Jack the Knife, (a.k.a Jack the Snatcher, No Hands Jack and Hand Bagger) is one of several characters who have been stalking the streets, and imaginations of Takshendal in the last few years. Jack, it is widely believed, kills pretty young people and then for unfathomable reasons cuts off their hands. Some of this is evident truth (Jack's victims are regularly found) but a lot is bloated rumour.
Jack the Knife first came to public attention in 1620 when four dead people were found in a house on High Gate Street. The news that all four bodies had been mutilated and their hands cut off set off a public outcry, and the name people began to use to identify the murderer became Jack the Knife. No one actually knows who Jack is, or why he is killing people and cutting off their hands, but public imagination has generated various myths surrounding him. It is commonly accepted that Jack is tall and thin, even cadaverous. He wears a long dark coat with a hood, from which his beardless, pock marked chin can be seen. Jack's eyes are believed to glow green from the shadows, but can only be seen by his potential victims.
Over the years there have been numerous sightings of Jack the Knife, usually by people staggering home drunk, but on one or two occaisions, he has been seen by respectable people too. The most well known incident took place in 1623 immediately following the murder of Anna Foxglove. Jack the Knife was interupted in his grizzly business by a Militia night-watchman who happened across a man dragging a woman into a back yard. When it became know that Jack had been seen wearing a green coat, several people were accused of being Jack, on this basis alone.
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