Cock Lane Ghost
Widely discussed disturbances of a poltergeist in 1762 at a
house on Cock Lane, Smithfield, in London, England. They
were attributed to the restless spirit of a Mrs. Kent, a former
resident of the house, and communications were received
through raps that she was murdered by her husband. The accused
party retorted that an attempt was being made to blackmail
him.
Dr. Samuel Johnson, assisted by the Reverend Douglas,
later bishop of Salisbury, investigated the case. It was discovered
that the phenomena of raps and furniture movements
centered around 12-year-old Elizabeth Parsons, the daughter
of the occupant of the house, and that the noises followed her
wherever she went. But nothing occurred in the presence of the
committee. By threats the child was frightened into trickery.
She did it with so little art that she was immediately exposed.
The story is recorded in The Mystery Revealed (1762), a pamphlet
said to have been written by Oliver Goldsmith, and in Andrew
Langs Cock Lane and Common Sense (1894). Johnsons account
was first published in The Gentlemans Magazine for 1763.
Sources
Grant, Douglas. The Cock Lane Ghost. New York Macmillan;
St. Martins Press, 1965.
Mackay, Charles. Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions.
London Richard Bentley, 1841. Reprinted as Extraordinary
Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. Wells, Vt. Fraser
Publishing, 1963.
Wilson, Colin. Poltergeist A Study in Destructive Haunting.
New York Putnam, 1981.
