Origins of the Hammersmith Ghost Panic

In late 1803, accounts of ghost sightings began to circulate in Hammersmith, England. This led to a tragic event, and a legal case that revealed some limitations in existing English law. 

Research:

• “The case of the murdered ghost.” BBC News. January 3, 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/3364467.stm
• “Fears of a Ghost and the Fatal Catastrophe.” The Morning Chronicle. Jan 5, 1804. https://www.newspapers.com/image/394016127/?match=1&terms=Francis%20Smith
• Feikert-Ahalt, Clare. “The Case of a Ghost Haunted England for Over Two Hundred Years.” Library of Congress Blog. In Custodia Legis. Law Librarians of Congress. Oct. 30, 2015. https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2015/10/the-case-of-a-ghost-haunted-england-for-over-two-hundred-years/
• Castle, Terry. “Phantasmagoria: Spectral Technology and the Metaphorics of Modern Reverie.” Critical Inquiry. Autumn, 1988, Vol. 15, No. 1.pp. 26-61. The University of Chicago Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1343603
• “FRANCIS SMITH. Killing; murder. 11th January 1804..” Proceedings of the Old Bailey.
• “The Hammersmith Ghost: London’s Paranormal Murder.” Discovery UK. Jan. 7, 2025. https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/the-hammersmith-ghost-londons-paranormal-murder/
• “The Hammersmith Ghost.” Cambridge Chronicle and Journal. Jan. 14, 2804. https://www.newspapers.com/image/975790052/?match=1&terms=Hammersmith%20ghost
• Kirby, R.S. “Kirby's Wonderful and Scientific Museum: Or, Magazine of Remarkable Characters, Volume 2.” 1804. https://books.google.com/books?id=ggMhkDz-33EC&source=gbs_navlinks_s
• Medland, W.M. and Charles Weobly. “A Collection of Remarkable and Interesting Criminal Trials, Actions at Law, &c: To which is Prefixed, an Essay on Reprieve and Pardon, and Biographical Sketches of John Lord Eldon, and Mr. Mingay, Volume 2.” Badcock. January 1804. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=c5YuAAAAYAAJ&rdid=book-c5YuAAAAYAAJ&rdot=1
• Mitchell, Edwin Valentine, ed. “The Newgate calendar :
  comprising interesting memoirs of the most notorious characters who have been convicted of outrages on the laws of England.” Garden City Pub. Co. 1926. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006759756
• “Murder – Hammersmith Ghost.” The Bury and Norwich Post. Jan. 18, 1804. https://www.newspapers.com/image/394552157/?match=1&terms=Hammersmith%20ghost
• “The Reath Hammersmith Ghost.: The Bath Journal. Jan. 16, 1804. https://www.newspapers.com/image/975620428/?match=1&terms=Hammersmith%20ghost
• “Regine v. Gladstone Williams.” Transcript of the Shorthand Notes of Marten Walsh Cherer Ltd., 36-38 Whitefriers Street,
  Fleet Street, London, EC4Y 8BH. Telephone Number: 01-583 7635, Shorthand Writers to the Court. https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Crim/1983/4.html

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