A letter from Inman Race.

[SpringHeeledBob]

Just made an account to let those connected to Inman Race know (if they don't already) that he also has a small place in the history of folklore, as the first person to suggest in print (possibly with tongue-in-cheek) that Spring-Heeled Jack might be an alien visitor from a high-gravity planet. Mr Race is mentioned in Mike Dash's scholarly essay Spring-heeled Jack: To Victorian Bugaboo From Suburban Ghost (which can be freely read here, he is mentioned in footnote 109) and Mr Race's letter is actually quoted from and discussed at more length in The Mystery of Spring-Heeled Jack by John Matthews (which is on Kindle).

 

This idea later took on a life of its own when it was popularised by one J. Vyner, and, though considered rather defunct as a serious explanation today, it became a major talking-point in popular writings on the subject throughout the latter half of the 20th Century

[bullerboY]

Well Danny ime glad we caught up with each other after all these years both you and me heavily into motorbikes and our paths never crossing since we left school and we only lived a few hundred yards from each other, keep smiling,Mel.