Butt Eye".

[@alendonvaldor5808]

Ah yes, Yokai, and south east Asian folklore in general is.... Something else XD. I know a lot about Yokai but have started learning about Korean and Filipino myths and urban legends.

[@omnipredation]

I used to read a TON of fiction, paranormal, mysteries, time travel, you name it, and multiple authors have taken the idea of this character being either demonic or "fae" and simply run with it. I accepted the notion in context, allowed for creative license, and yet no matter how many times I've seen iterations of the pseudo-archetype of this character, not one author has bothered to explain his/its origin. Thank you for the fun presentation, and thanks to Kevin Jennings for this script. I enjoy all of the shows/channels you host, Simon, but for me this was a particularly good one, as Kevin has gracefully relieved me of some of the onus of research into Spring-Heeled Jack's origins. Both of you take care, be spookily well, and continue decoding! 💯❤🤘

[@ajparry1996]

Calling oneself a non immortal demon is just the sort of thing an immortal demon would say. (also Kung Fu Hustle was awesome. You were just a kid and kids don't know anything. Though I my brain has conveniently blocked out the Ring since it terrified me so much- I can't remember anything about it other than it was scary af)

[@anarchyantz1564]

I am impressed you effortlessly said effortlessly in this one Simon. Not one goof.....or was it! To decode Simon's unknown!

[@victoriaeads6126]

Kevin, tell us truly, did you write this whole episode JUST for the anagram? Please say it's true! 😂❤ But seriously, very interesting and entertaining, thank you!

[@ThatWriterKevin]

I suggested it cause it's a popular story and one that I had some knowledge on, but I had no idea before researchingt hat he had moved to Prague! I spent entirely too long coming up with the anagram though

[@chroniclesofnowhere1269]

@@ThatWriterKevinWell played sir.

[@ThatWriterKevin]

@@chroniclesofnowhere1269 Thanks!

[@benjaminmalisheski6494]

@@ThatWriterKevin mad respect for that anagram

[@mikieswart]

@@ThatWriterKevin this episode was great, and the anagram at the end? 👨🏻‍🍳👌🏻💋

[@homersimpsonsfatguyhat9541]

Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit was freaking terrifying The Great Owl in The Secret of NIMH is pretty spooky too

[@kittfoxx7972]

Same!

[@cmaden78]

Christopher Lloyd is freaking amazing 😊

[@Bluesit32]

He did kill Eddie's brother and he talked JUST. LIKE. THISSS!

[@Ihavetostartwipingbetter]

That horrific yet helpful owl terrified me as a kid

[@AnotherWriter815]

I had a baby sitter who, when I was too young to have heard any of these urban legends, watch Urban Legend when I was in the room. That movie TRAUMATIZED me as a kid. Then whenever I heard a kid tell an urban legend I accused them of copying the movie.

[@russellfitzpatrick503]

Absolutely brilliant. Full marks to the anagramist at the end

[@ThatWriterKevin]

Thanks! It took entirely too long

[@Steven-ng8rq]

Always good to find a Simon video as I’m chilling with Mary j👌

[@MonteLight]

Hi, Simon. I'm actually a horror filmmaker. Got a new film coming out on VOD in about a month, actually. You describing a horror film really made my day. Hah!

[@douggaudiosi14]

What's the movie

[@ThatWriterKevin]

I am embarrassed to admit how much time was spent on that anagram, but Kung-Fu Hustle is a fucking cinematic masterpiece.

[@darkamora5123]

Simon's lack of taste (and breadth of viewing) in cinema is well documented. His opinion of Kung-Fu Hustle ( really just Kung-Fu as the "Hustle was added for release in the west) is criminal, but that's okay, we don't come for his movie reviews, rather in spite of them.

[@Hare_deLune]

Awesome, hilarious film!

[@emmadinnie988]

Love your work Kevin. Also, yep, Kung-Fu Hustle is great. The grumpy landlady is the best character.

[@ThatWriterKevin]

@@emmadinnie988 Thanks! 💕

[@kimberlywalker_]

I don't know, Simon. If a man grabbed me, tried to rip my clothes off, groped me, then tried to set me on fire I might just get PTSD. That's a pretty scary attack, actually.

[@Bluesit32]

Especially if it appeared that he was trying to set you on fire by spitting flames at you.

[@kimberlywalker_]

@@Bluesit32 I purposely didn't include the spitting part because being SET ON FIRE in any way is freaking horrific enough! It doesn't matter how the flame is applied.

[@kimberlywalker_]

@@Bluesit32 It reminds me of how women are attacked by men in Afghanistan. Beaten then set on fire (or acid in modern times).

[@Bluesit32]

@@kimberlywalker_ It's basically stage fire. They aren't going to catch fire. They may not even get burns.

[@Bluesit32]

@@kimberlywalker_ Spring-Heeled Jack was more or less a prankster. The wounds were very superficial, mostly just shredding the clothes rather than cutting the skin. It was nothing like being splashed with acid.

[@OKbeingdifferent]

Please can we have another Australian ghost hunting one?

[@westonlong]

Nobody can condescend like you Mr. Whistler.

[@jajssblue]

The Ring was also a formative scary movie for me too. It helps that it was quite a well constructed film to boot.

[@Nylak-Otter]

It was formative for me in that I was pretty young and I enjoyed it, but didn't find it scary at all. All of my friends I saw it with were traumatized and we were having a sleepover at one of their houses that night, so I contacted my mother to call the house later and say "seven days" just to make them lose their minds. Now that we're grown ass adults, my fearless-but-slightly-antagonistic role in my friend group remains the same.

[@wingerding]

​@@Nylak-Otterdoesn't have to be that scary to be good

[@wingerding]

​@@Nylak-OtterI mean I never found shining or exorcist to be scary but they're considered some of the best horror movies of all time.

[@snufkinhollow318]

This episode really lived up to the name of the channel for me. I knew of Spring-Heeled Jack but thought it was a very old legend going back much further than it does. I really enjoyed have my unknown decoded! Not that I doubted Kevin's research but I did have to go and check other sources for confirmation just in case. It was all as Kevin had written and not only did I therefore learn something, I also came across a fiction book called the 'The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack' by Mark Hodder, which I ordered from the library and picked up this week. I can't recommend it as a whole because I'm still reading but so far I can't put it down, so definitely a page-turner. It's an alternative history featuring the real-life explorer/polymath Richard Burton and the poet Algernon Swinburne as the main protagonists and, according to the cover, has been described my Michael Moorcock as "the best debut novel I have read in ages". Just thought I'd share as it might appeal to others too.

[@QBCPerdition]

Spitting blue flames is entirely possible...think fire eaters. They put a flammable liquid in their mouth and spit it over a flame, so that it ignites. In both of the cases with detailed descriptions, there are open flames available, the candle and the lantern.

[@wingerding]

It's not all blue though

[@paladinmr7626]

I first heard about Spring-Heel Jack about 45 years ago. I had bought a comic book, an edition of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not”, and this was one of the featured stories. Thanks for bringing that memory back to me.

[@GamingNinja132]

I like to point out the difference between being scared and being startled. A jump scare isn't scary. There's no fear, only surprise

[@TheRedjack77]

Awesome, this was one of my favorite bedtime stories as a child.

[@ImpmanPDX]

My hometown has a similar boogeyman named "Char Man". He was supposedly burned in a terrible fire years ago and now he lives as a hermit in the hills above Ojai and comes down to commit arson and mess with people.

[@kelseyhancher7237]

My hometown had the Bunny Man! Apparently they made a horror film about a bunny man, but I've never seen it and I doubt it takes place in my hometown.

[@furiouskaiser9914]

After hearing Simon call the guy Marquis a few times and then wondering what his name really was (I know it is some kind of title) I now want to hear more tales of Marquis Mark and his funky bunch. Their exploits would be legendary.

[@Bluesit32]

Spring-Heeled Jack sounds completely plausible. A few circus tricks, some slight of hand, and people being too shocked and out of sorts to really see how Jack made his get away would be all it took. The dramatic tossing of the coat would be a good way to prep the tube without being seen doing so. Oh, and as to the movie, "Urban Legends", no, it wasn't a collection of stories. It's about a killer using urban legends to kill people. The first...ten minutes or so is pretty good. Builds the tension nicely because you're not entirely sure what's going to happen. Urban legends have a tendencies to have multiple variations on endings, after all. Sometimes the babysitter and the phone calls end with everyone dead and other times it ends with one of the kids making prank calls.

[@themcqueendream6797]

Simon "the state of my undress!" In squeek voice sent me rolling man that was too funny 😂

[@randallcraft4071]

The way Simon Says pointy ears not like a Vulcan but like a devil makes it sound like he thinks vulcans are real but devils aren't

[@chasefrancis8742]

Great show Fact Boy!

[@kendellstewart2090]

Spring-Heeled Jack: "I'm BATMAN!"

[@blitzofchaosgaming6737]

I've watched almost every episode of decoding the unknown in the last week. What have I learned? Simon was really, really, really, scared of "The Ring".

[@willmfrank]

Simon Whistler: "I mean, I'm not this guy, obviously..." Viewer 1: "Oh yeah. Simon is Spring-Heeeled Jack..." Viewer 2: "Simon is totally Spring-Heeled Kack..." Simon: "I'm NOT Spring-Heeled J --" Viewerr 3: "Shut it, Fact Boi! We KNOW you're Spring-Heeled Jack!" Simon: "What is WRONG with you?!" 😉😁

[@quantumfoam539]

Simon always so effortlessly debunks the existence of demons.

[@Fanney47]

I mean, isn't that what a demon would do? Immortal or not. Just saying.

[@oldworldpatriot8920]

@@Fanney47 “The devils greatest trick was convincing everyone he didn’t exist”

[@ciannolan9713]

Simon not remembering he covered The Hammersmith Ghost is great

[@buddyzilla4557]

Horror anthologies are Simon's Dark Energy. He knows they exist and has a basic understanding on what some of their properties must be but is completely boggled by what exactly they are and pretty much everything else beyond that. A real theoretical astrophysicist of widespread human culture, this one. A pioneer of his time.

[@cmaden78]

Well said

[@matthewchristofferson2832]

We need ‘Check your carbon monoxide detector’ merch! Maybe a shirt with a ghost on it

[@TheNeonParadox]

Kevin at 7:00 "Christ, Simon, my introduction was half a page! How are you just now getting to the body of the script?"

[@youcefba8906]

Idk if this is also in other countries but for kungfoo hussle in spain they dubbed the movie and gave each character a specific accent. Spanish gypsy, french speaking spanish, etc.. Which made the movie incredibly funny. Loved it

[@cmaden78]

That would actually lend a lot to that 🎥. I'd like to see that. What a good idea😅

[@PelenTan]

Wow. This one was the best yet. Had me laughing all the way through.

[@chrisworsley8836]

Just a fun personal note: I first heard of Spring Heeled Jack when he was featured as the villain of the week on an episode of the animated "Jackie Chan Adventures". (I would have been about 15-16 at the time). In my early 20's I planned to make a documentary about creepy local legends and haunted places (because it would be cheap and nothing ever happens in them) and I contacted a woman who ran the Maryland Ghost and Spirit Association (basically local ghost hunters). She told me, among other things, about Spring Heeled Jack. Why would she bring him up when we were talking about LOCAL legends? Because (she said) he'd been "spotted" in my home state of Maryland. I did some online research (googling) and found out that in addition to London and Prague (which I didn't know about til this video) Spring Heeled Jack was notable to modern ghost hunters and paranormal fans for being one of the only regional super natural creatures to ever hop continents! He/it/whatever had been sighted in New York City in the 1910's (I think) terrorizing the area around Central Park. During this time it was said that he attacked several people strolling through the park and was even responsible for one death when a young woman, startled by Jack jumping out of a tree, feel over the side of a foot bridge and into an open steam vent. (Those quaint foot bridges in Central Park were there before the little artificial streams that now crisscross the park as steam for heating ran under the park grounds in pipes under man made trenches). Anyway, after the woman died, "Jack" was never seen in NYC again. But in the 1970's a being described as almost exactly like him terrorized the Fells Point area of Baltimore City Maryland for several weeks and was dubbed "Spring Heeled Jack", supposedly generating dozens of witnesses and actual verifiable police reports (of a cloaked individual fleeing police and one home invasion) and allegedly caused some residents to hunt for him with shotguns and baseball bats, before he disappeared, once again... Of course I don't seriously believe it, but it is interesting that such an obscure legend traveled across the Atlantic and persisted for over a century, so far from it's place of origin.

[@wingerding]

Ghu mo guai guai fai mi chough

[@mangot589]

I love this story! Thanks, Simon!

[@kennethmcdonald2987]

I am going out on a limb here .Jack is just a man but The Jersey Devil and Mothman are his sidekicks .My wife has a lot of fun out here with city folks down here in the swamps we live in .All it takes is for a Great Horned Owl to fly overhead and she tells them yeah that is Mothman you are seeing without a doubt .The scariest sounding creatures by far are a vixen in heat ,bull alligator bellowing and the most frightening of all is a Screech Owl to those not familiar with the swamps and woods .The Screech Owl is damn terrifying the first time you hear it in the dark for such a tiny owl .It is too much fun to watch their reactions .

[@wingerding]

So why are jersey devil and mothman his sidekicks? You don't seem to explain why you connect them...

[@kevinkelleher8708]

Really like this genre "decoding the unknown" that you present! It's almost as good as "warographics"!

[@AnamLiath]

Now hey, the dog dressed as a spider was the best prank ever.

[@Hare_deLune]

Nah, that's a dumb idea. Who's gonna believe a dog dressed as a spider? Besides, even if they did believe it, they'd kill the dog! ~_^

[@AnamLiath]

@@Hare_deLune just search for it here. It's so silly.

[@Hare_deLune]

@@AnamLiath It's from Skyrim, a little game I've been playing for the last ten years. By leaving that wink at the end of my comment, I was trying to let you know that I was giving the reply heard in the game. However, if you have another, older source, then that would be interesting.

[@danielchapman6032]

I just learned of Spring-Heeled Jack a few days ago. I see you are keep track of my internet searches for idea. Okay. Dangerous but you do you. I saw it in context of the history of superheroes.

[@davidt3563]

If the original reports from the victims are to be believed, their assaulter was CLEARLY a circus / street performer. He had the costumes, the acrobatics, fire breathing etc. He clearly has showmanship and performance training.

[@darkamora5123]

Yeah, acrobats would likely be able to do a parkour sort of wall scale. Run down an narrow alley and bounce, bounce, bounce and over a wall and those people would probably say they jumped over a wall. Sideshow/circus/acrobat/street performer really does seem like the best call.

[@davidt3563]

@@darkamora5123 it's clearly obvious that when he knocked on that woman's door that his candle was out, so he made up the lie about having the bad guy in the alley and requested the candle so the lady would bring an ignition source for him. Once he had the candle he flipped off the police coat (a likely similar type coat that the circus would have) and did his fire breathing act and then did what he planned to do. He came back for the coat dressed as someone else because that coat was going to be needed for a presentation at the next circus event.

[@Hare_deLune]

This was my conclusion as well.

[@dexter111344]

Fire breathing wasn't a curcus act until a century later.

[@orangutanenthusiast5631]

@@davidt3563 more obviously, she is just chatting shit for attention or a distraction to farther from her other activities, extravagant lies about being involved in big show crimes are not a purely modern thing

[@maky977]

Simon, congrats! You pronounced effortlessly so effortlessly!

[@dudepool7530]

Not gunna lie, but the more I hear about Simon's childhood, the more I appreciate mine.

[@timstram]

8:03 great job Simon.

[@JeevesDotaTV]

So Jack is a prankster, literally the OG Joker, and he is the inspiration for Batman, that is pretty ironic.

[@randallbesch2424]

Jack is a molester, a terror not a prankster.

[@JTonyArts]

So the whole opening about movies just boiled down to, “people tell stories… and here’s one!” So insightful.

[@ruthlesace]

Played a game when I was younger, and a major mission revolved around killing spring heeled jack and stealing his magic shoes. He was a vampire in said game who had been terrorizing a city for centuries. I didn't find out until maybe ten years later that that was a reference of any kind.

[@Textile_Courtesan]

This sounds like a great one off game for Masquerade the gathering, tbh.

[@darkamora5123]

@Mia J Vampire: The Masquerade or Magic the Gathering. LOL personally don't really care but I am sure members of one or both fandoms do enough to curse your name. 😁

[@Hare_deLune]

The game you are referring to is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, by Bethesda Softworks. Other games by them include Daggerfall, Morrowind, Skyrim, Fallouts 3 and 4, and the upcoming game Starfield. The particular quest you mention is part of a longer series of quests done for the Thieve's Guild in the game. The Thieve's Guild and Dark Brotherhood (assassin's guild) questlines are the best written quests in the game.

[@ruthlesace]

@Hare deLune I'm aware, it's actually my favorite game of all time. I didn't mean to make it sound like I'd forgotten it, merely just trying to mention how spring heeled jack never really went out of style.

[@Hare_deLune]

@@ruthlesace I played Oblivion for five years before Skyrim came out. I still love that game. Can't wait to play Skyblivion!

[@patrickmonks9761]

Fantastic and fun!!

[@androidsama9398]

Kung fu hustle is hilarious. It's a nice mix of comedy and action 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@HanMasho]

"If I walk out of the theatre looking that disappointed, I'm going to be very disappointed." That's some Yogi Berra shit, right there. I hope I have the chance to steal that line at some point in the future.

[@ThatWriterKevin]

For real. It's over 20 years later, and I use that line as often as possible. It was real Yogi Berra shit though, cause he said it very sincerely with no intent of being funny

[@HanMasho]

@@ThatWriterKevin Yeah, Yogi was something very special, and I would love to have heard the deadpan delivery of your friend firsthand. I read a book that was just a bunch of quotes from famous thinkers and philosophers and how those quotes related to Zen Buddhist philosophy, and that book had tons of Yogi quotes. The fact that such a wise man was also a hall of fame baseball player is just nuts.

[@eetadakimasu]

If you were sheltered, like myself, and had never heard any urban legends, it was a very scary movie! I did like Final Destination though

[@N33k5]

Never saw Final Destination but, I recently did a watch through of all 3 Urban Legends movies while not amazing quality I was reminded how much better paced movies used to be and how much better older stuff ends up being just because it's not all rushing and attention deficit. Also you could see and hear the actors lol.

[@That_Bender]

Good show mate!

[@jesway]

I watch Nightmare On Elm Street when I was about 9 or 10 years old. Even to this day I have nightmares if I just look at the cover jacket! Scariest movie ever made! And yes, I’ve seen all 7.

[@Hare_deLune]

Try watching Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds' when you're seven or eight years old. Scarred for life...

[@timjameson1095]

Simon is Spring-Heeled Jack!! That is a great reveal!!! Only a DEMON would keep Danny in the Basement!! So many things are now clear.

[@MrGozer23]

The faces you make on the thumbnails for your shows are very cool. They show me how you feel about each topic before I watch it. Helps me know what I'm in for! ie: if the content annoys or offends you or worries you, I can tell how tangenty you might be. Let's me get to the good stuff faster.

[@macautapao]

King Fu Hustle is a masterpiece. I have watched it several times. It’s gets even better each time you watch it.

[@TrissTess]

Sulfur makes blue flames... 🤔🧐 Good research! 😁

[@ThatWriterKevin]

I mean, it does? Admittedly I was a little surprised when I read it, but you can see plenty of videos of sulfur burning and the flames are blue

[@exidy-yt]

My boss once took the 'poisoned Hallow'een candy' canard for real and forwarded me an email about it since i had 2 kids. I had to gently direct my boss to Snopes and maybe I shouldn't have. Even though I was ultra-polite and thanked him for caring about my kids' welfare, he never responded after that and neither of us ever mentioned it ever again. I was gone less then a year later.

[@OofHearted]

🎶Jumping Jack Slash, spitting gas gas gas! 🎶

[@Shakes_The_Clone]

I’m repelled by the “soy face” thumbnails. If it’s a channel I’m not familiar with, 19 out of 20 times I hit “Do Not Recommend Channel”. YMMV

[@Daugueffxi]

In my head all of this took place in Elder Scrolls IV, where you steal the boots of Spring-Heeled Jack.

[@nbarnes6225]

Um. "Urban legends" absolutely existed in England. Contemporary legends exist in all cultures at all times. Spring-heeled Jack is far from first. They're a certain kind of narrative we share with each other that often involve foafs (friend of a friend). There's more involved that separates them from mythology and folktales, but that's a longer discussion.

[@ThatWriterKevin]

I did say that urban legends existed for thousands of years, there just wasn't that term and Jack is, for whatever reason, considered the first.

[@nbarnes6225]

@@ThatWriterKevin according to whom, though? I'm not trying to be an ass about this, I just know that contemporary legend research wouldn't be able to place a "first" on anything. It might be one of the first that English scholars wrote about, but academic folkloristics, at least since the 1960s, acknowledges that contemporary legends have existed for as long as people have been telling stories. I mean, the vanishing hitchhiker story is documented back to Roman times. It's just updated for our current (contemporary) society to fit whatever social need we have.

[@jrmckim]

Growing up in the 90s around the drugged Halloween candy craze.. my mom told us "no one is putting drugs in candy... they're too expensive".

[@the-chillian]

The problem that led to the very early invention of the electric vibrator -- indeed, one of the earliest electric appliances ever made -- was mostly that doctors who were good at treating "hysteria" (i.e. they gave good finger jobs) tended to acquire reputations and attract lots and lots and lots of female patients. Even if they loved their work, their hands were getting really tired at the end of the day and they risked RSI.

[@jamess3241]

They learned how to finger in med school?

[@the-chillian]

@@jamess3241 That would not be an unreasonable inference.

[@jamess3241]

Hahaha the past was the worst for sure, but it was also crazy as hell

[@MichaelEilers]

Way, way more interesting than I expected.

[@copperfox5843]

It’s wonderful that we have Simon’s expert opinion that the female victims of violent attacks, who thought they might be raped or killed, should have just gotten on with their lives because it was probably a prank.

[@missgreen101]

Yeah that was pretty cold, also the reporting on the victems was done by men so who even knows what the ladies state of mind was

[@orangutanenthusiast5631]

Your living in Victorian slums on this scenario, your daily life is far more traumatising

[@sfarmertoo]

consider your virtue , signaled

[@missgreen101]

@@sfarmertoo consider your words buzzed

[@uhthin]

My god. I definitely fell asleep to business blaze and woke up to fact boy fueling my nightmares! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS!?

[@mbathroom1]

last time I was this early, we had a queen

[@cacyc90]

I love Simon's videos

[@paulraider2001]

Nice ending Kevin.

[@ThatWriterKevin]

Thanks!

[@kimgadoury4245]

Thanks! Nicely done :)

[@molybdomancer195]

If someone was already mentally vulnerable being attacked by something like this could tip them over the edge. In the same way, some people can be killed by a blow to the head that others would survive.

[@michaeljacobs9532]

Keep wiping my screen, thinking there's something on it. But nope, just on Simon's microphone 😜

[@Hare_deLune]

I know!! That white speck has been driving me crazy for months! He'll never notice it because it's on the side facing away from him. Clean yer damn microphone cover, Simon!

[@nickcastings1568]

Simon £4 to get in the pictures... bloody hell, you’re not old!

[@keryeeastin4022]

It's only 5$ in one of our small town theaters .. it only plays one movie and only on weekends but hey, better than a fly in the eye...

[@unowen9668]

Am I the only one that remembers $1 weekends at the movies? Of course it WAS the 70s.