Editing Spring-heeled Jack (section)

====Aldershot====
[[File:North Camp Aldershot 1866.jpg|thumb|left|North Camp in [[Aldershot Garrison|Aldershot]] as it looked in 1866.]]
This news was followed by more reported sightings, until in August 1877 one of the most notable reports about Spring-heeled Jack came from a group of soldiers in [[Aldershot Garrison]]. This story went as follows: a sentry on duty at the North Camp peered into the darkness, his attention attracted by a peculiar figure "advancing towards him." The soldier issued a challenge, which went unheeded, and the figure came up beside him and delivered several slaps to his face. A guard shot at him, with no visible effect; some sources claim that the soldier may have fired [[blank (cartridge)|blanks]] at him, others that he missed or fired warning shots. The strange figure then disappeared into the surrounding darkness "with astonishing bounds."<ref>"The Aldershott Ghost", ''The Times'', 28 April 1877 (cited in "Fortean Studies volume 3" (1996), p. 95, ed. Steve Moore, John Brown Publishing)</ref><ref>"Our Camp Letter" –  ''Surrey and Hants News & Guildford Times'' – 17 March 1877, section ''Aldershot Gazette''</ref><ref>[[Elliott O'Donnell]], ''Haunted Britain'' – Consul Books (1963) p. 89</ref>

[[Lord Ernest Hamilton]]'s 1922 memoir ''Forty Years On'' mentions the Aldershot appearances of Spring-heeled Jack; however, he (apparently erroneously) says that they occurred in the winter of 1879 after his regiment, the [[King's Royal Rifle Corps|60th Rifles]], had moved to Aldershot, and that similar appearances had occurred when the regiment was barracked at [[Colchester]] in the winter of 1878. He adds that the panic became so great at Aldershot that sentries were issued ammunition and ordered to shoot "the night terror" on sight, following which the appearances ceased. Hamilton thought that the appearances were actually pranks, carried out by one of his fellow officers, a Lieutenant Alfrey.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hamilton | first = Ernest | author-link = Lord Ernest Hamilton | title = Forty Years On | publisher = Hodder and Stoughton | year = 1922 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fortyyearson00hami/page/163 163]–164 | url = https://archive.org/details/fortyyearson00hami }}</ref><ref>"Our Camp Letter" – ''Surrey and Hants News & Guildford Times'' – 14 December 1878, section ''Aldershot Gazette''</ref> However, there is no record of Alfrey ever being court-martialled for the offence.<ref>Judge Advocate General's Office: General Courts Martial charge sheets: 1877–1880 – the National Archives, Kew</ref>