Burton & Swinburne 1 - The Strange Affair Of Spring Heeled Jack (54 page)

In 1842, he married and put his wild youth behind him.

He died in a horse-riding accident in 1859.

A A Fl is the creator and caretaker of the BLAKIANA Web ,site (www.sextonblake.co.uk), which he designed to celebrate, record, and revive Sexton Blake, the most written about fictional detective in English publishing history. A former BBC writer, editor, journalist, and Web producer, Mark has worked in all the new and traditional media and was based in London for most of his working life until 2008, when he relocated to Valencia in Spain to de-stress and write novels. He can most often be found at the base of a palm tree, hammering at a laptop.

Mark has a degree in cultural studies and loves British history (1850 to 1950, in particular), good food, cutting-edge gadgets, cult TV (ITC forever!), Tom Waits, and a vast assortment of oddities.

SPRING HEELED JACK

Spring Heeled Jack is one of the great mysteries of the Victorian Age (and beyond). Somewhat akin to the Mothman of West Virginia, this ghost, or apparition, or creature, or trickster, leaped out at unsuspecting victims over a period covering 1837 to 1888 and even on into the twentieth century (though the main sightings were from 1837 to 1877-the subsequent ones may have been hoaxes, copycats, or something else entirely).

There is no recorded incident of a time traveller visiting the Victorian Age....