Spring-heeled Jack
Barnes Common, London
From 1837, Londoners reported a tall figure who could leap over high walls, with glowing eyes and claws, some said breathing fire. In 1838 a young woman named Jane Alsop said he attacked her at her door.
Read the full story, see it on the map, get directions and find what else is nearby in the free Hidden Britain Atlas map.
- When
- From 1837
- Where
- 51.4695, -0.2378
- Group
- Unexplained
Visiting
Barnes Common is open green space in south-west London.

The Ledger of Lost Artifacts and Civilizations
Not every mystery needs a lost continent. This book investigates fifty-nine real and often overlooked puzzles from the ancient and modern world: a temple older than farming itself, astonishing structures, out-of-place artifacts, and technologies lost to time. Each case is weighed honestly, with a clear ledger of the case for and against, so you can make up your own mind. Some cases collapse under scrutiny. Others remain genuinely unexplained. All of them are stranger than Atlantis.
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