Happy Birthday: April 29, 2021

 

Jerry Seinfeld, 67

Daniel Day-Lewis, 64

Michelle Pfeiffer, 63

Eve Plumb, 63

Uma Thurman, 51

Andre Agassi, 51

Keith Baxter, 88

Bob Miranda, 79

Duane Allen, 78

Tommy James, 74

Leslie Jordan, 66

Kate Mulgrew, 66

Stephanie Bentley, 58

Vincent Ventresca, 55

Carnie Wilson, 53

Paul Adelstein, 52

Master P, 51

Darby Stanchfield, 50

James Bonamy, 49

Erica Campbell, 49

Mike Hogan, 48

Tyler Labine, 43

Megan Boone, 38

Zane Carney, 36

Amy Heidemann, 35

Foxes, 32

Grace Kaufman, 19

William Randolph Hearst (April 29, 1863-August 14, 1951)

Duke Ellington (April 29, 1899-May 24, 1974)

Dale Earnhardt (April 29, 1951-February 18, 2001)

Demon House: The Ammons' Family Haunting

 

The Ammons haunting case, also known as the 200 Demons House or Demon House, is an alleged haunting and demonic possession which occurred in Gary, Indiana, in the United States in 2011. Latoya Ammons, her mother, Rosa Campbell, and her three children claimed paranormal activity occurred in the residence. The story was publicized in January 2014 and received national attention.

Background

In November 2011, Latoya Ammons, her mother, Rosa Campbell, and her three children then ages 7, 9 and 12 moved into a house located at 3860 Carolina Street in Gary,Indiana. Days after the family moved in, they claimed black flies swarmed the porch in December and kept returning even after the family believed they were killed.

Campbell initially heard footsteps in the basement and doors creaking. Later, she alleged to have witnessed a "shadowy figure of a man pacing in the living room" and found a "boot print". Campbell claimed she was choked by an unknown force. Ammons' 12-year-old daughter was claimed to have levitated above her bed unconscious during a sleepover with a friend. They were said to have prayed until the girl returned to the bed. The daughter had no memory of the incident. The older son was allegedly thrown across the room by an unknown force. The younger son allegedly had his eyes roll into the back of his head and was growling saying "it's time to die," and "I will kill you".

The family reached out to their physician, Geoffrey Onyeukwu, on April 19, 2012. When he visited the house during the supposed haunting, he noted their behavior was "delusional". Someone from his office contacted police, after the police arrived, the children were taken to the hospital. The older boy was described as acting rationally, while the younger boy "screamed and thrashed".

In 2012, the Department of Child Services (DCS) was alerted to the family. The DCS believed that the children were performing for their mother. Sensational stories published in outlets such as the New York Daily News reported that DCS personnel had allegedly witnessed the youngest boy "walking up the wall backwards". 37-year police captain, Charles Austin, believed paranormal activity occurred in the house. A photo published by the Indianapolis Star claimed to show a "shadowy figure" when no one was home.

The family hired Father Michael Maginot to perform an exorcism. He interviewed the family on April 22, 2012 and concluded they were being "tormented by demons". He eventually performed three exorcisms, two in English and one in Latin. One exorcism was performed on Latoya Ammons.

The Ammons family moved to Indianapolis in 2012 after which the events were said to have stopped.

Skeptical analysis

Physician Geoffrey Onyeukwu had been skeptical of the entire incident and failed to witness any paranormal incidents. In his medical notes he wrote, "delusions of ghost in home" and "hallucinations". Ammons' children had a history of "irregular school attendance" with a complaint filed against Ammons in 2009. In 2012, she blamed her children's continued irregular attendance on the purported demonic activities.

According to skeptical investigator Joe Nickell, police chief Charles Austin was "an admitted believer in the supernatural, including ghosts". Nickell reported that the photo published by the Indianapolis Star and captioned “Photo by Hammond Police” was, according to the Hammond police chief, not an official photo and was not taken by Hammond police authorities. Nickell also interviewed a number of witnesses and concluded that there were a number of non-supernatural explanations for the claimed supernatural events.

Charles Reed, the landlord, stated he had never experienced any supernatural events at the house. His prior tenants also claimed to never have such experiences. At the time, Ammons was behind on lease and used the claimed paranormal activities to avoid payments. The tenant who moved in after Ammons had not noticed any paranormal events, either. Reed believed the events were a hoax.

The children were interviewed by psychologists, and several professionals concluded "the children were acting deceptively and in accordance with their mother’s beliefs". Tracy Wright, a psychologist, noted that the youngest son "acted possessed" whenever he was challenged or was asked "questions that he did not wish to answer".

Documentary film

In 2014, Zak Bagans purchased the house for $35,000 and demolished it in January 2016 after filming a documentary in it, titled Demon House that was released on March 16, 2018. Dread Central's Steve Barton called it "one of the single most compelling documentaries on the existence of the supernatural that I’ve ever witnessed.". Los Angeles Times reviewer Noel Murray called the film "hooey". According to skeptical investigator Kenny Biddle, the film has been characterized as a pseudo-documentary, "meaning it is filmed in a documentary style but doesn’t portray real events".

Haunted: Annabelle the Doll

 

Annabelle is an allegedly haunted Raggedy Ann doll, housed in the occult museum of the paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. A character based on the doll is a reoccurring antagonist in the Conjuring Universe.

Background

According to the Warrens, a student nurse was given the doll in 1970. They said that the doll behaved strangely, and that a psychic medium told the student that the doll was inhabited by the spirit of a deceased girl named "Annabelle". The student and her roommate tried to accept and nurture the spirit-possessed doll, but the doll reportedly exhibited malicious and frightening behavior. It was at this point that the Warrens say they were first contacted, moving the doll to their museum after pronouncing it demonically possessed. The doll remains in a glass box at The Warrens' Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut.

Texas State University assistant professor of religious studies Joseph Laycock says most skeptics have dismissed the Warren's museum as "full of off-the-shelf Halloween junk, dolls and toys, books you could buy at any bookstore". Laycock calls the Annabelle legend an "interesting case study in the relationship between pop culture and paranormal folklore" and speculates that the demonic doll trope popularized by films such as Child's Play, Dolly Dearest, and The Conjuring likely emerged from early legends surrounding Robert the Doll as well as a Twilight Zone season 5 episode 6 titled "Living Doll" (in which the character of the mother is named Annabelle), released 5 years prior to the Warren's story. Laycock suggests that "the idea of demonically-possessed dolls allows modern demonologists to find supernatural evil in the most banal and domestic of places."

Commenting on publicity for the Warren's occult museum coinciding with the film release of The Conjuring, science writer Sharon A. Hill said that many of the myths and legends surrounding the Warrens have "seemingly been of their own doing" and that many people may have difficulty "separating the Warrens from their Hollywood portrayal". Hill criticized sensational press coverage of the Warrens' occult museum and its Annabelle doll. She said, "Like real-life Ed Warren, real-life Annabelle is actually far less impressive." Of the supernatural claims made about Annabelle by Ed Warren, Hill said, "We have nothing but Ed's word for this, and also for the history and origins of the objects in the museum."

The doll was also described in Gerald Brittle's 1980 biography of Edward and Lorraine Warren, The Demonologist.

Character

The Warren's story of the doll served as inspiration for the Annabelle doll character depicted in The Conjuring Universe, a film series that includes the following: Annabelle (2014), Annabelle: Creation (2017), and Annabelle Comes Home (2019). The producers did not use the likeness of Raggedy Ann, partially because doing so would require special permission, partially to make the doll's appearance more unsettling for a horror film; its appearance has been described as a "terrifying porcelain doll that is disfigured and immediately menacing". The character made a brief appearance in James Wan's The Conjuring 2 (2016) and Aquaman (2018), as well as The Curse of La Llorona (2019) and Shazam.

Conspiracy Theory: Spring-heeled Jack

 

Spring-heeled Jack is an entity in English folklore of the Victorian era. The first claimed sighting of Spring-heeled Jack was in 1837. Later sightings were reported all over the United Kingdom and were especially prevalent in suburban London, the Midlands and Scotland.

There are many theories about the nature and identity of Spring-heeled Jack. This urban legend was very popular in its time, due to the tales of his bizarre appearance and ability to make extraordinary leaps, to the point that he became the topic of several works of fiction.

Spring-heeled Jack was described by people who claimed to have seen him as having a terrifying and frightful appearance, with diabolical physiognomy, clawed hands, and eyes that "resembled red balls of fire". One report claimed that, beneath a black cloak, he wore a helmet and a tight-fitting white garment like an oilskin. Many stories also mention a "Devil-like" aspect. Others said he was tall and thin, with the appearance of a gentleman. Several reports mention that he could breathe out blue and white flames and that he wore sharp metallic claws at his fingertips. At least two people claimed that he was able to speak comprehensible English.

History

Precedents

In the early 19th century, there were reports of ghosts that stalked the streets of London. These human-like figures were described as pale; it was believed that they stalked and preyed on lone pedestrians. The stories told of these figures formed part of a distinct ghost tradition in London which, some writers have argued, formed the foundation of the later legend of Spring-heeled Jack.

The most important of these early entities was the Hammersmith Ghost, which in 1803 and 1804 was reported in Hammersmith on the western fringes of London; it would later reappear in 1824. Another apparition, the Southampton ghost, was also reported as assaulting individuals in the night. This particular spirit bore many of the characteristics of Spring-heeled Jack, and was reported as jumping over houses and being over 10 ft (3.0 m) tall.

Early reports

The first alleged sightings of Spring-heeled Jack were made in London in 1837 and the last reported sighting is said in most of the secondary literature to have been made in Liverpool in 1904.

According to much later accounts, in October 1837 a girl by the name of Mary Stevens was walking to Lavender Hill, where she was working as a servant, after visiting her parents in Battersea. On her way through Clapham Common, a strange figure leapt at her from a dark alley. After immobilizing her with a tight grip of his arms, he began to kiss her face, while ripping her clothes and touching her flesh with his claws, which were, according to her deposition, "cold and clammy as those of a corpse". In panic, the girl screamed, making the attacker quickly flee from the scene. The commotion brought several residents who immediately launched a search for the aggressor, but he could not be found.

The next day, the leaping character is said to have chosen a very different victim near Mary Stevens' home, inaugurating a method that would reappear in later reports: he jumped in the way of a passing carriage, causing the coachman to lose control, crash, and severely injure himself. Several witnesses claimed that he escaped by jumping over a 9 ft (2.7 m) high wall while cackling with a high-pitched, ringing laughter.

Gradually, the news of the strange character spread, and soon the press and the public gave him the name "Spring-heeled Jack".

Official recognition

A few months after these first sightings, on 9 January 1838, the Lord Mayor of London, Sir John Cowan, revealed at a public session held in the Mansion House an anonymous complaint that he had received several days earlier, which he had withheld in the hope of obtaining further information. The correspondent, who signed the letter "a resident of Peckham", wrote:

It appears that some individuals (of, as the writer believes, the highest ranks of life) have laid a wager with a mischievous and foolhardy companion, that he durst not take upon himself the task of visiting many of the villages near London in three different disguises—a ghost, a bear, and a devil; and moreover, that he will not enter a gentleman's gardens for the purpose of alarming the inmates of the house. The wager has, however, been accepted, and the unmanly villain has succeeded in depriving seven ladies of their senses, two of whom are not likely to recover, but to become burdens to their families.

At one house the man rang the bell, and on the servant coming to open door, this worse than brute stood in no less dreadful figure than a specter clad most perfectly. The consequence was that the poor girl immediately swooned, and has never from that moment been in her senses.

The affair has now been going on for some time, and, strange to say, the papers are still silent on the subject. The writer has reason to believe that they have the whole history at their finger-ends but, through interested motives, are induced to remain silent.

Though the Lord Mayor seemed fairly skeptical, a member of the audience confirmed that "servant girls about Kensington, Hammersmith and Ealing, tell dreadful stories of this ghost or devil". The matter was reported in The Times on 9 January, other national papers on 10 January and, on the day after that, the Lord Mayor showed a crowded gathering a pile of letters from various places in and around London complaining of similar "wicked pranks". The quantity of letters that poured into the Mansion House suggests that the stories were widespread in suburban London. One writer said several young women in Hammersmith had been frightened into "dangerous fits" and some "severely wounded by a sort of claws the miscreant wore on his hands". Another correspondent claimed that in Stockwell, Brixton, Camberwell and Vauxhall several people had died of fright and others had had fits; meanwhile, another reported that the trickster had been repeatedly seen in Lewisham and Blackheath.

The Lord Mayor himself was in two minds about the affair: he thought "the greatest exaggerations" had been made, and that it was quite impossible "that the ghost performs the feats of a devil upon earth", but on the other hand someone he trusted had told him of a servant girl at Forest Hill who had been scared into fits by a figure in a bear's skin; he was confident the person or persons involved in this "pantomime display" would be caught and punished. The police were instructed to search for the individual responsible, and rewards were offered.

A peculiar report from The Brighton Gazette, which appeared in the 14 April 1838 edition of The Times, related how a gardener in Rosehill, Sussex, had been terrified by a creature of unknown nature. The Times wrote that "Spring-heeled Jack has, it seems, found his way to the Sussex coast", even though the report bore little resemblance to other accounts of Jack. The incident occurred on 13 April, when it appeared to a gardener "in the shape of a bear or some other four-footed animal". Having attracted the gardener's attention by a growl, it then climbed the garden wall and ran along it on all fours, before jumping down and chasing the gardener for some time. After terrifying the gardener, the apparition scaled the wall and made its exit.

Scales and Alsop reports

Perhaps the best known of the alleged incidents involving Spring-heeled Jack were the attacks on two teenage girls, Lucy Scales and Jane Alsop. The Alsop report was widely covered by the newspapers, including a piece in The Times, while fewer reports appeared in relation to the attack on Scales. The press coverage of these two attacks helped to raise the profile of Spring-heeled Jack.

Alsop case

Jane Alsop reported that on the night of 19 February 1838, she answered the door of her father's house to a man claiming to be a police officer, who told her to bring a light, claiming "we have caught Spring-heeled Jack here in the lane". She brought the person a candle, and noticed that he wore a large cloak. The moment she had handed him the candle, however, he threw off the cloak and "presented a most hideous and frightful appearance", vomiting blue and white flame from his mouth while his eyes resembled "red balls of fire". Miss Alsop reported that he wore a large helmet and that his clothing, which appeared to be very tight-fitting, resembled white oilskin. Without saying a word he caught hold of her and began tearing her gown with his claws which she was certain were "of some metallic substance". She screamed for help, and managed to get away from him and ran towards the house. He caught her on the steps and tore her neck and arms with his claws. She was rescued by one of her sisters, after which her assailant fled.

Scales case

On 28 February 1838, nine days after the attack on Miss Alsop, 18-year-old Lucy Scales and her sister were returning home after visiting their brother, a butcher who lived in a respectable part of Limehouse. Miss Scales stated in her deposition to the police that as she and her sister were passing along Green Dragon Alley, they observed a person standing in an angle of the passage. She was walking in front of her sister at the time, and just as she came up to the person, who was wearing a large cloak, he spurted "a quantity of blue flame" in her face, which deprived her of her sight, and so alarmed her, that she instantly dropped to the ground, and was seized with violent fits which continued for several hours.

Her brother added that on the evening in question, he had heard the loud screams of one of his sisters moments after they had left his house and on running up Green Dragon Alley he found his sister Lucy on the ground in a fit, with her sister attempting to hold and support her. She was taken home, and he then learned from his other sister what had happened. She described Lucy's assailant as being of tall, thin, and gentlemanly appearance, covered in a large cloak, and carrying a small lamp or bull's eye lantern similar to those used by the police. The individual did not speak nor did he try to lay hands on them, but instead walked quickly away. Every effort was made by the police to discover the author of these and similar outrages, and several persons were questioned, but were set free.

Popularization

The Times reported the alleged attack on Jane Alsop on 2 March 1838 under the heading "The Late Outrage at Old Ford". This was followed with an account of the trial of one Thomas Millbank, who, immediately after the reported attack on Jane Alsop, had boasted in the Morgan's Arms that he was Spring-heeled Jack. He was arrested and tried at Lambeth Street court. The arresting officer was James Lea, who had earlier arrested William Corder, the Red Barn Murderer. Millbank had been wearing white overalls and a greatcoat, which he dropped outside the house, and the candle he dropped was also found. He escaped conviction only because Jane Alsop insisted her attacker had breathed fire, and Millbank admitted he could do no such thing. Most of the other accounts were written long after the date; contemporary newspapers do not mention them.

After these incidents, Spring-heeled Jack became one of the most popular characters of the period. His alleged exploits were reported in the newspapers and became the subject of several penny dreadfuls and plays performed in the cheap theatres that abounded at the time. The devil was even renamed "Spring-heeled Jack" in some Punch and Judy shows, as recounted by Henry Mayhew in his London Labour and the London Poor:

This here is Satan,-we might say the devil, but that ain't right, and gennelfolks don't like such words. He is now commonly called 'Spring-heeled Jack;' or the 'Rossian Bear,' – that's since the war.

— Henry Mayhew, London Labour and the London Poor, p. 52

But, even as his fame was growing, reports of Spring-heeled Jack's appearances became less frequent if more widespread. In 1843, however, a wave of sightings swept the country again. A report from Northamptonshire described him as "the very image of the Devil himself, with horns and eyes of flame", and in East Anglia reports of attacks on drivers of mail coaches became common. In July 1847 "a Spring-heeled Jack investigation" in Teignmouth, Devon led to a Captain Finch being convicted of two charges of assault against women during which he is said to have been "disguised in a skin coat, which had the appearance of bullock's hide, skullcap, horns and mask". The legend was linked with the phenomenon of the "Devil's Footprints" which appeared in Devon in February 1855.

Last reports

In the beginning of the 1870s, Spring-heeled Jack was reported again in several places distant from each other. In November 1872, the News of the World reported that Peckham was "in a state of commotion owing to what is known as the "Peckham Ghost", a mysterious figure, quite alarming in appearance". The editorial pointed out that it was none other than "Spring-heeled Jack, who terrified a past generation". Similar stories were published in The Illustrated Police News. In April and May 1873, it reported there were numerous sightings in Sheffield of the "Park Ghost", which locals also came to identify as Spring-heeled Jack.

Aldershot

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 blanks at him, others that he missed or fired warning shots. The strange figure then disappeared into the surrounding darkness "with astonishing bounds."

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 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. However, there is no record of Alfrey ever being court-martialed for the offence.

Lincolnshire

In the autumn of 1877, Spring-heeled Jack was reportedly seen at Newport Arch, in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, wearing a sheep skin. An angry mob supposedly chased him and cornered him, and just as in Aldershot a while before, residents fired at him to no effect. As usual, he was said to have made use of his leaping abilities to lose the crowd and disappear once again.

Liverpool

By the end of the 19th century the reported sightings of Spring-heeled Jack were moving towards the north west of England. Around 1888, in Everton, north Liverpool, he allegedly appeared on the rooftop of Saint Francis Xavier's Church in Salisbury Street. In 1904 there were reports of appearances in nearby William Henry Street.

Aftermath and impact upon Victorian popular culture

The vast urban legend built around Spring-heeled Jack influenced many aspects of Victorian life, especially in contemporary popular culture. For decades, especially in London, his name was equated with the bogeyman, as a means of scaring children into behaving by telling them if they were not good, Spring-heeled Jack would leap up and peer in at them through their bedroom windows, by night.

However, it was in fictional entertainment where the legend of Spring-heeled Jack exerted the most extensive influence, owing to his allegedly extraordinary nature. Three pamphlet publications, purportedly based on the real events, appeared almost immediately, during January and February, 1838. They were not advertised as fiction, though they likely were at least partly so. The only known copies were reported to have perished when the British Library was hit during The Blitz, but their catalog still lists the first one.

The character was written into a number of penny dreadful stories during the latter half of the 19th century, initially as a villain and then in increasingly heroic roles. By the early 1900s he was being represented as a costumed, altruistic avenger of wrongs and protector of the innocent, effectively becoming a precursor to pulp fiction and then comic book superheroes.

Theories

No one was ever caught and identified as Spring-heeled Jack; combined with the extraordinary abilities attributed to him and the very long period during which he was reportedly at large, this has led to numerous and varied theories of his nature and identity. While several researchers seek a normal explanation for the events, other authors explore the more fantastic details of the story to propose different kinds of paranormal speculation.

Skeptical positions

Skeptical investigators have dismissed the stories of Spring-heeled Jack as mass hysteria which developed around various stories of a bogeyman or devil which have been around for centuries, or from exaggerated urban myths about a man who clambered over rooftops claiming that the Devil was chasing him.

Henry de La Poer Beresford, 3rd Marquess of Waterford (1840)

Other researchers believe that some individual(s) may have been behind its origins, being followed by imitators later on. Spring-heeled Jack was widely considered not to be a supernatural creature, but rather one or more persons with a macabre sense of humor. This idea matches the contents of the letter to the Lord Mayor, which accused a group of young aristocrats as the culprits, after an irresponsible wager. A popular rumor circulating as early as 1840 pointed to an Irish nobleman, the Marquess of Waterford, as the main suspect. Haining suggested this may have been due to him having previously had bad experiences with women and police officers.

The Marquess was frequently in the news in the late 1830s for drunken brawling, brutal jokes and vandalism, and was said to do anything for a bet; his irregular behavior and his contempt for women earned him the title "the Mad Marquis", and it is also known that he was in the London area by the time the first incidents took place. In 1880 he was named as the perpetrator by E. Cobham Brewer, who said that the Marquess "used to amuse himself by springing on travelers unawares, to frighten them, and from time to time others have followed his silly example." In 1842, the Marquess married and settled in Curraghmore House, County Waterford, and reportedly led an exemplary life until he died in a riding accident in 1859.

Skeptical investigators have asserted that the story of Spring-heeled Jack was exaggerated and altered through mass hysteria, a process in which many sociological issues may have contributed. These include unsupported rumours, superstition, oral tradition, sensationalist publications, and a folklore rich in tales of fairies and strange roguish creatures. Gossip of alleged leaping and fire-spitting powers, his alleged extraordinary features and his reputed skill in evading apprehension captured the mind of the superstitious public—increasingly so with the passing of time, which gave the impression that Spring-heeled Jack had suffered no effects from aging. As a result, a whole urban legend was built around the character, being reflected by contemporary publications, which in turn fueled this popular perception.

Paranormal conjectures

A variety of wildly speculative paranormal explanations have been proposed to explain the origin of Spring-heeled Jack, including that he was an extraterrestrial entity with a non-human appearance and features (e.g., 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 behavior, 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.

Fortean authors, particularly Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark, 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 paralyzed, 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 "Old Hag" phenomenon, recorded in folklore and recognized 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.

In other countries

A similar figure known as Pérák, the Spring Man of Prague was reported to have been seen in Czechoslovakia around 1939–1945. As writers such as Mike Dash have shown, the elusiveness and supernatural leaping abilities attributed to Pérák bear a close resemblance to those exhibited by Spring-heeled Jack, and distinct parallels can be drawn between the two entities. The stories of Pérák provide a useful example of how the traits of Spring-heeled Jack have a broad cultural resonance in urban folklore. Pérák, like Spring-heeled Jack, went on to become a folklore hero, even starring in several animated superhero cartoons, fighting the SS, the earliest of which is Jiří Trnka's 1946 film Pérák a SS or Springman and the SS.

In contemporary popular culture

The character of Spring-heeled Jack has been revived or referenced in a variety of 20th and 21st century media, including:

Spring-Heeled Jack (1989) - a combination prose and graphic novel by Philip Pullman in which Spring-heeled Jack saves a group of plucky orphans from the malevolent Mack the Knife.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2006) - a video game by Bethesda Game Studios in which the player can briefly obtain a pair of enchanted boots called the "Boots of Springheel Jak" which allow the wearer to jump much higher than normal.

Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire (2008) - Springheeled Jack appears in this book as a humanoid creature with long nails who can jump incredibly far and kills Londoners. While not the original Spring-heeled Jack, he claims to be named after the version from legend. He re-appears in later sequels.

Spring Heeled Jack (2008) - a song about the entity by Neil Cicierega as part of his sixth Lemon Demon album, View-Monster.

The Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack (2010) - an alternate history novel by author Mark Hodder, portraying Spring-Heeled Jack as a time traveler.

The Springheel Saga (2011) - a three-series audio drama produced by the Wireless Theatre Company.

The second season (2011) of the BBC drama series Luther features a character acting out the role of Spring Heeled Jack and murdering women in London.

Jekyll & Hyde (2015) - Spring-heeled Jack appears as a secondary antagonist/protagonist in episodes 6 and 7 of this TV series.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate (2015) - Spring-heeled Jack is featured as an antagonist in this video game set in Victorian London.

Houdini and Doyle (2016) - episode 4 of this TV series is titled "Spring Heel'd Jack" and features Harry Houdini and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle investigating a new rash of Spring-heeled Jack sightings.

The Life and Fantastical "Crimes" of Spring Heeled Jack (2020) - a novel in memoir form positioning the title character as a Victorian-era superhero.

Happy Birthday: April 28, 2021

 

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James Monroe, 5th U.S. President (April 28, 1758-July 4, 1831)

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Terry Pratchett (April 28, 1948-March 12, 2015)

Happy Birthday: April 27, 2021

 

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Samuel Morse (April 27, 1791-April 2, 1872)

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Happy Birthday: April 26, 2021

 

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Michael Damian, 59

Jimmy Stafford, 57

Jeff Huskins, 55

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, 54

Joe Caverlee, 53

T-Boz, 51

Shondrella Avery, 50

Jay DeMarcus, 50

Simbi Kali, 49

Jose Pasilla, 45

Jason Earles, 44

Leonard Earl Howze, 44

Amin Joseph, 44

Tom Welling, 44

MacKenzie Westmore, 44

Pablo Schrieber, 43

Nyambi Nyambi, 42

Stana Katic, 41

Marnette Patterson, 41

Emily Wickersham, 37

Aaron Meeks, 35

Marcus Aurelis (April 26, 121 A.D.-March 17, 180 A.D.)

David Hume (May 5, 1711-August 25, 1776)

Frederick Law Olmstead (April 26, 1822-August 28, 1903)

IM Pei (April 26, 1917-May 16, 2019)

Happy Birthday: April 25, 2021

 

Al Pacino, 81

Bjorn Ulvaeus, 76

Hank Azaria, 57

Renee Zellweger, 52

Jason Lee, 51

Sara Paxton, 33

Len Goodman, 77

Stu Cook, 76

Jeffrey DeMunn, 74

Rob Crosby, 67

Andy Bell, 57

Eric Avery, 56

Rory Feek, 56

Jane Clayson, 54

Gina Torres, 52

Jason Wiles, 51

Emily Bergl, 46

Marguerite Moreau, 44

Jacob Underwood, 41

Allisyn Snyder, 25

Jayden Rey, 12

Oliver Cromwell (April 25, 1599-September 3, 1658)

Gugliemo Marconi (April 25, 1874-July 20, 1937)

Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917-June 15, 1996)

Happy Birthday: April 24, 2021

 

Shirley MacLaine, 87

Barbra Streisand, 79

Cedric the Entertainer, 57

Djimon Hounsou, 57

Kelly Clarkson, 39

Richard Sterban, 78

Doug Clifford, 76

Ann Peebles, 74

Eric Bogosain, 68

Jack Blades, 67

Michael O'Keefe, 66

David J, 64

Glenn Morshower, 62

Billy Gould, 58

Patty Schemel, 54

Aaron Guilleo, 53

Stacy Haiduk, 53

Melinda Clarke, 52

Rory McCann, 52

Brian Marshall, 48

Derek Luke, 47

Thad Luckinbill, 46

Eric Balfour, 44

Rebecca Mader, 44

Reagan Gomez, 41

Austin Nichols, 41

Sasha Barrese, 40

Tyson Ritter, 37

Carly Pearce, 31

Joe Keery, 31

Jack Quaid, 29

Jordan Fisher, 27

Omar Vizquel, 54

Robert Bailey Thomas (April 24, 1766-1846)

John Russel Pope (April 24, 1874-August 27, 1939)

Sue Grafton (April 24, 1940-December 28, 2017)

Happy Birthday: April 23, 2021

 

Valerie Bertinelli, 61

George Lopez, 60

John Cena, 44

John Oliver, 44

Kal Penn, 44

Jaime King, 41

Dev Patel, 31

Gigi Hadid, 26

Chloe Kim, 21

David Birney, 82

Lee Majors, 82

Blair Brown, 74

Joyce DeWitt, 72

James Russo, 68

Michael Moore, 67

Judy Davis, 66

Craig Sheffer, 61

Melina Kanakaredes, 54

Stan Frazier, 53

Tim Womack, 53

Scott Bairstow, 51

John Lutz, 48

Aaron Dessner, 45

Bryce Dessner, 45

Taio Cruz, 38

Jesse Lee Soffer, 37

Anthony LaMarca, 34

Matthew Underwood, 31

Jake Kiszka, 25

Josh Kiszka, 25

Charlie Rowe, 25

James Buchanan, 15th U.S. President (April 23, 1791-June 1, 1868)

Vladimir Nabokov (April 22, 1899-July 2, 1977)

Shirley Temple (April 23, 1928-February 19, 2014)

Max Planck (April 23, 1858-October 4, 1947)

Happy Birthday: April 22, 2021

 

Jack Nicholson, 84

John Waters, 75

Peter Frampton, 71

Terry Francona, 62

Jeffrey Dean Morgan, 55

Amber Heard, 35

Machine Gun Kelly, 31

Estelle Harris, 93

Mel Carter, 82

Cleve Francis, 76

Paul Carrack, 70

Joseph Bottoms, 67

Ryan Stiles, 62

Byron Allen, 60

Chris Makepeace, 57

Fletcher Dragge, 55

Sheryl Lee, 54

Sherri Shepherd, 54

Heath Wright, 54

Kellie Coffey, 50

Eric Mabius, 50

Ingo Rademacher, 50

Shavo Odadjian, 47

Daniel Johns, 42

Malcolm Barrett, 41

Cassidy Freeman, 39

Zack Gottsagen, 36

Tripp Howell, 32

Queen Isabela I (April 22, 1451-November 26, 1504)

Nikolai Lenin (April 22, 1870-January 22, 1924)

Robert Oppenheimer (April 22, 1904-February 18, 1967)

Charlotte Rae (April 22, 1926-August 5, 2018)

Glen Campbell (April 22, 1936-August 8, 2017)

Happy Birthday: April 21, 2021

 

Iggy Pop, 74

Tony Danza, 70

Andie MacDowell, 63

Robert Smith, 62

James McAvoy, 42

Elaine May, 89

Charles Grodin, 86

Patti LuPone, 72

James Morrison, 67

Michael Timmins, 62

John Cameron Mitchell, 58

Michael Franti, 55

Leslie Silva, 53

Toby Stephens, 52

Glen Hansard, 51

Rob Riggle, 51

Nicole Sullivan, 51

David Brennan, 43

Dominic Zamprogna, 42

Terrance J, 39

Christopher Sanders, 33

Frank Dillane, 30

Sydney Sierota, 24

Elizabeth II, Queen of England, 95

Sister Helen Prejean, 82

Tony Romo, 41

Charlotte Bronte (April 21, 1816-March 31, 1855)

John Muir (April 21, 1836-December 24, 1914)

Anthony Quinn (April 21, 1915-June 3, 2001)

Happy Birthday: April 20, 2021

 

George Takei, 84

Jessica Lange, 72

Crispin Glover, 57

Andy Serkis, 57

Carmen Electra, 49

Johnny Tillotson, 83

Ryan O'Neal, 80

Doyle Lawson, 76

Craig Frost, 73

Gregory Itzin, 73

Veronica Cartwright, 72

Clint Howard, 62

Wade Hayes, 52

Shemar Moore, 51

Ian Brody Hutzler, 50

Joey Lawrence, 45

Clay Cook, 43

Clayne Crawford, 43

Tim Jo, 43

Carlos Valdes, 32

Rosalyn Sumners, 57

Napoleon III (April 20, 1808-January 9, 1873)

Mother Angelica (April 20, 1923-March 27, 2016)

Happy Birthday: April 19, 2021

 

Tim Curry, 75

Ashley Judd, 53

James Franco, 43

Kate Hudson, 42

Hayden Christensen, 40

Ali Wong, 39

Kelen Coleman, 37

Elinor Donahue, 84

Alan Price, 79

Mark "Flo" Volman, 74

Tony Plana, 69

Tom Wood, 58

Bekka Bramlett, 53

Kim Hawthorne, 53

Luis Miguel, 51

Jennifer Esposito, 48

Jennifer Taylor, 49

Madeleine Peyroux, 47

Catalino Sandino Moreno, 40

Victoria Yeates, 38

Courtland Mead, 34

Al Unser, Jr., 59

Suge Knight, 56

Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903-May 16, 1957)

Jayne Mansfield (April 19, 1933-June 29, 1967)

Dudley Moore (April 19, 1935-March 27, 2002)

Happy Birthday: April 18, 2021

 

James Woods, 74

Jeff Dunham, 59

Conan O'Brien, 58

Maria Bello, 54

David Tennant, 50

Melissa Joan Hart, 45

Kourtney Kardashian, 42

America Ferrera, 37

Vanessa Kirby, 33

Chloe Bennet, 29

Robert Hooks, 84

Hayley Mills, 75

Dorothy Lyman, 74

Cindy Pickett, 74

Walt Richmond, 74

Jim Scholoten, 69

Eric Roberts, 65

John James, 65

Melody Thomas Scott, 65

Les Pattinson, 65

Jane Leeves, 60

Eric McCormack, 58

Mary Birdsong, 53

David Hewlett, 53

Fredro Starr, 50

Tamara Braun, 50

Mark Tremonti, 47

Trina, 47

Bryce Johnson, 44

Tom Hughes, 36

Ellen Woglom, 34

Alia Shawkat, 32

Britt Robertson, 31

Nathan Sykes, 28

Moises Arias, 27

Rick Moranis, 68

Clarence Darrow (April 18, 1857-March 13, 1938)

U.S. President #13: Millard Fillmore on TPKs Stories

 https://anchor.fm/valerie-harvey/episodes/U-S--President-13-Millard-Fillmore-Part-I-ev568l

 

 https://anchor.fm/valerie-harvey/episodes/U-S--President-13-Millard-Fillmore-Part-II-ev56ps

 

 https://anchor.fm/valerie-harvey/episodes/U-S--President-13-Millard-Fillmore-Part-III-evkd5u

 

 https://anchor.fm/valerie-harvey/episodes/U-S--President-13-Millard-Fillmore-Part-IV-evkd7i

Happy Birthday: April 17, 2021

 

Sean Bean, 62

Liz Phair, 54

Jennifer Garner, 49

Victoria Beckham, 47

David Bradley, 79

Jan Hammer, 73

Olivia Hussey, 70

Clarke Peters, 69

Afrika Bambaataa, 64

Joel Murray, 59

Maynard James Keenan, 57

Lela Rochon, 57

Henry Ian Cusick, 54

Kimberly Elise, 54

Redman, 51

Lindsay Korman Hartley, 43

Tate Ellington, 42

Charlie Hofheimer, 40

Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, 34

Dee Dee Davis, 25

Thornton Wilder (April 17, 1897-December 7, 1975)

Rowdy Roddy Piper (April 17, 1954-July 31, 2015)

Happy Birthday: April 16, 2021

 

Bill Belichick, 69

Ellen Barkin, 67

Martin Lawrence, 56

Jon Cryer, 56

Claire Foy, 37

Sadie Sink, 19

Bobby Vinton, 86

Peter Garrett, 68

Michael Gill, 61

Jason Scheff, 59

Jimmy Osmond, 58

David Pirner, 57

Peter Billingsley, 50

Lukas Haas, 45

Kelli O'Hara, 45

Emeritus Pop Benedict XVI, 94

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 74

Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867-May 30, 1912)

Charlie Chaplin (April 16, 1889-December 25, 1977)

Peter Ustinov (April 16, 1921-March 28, 2004)

Henry Mancini (April 16, 1924-June 14, 1994)

Selena (April 16, 1971-March 31, 1995)

Happy Birthday: April 15, 2021

 

Emma Thompson, 62

Luke Evans, 42

Seth Rogen, 39

Emma Watson, 31

Maisie Williams, 24

Claudia Cardinale, 83

Dave Edmunds, 78

Michael Tucci, 75

Lois Chiles, 74

Amy Wright, 71

Sam McMurray, 69

Samantha Fox, 55

Ed O'Brien, 53

Flex Alexander, 51

Danny Pino, 47

Chris Stapleton, 43

Patrick Carney, 41

Zach Carothers, 40

Alice Braga, 38

Margo Price, 38

De'Mar Hamilton, 37

Samira Wiley, 34

Leonie Elliott, 33

Leonardo da Vinci (April 15, 1452-May 2, 1519)

Henry James (April 15, 1843-February 28, 1916)

Nikita Khrushchev (April 15, 1894-September 11, 1971)

Happy Birthday: April 14, 2021

 

Anthony Michael Hall, 53

Adrien Brody, 48

Sarah Michelle Gellar, 44

Abigail Breslin, 25

Loretta Lynn, 89

Julie Christie, 81

Ritchie Blackmore, 76

John Shea, 73

Peter Capaldi, 63

Brian Forster, 61

Brad Garrett, 61

Robert Carlyle, 60

John Bell, 59

Catherine Dent, 56

Barrett Martin, 54

David Miller, 48

Da Brat, 47

Antwon Tanner, 46

Rob McElhenney, 44

JD McPherson, 41

Win Butler, 41

Claire Coffee, 41

Graham Phillips, 28

Skyler Samuels, 27

Greg Maddux, 55

Happy Birthday: April 13, 2021

Paul Sorvino, 82

Ron Perlman, 71

Peabo Bryson, 70

Max Weinberg, 70

Ricky Schroder, 51

Allison Williams, 33

Hannah Marks, 28

Edward Fox, 84

Lester Chambers, 81

Bill Conti, 79

Jack Casady, 77

Tony Dow, 76

Al Green, 75

William Sadler, 71

Jimmy Destri, 67

Gary Kroeger, 64

Saundra Santiago, 64

Joey Mazzola , 60

Page Hannah, 57

Caroline Rhea, 57

Lisa Umbarger, 56

Marc Ford, 55

Aaron Lewis, 49

Bokeem Woodbine, 48

Lou Bega, 46

Glenn Howerton, 45

Kyle Howard, 43

Kelli Giddish, 41

Courtney Peldon, 40

Nellie McKay, 39

Ty Dolla $ign, 39

Guy Fawkes (April 13, 1570-January 31, 1606)

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd U.S. President (April 13, 1743-July 4, 1826)

F. W. Woolworth (April 13, 1852-April 8, 1919)

Butch Cassidy (April 13, 1866-November 7, 1908)

Happy Birthday: April 12, 2021

 

Ed O'Neill, 75

David Letterman, 74

Andy Garcia, 65

Shannen Doherty, 50

Claire Danes, 42

Jennifer Morrison, 42

Brooklyn Decker, 34

Brendon Urie, 34

Saoirse Ronan, 27

Jane Withers, 95

Herbie Hancock, 81

John Kay, 77

Dan Lauria, 74

J. D. Nicholas, 69

Pat Travers, 67

Suzzanne Douglas, 64

J Alexander, 63

Will Sergeant, 63

Art Alexakis, 59

Amy Ray, 57

Alicia Coppola, 53

Nicholas Hexum, 51

Retta, 51

Nicholas Brendon, 50

Marley Shelton, 47

Sarah Jane Morris, 44

Guy Berryman, 43

Riley Smith, 43

Matt McGorry, 35

Joe Rickard, 34

Mike Manning, 34

Henry Clay (April 12, 1777-June 29, 1852)

Beverly Cleary (April 12, 1916-March 25, 2021)

Tiny Tim (April 12m 1932-April 30, 1996)

Charles Napier (April 12, 1936-October 5, 2011)

Tom Clancy (April 12, 1947-October 1, 2013)

Happy Birthday: April 11, 2021

 

Joel Grey, 89

Bill Irwin, 71

Tricia Helfer, 47

Joss Stone, 34

Louise Lasser, 82

Peter Riegert, 74

Jim Lauderdale, 64

Nigel Pulsford (Bush), 60

Steve Azar, 57

Lisa Stansfield, 55

Johnny Messner, 52

Dylan Keefe, 51

Vicellous Shannon, 50

David Banner, 47

Chris Gaylor, 42

Kelli Garner, 37

Kaitlyn Jenkins, 29

Ethel Kennedy, 93

U.S. President #46: Joe Biden Part II

 

Reelection

In October 2010, Biden said Obama had asked him to remain as his running mate for the 2012 presidential election, but with Obama's popularity on the decline, White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley conducted some secret polling and focus group research in late 2011 on the idea of replacing Biden on the ticket with Hillary Clinton. The notion was dropped when the results showed no appreciable improvement for Obama, and White House officials later said Obama had never entertained the idea.

Biden's May 2012 statement that he was "absolutely comfortable" with same-sex marriage gained considerable public attention in comparison to Obama's position, which had been described as "evolving". Biden made his statement without administration consent, and Obama and his aides were quite irked, since Obama had planned to shift position several months later, in the build-up to the party convention, and since Biden had previously counseled the president to avoid the issue lest key Catholic voters be offended. Gay rights advocates seized upon Biden's statement, and within days, Obama announced that he too supported same-sex marriage, an action in part forced by Biden's remarks. Biden apologized to Obama in private for having spoken out, while Obama acknowledged publicly it had been done from the heart. The incident showed that Biden still struggled at times with message discipline, as Time wrote, "Everyone knows Biden's greatest strength is also his greatest weakness." Relations were also strained between the vice presidential and presidential campaigns when Biden appeared to use his position to bolster fundraising contacts for a possible run for president in 2016, and he ended up being excluded from Obama campaign strategy meetings.

The Obama campaign nevertheless valued Biden as a retail-level politician who could connect with disaffected blue-collar workers and rural residents, and he had a heavy schedule of appearances in swing states as the reelection campaign began in earnest in spring 2012. An August 2012 remark before a mixed-race audience that Republican proposals to relax Wall Street regulations would "put y'all back in chains" led to a similar analysis of Biden's face-to-face campaigning abilities versus his tendency to go off track. The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Most candidates give the same stump speech over and over, putting reporters if not the audience to sleep. But during any Biden speech, there might be a dozen moments to make press handlers cringe, and prompt reporters to turn to each other with amusement and confusion." Time magazine wrote that Biden often went too far and "Along with the familiar Washington mix of neediness and overconfidence, Biden's brain is wired for more than the usual amount of goofiness."

Biden was nominated for a second term as vice president at the 2012 Democratic National Convention in September. Debating his Republican counterpart, Representative Paul Ryan, in the vice-presidential debate on October 11 he made a spirited and emotional defense of the Obama administration's record and energetically attacked the Republican ticket. On November 6, Obama and Biden won reelection over Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan with 332 of 538 Electoral College votes and 51% of the popular vote.

In December 2012, Obama named Biden to head the Gun Violence Task Force, created to address the causes of gun violence in the United States in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Later that month, during the final days before the United States fell off the "fiscal cliff", Biden's relationship with McConnell again proved important as the two negotiated a deal that led to the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 being passed at the start of 2013. It made many of the Bush tax cuts permanent but raised rates on upper income levels.

Second term (2013–2017)

Biden was inaugurated to a second term on January 20, 2013, at a small ceremony at Number One Observatory Circle, his official residence, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor presiding (a public ceremony took place on January 21).

Biden played little part in discussions that led to the October 2013 passage of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014, which resolved the federal government shutdown of 2013 and the debt-ceiling crisis of 2013. This was because Senate majority leader Harry Reid and other Democratic leaders cut him out of any direct talks with Congress, feeling Biden had given too much away during previous negotiations.

Biden's Violence Against Women Act was reauthorized again in 2013. The act led to related developments, such as the White House Council on Women and Girls, begun in the first term, as well as the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault, begun in January 2014 with Biden and Valerie Jarrett as co-chairs. Biden discussed federal guidelines on sexual assault on university campuses while giving a speech at the University of New Hampshire. He said, "No means no, if you're drunk or you're sober. No means no if you're in bed, in a dorm or on the street. No means no even if you said yes at first and you changed your mind. No means no."

Biden favored arming Syria's rebel fighters. As Iraq fell apart during 2014, renewed attention was paid to the Biden-Gelb Iraqi federalization plan of 2006, with some observers suggesting Biden had been right all along. Biden himself said the U.S. would follow ISIL "to the gates of hell". Biden had close relationships with several Latin American leaders and was assigned a focus on the region during the administration; he visited the region 16 times during his vice presidency, the most of any president or vice president.

In 2015, Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell invited Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress without notifying the Obama administration. This defiance of protocol led Biden and more than 50 congressional Democrats to skip Netanyahu's speech. In August 2016, Biden visited Serbia, where he met with Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić and expressed his condolences for civilian victims of the bombing campaign during the Kosovo War. In Kosovo, he attended a ceremony renaming a highway after his son Beau, in honor of Beau's service to Kosovo in training its judges and prosecutors.

Biden never cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate, making him the longest-serving vice president with this distinction.

Role in the 2016 presidential campaign

During his second term, Biden was often said to be preparing for a possible bid for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. With his family, many friends, and donors encouraging him in mid-2015 to enter the race, and with Hillary Clinton's favorability ratings in decline at that time, Biden was reported to again be seriously considering the prospect and a "Draft Biden 2016" PAC was established.

As of September 11, 2015, Biden was still uncertain about running. He cited his son's recent death as a large drain on his emotional energy, and said, "nobody has a right ... to seek that office unless they're willing to give it 110% of who they are." On October 21, speaking from a podium in the Rose Garden with his wife and Obama by his side, Biden announced his decision not to run for president in 2016. In January 2016, Biden affirmed that it was the right decision, but admitted to regretting not running for president "every day".

After Obama endorsed Hillary Clinton on June 9, 2016, Biden endorsed her later that day. Throughout the 2016 election, Biden strongly criticized Clinton's opponent, Donald Trump, in often colorful terms.

Subsequent activities (2017–2019)

After leaving the vice presidency, Biden became a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, while continuing to lead efforts to find treatments for cancer. In 2017 he wrote a memoir, Promise Me, Dad, and went on a book tour. Biden earned $15.6 million in 2017–2018. In 2018, he gave a eulogy for Senator John McCain, praising McCain's embrace of American ideals and bipartisan friendships.

Biden remained in the public eye, endorsing candidates while continuing to comment on politics, climate change, and the presidency of Donald Trump. He also continued to speak out in favor of LGBT rights, continuing advocacy on an issue he had become more closely associated with during his vice presidency. In 2019, Biden criticized Brunei for its intention to implement Islamic laws that would allow death by stoning for adultery and homosexuality, calling it "appalling and immoral" and saying, "There is no excuse—not culture, not tradition—for this kind of hate and inhumanity." By 2019, Biden and his wife reported that their assets had increased to between $2.2 million and $8 million from speaking engagements and a contract to write a set of books.

2020 presidential campaign

Speculation and announcement

Between 2016 and 2019, media outlets often mentioned Biden as a likely candidate for president in 2020. When asked if he would run, he gave varied and ambivalent answers, saying "never say never".[299] At one point he suggested he did not see a scenario where he would run again, but a few days later, he said, "I'll run if I can walk." A political action committee known as Time for Biden was formed in January 2018, seeking Biden's entry into the race. He finally launched his campaign on April 25, 2019, saying he was prompted to run, among other reasons, by his "sense of duty."

Campaign

In September 2019, it was reported that Trump had pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate alleged wrongdoing by Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Despite the allegations, as of September 2019, no evidence has been produced of any wrongdoing by the Bidens. The media widely interpreted this pressure to investigate the Bidens as trying to hurt Biden's chances of winning the presidency, resulting in a political scandal and Trump's impeachment by the House of Representatives.

Beginning in 2019, Trump and his allies falsely accused Biden of getting the Ukrainian prosecutor general Viktor Shokin fired because he was supposedly pursuing an investigation into Burisma Holdings, which employed Hunter Biden. Biden was accused of withholding $1 billion in aid from Ukraine in this effort. In 2015, Biden pressured the Ukrainian parliament to remove Shokin because the United States, the European Union and other international organizations considered Shokin corrupt and ineffective, and in particular because Shokin was not assertively investigating Burisma. The withholding of the $1 billion in aid was part of this official policy.

Throughout 2019, Biden stayed generally ahead of other Democrats in national polls. Despite this, he finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses, and eight days later, fifth in the New Hampshire primary. He performed better in the Nevada caucuses, reaching the 15% required for delegates, but still was behind Bernie Sanders by 21.6 percentage points. Making strong appeals to black voters on the campaign trail and in the South Carolina debate, Biden won the South Carolina primary by more than 28 points. After the withdrawals and subsequent endorsements of candidates Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar, he made large gains in the March 3 Super Tuesday primary elections. Biden won 18 of the next 26 contests, including Alabama, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, putting him in the lead overall. Elizabeth Warren and Mike Bloomberg soon dropped out, and Biden expanded his lead with victories over Sanders in four states (Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, and Missouri) on March 10.

When Sanders suspended his campaign on April 8, 2020, Biden became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for president. On April 13, Sanders endorsed Biden in a live-streamed discussion from their homes. Former President Barack Obama endorsed Biden the next day. In March 2020, Biden committed to choosing a woman as his running mate. In June, Biden met the 1,991-delegate threshold needed to secure the party's presidential nomination. On August 11, he announced U.S. Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate, making her the first African American and first South Asian American vice-presidential nominee on a major-party ticket.

On August 18, 2020, Biden was officially nominated at the 2020 Democratic National Convention as the Democratic Party nominee for president in the 2020 election.

Allegations of inappropriate physical contact

Biden has been accused several times of inappropriate non-sexual contact, such as embracing, kissing, and other forms of physical contact. He has described himself as a "tactile politician" and admitted this behavior has caused trouble for him in the past. By 2015, a series of swearings-in and other events at which Biden had placed his hands on people and talked closely to them attracted attention in the press and on social media. Various people defended Biden, including a senator who issued a statement, as well as Stephanie Carter, a woman whose photograph with Biden had gone viral, who described the photo as "misleadingly extracted from what was a longer moment between close friends". In February 2016, Biden gave a speech about sexual assault awareness at the 88th Academy Awards, before introducing Lady Gaga.

In March 2019, former Nevada assemblywoman Lucy Flores alleged that Biden had touched her without her consent at a 2014 campaign rally in Las Vegas. In an op-ed, Flores wrote that Biden had walked up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, smelled her hair, and kissed the back of her head, adding that the way he touched her was "an intimate way reserved for close friends, family, or romantic partners—and I felt powerless to do anything about it." Biden's spokesman said Biden did not recall the behavior described. Two days later, Amy Lappos, a former congressional aide to Jim Himes, said Biden touched her in a non-sexual but inappropriate way by holding her head to rub noses with her at a political fundraiser in Greenwich in 2009. The next day, two more women came forward with allegations of unwanted touching claiming that he touched a woman's leg during a meeting, and that he placed his hand on a woman's back during a photo.

In early April 2019, three women told The Washington Post Biden had touched them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable. Also in April 2019, former Biden staffer Tara Reade said she had felt uncomfortable on several occasions when Biden touched her on her shoulder and neck during her employment in his Senate office in 1993.

In March 2020, Reade accused him of a 1993 sexual assault. Biden and his campaign vehemently denied the allegation. The New York Times investigated and "found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden".

Biden apologized for not understanding how people would react to his actions, but said his intentions were honorable and that he would be more "mindful of people's personal space". He went on to say he was not sorry for anything he had ever done, which led critics to accuse him of sending a mixed message. Arwa Mahdawi of The Guardian said it was "frustrating to see conservatives... weaponize the accusations against Biden", but that it was "also frustrating to see so many liberals turn a blind eye".

Presidential transition

Biden was elected the 46th president of the United States in November 2020. He defeated the incumbent, Donald Trump, becoming the first candidate to defeat a sitting president since Bill Clinton defeated George H. W. Bush in 1992. On November 23, General Services Administrator Emily W. Murphy formally recognized Biden as the apparent winner of the 2020 election and authorized the start of a transition process to the Biden administration. Donald Trump refused to concede to Biden, propping up QAnon and other conspiracy theories relating to the legitimacy of the mail-in voting. After Trump exhausted his legal options, he engaged in the big lie, furthering conspiracy theories and endorsed his supporters and theorists linked to QAnon to find ways to overturn the 2020 election.

On January 6, 2021, during Congress's electoral vote count, Trump told supporters gathered in front of the White House to march to the Capitol, saying, "We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved." Soon after, they stormed the Capitol. During the insurrection at the Capitol, Biden addressed the nation, calling the events "an unprecedented assault unlike anything we've seen in modern times." He specifically called on Trump to "go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege", adding "It must end now." After the Capitol was cleared, Congress resumed its joint session and officially certified the election results with Pence declaring Biden and Harris the winners.

In December 2020, Biden received his first dose of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Christiana Hospital in Delaware, publicly taking the vaccine on live television to build trust in the vaccine and to encourage Americans to get inoculated. He returned for his second dose in January 2021.

Presidency (2021–present)

Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States on January 20, 2021. At 78, he is the oldest person to have assumed the office. He is the second Catholic president (after John F. Kennedy) and the first president whose home state is Delaware. He is the second non-incumbent vice president (after Richard Nixon in 1968) to be elected president.

In his first two days as president, Biden signed 17 executive orders, more than most recent presidents did in their first 100 days. By his third day, orders had included rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, ending the state of national emergency at the border with Mexico, directing the government to rejoin the World Health Organization, face mask requirements on federal property, measures to combat hunger in the United States, and revoking permits for the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. In his first two weeks in office, Biden signed more executive orders than any other president since Franklin D. Roosevelt had in their first month in office.

On February 4, 2021, the Biden administration announced that the United States was ending its support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen. In his first visit to the State Department as president, Biden said "this war has to end" and that the conflict had created a "humanitarian and strategic catastrophe". On February 25, the Biden administration "struck a site in Syria used by two Iranian-backed militia groups in response to rocket attacks on American forces in the region in the past two weeks". This marked the first known action by the military under Biden.

On March 11, 2021, the first anniversary of COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization, Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus relief package he proposed and lobbied for that aimed to speed up the United States' recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession. The package included direct payments to most Americans, an extension of increased unemployment benefits, funds for vaccine distribution and school reopenings, support for small businesses and state and local governments, and expansions of health insurance subsidies and the child tax credit. Biden's initial proposal included an increase of the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour, but after Senate parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined that including the increase in a budget reconciliation bill would violate Senate rules, Democrats declined to pursue overruling her and removed the increase from the package.

In March 2021, amid a rise in migrants entering the U.S. from Mexico, Biden told migrants: "Don't come over." He said that the U.S. was arranging a plan for migrants to "apply for asylum in place", without leaving their original locations. In the meantime, migrant adults "are being sent back", Biden said, in reference to the continuation of the Trump administration's Title 42 policy for quick deportations. Biden earlier announced that his administration would not deport unaccompanied migrant children; the rise in arrivals of such children exceeded the capacity of facilities meant to shelter them (before they were sent to sponsors), leading the Biden administration in March 2021 to direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help manage these children.

Political positions

Biden is considered a moderate Democrat and a centrist. More recently, he has been characterized as shifting to the left. He has a lifetime liberal 72% score from the Americans for Democratic Action through 2004, while the American Conservative Union gave him a lifetime conservative rating of 13% through 2008.

Biden supported the fiscal stimulus in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; the Obama administration's proposed increase in infrastructure spending; subsidies for mass transit, including Amtrak, bus, and subway; and the reduced military spending in the Obama administration's fiscal year 2014 budget. He has proposed partially reversing the corporate tax cuts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, saying that doing so would not hurt businesses' ability to hire. He voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Biden is a staunch supporter of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He has promoted a plan to expand and build upon it, paid for by revenue gained from reversing some Trump administration tax cuts. Biden's plan is to create a public option for health insurance, with the aim of expanding health insurance coverage to 97% of Americans.

Biden has supported abortion rights, same-sex marriage, the Roe v. Wade decision, and since 2019 has supported repealing the Hyde Amendment (a rule barring the use of federal funds to pay for abortion). He opposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and supports governmental funding to find new energy sources. As a senator, he forged deep relationships with police groups and was a chief proponent of a Police Officer's Bill of Rights measure that police unions supported but police chiefs opposed. As vice president, he served as a White House liaison to police.

Biden believes action must be taken on global warming. As a senator, he co-sponsored the Sense of the Senate resolution calling on the United States to take part in the United Nations climate negotiations and the Boxer–Sanders Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act, the most stringent climate bill in the United States Senate. He wants to achieve a carbon-free power sector in the U.S. by 2035 and stop emissions completely by 2050. His program includes reentering the Paris Agreement, nature conservation, and green building. Biden wants to pressure China and other countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions, by carbon tariffs if necessary.

Biden has said the U.S. needs to "get tough" on China and build "a united front of U.S. allies and partners to confront China's abusive behaviors and human rights violations." He has called China the "most serious competitor" that poses challenges to the United States' "prosperity, security, and democratic values". Biden has voiced concerns about China's "coercive and unfair" economic practices and human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region to the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. He also pledged to sanction and commercially restrict Chinese government officials and entities who carry out repression.

Biden has said he is against regime change, but for providing non-military support to opposition movements. He opposed direct U.S. intervention in Libya; voted against U.S. participation in the Gulf War; voted in favor of the Iraq War; and supports a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Biden has pledged to end U.S. support for the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen and to reevaluate the United States' relationship with Saudi Arabia. He has called North Korea a "paper tiger". As vice president, Biden supported Obama's Cuban thaw. He has said that, as president, he would restore U.S. membership in key United Nations bodies, such as the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the World Health Organization, and possibly the Human Rights Council. Biden supports extending the New START arms control treaty with Russia to limit the number of nuclear weapons deployed by both sides.

Reputation

Biden was consistently ranked one of the least wealthy members of the Senate, which he attributed to his having been elected young. Feeling that less-wealthy public officials may be tempted to accept contributions in exchange for political favors, he proposed campaign finance reform measures during his first term. As of November 2009, Biden's net worth was $27,012. By November 2020, the Bidens were worth $9 million, largely due to sales of Biden's books and speaking fees after his vice presidency.

The political writer Howard Fineman has written, "Biden is not an academic, he's not a theoretical thinker, he's a great street pol. He comes from a long line of working people in Scranton—auto salesmen, car dealers, people who know how to make a sale. He has that great Irish gift." Political columnist David S. Broder wrote that Biden has grown over time: "He responds to real people—that's been consistent throughout. And his ability to understand himself and deal with other politicians has gotten much much better." Journalist James Traub has written, "Biden is the kind of fundamentally happy person who can be as generous toward others as he is to himself." In 2006, Delaware newspaper columnist Harry F. Themal wrote that Biden "occupies the sensible center of the Democratic Party".

In recent years, especially after the 2015 death of his elder son Beau, Biden has been discussed for his empathetic nature and ability to communicate about grief. CNN wrote in 2020 that his presidential campaign aimed to make him "healer-in-chief", while the New York Times described his extensive history of being called upon to give eulogies.

Journalist and TV anchor Wolf Blitzer has described Biden as loquacious. He often deviates from prepared remarks and sometimes "puts his foot in his mouth". The New York Times wrote that Biden's "weak filters make him capable of blurting out pretty much anything". In 2018, Biden called himself a "gaffe machine".

Distinctions

Biden has received honorary degrees from the University of Scranton (1976), Saint Joseph's University (LL.D 1981), Widener University School of Law (2000), Emerson College (2003), Delaware State University (2003), his alma mater the University of Delaware (LL.D 2004), Suffolk University Law School (2005), his other alma mater Syracuse University (LL.D 2009), Wake Forest University (LL.D 2009), the University of Pennsylvania (LL.D 2013), Miami Dade College (2014), University of South Carolina (DPA 2014), Trinity College, Dublin (LL.D 2016), Colby College (LL.D 2017), and Morgan State University (DPS 2017).

Biden also received the Chancellor Medal (1980) and the George Arents Pioneer Medal (2005) from Syracuse University.

In 2008, Biden received Working Mother magazine's Best of Congress Award for "improving the American quality of life through family-friendly work policies". Also in 2008, he shared with fellow senator Richard Lugar the Government of Pakistan's Hilal-i-Pakistan award "in recognition of their consistent support for Pakistan". In 2009, Kosovo gave Biden the Golden Medal of Freedom, the region's highest award, for his vocal support for its independence in the late 1990s.

Biden is an inductee of the Delaware Volunteer Firemen's Association Hall of Fame. He was named to the Little League Hall of Excellence in 2009.

On May 15, 2016, the University of Notre Dame gave Biden the Laetare Medal, considered the highest honor for American Catholics. The medal was simultaneously awarded to John Boehner, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

On June 25, 2016, Biden received the Freedom of the City of County Louth in the Republic of Ireland.

On January 12, 2017, Obama surprised Biden by awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction‍—‌for "faith in your fellow Americans, for your love of country and a lifetime of service that will endure through the generations". It was the only award by Obama of the Medal of Freedom with Distinction; other recipients include Ronald Reagan, Colin Powell and Pope John Paul II.

On February 8, 2018, the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement at the University of Pennsylvania officially opened offices in Washington, D.C.

On December 11, 2018, the University of Delaware renamed its School of Public Policy and Administration the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration. The Biden Institute is housed there.

On December 10, 2020, Biden and Harris were jointly named Time Person of the Year.

Publications

Biden, Joseph R., Jr.; Helms, Jesse (April 1, 2000). Hague Convention On International Child Abduction: Applicable Law And Institutional Framework Within Certain Convention Countries Report To The Senate. Diane Publishing. ISBN 0-7567-2250-0.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (July 8, 2001). Putin Administration's Policies toward Non-Russian Regions of the Russian Federation: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-7567-2624-7.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (July 24, 2001). Administration's Missile Defense Program and the ABM Treaty: Hearing Before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-7567-1959-3. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2016.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (September 5, 2001). Threat of Bio-terrorism and the Spread of Infectious Diseases: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-7567-2625-5.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (February 12, 2002). Examining The Theft Of American Intellectual Property At Home And Abroad: Hearing before the Committee On Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-7567-4177-7.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (February 14, 2002). Halting the Spread of HIV/AIDS: Future Efforts in the U.S. Bilateral & Multilateral Response: Hearings before the Comm. on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate. Diane Publishing. ISBN 0-7567-3454-1.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (February 27, 2002). How Do We Promote Democratization, Poverty Alleviation, and Human Rights to Build a More Secure Future: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-7567-2478-3.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (August 1, 2002). Hearings to Examine Threats, Responses, and Regional Considerations Surrounding Iraq: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 0-7567-2823-1.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (January 1, 2003). International Campaign Against Terrorism: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate. Diane Publishing. ISBN 0-7567-3041-4.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (January 1, 2003). Political Future of Afghanistan: Hearing before the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate. Diane Publishing. ISBN 0-7567-3039-2.

Biden, Joseph R., Jr. (September 1, 2003). Strategies for Homeland Defense: A Compilation by the Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate. Diane Publishing. ISBN 0-7567-2623-9.

Biden, Joseph (2005). "Foreword". In Nicholson, William C. (ed.). Homeland Security Law and Policy. C. C Thomas. ISBN 0-398-07583-2.

Biden, Joe (July 31, 2007). Promises to Keep. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4000-6536-3. Also paperback edition, Random House 2008, ISBN 0-8129-7621-5.

Biden, Joe (November 14, 2017). Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose. Flatiron Books. ISBN 978-1-250-17167-2.

Notes

Biden admired McCain politically as well as personally. In May 2004, he had urged McCain to run as vice president with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, saying the cross-party ticket would help heal the "vicious rift" in U.S. Politics.

Delaware's Democratic governor, Ruth Ann Minner, announced on November 24, 2008, that she would appoint Biden's longtime senior adviser Ted Kaufman to succeed Biden in the Senate. Kaufman said he would serve only two years, until Delaware's special Senate election in 2010. Biden's son Beau ruled himself out of the 2008 selection process due to his impending tour in Iraq with the Delaware Army National Guard. He was a possible candidate for the 2010 special election, but in early 2010 said he would not run for the seat.

Like previous potential transition teams, such as that of unsuccessful candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, the Biden transition team remained eligible for government funding in accordance with the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010, and Biden had been eligible to receive classified intelligence briefings since his nomination in August. At least some government agencies had reportedly started their transition plans as early as November 9, 2020, with airspace being restricted over his home, and "the Secret Service ... using agents from its presidential protective detail for the president-elect and his family."