Springheeled Jack

> "As a boy he had always been throwing himself headfirst into fights in order to defend those who could not defend themselves, without first considering if he himself was one of those defenseless people. His youth had, as a result, been a long succession of injuries and humiliations, but Jaques never seemed to learn from his mistakes."
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Jacques, later known as Jack or Springheeled Jack.

## Description

Jacques was a French man most known for wearing his Springheeled Jack outfit. The night before his death he hurt his ankle and walked with a limp.

He is described as being an "earnest, well meaning, romantic young man." While he is shown to be intelligent as he creates shoes with a series of complex mechanisms, he is not shown to be self-aware or socially intelligent. On multiple occasions, his behaviour is described as being odd by others and mistakes an article about himself for one about another man. Jacques also has a strong sense of justice that persisted since his childhood, despite his inability to protect himself.

## History

Jacques was born in Paris, likely around 1817. His father was a cobbler and during his childhood, Jacque made multiple new types of innovative shoes that were discarded by his father. His childhood is also described as a series of fights, as he often tried to protect others who could not be protected without first considering if he was one of those people.

His mother told him stories of how women in England were constantly harassed and attacked at night, most likely to instil a sense of national pride and a healthy hatred for the English in her son. Instead, this contributed to his strong sense of justice and encouraged him to move to London shortly after he became an adult.

Once arriving in London, he was held in the customs house for longer than usual due to insisting he was there "to protect London’s ladies from terror at the hand of scoundrels." This was first misunderstood as a euphemism for soliciting women for sex work, but he was then later mocked by the police when they realised he was being genuine.

Once Jacques left the customs house, he was immediately robbed of his wallet and then knocked over by a carriage when he tried to chase after the boy. Luckily, Jacques kept some money in his luggage and was able to afford a small, third-story flat in London to be his base.

For the following week, Jacques prowled the streets of London in his superhero outfit to defend any women who were attacked. He was majorly unsuccessful as he only saw one act of violence which was a woman having her purse stolen. However, he was unable to get her purse back for her. Finally, Jacques noticed a woman heading to work and as she approached a corner, he spotted a shadow he suspected to be a criminal. (It was a bush) He lunged for the woman and grabbed her. She panicked and pulled away from him, accidentally scratching herself on his claws as she ran.

As the woman ran, he yelled after her "Never fear, mademoiselle! Jaques is here for help!" which was misunderstood as gibberish, likely due to his accent, except for the end where she heard "Jack is here from Hell." When Jacques checked the corner for the criminal, he was not there. (Instead, there was a bush.)

When Jacques saw the article about it the following morning, he became so excited at the idea of an enemy that he jumped out of his window half dressed and fell when he tried to grab his zipline. He died immediately on impact. The coroner ruled his death a suicide as no other cause could be found.

Following his death, several copycats popped up and began terrorising London. This, ironically, added to the fear of London's women.

## Trivia

* Jacques is based on the real-life story of Sping-heeled Jack, a cryptid from the Victorian era.
* While no date is given in the exhibit, the first reported sighting of Spring-heeled Jack in real-life was in 1837.
* The Mistholme Museum's legal advisors have an issue with patrons comparing Jacques' story to a certain comic superhero. They are unrelated and patrons should not try to sue the museum.