Cock Lane Ghost: 18c London’s Haunting Hoax

Creepy, Occult & Spooky Series #3 of 4.  There wasn’t a soul in London, much less the neighborhood of Smithfield market, who hadn’t heard of the Cock Lane ghost. In 1762, the narrow London street was crowded with throngs of onlookers and busy-bodies who wanted to know if the rumors were true. A young girl at 20 Cock Lane , Elizabeth Parsons, was said to be possessed by a restless spirit. The Cock Lane ghost’s biggest claim to fame was its alleged knocking and scratching at all hours of the night and day. Witnesses devised a code to communicate with the ghost who claimed to have been murdered by her lover two years earlier. This had Londoners up in arms. Everyone took a side. Methodists and Anglicans viciously argued over the possibility of contact with the dead. London newspapers wrote daily updates about the séances, investigations and hearings that sought to uncover the truth behind Scratching Fanny, as the ghost was named, and her suspicious death. Londoners used the mysterious happenings at Cock Lane as a vehicle to debate religious difference, pre-marital sex, fraud, murder, and the vulnerability of some of London’s greatest minds in the face of superstition.

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