Cock Lane ghost

A 19th–century illustration of Cock Lane

The story of the Cock Lane ghost attracted mass public attention in 18th–century England before being exposed as a hoax.

Cock Lane is a short alleyway adjacent to London's Smithfield market and only a few minutes' walk from St Paul's Cathedral. In the 1760s an apartment along the alley became the focus of attention over a reported haunting. The story centred around three people: William Kent, William Parsons, and his daughter Elizabeth. Following the death of his wife Elizabeth Lynes, Kent had become romantically involved with his sister–in–law Fanny, and the couple had eloped to London, moving into a property owned by Parsons. Kent loaned Parsons a sum of money, which the latter did not repay, and Kent responded by threatening to sue Parsons. The couple moved out, and Fanny Lynes died soon after. Parsons then created an elaborate hoax, claiming that his property was haunted by the ghosts of Elizabeth and Fanny Lynes. The matter was investigated and revealed to be a hoax, perpetrated by William Parsons' young daughter, Elizabeth. Parsons was pilloried, and sentenced to two years in prison.

The story became a focus of controversy between the Methodist and Anglican churches, and is frequently referenced in contemporary literature. Charles Dickens is one of several Victorian authors who allude to the story in their literature, and the pictorial satirist William Hogarth referenced the story in two of his prints.

Account

At the centre of the story was William Kent, a young man from Norfolk who became involved with two daughters from the same family. In 1756 he married Elizabeth Lynes, but eleven months later she died during childbirth (the child lived, but only for a few minutes). Elizabeth's sister Fanny moved into Kent's house and subsequently the two began a relationship. Canon law did not allow them to marry, and William left Fanny, who later followed him to London. The two eventually settled at an apartment in Cock Lane, owned by a Mr Parsons (clerk of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate).^[1]

A 19th–century illustration of the room where the supposed haunting took place

William later attended a wedding in the country. To keep Fanny company he asked Elizabeth Parsons (a young daughter of Mr Parsons) to share her bed. The two reported hearing scratching and rapping noises. Mrs Parsons attributed this to a neighbouring cobbler, but Fanny took a more sombre view, believing the noises to be a foretelling of her own death (later, other witnesses would attribute the noises to Fanny's sister Elizabeth).^[2] Fanny would posthumously become known as 'Scratching Fanny'.^[3]

Kent had also loaned money to Parsons, which the latter had not repaid,^[4] and upon his return in January 1760 the couple moved to Bartlet Court in Clerkenwell, and Kent sued Parsons for the outstanding sum. Fanny died shortly after on 2 February, apparently of Smallpox. The noises at Cock Lane stopped as soon as the couple left the apartment, but they apparently began again around 1761–1762. Reportedly determined to discover the source of the noises, which apparently emanated from the bed of his daughter, Mr Parsons removed the wainscotting, but found nothing.^[2] Meanwhile the landlord of a nearby public house, James Franzen, called at the Cock Lane establishment and reported hearing the rappings and also seeing a ghostly white figure ascend the stairs.^[5] According to Mrs Parsons the rapping emanated from the ghost of Kent's first wife, Elizabeth, as a token of her disapproval of the elopement of her sister, Fanny, with William.^[6]

Following the death of Fanny Kent, the mysterious scratchings reported from Elizabeth's bedroom increased in frequency. William Parsons began communicating with the "ghost" using a system of yes/no questions and knocks, although by now they were supposedly in contact with the ghost of Fanny Kent, rather than her sister Elizabeth. Under this system "Scratching Fanny" claimed that she had died not of Smallpox, but of arsenic poisoning in a premeditated murder by her husband, William. The story spread across London, and by January 1762 the crowds gathered outside the property rendered Cock Lane impassable. Visitors curious to experience the supposed haunting themselves, reported hearing the noises that the ghost made. Parsons charged sightseers an entrance fee to "talk" with the ghost.^[7][8] Parsons' superior at the church of St Sepulchre's, the Methodist preacher John Moore, also attended these seances.^[9]

The story became infamous; two newspapers, The Public Ledger and the St. James's Chronicle reported favourably on the haunting, however the London Chronicle was more sceptical. Each published detailed accounts of the phenomenon, while William Kent remained under public suspicion as a murderer.^[9]

Investigation and exposure

Dr Samuel Johnson concluded that the haunting was a hoax

After reading the accusations against him in the press and attending the seance himself, Kent sought to clear his name. He enlisted the aid of the physicians who attended his wife in her last illness, along with the Revd Stephen Aldrich, his local parish priest and incumbent of St John Clerkenwell where Fanny was buried.^[10] Aldrich involved several prominent people in the investigation including Dr Samuel Johnson, who supplied an account of the night's proceedings to the local newspapers. At Adrich's home,^[9] Elizabeth was put to bed, and watched for an hour by a small company of men and women. Nothing untoward was observed, and the men went downstairs to talk to Mr Parsons. They were then interrupted by several ladies who reported that the scratching and knocking noises had commenced. The company returned to Elizabeth's bedroom, and made her hold her hands outside the bedding, in plain view. They heard nothing, and after a brief sojourn to the vault of St. John's to view Fanny's coffin, where no other noises were heard (the ghost had previously "communicated" that it could signal its presence at the coffin with a knock) the company concluded that the noises were being manufactured by Elizabeth Parsons.^[11][12][13]

In William Hogarth's Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism, the Cock Lane ghost is shown at the top of the thermometer, knocking to the girl in the bed. A Methodist preacher is seen to slip a an icon of the ghost into the bodice of a young woman.^[14]

It is therefore the opinion of the whole assembly, that the child has some art of making or counterfeiting a particular noise, and that there is no agency of any higher cause.

—Samuel Johnson, ^[15]

Elizabeth was tested in a variety of ways including being swung up in a hammock, her hands and feet extended. For two further nights the 'ghost' was silent, and Elizabeth was told that if no more noises were heard she and her father would be committed to Newgate Prison. Her maids witnessed Elizabeth concealing on her person a small piece of wood, 6 by 4 inches (150 by 100 cm), and informed the investigators. More scratches were heard but the observers concluded that Parsons was using his daughter to create a hoax ghost, and that Elizabeth was making the noises under duress.^[16]

William Parsons, his wife Elizabeth, Mary Frazer (Parsons' servant), a clergyman, a tradesman, and "the Ghost's interpreter", were tried for conspiracy to defame, and convicted at the Guild Hall on 10 July 1762.^[17][18][16]

The Court chusing [sic] that Mr. Kent, who had been so much injured on the occasion, should receive some reparation by punishment of the offenders, deferred giving judgment [sic] for seven or eight months, in hopes that the parties might make it up in the meantime. Accordingly, the clergyman, and tradesman agreed to pay Mr. Kent a round sum—some say between £500 and £600 to purchase their pardon, and were, therefore, dismissed with a severe reprimand. The father was ordered to be set in the pillory three times in one month—once at the end of Cock–Lane; Elizabeth his wife to be imprisoned one year; and Mary Fraser six months in Bridewell, with hard labour. The father appearing to be out of his mind at the time he was first to standing in the pillory, the execution of that part of his sentence was deferred to another day, when, as well as the other day of his standing there, the populace took so much compassion on him, that instead of using him ill, they made a handsome subscription for him.

—Annual Register, vol cxlii. and Gentleman's Magazine, 1762, p. 43 and p. 339, ^[18]

Religious controversy

The case was tried by Lord Chief Justice William Murray.

The Cock Lane ghost was a focus for a contemporary religious controversy between the Methodists and orthodox Anglicans. The Methodists gave more credence to the reality of the supernatural and ghosts than the Anglican establishment. This was epitomised in the conflict between the Revd Moore, a Methodist, who advocated the reality of the Cock Lane ghost and the veracity of its claims, and the Revd Aldrich, a sceptic in these matters.^[19]

In Memoirs of the reign of King George the Third Horace Walpole accused the Methodists of actively working to establish the existence of ghosts. He described the constant presence of Methodist clergymen near Elizabeth Parsons, and implied that the church would recompense her father for his troubles.^[20][21] He also claimed that the case judge, Lord Chief Justice William Murray, received a letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury.^[22]

Legacy

Hogarth's The Times, Plate 2. Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Secker can be seen in the shade, behind the pilloried figures of both the Cock Lane ghost and John Wilkes.^[23]

Several contemporaneous accounts of the story exist. Oliver Goldsmith wrote of the matter in his 23 February 1762 pamphlet, The Mystery Revealed,^[24] and Samuel Johnson made a sceptical report of the proceedings in An Account of the Detection of the Imposture in Cock–Lane, published in Gentleman's Magazine.^[25] Charles Dickens briefly mentions the Cock Lane ghost in his novel A Tale of Two Cities.^[26] The story was also retold in Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters (1908).^[27]

The satirist Charles Churchill mocked Johnson for his willingness to take part in the investigation in his poem The Ghost (1762–3) and the story was burlesqued in a contemporary play called The Orators (1762) by Samuel Foote.^[28][27] David Garrick dedicated his play The Farmer's Return to William Hogarth.^[29][30] Hogarth had referenced the tale in Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism (1762),^[14] and in The Times, Plate 2 (1762–1763) he placed an image of Thomas Secker behind the Cock Lane ghost, indicating Secker's Methodist inclinations.^[31][32] The print enraged Bishop William Warburton, who wrote:

I have seen Hogarth's print of the Ghost. It is a horrid composition of lewd Obscenity & blasphemous prophaneness for which I detest the artist & have lost all esteem for the man. The best is, that the worst parts of it have a good chance of not being understood by the people.

—William Warburton, ^[30]

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

• The website for author Paul Chambers; contains further info on the Cock Lane Ghost
• A 'Fortean Times' article about the Cock Lane Ghost

51°31′02″N 0°06′09″W / 51.517307°N 0.102458°W / 51.517307; -0.102458Coordinates: 51°31′02″N 0°06′09″W / 51.517307°N 0.102458°W / 51.517307; -0.102458