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When I was a kid, my older brother brought home an old, beat up copy of Ripley’s Believe It or Not #25.
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I don’t know where he got it. The cover was a painting of “Spring-Heel Jack”. As far as I remember, I had never seen a comic with a painted cover. It hit me as something I might see in a grade school history book, which seemed to validate Jack’s possible existence.
The issue contained several stories, including one with a scary harpy/bat/witch...
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_e-y-Rrz58H4/TMxAHG_cF7I/AAAAAAAABKo/NbKSz8zPZEg/s400/Old_Kate.jpg)
...but Spring-Heel Jack had the most effect on me. The story contained only mystifying incidents with no real wrap-up. Plus, he apparently didn’t wear pants.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_e-y-Rrz58H4/TMw8IbockYI/AAAAAAAABKI/RMnN0PfUfGA/s400/Jack_1.jpg)
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_e-y-Rrz58H4/TMw9BE1NnPI/AAAAAAAABKg/GEL_Z4C_R3I/s400/Jack_3.jpg)
I found it all terrifying, and I couldn’t help but imagine him jumping over tombstones whenever I was in a cemetery. Brrrrr.