spirits; but these proving unavailing, they began seriously to reflect
whether it would not be much better to leave the place altogether to the
devils that inhabited it. They ultimately resolved, however, to try it a
little longer; and having craved forgiveness of all their sins, betook
themselves to bed. That night they slept in tolerable comfort, but it was
merely a trick of their tormentor to lull them into false security. When,
on the succeeding night, they heard no noises, they began to flatter
themselves that the devil was driven out, and prepared accordingly to take
up their quarters for the whole winter in the palace. These symptoms on
their part became the signal for renewed uproar among the fiends. On the
1st of November, they heard something walking with a slow and solemn pace
up and down the withdrawing-room, and immediately afterwards a shower of
stones, bricks, mortar, and broken glass pelted about their ears. On the
2d the steps were again heard in the withdrawing-room, sounding to their
fancy very much like the treading of an enormous bear, which continued for
about a quarter of an hour. This noise having ceased, a large warming-pan
was thrown violently upon the table, followed by a number of stones and
the jawbone of a horse. Some of the boldest walked valiantly into the
withdrawing-room, armed with swords and pistols; but could discover
nothing. They were afraid that night to go to sleep, and sat up, making
fires in every room, and burning candles and lamps in great abundance;
thinking that, as the fiends loved darkness, they would not disturb a
company surrounded with so much light. They were deceived, however:
buckets of water came down the chimneys and extinguished the fires; and
the candles were blown out, they knew not how. Some of the servants who
had betaken themselves to bed were drenched with putrid ditch-water as
they lay, and arose in great fright, muttering incoherent prayers, and
exposing to the wondering eyes of the commissioners their linen all
dripping with green moisture, and their knuckles red with the blows they
had at the same time received from some invisible tormentors. While they
were still speaking, there was a noise like the loudest thunder, or the
firing of a whole park of artillery, upon which they all fell down upon
their knees and implored the protection of the Almighty. One of the
commissioners then arose, the others still kneeling, and asked in a
courageous voice, and in the name of God, who was there, and what they had
done that they should be troubled in that manner. No answer was returned,
and the noises ceased for a while. At length, however, as the
commissioners said, "the devil came again, and brought with it seven
devils worse than itself." Being again in darkness, they lighted a candle
and placed it in the doorway, that it might throw a light upon the two
chambers at once; but it was suddenly blown out, and one commissioner said
that he had "seen the similitude of a horse's hoof striking the candle and
candlestick into the middle of the chamber, and afterwards making three
scrapes on the snuff to put it out." Upon this, the same person was so
bold as to draw his sword; but he asserted positively that he had hardly
withdrawn it from the scabbard before an invisible hand seized hold of it
and tugged with him for it, and prevailing, struck him so violent a blow
with the pommel that he was quite stunned. Then the noises began again;
upon which, with one accord, they all retired into the presence-chamber,
where they passed the night, praying and singing psalms.
They were by this time convinced that it was useless to struggle any
longer with the powers of evil that seemed determined to make Woodstock
their own. These things happened on the Saturday night; and being repeated
on the Sunday, they determined to leave the place immediately, and return
to London. By Tuesday morning early, all their preparations were
completed; and, shaking the dust off their feet, and devoting Woodstock
and all its inhabitants to the infernal gods, they finally took their
departure.[43]
[43] Dr. H. More's _Continuation of Glanvil's Collection of
Relations in proof of Witchcraft_.
Many years elapsed before the true cause of these disturbances was
discovered. It was ascertained at the Restoration, that the whole was the
work of Giles Sharp, the trusty clerk of the commissioners. This man,
whose real name was Joseph Collins, was a concealed royalist, and had
passed his early life within the bowers of Woodstock; so that he knew
every hole and corner of the place, and the numerous trap-doors and secret
passages that abounded in the building. The commissioners, never
suspecting the true state of his opinions, but believing him to be
revolutionary to the back-bone, placed the utmost reliance upon him; a
confidence which he abused in the manner above detailed, to his own great
amusement and that of the few cavaliers whom he let into the secret.
Quite as extraordinary and as cleverly managed was the trick played off at
Tedworth, in 1661, at the house of Mr. Mompesson, and which is so
circumstantially narrated by the Rev. Joseph Glanvil, under the title of
_The Demon of Tedworth_, and appended, among other proofs of witchcraft,
to his noted work called _Sadducismus Triumphatus_. About the middle of
April, in the year above mentioned, Mr. Mompesson, having returned to his
house at Tedworth from a journey he had taken to London, was informed by
his wife, that during his absence they had been troubled with the most
extraordinary noises. Three nights afterwards he heard the noise himself;
and it appeared to him to be that of "a great knocking at his doors, and
on the outside of his walls." He immediately arose, dressed himself, took
down a pair of pistols, and walked valiantly forth to discover the
disturber, under the impression that it must be a robber; but, as he went,
the noise seemed to travel before or behind him; and when he arrived at
the door from which he thought it proceeded, he saw nothing, but still
heard "a strange hollow sound." He puzzled his brains for a long time, and
searched every corner of the house; but discovering nothing, he went to
bed again. He was no sooner snug under the clothes than the noise began
again more furiously than ever, sounding very much like a "thumping and
drumming on the top of his house, and then by degrees going off into the
air."
These things continued for several nights, when it came to the
recollection of Mr. Mompesson that some time before he had given orders
for the arrest and imprisonment of a wandering drummer, who went about the
country with a large drum, disturbing quiet people and soliciting alms,
and that he had detained the man's drum, and that probably the drummer was
a wizard, and had sent evil spirits to haunt his house to be revenged of
him. He became strengthened in his opinion every day, especially when the
noises assumed, to his fancy, a resemblance to the beating of a drum,
"like that at the breaking up of a guard." Mrs. Mompesson being brought to
bed, the devil, or the drummer, very kindly and considerately refrained
from making the usual riot; but, as soon as she recovered strength, began
again "in a ruder manner than before, following and vexing the young
children, and beating their bedsteads with so much violence that every one
expected they would fall in pieces." For an hour together, as the worthy
Mr. Mompesson repeated to his wondering neighbours, this infernal drummer
"would beat 'Roundheads and Cuckolds,' the 'Tat-too,' and several other
points of war, as cleverly as any soldier." When this had lasted long
enough, he changed his tactics, and scratched with his iron talons under
the children's bed. "On the 5th of November," says the Rev. Joseph
Glanvil, "it made a mighty noise; and a servant observing two boards in
the children's room seeming to move, he bid it give him one of them. Upon
which the board came (nothing moving it that he saw) within a yard of him.
The man added, 'Nay, let me have it in my hand;' upon which the spirit,
devil, or drummer pushed it towards him so close that he might touch it."
"This," continues Glanvil, "was in the day-time, and was seen by a whole
room full of people. That morning it left a sulphureous smell behind it,
which was very offensive. At night the minister, one Mr. Cragg, and
several of the neighbours came to the house on a visit. Mr. Cragg went to
prayers with them, kneeling at the children's bedside, where it then
became very troublesome and loud. During prayer-time, the spirit withdrew
into the cock-loft, but returned as soon as prayers were done; and then,
in sight of the company, the chairs walked about the room of themselves,
the children's shoes were hurled over their heads, and every loose thing
moved about the chamber. At the same time, a bed-staff was thrown at the
minister, which hit him on the leg, but so favourably, that a lock of wool
could not have fallen more softly." On another occasion, the blacksmith of
the village, a fellow who cared neither for ghost nor devil, slept with
John the footman, that he also might hear the disturbances and be cured of
his incredulity, when there "came a noise in the room as if one had been
shoeing a horse, and somewhat came, as it were, with a pair of pincers,"
snipping and snapping at the poor blacksmith's nose the greater part of
the night. Next day it came panting like a dog out of breath; upon which
some woman present took a bed-staff to knock at it, "which was caught
suddenly out of her hand and thrown away; and company coming up, the room
was presently filled with a _bloomy noisome smell_, and was very hot,
though without fire, in a very sharp and severe winter. It continued in
the bed, panting and scratching for an hour and a half, and then went into
the next room, where it knocked a little, and seemed to rattle a chain."
The rumour of these wonderful occurrences soon spread all over the
country, and people from far and near flocked to the haunted house of
Tedworth, to believe or doubt as their natures led them, but all filled
with intense curiosity. It appears, too, that the fame of these events
reached the royal ear, and that some gentlemen were sent by the king to
investigate the circumstances, and draw up a report of what they saw or
heard. Whether the royal commissioners were more sensible men than the
neighbours of Mr. Mompesson, and required more clear and positive evidence
than they, or whether the powers with which they were armed to punish any
body who might be found carrying on this deception frightened the
evil-doers, is not certain; but Glanvil himself reluctantly confesses that
all the time they were in the house the noises ceased, and nothing was
heard or seen. "However," says he, "as to the quiet of the house when the
courtiers were there, the intermission may have been accidental, or
perhaps the demon was not willing to give so public a testimony of those
transactions which might possibly convince those who he had rather should
continue in unbelief of his existence."
As soon as the royal commissioners took their departure, the infernal
drummer recommenced his antics, and hundreds of persons were daily present
to hear and wonder. Mr. Mompesson's servant was so fortunate as not only
to hear, but to see this pertinacious demon, for it came and stood at the
foot of his bed. "The exact shape and proportion of it he could not
discover; but he saw a great body, with two red and glaring eyes, which,
for some time, were fixed steadily on him, and at length disappeared."
Innumerable were the antics it played. Once it purred like a cat; beat the
children's legs black and blue; put a long spike into Mr. Mompesson's bed,
and a knife into his mother's; filled the porringers with ashes; hid a
Bible under the grate; and turned the money black in people's pockets.
"One night," said Mr. Mompesson, in a letter to Mr. Glanvil, "there were
seven or eight of these devils in the shape of men, who, as soon as a gun
was fired, would shuffle away into an arbour;" a circumstance which might
have convinced Mr. Mompesson of the mortal nature of his persecutors, if
he had not been of the number of those worse than blind, who shut their
eyes and refuse to see.
In the mean time the drummer, the supposed cause of all the mischief,
passed his time in Gloucester gaol, whither he had been committed as a
rogue and a vagabond. Being visited one day by some person from the
neighbourhood of Tedworth, he asked what was the news in Wiltshire, and
whether people did not talk a great deal about a drumming in a gentleman's
house there? The visitor replied that he heard of nothing else; upon which
the drummer observed, "I have done it; I have thus plagued him; and he
shall never be quiet until he hath made me satisfaction for taking away my
drum." No doubt the fellow, who seems to have been a gipsy, spoke the
truth, and that the gang of which he was a member knew more about the
noises at Mr. Mompesson's house than any body else. Upon these words,
however, he was brought to trial at Salisbury for witchcraft; and, being
found guilty, was sentenced to transportation; a sentence which, for its
leniency, excited no little wonder in that age, when such an accusation,
whether proved or not, generally insured the stake or the gibbet. Glanvil
says that the noises ceased immediately the drummer was sent beyond the
seas; but that, somehow or other, he managed to return from
transportation; "by raising storms and affrighting the seamen, it was
said;" when the disturbances were forthwith renewed, and continued at
intervals for several years. Certainly, if the confederates of this roving
gipsy were so pertinacious in tormenting poor weak Mr. Mompesson, their
pertinacity is a most extraordinary instance of what revenge is capable
of. It was believed by many, at the time, that Mr. Mompesson himself was
privy to the whole matter, and permitted and encouraged these tricks in
his house for the sake of notoriety; but it seems more probable that the
gipsies were the real delinquents, and that Mr. Mompesson was as much
alarmed and bewildered as his credulous neighbours, whose excited
imaginations conjured up no small portion of these stories,
"Which rolled, and as they rolled grew larger visibly."
Many instances of a similar kind, during the seventeenth century, might be
gleaned from Glanvil and other writers of that period; but they do not
differ sufficiently from these to justify a detail of them. The most
famous of all haunted houses acquired its notoriety much nearer our own
time; and the circumstances connected with it are so curious, and afford
so fair a specimen of the easy credulity even of well-informed and
sensible people, as to merit a little notice in this chapter. The
Cock-Lane Ghost, as it was called, kept London in commotion for a
considerable time, and was the theme of conversation among the learned and
the illiterate, and in every circle, from that of the prince to that of
the peasant.
[Illustration: THE HAUNTED HOUSE IN COCK LANE.]
At the commencement of the year 1760, there resided in Cock Lane, near
West Smithfield, in the house of one Parsons, the parish clerk of St.
Sepulchre's, a stockbroker, named Kent. The wife of this gentleman had
died in child-bed during the previous year, and his sister-in-law, Miss
Fanny, had arrived from Norfolk to keep his house for him. They soon
conceived a mutual affection, and each of them made a will in the other's
favour. They lived some months in the house of Parsons, who, being a needy
man, borrowed money of his lodger. Some difference arose betwixt them, and
Mr. Kent left the house, and instituted legal proceedings against the
parish-clerk for the recovery of his money.
While this matter was yet pending, Miss Fanny was suddenly taken ill of
the small-pox; and, notwithstanding every care and attention, she died in
a few days, and was buried in a vault under Clerkenwell church. Parsons
now began to hint that the poor lady had come unfairly by her death, and
that Mr. Kent was accessory to it, from his too great eagerness to enter
into possession of the property she had bequeathed him. Nothing further
was said for nearly two years; but it would appear that Parsons was of so
revengeful a character, that he had never forgotten or forgiven his
differences with Mr. Kent, and the indignity of having been sued for the
borrowed money. The strong passions of pride and avarice were silently at
work during all that interval, hatching schemes of revenge, but dismissing
them one after the other as impracticable, until, at last, a notable one
suggested itself. About the beginning of the year 1762, the alarm was
spread over all the neighbourhood of Cock Lane, that the house of Parsons
was haunted by the ghost of poor Fanny, and that the daughter of Parsons,
a girl about twelve years of age, had several times seen and conversed
with the spirit, who had, moreover, informed her, that she had not died of
the small-pox, as was currently reported, but of poison, administered by
Mr. Kent. Parsons, who originated, took good care to countenance these
reports; and, in answer to numerous inquiries, said his house was every
night, and had been for two years, in fact, ever since the death of Fanny,
troubled by a loud knocking at the doors and in the walls. Having thus
prepared the ignorant and credulous neighbours to believe or exaggerate
for themselves what he had told them, he sent for a gentleman of a higher
class in life, to come and witness these extraordinary occurrences. The
gentleman came accordingly, and found the daughter of Parsons, to whom the
spirit alone appeared, and whom alone it answered, in bed, trembling
violently, having just seen the ghost, and been again informed that she
had died from poison. A loud knocking was also heard from every part of
the chamber, which so mystified the not very clear understanding of the
visitor, that he departed, afraid to doubt and ashamed to believe, but
with a promise to bring the clergyman of the parish and several other
gentlemen on the following day, to report upon the mystery.
On the following night he returned, bringing with him three clergymen, and
about twenty other persons, including two negroes, when, upon a
consultation with Parsons, they resolved to sit up the whole night, and
await the ghost's arrival. It was then explained by Parsons, that although
the ghost would never render itself visible to any body but his daughter,
it had no objection to answer the questions that might be put to it, by
any person present, and that it expressed an affirmation by one knock, a
negative by two, and its displeasure by a kind of scratching. The child
was then put into bed along with her sister, and the clergymen examined
the bed and bed-clothes to satisfy themselves that no trick was played, by
knocking upon any substance concealed among the clothes. As on the
previous night, the bed was observed to shake violently.
[Illustration: ROOM IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE IN COCK LANE.[44]]
[44] The woman whose ghost was said to manifest itself in Cock
Lane was buried in the crypt or cloister of St. John,
Clerkenwell. The vault is composed of two aisles, that on the
south being much narrower than the other,--it was here she
was deposited.
About seven years since, I was sketching a picturesque
trefoil-headed door leading into this part of the vault; and
the place being at that time in great confusion with coffins,
remains of bodies, some of which were dried like mummies,
&c., I could find no better seat than one of the coffins. The
sexton's boy, who held my light, informed me this was the
coffin of _Scratching Fanny_, which recalled the Cock Lane
story to my mind. I got off the lid of the coffin, and saw
the face of a handsome woman, with an aquiline nose; this
feature remaining perfect, an uncommon case, for the
cartilage mostly gives way. The remains had become adipocere,
and were perfectly preserved. She was said to have been
poisoned by deleterious punch, but this was legally
disproved; and, if I remember rightly, she was otherwise
declared to have died of small-pox; of this disease there was
not the least sign; but as some mineral poisons tend to
render bodies adipocere, here was some evidence in support of
the former allegation. I made particular inquiries at the
time of Mr. Bird, churchwarden, a respectable and judicious
man; and he gave me good assurance that this coffin had
always been looked upon as the one containing the Cock Lane
woman. Since that time the vault has been set in order, and
the above-mentioned coffin, with others, put away.
The niche near the window in the drawing of the Ghost Room is
the place where the bed-head was, and where the scratching,
knocks, &c. were heard. This is the tradition of the house.
Mrs. King, who holds the premises, informs me that her family
has had the house about eighty years.--J. W. ARCHER.
After some hours, during which they all waited with exemplary patience,
the mysterious knocking was heard in the wall, and the child declared that
she saw the ghost of poor Fanny. The following questions were then gravely
put by the clergyman, through the medium of one Mary Frazer, the servant
of Parsons, and to whom it was said the deceased lady had been much
attached. The answers were in the usual fashion, by a knock or knocks:
"Do you make this disturbance on account of the ill-usage you received
from Mr. Kent?"--"Yes."
"Were you brought to an untimely end by poison?"--"Yes."
"How was the poison administered, in beer or purl?"--"In purl."
"How long was that before your death?"--"About three hours."
"Can your former servant, Carrots, give any information about the
poison?"--"Yes."
"Are you Kent's wife's sister?"--"Yes."
"Were you married to Kent after your sister's death?"--"No."
"Was any body else, besides Kent, concerned in your murder?"--"No."
"Can you, if you like, appear visibly to any one?"--"Yes."
"Will you do so?"--"Yes."
"Can you go out of this house?"--"Yes."
"Is it your intention to follow this child about every where?"--"Yes."
"Are you pleased in being asked these questions?"--"Yes."
"Does it ease your troubled soul?"--"Yes."
[Here there was heard a mysterious noise, which some wiseacre present
compared to the fluttering of wings.]
"How long before your death did you tell your servant, Carrots, that you
were poisoned? An hour?"--"Yes."
[Carrots, who was present, was appealed to; but she stated positively that
such was not the fact, as the deceased was quite speechless an hour before
her death. This shook the faith of some of the spectators, but the
examination was allowed to continue.]
"How long did Carrots live with you?"--"Three or four days."
[Carrots was again appealed to, and said that this was true.]
"If Mr. Kent is arrested for this murder, will he confess?"--"Yes."
"Would your soul be at rest if he were hanged for it?"--"Yes."
"Will he be hanged for it?"--"Yes."
"How long a time first?"--"Three years."
"How many clergymen are there in this room?"--"Three."
"How many negroes?"--"Two."
"Is this watch (held up by one of the clergymen) white?"--"No."
"Is it yellow?"--"No."
"Is it blue?"--"No."
"Is it black?"--"Yes."
[The watch was in a black shagreen case.]
"At what time this morning will you take your departure?"
The answer to this question was four knocks, very distinctly heard by
every person present; and accordingly, at four o'clock precisely the ghost
took its departure to the Wheatsheaf public-house close by, where it
frightened mine host and his lady almost out of their wits, by knocking in
the ceiling right above their bed.
The rumour of these occurrences very soon spread over London, and every
day Cock Lane was rendered impassable by the crowds of people who
assembled around the house of the parish clerk, in expectation of either
seeing the ghost or of hearing the mysterious knocks. It was at last found
necessary, so clamorous were they for admission within the haunted
precincts, to admit those only who would pay a certain fee, an arrangement
which was very convenient to the needy and money-loving Mr. Parsons.
Indeed, things had taken a turn greatly to his satisfaction; he not only
had his revenge, but he made a profit out of it. The ghost, in
consequence, played its antics every night, to the great amusement of many
hundreds of people and the great perplexity of a still greater number.
Unhappily, however, for the parish clerk, the ghost was induced to make
some promises which were the means of utterly destroying its reputation.
It promised, in answer to the questions of the Rev. Mr. Aldritch of
Clerkenwell, that it would not only follow the little Miss Parsons
wherever she went, but would also attend him, or any other gentleman, into
the vault under St. John's Church, where the body of the murdered woman
was deposited, and would there give notice of its presence by a distinct
knock upon the coffin. As a preliminary, the girl was conveyed to the
house of Mr. Aldritch near the church, where a large party of ladies and
gentlemen, eminent for their acquirements, their rank, or their wealth,
had assembled. About ten o'clock on the night of the first of February,
the girl having been brought from Cock Lane in a coach, was put to bed by
several ladies in the house of Mr. Aldritch; a strict examination having
been previously made that nothing was hidden in the bed-clothes. While the
gentlemen in an adjoining chamber were deliberating whether they should
proceed in a body to the vault, they were summoned into the bedroom by the
ladies, who affirmed, in great alarm, that the ghost was come, and that
they heard the knocks and scratches. The gentlemen entered accordingly,
with a determination to suffer no deception. The little girl, on being
asked whether she saw the ghost, replied, "No; but she felt it on her back
like a mouse." She was then required to put her hands out of bed, and they
being held by some of the ladies, the spirit was summoned in the usual
manner to answer, if it were in the room. The question was several times
put with great solemnity; but the customary knock was not heard in reply
in the walls, neither was there any scratching. The ghost was then asked
to render itself visible, but it did not choose to grant the request. It
was next solicited to give some token of its presence by a sound of any
sort, or by touching the hand or cheek of any lady or gentleman in the
room; but even with this request the ghost would not comply.