Kai Roberts, writing for Spooky Isles, places the centre of the panic at Grafton Street in Little Horton Green, a residential area just south of the city centre. In 1926 the city was swept by rumours that Spring-Heeled Jack had been terrorising residents.
Unlike the popular image of Jack, who breathes fire and wears an oilskin coat, this version was dressed in a white shroud like a traditional ghost. He was said to be so fleet-footed that nobody could catch him as he startled pedestrians and hammered on the doors of nearby houses, often escaping by leaping over walls and across rooftops.
The disturbances reportedly continued for several weeks and spread to outlying districts including Brierley and Bingley. Despite a significant police presence and mobs of vigilantes patrolling the streets, nobody was caught. Roberts says it remains unclear whether the Grafton Street Freak was a local prankster or something more sinister.
The pin is on Grafton Street as the named epicentre; the wider disturbances covered a larger area. A related 1926 ghost scare at Brierley already has its own record in this register. Newspaper dates and further detail were not checked.
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