1 00:00:02,440 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday, everybody. We have one last October Saturday classic. 2 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:08,959 Speaker 1: Earlier this week, we talked about the Greenbrier Ghost and 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: we mentioned our show's previous episode on the Cocklane Ghost, 4 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: so we're going to share that episode today. This episode 5 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:19,639 Speaker 1: is from back in October twelve by previous hosts Sarah 6 00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: and Babuina. Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, 7 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hello, 8 00:00:34,920 --> 00:00:37,479 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Sarah Dowdy and I'm deplete 9 00:00:37,479 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: A Chuck reboarding, and We've focused a lot on ghost 10 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: stories this month for our Spooky Halloween series. And all said, though, 11 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:48,040 Speaker 1: I think the ghosts have been a pretty diverse crowd, 12 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: ranging from socialite Madame La Lourie to headless Anne Boleyn 13 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: to the real life fall stuff. But so far, all 14 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,280 Speaker 1: the ghosts we've talked about have just kind of been there. 15 00:00:59,280 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: They've been thing, They've been making their noises, doing things 16 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:07,200 Speaker 1: like hovering over babies, creepily, taking headless carriage rides, washing 17 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: laundry kind of aimless. I'd almost say, well, washing laundry 18 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 1: isn't exactly aimless, but okay, I get your poor ghost. 19 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:19,120 Speaker 1: I get your point right, there's no real agenda today's ghost, however, 20 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: who is The cock Lane ghost seemed to have had 21 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,319 Speaker 1: a mission, and that was revenge, something that, according to 22 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:31,600 Speaker 1: Andrew Lang's book on hauntings and hoaxes, tended to be 23 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: fairly common in the eighteenth century, which was an age 24 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,280 Speaker 1: where it wasn't unusual to believe in ghosts at all. 25 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 1: I mean, it does make sense, after all, a manufactured 26 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: haunting could be a pretty simple, if creative way to 27 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: settle your earthly disputes, you know, your unpaid loans, your feuds. 28 00:01:49,680 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: Lang sums it up pretty well with a quote from 29 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: his book when he writes about William Kent this podcast 30 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: unfortunate subject. He says, accused by a ghost, he had 31 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: a legal remedy. So recently in the Salem witch trials 32 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: we talked about spectral evidence. I think this is kind 33 00:02:06,400 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: of the ultimate inspectral evidence. A good point. When a 34 00:02:09,560 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: ghost said that you murdered somebody. Actually, when the ghost 35 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: says that you murdered it, what are you supposed to do? 36 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:19,560 Speaker 1: But before we get into all of that, we need 37 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: to go back to the beginning. The cock Lane ghost 38 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: wasn't initially out for blood. Its first appearance was actually 39 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,120 Speaker 1: pretty pretty harmless. Yeah, this ghost wasn't out for blood, 40 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: at least at first. It's initial appearance came in seventeen 41 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 1: fifty nine at this tiny house on cock Lane, a 42 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 1: road which the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes as 43 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:45,920 Speaker 1: quote an obscure turning near St. Paul's Cathedral in London. 44 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: So the home belonged to Richard Parsons, who was the 45 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:53,080 Speaker 1: deputy parish clerk of St Sepulcher's Church and also a landlord, 46 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: an alcoholic, and a man pretty deeply in debt. The 47 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: year before though, he'd taken in William Kent of Norfolk 48 00:03:00,760 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: as a tenant, and Kent was of an independently wealthy man, 49 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 1: but he had a bit of a family secret of 50 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 1: his own. He was living with his dead wife's sister. 51 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:15,760 Speaker 1: The arrangement had started pretty innocently back in Norfolk, when 52 00:03:15,800 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 1: Fannie Lyons, who was the sister in law, moved in 53 00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: to help care for Kent's motherless child. His wife had 54 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:26,519 Speaker 1: died during childbirth, but after the baby died to the 55 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 1: couple continued to live together, eventually as a husband and wife, 56 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: even though they weren't legally allowed to marry, so finally 57 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,200 Speaker 1: they moved to London, posing as as husband and wife. Still, 58 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: but the unconventional living arrangement proved to be a bit 59 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 1: of a liability, especially because Kent tended to make loans 60 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: to his landlords, maybe a bad policy already, but to 61 00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:52,680 Speaker 1: make things worse, he actually expected that he'd get the 62 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:57,760 Speaker 1: money repaid. This, of course, gave any sort of vindictive landlord, 63 00:03:57,880 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 1: especially one who knew that he was living with his 64 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: dead wife's sister, fodder for eviction and a way out 65 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: of the loan potentially. So it must have seemed lucky 66 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: when Kent met Parsons at St. Sepulchri'sh church and was 67 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 1: offered rooms to rent. So Mr and Mrs Kent, as 68 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,200 Speaker 1: they thought she was anyway, gone on well with Parsons, 69 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: his wife, and his two daughters for a little while, 70 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: But then things started to head south when the naive 71 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:30,120 Speaker 1: Kent admitted to Parsons that he wasn't actually married after all. 72 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:35,040 Speaker 1: He also loaned Parsons a good bit of money, and then, 73 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: as you mentioned, and as he had done in the past, 74 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: he started to follow up on repayment fell into that 75 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: same old trap. Still though the ghost didn't appear until 76 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: Kent was out in the country on business and Fanny 77 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: asked Richard parsons little eleven year old daughter, Elizabeth known 78 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:55,360 Speaker 1: as Betty, if she wanted to sleep in in her 79 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:58,719 Speaker 1: room and in her bed while Kent was gone. So 80 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: that night where when Betty and Fanny were in bed together, 81 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:09,799 Speaker 1: they started to hear strange noises, wrappings, scratches, taps. Mrs 82 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: Persons must have been pretty rationally. She explained away the 83 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: noises as the nearby cobbler who might have been working 84 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: late at night. But when the noises were heard again 85 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: on a Sunday, the family started to wonder what was 86 00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: really going on. Fanny, for one, seemed completely convinced that 87 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:30,320 Speaker 1: the sounds weren't from a cobbler, weren't from any human 88 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: making noise. They came from a ghost, and a specific 89 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: ghost at that. Yeah, she thought that they came from 90 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:40,560 Speaker 1: the ghost of her dead sister, who had come to 91 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: shame her and warn her of her own death. So 92 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: pretty serious stuff. Richard Parsons investigated the house, even stripping 93 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,440 Speaker 1: the wainscoating off the wall to see if something was 94 00:05:51,560 --> 00:05:54,880 Speaker 1: rattling around behind it, but he had no luck. The 95 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:59,080 Speaker 1: nightly rappings just got louder, and it sometimes described as 96 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:01,359 Speaker 1: the sound of a cat scratching a wicker chair, just 97 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: to give you an idea. But it wasn't long before 98 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: the neighbors started gossiping about the ghost that lived there 99 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: as well and the secret history between Mr Kent and 100 00:06:11,440 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: his wife, for as they previously thought his wife well 101 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 1: and that the ghost was her dead sister. And so 102 00:06:19,839 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: with all this gossip going on, the couple did finally 103 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: move out of the house. At that point, the noises stopped, 104 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: and according to Patrick Collins in the Forteen Times, this 105 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: probably would have been a good time for Kent to 106 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: just throw in the towel, cut his losses, forgive the 107 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: twelve guinea debt that he had lent to Parsons instead, 108 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: though he threatened to sue and um. At this point, 109 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:47,800 Speaker 1: the timeline gets a little hazy, and it's understandable a 110 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: lot of these a lot of the stories we talked 111 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: about in October have some sketchy details about them, But 112 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: depending on the sourci look at, either several months go 113 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: by or up to a year and a half goes 114 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:05,799 Speaker 1: by until we catch up again with the Kent family. 115 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 1: At this point, Fanny was heavily pregnant, died of smallpox, 116 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: and the sound started again in the house back on 117 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: cock Lane and and this time they seemed to come 118 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,880 Speaker 1: specifically from Elizabeth parsons bedside, and the little girl also 119 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: started to suffer from fits, and according to Charles Wild's 120 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: Elliott's book Mysteries or Glimpses of the Supernatural, little Betty 121 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: described even seeing an apparition of a quote woman surrounded 122 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: by a blazing light. So it's not just these Knox 123 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: that could be mistaken for a cobbler anymore. It seems 124 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: something much more. Richard Parsons called a medium who interrogated 125 00:07:47,560 --> 00:07:51,200 Speaker 1: the ghost, asking questions and receiving answers in the form 126 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: of Knox. One meant yes and two meant no. This 127 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: is very reminiscent of the Fox sisters story and the 128 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 1: way that they communicated with the ghosts are supposedly communicated 129 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,560 Speaker 1: with ghosts, depending on what you believe. But maybe we 130 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: should act this one out. I think we should so. 131 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 1: One of the first questions the that was asked of 132 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: the ghost was are you the wife of Mr Kent? 133 00:08:26,280 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: Are you Kent's wife's sister? Did you die naturally by poison. 134 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:43,720 Speaker 1: Was anyone but Kent responsible for the poisoning? Will it 135 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: ease your mind if the man be hanged? Oh man, yeah, 136 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: that's bad news for Kent. There the single knock meaning yes. 137 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: So the ghost who has now revealed, of course, to 138 00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 1: be the murder heard. Fanny Lions picked up a nickname 139 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:08,160 Speaker 1: scratching Fanny, which an unfortunate another element to the titles 140 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:13,079 Speaker 1: in this podcast. But um, she started to give even 141 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 1: more information, you know. This interrogation went on even further 142 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:21,120 Speaker 1: and began to provide numerous details on her death. The 143 00:09:21,200 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: type of poison that had been given her it was arsenic, 144 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: how it was administered through a drink called pearl, how 145 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: many hours it took two to three hours, um. All 146 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: sorts of details, although interestingly, some information was apparently incorrect, 147 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,440 Speaker 1: I mean, aside from the fact that this lady died 148 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: of smallpox clearly, but some of the details that the 149 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:46,440 Speaker 1: real Fanny Lions would have known were also incorrect. Parsons, though, 150 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: was interested in in legitimizing this, seeing the situation going 151 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: on in his house, the haunting, the haunting, and called 152 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: in John Moore, who was the assistant preacher at St. 153 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: Sepulcher's to get to the bottom of things, and and 154 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:05,360 Speaker 1: Morey believed that there truly was a spirit present and 155 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:09,240 Speaker 1: called on a fellow minister, Thomas Broughton, for confirmation. And 156 00:10:09,800 --> 00:10:12,840 Speaker 1: after these two guys were on board with the idea 157 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,079 Speaker 1: of a haunting, other esteemed men started to visit to 158 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 1: which lended a lot of legitimacy to the the entire premise. 159 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:24,600 Speaker 1: The public Ledger even wrote up the story, and crowds 160 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:27,200 Speaker 1: began to form at the house every night, so it 161 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:30,240 Speaker 1: was something of a spectacle, and the public began to 162 00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 1: truly believe that Kent was a murderer. So this guy 163 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: who they've never heard of before, who nobody suspected of 164 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:42,199 Speaker 1: murdering his wife up until this point his wife quotes uh, 165 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:46,680 Speaker 1: suddenly is being accused of murder, like pretty seriously. So 166 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: as interests grew, Parsons could begin to charge admittance to 167 00:10:51,160 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: these seances that would be conducted at his home by 168 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: his relative Mary Fraser, and the best members of society 169 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:00,640 Speaker 1: of course got bedside view. Is I mean this was 170 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,400 Speaker 1: a real attraction. Wasn't just something you'd read about in 171 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:07,680 Speaker 1: the paper. You'd go out and experience this yourself. But 172 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:10,200 Speaker 1: if you were one of the better members of society, 173 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: you would get to pack in right next to little 174 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:18,080 Speaker 1: Betty's bed and watch and wait while she slept and 175 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,000 Speaker 1: see if the ghost visited. It's all. It adds an 176 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:27,360 Speaker 1: extra element of disturbing um scenes to to this whole story. 177 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: It's just wild to me. I mean, I have to wonder, 178 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:32,480 Speaker 1: how did she even sleep well these people standing around you. 179 00:11:32,480 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: You wonder how, yes, an eleven or twelve year old 180 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,439 Speaker 1: girl got a full night's sleep with all these people 181 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:40,199 Speaker 1: in her house every day. But the just as an 182 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: example of the kind of people these sciences did attract. 183 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,559 Speaker 1: The Duke of York even attended at one point um 184 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 1: Elliott's book That has a really good account of one 185 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:53,280 Speaker 1: of the sciences. It is from a skeptics perspective, but 186 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: it gives you a sense of what it must have 187 00:11:54,880 --> 00:11:58,400 Speaker 1: been like coming into this tiny house, into this tiny room, 188 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: and watching this kid sleep, hoping a ghost would appear. Yeah. 189 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: Horace Walpole, a master of Gothic hor and author of 190 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: the Castle of Ottranto, visited one night with friends after 191 00:12:09,960 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 1: the opera. He wrote of the ghost in seventeen sixty two. 192 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,560 Speaker 1: He said, quote, a drunken parish clerk set it on 193 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,960 Speaker 1: foot out of revenge. The Methodists have adopted it, and 194 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:23,800 Speaker 1: the whole town of London think of nothing else. He 195 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: then described the house on cock Lane when we opened 196 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:30,079 Speaker 1: the chamber, in which were fifty people with no light 197 00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: but one tell candle. At the end, we tumbled over 198 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: the bed of the child, to whom the ghost comes, 199 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: and whom they are murdering by inches in such insufferable 200 00:12:38,760 --> 00:12:42,719 Speaker 1: heat and stench, we heard nothing. He stayed until one 201 00:12:42,760 --> 00:12:45,680 Speaker 1: thirty am, but was told that the ghost might not 202 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: come until seven, when, as Walpole put it, only prentices 203 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:51,440 Speaker 1: and old women would still be about. So he was 204 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:55,280 Speaker 1: very dismissive. And and this tactic too, seemed to be 205 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:57,600 Speaker 1: a common one, you know, delaying the ghost. Oh it's 206 00:12:57,640 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: it's not going to be here until seven. So if 207 00:12:59,160 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: you want to stick around the all night, be my 208 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 1: guy already paid admittance, or just throwing off the crowd entirely. 209 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:10,320 Speaker 1: One description of a seance has Frasier putting Betty to 210 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:14,120 Speaker 1: bed and then about an hour later, running around asking 211 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: Fanny to to emerge, to show herself or make herself heard. 212 00:13:18,520 --> 00:13:22,440 Speaker 1: Then when nothing happened, more, the minister told the crowd 213 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,199 Speaker 1: that they were just too loud. They needed to quiet down, 214 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: they needed to step out for about ten minutes and 215 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: just collect themselves. Of course, when they came back, sure enough, 216 00:13:33,120 --> 00:13:37,120 Speaker 1: scratching Fanny was also there, the ghost, making her her 217 00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: presence known. So these little tactics of tricking or delaying 218 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: or distracting the crowd that had come to see the ghost. 219 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,560 Speaker 1: So finally, with the situation that has come out of 220 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: people believing in this ghast so much. I mean, on 221 00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 1: one hand, you have the mob which is spoiling for 222 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,319 Speaker 1: Kent's punishment, and you have the crowds also gathering outside 223 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:01,440 Speaker 1: the Parsons home, and both of these things together drive 224 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: the Lord Mayor to order a special investigation. Reverend Aldrich 225 00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:08,200 Speaker 1: of St John's Clerkinwell assembled a company at his home 226 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:11,679 Speaker 1: where Elizabeth had been moved. At ten, she was put 227 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:13,679 Speaker 1: to bed by a group of women, and a bit 228 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: after eleven, that group, which included Dr Samuel Johnson, came 229 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 1: to her bedside and waited for the spirit. The little 230 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 1: girl said she could feel the spirit, but no noises came, 231 00:14:32,840 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: and so Dr Johnson declared that the whole thing was 232 00:14:35,880 --> 00:14:38,480 Speaker 1: a hoax, wrote an account of it published that in 233 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 1: the Gentleman's magazine. And it was really the beginning of 234 00:14:41,360 --> 00:14:44,680 Speaker 1: the end for this idea of of a ghost. And 235 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: poor Betty, of course wasn't off the hook though Elizabeth Um. 236 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 1: She was moved again put through all sorts of tests. 237 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: She was at one point strung up in a hammock 238 00:14:54,320 --> 00:14:56,840 Speaker 1: with her feet and hands drawn away from her body, 239 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,120 Speaker 1: you know, to prove she wouldn't be able to make 240 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: any sounds. After scratching Fanny, the ghost failed to make 241 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,520 Speaker 1: an appearance. Several nights in a row after these tests, 242 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 1: Betty was threatened pretty clearly that her father would go 243 00:15:11,520 --> 00:15:15,800 Speaker 1: to prison if she could not um call up the ghost. 244 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 1: And that did the trick. I mean, that night the 245 00:15:19,560 --> 00:15:23,600 Speaker 1: girl was caught smuggling aboard under her clothes and trying 246 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,440 Speaker 1: to make noises with it in an attempt to save 247 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 1: her family to stop her father from going to prison. 248 00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: Um which, after that point clearly the ghost hoax was over. 249 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:37,760 Speaker 1: Although one interesting note, a lot of people who had 250 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:43,200 Speaker 1: heard the earlier noises said that the ones that Betty 251 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: had made with the board under her clothes, which were 252 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:50,080 Speaker 1: clearly manufactured, were entirely different. The two sounds were entirely 253 00:15:50,120 --> 00:15:53,800 Speaker 1: different from each other, um either suggesting a ghost had 254 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:57,280 Speaker 1: been making the first ones and poor Betty had just 255 00:15:57,360 --> 00:16:00,760 Speaker 1: been pressured this final time into trying to save her 256 00:16:00,800 --> 00:16:04,000 Speaker 1: family when the ghost wouldn't really show up, or more 257 00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:08,040 Speaker 1: likely um Betty had had some other means of manufacturing 258 00:16:08,040 --> 00:16:12,200 Speaker 1: the sound earlier. She was right to be scared, though, 259 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: because her family did end up being pretty uh strongly 260 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 1: punished for for what had happened. Right in July sev 261 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 1: sixty two, Richard Parsons, his wife, and Mary Fraser were 262 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: all tried and convicted of conspiracy. More the clergyman as 263 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:30,480 Speaker 1: well as a tradesman named James, who was believed to 264 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:34,800 Speaker 1: have assisted in this deception, were also convicted, although they 265 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,640 Speaker 1: got off with reprimands and the order to pay Kent settlement. 266 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: Fraser and Mrs Parsons received hard labor and Mr Parsons 267 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: got two years in prison and three appearances in the pillory. 268 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: So it's a testament to how many people still believed 269 00:16:49,720 --> 00:16:52,000 Speaker 1: in the ghosts, though that the crowd at the pillory 270 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 1: was unusually quiet each time, and the public actually raised 271 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: a subscription for the family, and I was surprised by 272 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: this because I would think that the public, having bought 273 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,680 Speaker 1: into this idea of a ghost so thoroughly, would be 274 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:09,200 Speaker 1: maybe embarrassed and angry at this guy for tricking them 275 00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 1: and for trying to profit. But the more I thought 276 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,159 Speaker 1: about it, the more thought, well, if you if you 277 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 1: admit that you've been fooled by this hoax, then you 278 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 1: look like a fool. Uh. If you consider this guy 279 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:24,520 Speaker 1: as a poor, unfortunate soul who's being unfairly punished when 280 00:17:24,520 --> 00:17:28,199 Speaker 1: there really was a ghost in his home, then I 281 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:32,480 Speaker 1: guess you're something else entirely. But you you can kind 282 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,240 Speaker 1: of get yourself off the hook that way. The goose 283 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,639 Speaker 1: really did stick around in the public's imagination too, though. 284 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:41,560 Speaker 1: It kind of like the Mary Toft Bunny births hooks 285 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,240 Speaker 1: that we talked about on an earlier podcast and which 286 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:47,920 Speaker 1: was about a generation or so before this became real 287 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:52,840 Speaker 1: shorthand for gullibility, uh, just falling for things too easily. 288 00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:56,359 Speaker 1: And um, I guess while we're talking about Mary Mary Toft, 289 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: and you mentioned the Sisters Fox earlier, it does it's 290 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: so reminiscent of the Sister's Fox story with the tappings 291 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,960 Speaker 1: and the wrappings and the girls playing tricks on people. Um. 292 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: But I kind of think of it more in the 293 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:16,120 Speaker 1: spirit of the merry tough bunny births because the Sisters 294 00:18:16,119 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: Fox one is so it's the beginning of that spiritualist 295 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,880 Speaker 1: movement of the nineteenth century. It's kind of a different 296 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:27,600 Speaker 1: era than this. This is really in the hoax generation almost. Um. 297 00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: And and like I said, you know, with the public 298 00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: being interested in it, people found opportunities to benefit from 299 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: it as well, in a satirical sort of way. Charles 300 00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: Churchill wrote a satirical poem about it called The Ghost. 301 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: William Hogarth, who was a famous illustrator, engraved a scene 302 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:49,200 Speaker 1: of a seance at Elizabeth's bedside so people could indulge 303 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:52,520 Speaker 1: in something like this, indulge in a hoax, knowing that 304 00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:55,120 Speaker 1: it wasn't true. That was part of the fun, being 305 00:18:55,119 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: able to say, how could anybody fall for this? I 306 00:18:58,560 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 1: sure didn't. One of the other things that's very reminiscent 307 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: of the Sister's Fox story is that it's still unclear 308 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:11,240 Speaker 1: exactly what was making these knocking or rapping sounds. Uh. 309 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: Some suggest that it was ventriloquism, And of course later 310 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:17,520 Speaker 1: there was the board that was introduced, so maybe that 311 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:19,920 Speaker 1: played a part in it. I guess. Probably the only 312 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,000 Speaker 1: one who knows for sure, at least about the board 313 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: part of it, as Elizabeth Parsons. But little is known 314 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:27,639 Speaker 1: about her later life. She probably got married twice, the 315 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,040 Speaker 1: second time to a gardener, but we don't know much 316 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:34,159 Speaker 1: of the detail. I mean, what a ridiculous childhood she right, 317 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,360 Speaker 1: I'm imagining maybe she'd be eager to put that behind 318 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:42,679 Speaker 1: her after so much after the crowd, the Duke of 319 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:45,920 Speaker 1: York at your bedside when you're eleven, trying to wait 320 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: for ghosts to appear. I bet she probably got a 321 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,680 Speaker 1: lot better sleep. She probably spent most of her later 322 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,360 Speaker 1: life catching up on sleep. We can, we can think 323 00:19:55,359 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: of it that way. Thank you so much for joining 324 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:06,960 Speaker 1: us on this Saturday. If you have heard an email 325 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:09,360 Speaker 1: address or a Facebook you are l or something similar 326 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:11,960 Speaker 1: over the course of today's episode, since it is from 327 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 1: the archive that might be out of date now, you 328 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: can email us at History podcast at how stuff Works 329 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:19,879 Speaker 1: dot com, and you can find us all over social 330 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,080 Speaker 1: media at missed in History. And you can subscribe to 331 00:20:23,119 --> 00:20:26,440 Speaker 1: our show on Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, the I Heart 332 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: Radio app, and wherever else. You listen to podcasts. Stuff 333 00:20:33,760 --> 00:20:35,679 Speaker 1: You Missed in History Class is a production of I 334 00:20:35,760 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 1: heart Radios How Stuff Works. For more podcasts for my 335 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:42,080 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 336 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.