Editing Spring-heeled Jack (section)

===Paranormal conjectures===
[[File:jack2.jpg|thumb|Spring-heeled Jack illustrated on the cover of the 1904 serial ''Spring-heeled Jack'']]A variety of speculative paranormal explanations have been proposed to explain the origin of Spring-heeled Jack, including that he was an [[extraterrestrial life|extraterrestrial]] entity with a non-human appearance and features (e.g., [[retroreflector|retro-reflective]] red eyes, or [[phosphorus]] breath) and a [[superhuman]] agility deriving from life on a high-gravity world, with his jumping ability and strange behaviour,<ref>''[[Charles Berlitz]]'s World of Strange Phenomena''.</ref> and that he was a [[demon]], accidentally or purposefully summoned into this world by practitioners of the [[occult]], or who made himself manifest simply to create spiritual turmoil.<ref>Supporters of this theory include [[John Keel]], author of ''[[The Mothman Prophecies]]'', and [[Jacques Vallée]].</ref>

[[Charles Fort|Fortean]] authors, particularly [[Loren Coleman]]<ref>Mysterious America</ref> and [[Jerome Clark]],<ref>Unexplained!</ref> list "Spring-heeled Jack" in a category named "phantom attackers", with another well-known example being the "[[Mad Gasser of Mattoon]]". Typical "phantom attackers" appear to be human, and may be perceived as prosaic criminals, but may display extraordinary abilities (as in Spring-heeled Jack's jumps, which, it is widely noted, would break the ankles of a human who replicated them) and/or cannot be caught by authorities. Victims commonly experience the "attack" in their bedrooms, homes or other seemingly secure enclosures. They may report being pinned or paralysed, or on the other hand describe a "siege" in which they fought off a persistent intruder or intruders. Many reports can readily be explained psychologically, most notably as the [[night_hag|"Old Hag" phenomenon]], recorded in folklore and recognised by psychologists as a form of hallucination. In the most problematic cases, an "attack" is witnessed by several people and substantiated by some physical evidence, but the attacker cannot be verified to exist.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}