CLASSIC: The Cock Lane Ghost: Haunting, Hoax, Hysteria… or Hilarious?

Summary

Ridiculous History: CLASSIC - The Cock Lane Ghost: Haunting, Hoax, Hysteria… or Hilarious?

Release Date: April 12, 2025
Host: Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown
Production: iHeartPodcasts

---

Introduction

In this classic episode of Ridiculous History, hosts Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown delve into the intriguing tale of the Cock Lane Ghost, a sensational story from 18th-century London that captivated the public with its blend of haunting, hoaxes, and societal hysteria. This episode unpacks the layers of deceit, societal norms, and the human penchant for believing in the supernatural.

---

The Tragic Beginnings: William Kent and Fanny Brown

The story begins with William Kent and his wife Elizabeth Lynes, who married around 1756 or 1757. Tragically, Elizabeth died in childbirth, leaving William to raise their newborn son alone. To assist him, Elizabeth's sister, Frances "Fanny" Brown, stepped in as a housekeeper. Their infant son did not survive long, deepening William's reliance on Fanny. As Noel explains:

Noel [05:04]: "After listening, listening to this classic episode."

The hosts reveal that William and Fanny's relationship evolved beyond mere caretaker dynamics, leading to a secret affair—an arrangement frowned upon by the strict canon law of the time.

---

Moving to London: Secrets and Disputes

Defying societal and religious norms, William and Fanny moved to London, settling near the Mansion House in Cock Lane. They sought to keep their illicit relationship discreet, maintaining wills in each other's favor to shield their union from public scrutiny. However, their attempt at secrecy was short-lived when Richard Parsons, a parish clerk and a friend of William, became entangled in their financial woes.

William, a usurer (loan shark), had loaned Parsons 12 guineas with steep interest. Disputes arose when Parsons defaulted on his repayments, leading William to take legal action against him. As Noel summarizes:

Noel [09:16]: "He was loaning the money. And then always got into trouble because of disputes about how he was gonna get paid back."

The eviction that followed set the stage for the eerie events that would soon grip Cock Lane.

---

The Onset of Paranormal Activity

Strange noises began emanating from the Parsons household, initially attributed to a local shoemaker. However, reports of ghostly apparitions soon surfaced, with a white figure seen drifting through the home and mysterious knocks echoing through the night. These disturbances coincided with the lingering presence of William and Fanny's secret.

Ben [12:14]: "But before that, this landlord also discovered the nature of their relationship and held that over Kent's head again as a way of saying, I'm not paying you back this money because I got some dirt on you."

These supernatural claims ignited public hysteria, leading to widespread fascination and fear across London.

---

The Community's Frenzy and Investigations

As the ghostly reports intensified, Reverend Thomas Broughton and other notable figures took an interest in investigating the phenomena. The public's belief in the supernatural was bolstered by the era's cultural and religious context, where ghosts were widely accepted in folklore and literature.

A significant turning point occurred during a seance conducted by Reverend Broughton and others. The séance aimed to communicate with the apparition, posing direct questions to unveil the ghost's motives. During one of these interactions, it was revealed that:

Noel [30:23]: "Mary Fraser, running around the room shouting, fanny, Fanny, why don't you come?"

These attempts to interact with the ghost only deepened the mystery, as responses from the apparition seemed to validate suspicions against William Kent.

---

The Unmasking: Elizabeth Parsons' Deception

The climax of the story unfolded when Elizabeth Parsons, the daughter of Richard Parsons, confessed to orchestrating the ghostly disturbances. She had been hiding wood blocks in her clothing to simulate the knocking sounds, seeking revenge against William Kent for the financial and personal turmoil he had inflicted upon her family.

Ben [39:52]: "Elizabeth Parsons comes clean. She says she's doing this because her dad made her."

This revelation exposed the entire ghost saga as an elaborate hoax, motivated by personal vendetta rather than any supernatural intervention.

---

Legal Consequences and Societal Reflections

In the aftermath, William Kent faced legal repercussions, albeit minor, compared to the social scandal he endured. Richard Parsons and his accomplice, Mary Fraser, were sentenced for their roles in the deception. The public reaction was mixed, with some sympathizing with Parsons due to his financial struggles, while others condemned Kent's usurious practices.

Noel offers a thoughtful reflection on the societal implications:

Noel [41:43]: "Clearly the villain here is not Kent. Despite, you know, maybe it's not cool that he married his dead wife's sister, but I don't know, she was there for him."

The episode highlights how societal pressures and personal grievances can intertwine, leading to extraordinary measures and widespread hysteria.

---

Cultural and Religious Context

Ben and Noel also touch upon the broader cultural and religious tensions of the time, particularly the conflict between Methodists and Orthodox Anglicans. These tensions amplified the public's susceptibility to believing in such ghost stories, intertwining religious fervor with societal scandals.

Ben [43:47]: "The cultural context of the time, the religious controversy between Methodists and orthodox Anglicans."

---

Conclusion: Lessons from the Cock Lane Ghost

The Cock Lane Ghost episode serves as a fascinating exploration of how fear, societal norms, and personal vendettas can converge to create legends that endure through history. Ben and Noel emphasize the importance of skepticism and the dangers of mass hysteria, illustrating that sometimes, the most ghostly tales have very human origins.

Noel [44:27]: "Maybe as a democracy. So that's fair. Write to us and let us know if there are any spooky stories from history that you think your fellow ridiculous historians would like to hear."

---

Notable Quotes

• Ben [07:23]: "But without further ado, let us present the story of the Cock Lane ghost."
• Noel [28:04]: "They had checked originally with this cobbler to see if the cobbler was working during the time that they heard these noises."
• Ben [31:14]: "Trial by ghost, maybe. Maybe by ghost."
• Noel [41:11]: "They seemed like they were in love."
• Ben [43:35]: "Because no matter what he had done, he still hadn't married the sister of his dead wife."

---

Final Thoughts

In this engaging episode, Ridiculous History masterfully blends historical facts with entertaining narratives, providing listeners with a comprehensive understanding of the Cock Lane Ghost phenomenon. Through meticulous research and dynamic storytelling, Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown offer both enlightenment and amusement, staying true to the podcast's mission of uncovering the bizarre and often overlooked tales of human history.

---

Join the Conversation:
Listeners are encouraged to share their thoughts and suggest future topics via the podcast's Facebook group or social media channels. As the hosts hint, more spooky stories await, especially with October around the corner!

---

Produced by iHeartRadio

Transcript

[Ben]

All right, fellow ridiculous historians, we're returning with a classic episode for this week. I've been your Noel.

[Noel]

It's me.

[Ben]

Yeah, it is. Dude. Do you remember back in 1762 when everybody came to see something called the Cock Lane Ghost?

[Noel]

How could I forget the name like that? It's seared into my memory. And boy, oh boy, hopefully it will be seared into yours too. Ridiculous historians. After listening, listening to this classic episode.

[Casey]

Breaking news. T Mobile network outperforms expectations in all sectors because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Last 15 days qualifying unlock device. Credit service port in 90 plus days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption required. Card is no cash access and expires in six months.

[Noel]

Picture this. You're halfway through a DIY car fix, tools scattered everywhere, and boom. You realize you're missing a part.

[Ben]

It's okay. Because, you know, whatever it is, it's on ebay.

[Noel]

They've got everything. Brakes, headlights, cold air intakes. Whatever you need.

[Ben]

And it's guaranteed to fit. Which means no more crossing your fingers and hoping you ordered the right thing.

[Noel]

All the parts you need at prices you'll love.

[Ben]

Guaranteed to fit every time.

[Noel]

Ebay. Things people love. Step into the world of power, loyalty and luck.

[Ben]

I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.

[Noel]

With family. Cannolis and spins mean everything.

[Ben]

Now you want to get mixed up in the family business.

[Noel]

Introducing the [e-mail] test your luck in the shadowy world of the Godfather slot.

[Ben]

Someday I will call upon you to do a service for me.

[Noel]

Plead the Godfather now @chubba cassand casino.com.

[Ben]

Welcome to the family.

[Casey]

No purchase necessary.

[Noel]

VGW Group void.

[Casey]

We're prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Every morning brings a fresh new energy. And no matter what the day holds, we come to the Today show for all of it.

[Craig Melvin]

We get the best start to the day because we started together.

[Noel]

Watch the Today show weekdays at 7:00am on NBC.

[Ben]

Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio Foreign. Welcome to the show. This is ridiculous History. We hope this is the podcast you're looking for. I want to start with a question that is very tangentially related.

[Noel]

Noel, are you asking Me?

[Ben]

Yeah, you.

[Noel]

Okay, give it to me.

[Ben]

You're Noel. I'm Ben.

[Noel]

Hi.

[Ben]

There's our super producer, Casey Pegram. Everyone say hi, Casey. Great.

[Noel]

Hi, Casey.

[Ben]

Hi, Casey. The question is this. What's your favorite holiday?

[Noel]

Ghostaween.

[Ben]

Yeah. Is that the same as Halloween?

[Noel]

Yeah, it's just the ghostier version.

[Ben]

Okay, that's cool. That's cool. I'm a. I'm a true fan of Halloween, and I say this in full disclosure. As we get closer to this favored holiday, I'm going to be pushing for more and more spooky stories.

[Noel]

You know, you push and you push and you push, and sometimes, Ben, sometimes you get what you need.

[Ben]

There we go. If you try some times, right, you just might find today's story is a ghost story.

[Noel]

Yeah. And it's also a story of people trying things.

[Ben]

Yes.

[Noel]

On multiple levels.

[Ben]

And it's a story that I could see Guy Ritchie doing an adaptation of, oddly enough, because it has that right element of the seedy underside of England.

[Noel]

What, like, didn't he do one of the Sherlock Holmes movies?

[Ben]

He did. I believe he did, yeah.

[Noel]

All right. That's been Casey on the case.

[Ben]

We always have to try to have at least one Casey on the case.

[Noel]

Well, that one was unexpected. Yeah, he just kind of popped in, which I like.

[Ben]

Sudden Death Court.

[Noel]

I like it. He has this button out there that he has to hit, and it's pretty cool.

[Ben]

Yeah, we're all getting the hang of it, and I think it's normalized now.

[Noel]

So Guy Ritchie probably would do a good job with this because it's got a lot of Cockney accents, too, and a lot of usury and loan sharkiness.

[Ben]

Afoot and a lot of scams and cons. But without further ado, let us present the story of the Cock Lane ghost. But we can't begin in Cock Lane. Right. We have to begin first with a pair of lovers, A William Kent and Elizabeth Lynes, who married in about 1756 or 1757.

[Noel]

That's very true. And tragically, the then Mrs. Kent died in childbirth, leaving her husband, William, to take care of a newborn baby boy.

[Ben]

Mm. And this was in Stoke Ferry. Kent had kept an inn, and then later he was running the local post office. Now, all of a sudden, he was a single father. Or was he? You see, because Elizabeth had a sister and her sister's name was Frances, commonly known as Fanny.

[Noel]

That's right. And Fanny swooped in to help out with the childcare because Kent found himself. I don't know. There's no exact details as to why he couldn't ra the child himself, but he seemed inept at the whole affair, and so he needed a woman's touch.

[Ben]

Yeah. And unfortunately, the infant, who was a boy, did not survive for very long. And when the child unfortunately passed away, childhood mortality being at a much higher rate in those days, Fanny decided to stay on and become kind of a housekeeper for William. But soon they began having their own amorous relationship.

[Noel]

Yeah. And I think there was even a time where he kind of sent her away and she wrote him letters saying, you know, kind of, I don't want to say begging, but, you know, expressing that her love for him was real and that he should, you know, welcome. Welcome her back with open arms. And eventually it worked and he. And they ended up together. But this is interesting because she was a relative of his former wife. It was not kosher for them to get married. It was against the law.

[Ben]

Yeah, it was against canon law for them to be married. And this is something that they were both aware of. And it's one of the suspected motivations pushing William Kent to originally leave Fanny and move to London. But she wins him over with these passionate letters. And so he eventually says, okay, come move with me. Come meet me in London. I live in East Greenwich. And they decide that they're gonna, you know, canon law, be darned. They're going to live together as man and wife.

[Noel]

Canon law being like, of the Catholic Church.

[Ben]

Not so much Catholic. Not so much Catholic. This is England. I mean, canon law can be any organized religions law.

[Noel]

So the C of E. Right.

[Ben]

So the Anglican Church and the Methodist will also appear in here later. Despite the fact that they have decided to, in practice, disobey canon law, they do try to keep it on what we would call in the modern day, the low. They keep it on the down low. They still have wills in each other's favor, but they're trying to be discreet about this. They don't want a bunch of people to know what they're doing. And they are not very successful with this cause they moved to some rooms near a place called the Mansion House. They're renting these rooms. And historians believe the landlords may have learned about this illicit relationship from Fanny's other surviving relatives. And this is where we have to start talking about Kent's job. What does Kent do, Noel?

[Noel]

Well, this took me a couple of passes of some of this research material to read until I happened upon an article by our good pals at the Daily MA who, you know, aren't exactly the most reputable source for stuff like this. But they had a really good write up about this particular story that real quickly called him for what he was, which is a loan shark. Because he had done this several times. Because I was reading another article where it kept saying how he was always loaning his landlord's money. And at first I thought I was misreading it. Like, did they mean that landlords were loaning him money and getting mad because he wasn't paying? No, he was loaning the money. And then always got into trouble because of disputes about how he was gonna get paid back. And I think you used the term usury.

[Ben]

Yeah, he's a usurer, which I would phrase as a loan shark today. A usurer being someone who makes questionable loans with unfair interest rates. And originally, usury meant any sort of interest of any kind. However, in this case, it was like his job. He loaned people money and they were supposed to pay him back. This goes sour when their landlord at these rooms near the mansion house decides that, hey, these people are living in sin. I despise this. I am not going to repay that money that you loaned me, Mr. Kent. And I read somewhere is the equivalent of about £20 today. Probably a little bit more than £20 today. And so Kent moved to have that landlord arrested, which could only bring tensions to the house.

[Noel]

Yeah. And I think, you know, they were asked to leave. Right. They were evicted over this dispute.

[Ben]

They were evicted over this dispute. They had to find somewhere else to live. Around about this time, they meet a clerk, a parish clerk by the name of Richard Parsons.

[Noel]

Yeah, he's a clerk at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

[Ben]

Saint Sepulchre without Newgate.

[Noel]

Okay, well, I made the first part up, but I was close. I got the key word right, which is a crazy word, a sepulcher. I just love it.

[Ben]

It's goth sounding dash without Newgate.

[Noel]

Yeah. Where's Newgate in all this?

[Ben]

It's not there, that's for sure.

[Noel]

I know. Wow. Yeah. I don't understand. But yeah, that religious connection is going to come into play here pretty shortly. But, yeah, no sooner do they move in that he, Kent, loans this guy Parsons another sum of money with the terms of a guinea a month in interest.

[Ben]

Right. He's got 12. He loans him 12 guineas, and they're supposed to be repaid at that rate, Right? So. Oh, we should mention the most important part. When Parsons hears about their plight, he is sympathetic and he says, hey, you can use these rooms. You can live in these rooms. In my home on Cock Lane, which is just north of this church. And yes, Noel is absolutely right here. Shortly after Mr. And Mrs. Kent, as they were calling themselves at the time, scandal. Casey, can I get a gasp from the crowd? Perfect. Right. As they were moving in, Kent loaned Parsons this 12 guineas. And then it was shortly after that Kent goes to visit someone, I think, for a wedding outside. Like, he leaves town and then they hear these reports of strange noises.

[Noel]

Yeah, that's right. But before. Before that, this landlord also discovered the nature of their relationship and held that over Kent's head again as a. As a way of saying, I'm not paying you back this money because I got some dirt on you.

[Ben]

Yeah, because he knew about their plight of needing a place to live, but maybe he did not know the full extent of why they were out of house and home. So at some point he found out. Right?

[Noel]

Oh, he did, he did. And now it's not clear exactly how he found out. Probably very similarly to, I don't know, maybe. Maybe another. Another snitching relative. Because you have to remember, too, that this guy was doing something pretty untoward in the puritanical eyes of the time. He was carrying on with the sister of his dead wife, which would have been frowned upon in this kind of.

[Ben]

Society in many places. It's still probably frowned upon today. Parsons was a family man himself, but.

[Noel]

Also apparently a bit of an alcoholic.

[Ben]

Yeah, yeah. He was considered a generally nice guy around town, but known luckily as a drunk with money problems. So he definitely needed those 12 guineas to support his wife and his two daughters. He had one daughter in particular, is very important to this story, named Elizabeth, also called Betty by her friends and familiars. And Kent, when he traveled away from town, he asked Elizabeth to stay with Fanny because Fanny, by this point, was several months pregnant.

[Noel]

But then, yeah, as fate would have it, the story takes another unfortunate turn where Fanny dies of smallpox, taking along with her unborn child.

[Ben]

Yeah. So the very first reports of these noises come from Elizabeth, Betty and Fanny. And at first, Mrs. Parsons attributes them to a shoemaker. And people are kind of creeped out, but they're trying to figure out what's happening there. And Kent decided, here's how the death went down. Kent decided that they needed to move to another place, but the place was not suitable. The place that they were living in temporarily was not suitable for a woman so far along in pregnancy. And as you said on. On February 2, 1760, Fanny Lyle, also known as Mrs. Kent, passed away with her child. Kent is the sole Executor of the will, the living Mr. Kent. But he had very valid fears about being legally in hot water if people knew about the. The true nature of their relationship.

[Noel]

That's right. That's right.

[Ben]

In the will, he's just Mr. Kent.

[Noel]

Yeah. And I think Fanny's brother had passed recently as well, leaving her his portion of the family estate or whatever. Yeah.

[Ben]

Like £150.

[Noel]

Yeah. Which was nothing to sneeze at. So Kent was due a decent little chunk of change. I want to mention one thing, too. There was a great podcast episode from a show called dig digpodcast.org on the cock Lane ghost of London. And it had a few details in it that I thought were super interesting, One of which was. And I've seen this in a couple other places, too, but I like the way they put it that as Fanny was on her deathbed, there are multiple reports of people in the area or in the home seeing a ghost or some sort of apparition manifest in the home while Fanny was still alive. So this story gets really confusing in places. I'm gonna go ahead and put that out there right now. Because the noises happened before Fanny died, and there was a sense or some local reports, that it was actually Kent's deceased wife.

[Ben]

Right.

[Noel]

His original wife coming around and making trouble and rattling chains because she was unhappy about said carryings on with her sister Elizabeth.

[Ben]

Lines. Yeah. So what's key to notice here? As we established earlier, those strange sounds begin as soon as Elizabeth enters the picture. The younger, the Elizabeth Parsons.

[Noel]

Elizabeth. The daughter, Eddie. Yes. The daughter of the.

[Ben]

Yes. The daughter of the landlord, Parsons. And despite the problems that they have regarding the strange phenomenon, when Fanny passes away, the Parsons family hears no more of these strange noises. And they kind of shrugged it off as just one of these things. There's a great blog called Strange Company, which bills. This is a walk on the weird side of history. And they break down some of the financial stuff here at the time the two families left. At the time Kent moved himself and his wife out of the Parsons household, Parsons still owed Kent three guineas of those 12 he had been loaned. So Kent takes Parsons to court, and he takes him to court successfully. He collects the three guineas. Now it's January 1762, and guess what? The strange noises start up again, even louder and more vehemently than before.

[Noel]

Have we described these sounds yet, Ben? There were a couple of variations that we'll get into, but the main one was something of a scratch.

[Ben]

Right. Originally they were knocks, and then they became scratches. The Second time they surfaced.

[Noel]

Yeah. And it's crazy that the evolution of this sound, you know, there's always think of. And I think I've mentioned this on another show before, but remember that episode of Curtis, your enthusiasm where Larry is obsessed with the house sound?

[Ben]

Yeah.

[Noel]

Can we play that clip real quick? What's that noise?

[Ben]

Hear a noise?

[Noel]

Yeah. What is it? It's probably just a house sound or something. A house sound? Yeah. What's a house sound?

[Ben]

It also reminds me of that trope in so many horror films where someone goes, it's only the wind. In this case, they're like, shh, shh. Trouble. Not young Betty. Tis only the cobbler.

[Noel]

Tis but a cobbler tinkering away.

[Ben]

Yeah, exactly.

[Noel]

So cobblers can tinker, but can tinkers cobble? Ben?

[Ben]

Anyone can cobble. The difference is whether you can cobble well.

[Noel]

I see. Right, I see.

[Ben]

If you can cobble well enough to trust. Trust your shoes afterwards. In this case, the shoemaker just makes that one appearance. Cobbler guy does not come back afterwards. But the noises do. As we said, they came back with a vengeance. Right after that court case was decided in Kent's favor.

[Noel]

That's right. And at this point, it's become a bit of a. Of a local phenomenon, hasn't it? And the ghost has earned a nickname, A rather baldy nickname.

[Ben]

Talking about the Cock Lane ghost.

[Noel]

No, no. Scratch and Fanny.

[Ben]

Scratch and Fanny. Okay. Yes.

[Noel]

They're both kind of bawdy, if we're being honest.

[Ben]

They're body to us.

[Noel]

Yeah.

[Ben]

I think for them, Cock Lane was just the name of their street.

[Noel]

No, totally. But Scratch and Fanny right over there. Fanny doesn't mean the same thing as it means over here. I'm just going to put that out there.

[Ben]

That's absolutely true. A lot of your British fans will find the term fanny pack hilarious.

[Noel]

Yeah. And Scratch and Fanny just sounds like something. Something totally bitty naughty. Yeah.

[Casey]

Breaking news. T Mobile Network outperforms expectations in all sectors because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network switch. Now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off at the $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to four lines via virtual prepaid card. Will laugh. 15 days qualified unlock device. Credit service port in 90 plus days device knowledgeable carrier and timely redemption required card is no cash access and expires in six months.

[Ben]

Picture this. You're in the garage, hands covered in grease, just finished tuning up your engine with a part you found on ebay. And you realize, you know what? I could also use new brakes.

[Noel]

So where do you go next? Back to ebay.

[Ben]

You can find anything there. It's unreal.

[Noel]

Wipers, headlights, even cold air intakes. It's all there.

[Ben]

And you've got ebay guaranteed fit.

[Noel]

You order a part and if it doesn't fit, send it back. Simple as that.

[Ben]

Look, DIY fixes can be major. Doesn't matter if it's just maintenance or a major mod, you got it.

[Noel]

Especially when things are guaranteed to fit.

[Ben]

So when you dive into your next car project, start with ebay all the.

[Noel]

Parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit every time.

[Ben]

Ebay things people love it is Ryan here?

[Unknown]

And I have a question for you. What do you do when you win? Like are you a fist pumper? A woohooer, A hand clapper, a high fiver? If you want to hone in on those winning moves, check out Chumba Casino. Choose from hundreds of social casino style games for your chance to redeem serious cash prizes. There are new game releases weekly plus free daily bonuses. So don't wait. Start having the most fun ever@shamba casino.com.

[Noel]

No purchase necessary vgw group void where.

[Casey]

Prohibited by law 21/ terms and conditions apply.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Every morning brings a fresh new energy.

[Noel]

This is TODAY with and no matter.

[Savannah Guthrie]

What the day holds, we come to the Today show for all of it.

[Craig Melvin]

When things are tough, we talk about it. When there's something to figure out, we dig into it. And when there's joy, we celebrate it.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Because today is where it's all happening. We get the best start to every morning because we start it together.

[Noel]

Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin Weekdays at 7am on NBC.

[Ben]

So we can conjecture a bit on how the community and neighborhood found out about this phenomenon and how the cock laying ghost or Scratch and Fanny acquired this early renown. They had checked originally with this cobbler to see if the cobbler was working during the time that they heard these noises.

[Noel]

Oh, was it not on a Sunday?

[Ben]

It was at a time when he wouldn't be working. I think it was a Sunday, so that makes sense. And a neighbor named James Franzen said that he saw a strange white figure drifting through the Parsons home back when Fanny was still alive.

[Noel]

That's the one we talked about earlier. The apparition. That was when she was on her deathbed or whatever. That's the Guy. Yep.

[Ben]

He also said that he heard ghostly knockings in his own bedchamber. So picture this guy at the local pub around with his buddies, right? That's how these words and rumors spread. And now people are starting not only to report the ghosts, but to ascribe motive to scratch. And Fanny. So they said that she was not here just to make a hubbub and a hullabaloo, but that she was here with a mission. She was trying to get justice beyond the grave. And people started to play back the details of Fanny's death and life to themselves. And they started saying, you know what? Fanny made a will leaving everything she owned to Kent.

[Noel]

Everything.

[Ben]

She had every last farthing in it. In it. And then they noticed that Fanny's surviving sister Anne had arrived for the funeral and was very upset that she couldn't take a look at. At her sister in the grave. Like they couldn't open the coffin for her. And then she said that, at least allegedly, Anne said that Kent had done something dastardly and that Fanny's surviving siblings were all in good repair with her. You know what I mean? They got along. There wasn't any sibling hate or rivalry.

[Noel]

So why would she have left her fortune to this loan shark dude, right? Who, you know, surely that was not a respected profession in those days. He would have been seen as a bit of a. Of a confidence man almost. Right.

[Ben]

I mean, loans in general were always a hot button issue. He was called a usurer. Not exactly kind words. Right. So people started thinking that Mr. William Kent was not quite the grief stricken widow that he appeared to be.

[Noel]

I don't think. I think it's time we get into when the church starts getting involved. What do you think?

[Ben]

Sure. So let's talk a little bit about the people who are starting to observe this stuff. We have Franzen walking by, first a neighbor, and then we have more people in the community finding out. But the word of this spreads through London proper, beyond the neighborhood to the entire city.

[Noel]

London town.

[Ben]

So strangers are stopping by.

[Noel]

Oh, totally. And I actually saw one mention about how it had made the narrow little side street of Cock Lane versus virtually impassable. Because it was like, you know, just picture some sort of street side attraction and people just be queued up outside and, you know, blocking the road. I mean, it was totally like that. Like it was definitely chock full of looky loos.

[Ben]

Right. And there was no assigned time at which the apparently unearthly phenomenon would occur. So people would just stay out in the street waiting and drinking and some famous people started to observe this, too.

[Noel]

Well, that's true, but that's when really things started heating up was when Parsons himself, remember, he was a clerk at the most holy church of the Sepulchre.

[Ben]

Without Newgate.

[Noel]

With Newgate. That's the one. And he had some connects. One of these was a guy by the name of John Moore, who was an assistant preacher at St. Sepulchre's.

[Ben]

Without Newgate.

[Noel]

That's without Newgate. And he was also the rector at a place called St. Bartholomew the Great, which was over in West Smithfield. And he, I don't know, for lack of a better term, was like an exorcist. Right. He was coming in there because there was also talk that young Elizabeth, the daughter of the landlord, Mr. Parsons, was possibly possessed.

[Ben]

Right. Because the thing that we would refer to as a poltergeist today seemed to be closely associated with her, with Elizabeth Parsons, specifically.

[Noel]

Interesting.

[Ben]

Yeah. Right. And one of the things that Parsons really wanted more to help him do was to be a subject matter expert and establish first that there have been reports of Fanny's sister Elizabeth appearing in ghostly form as Fanny was laying in her deathbed. And then they said, okay, well, the spirit that's haunting the Parsons house now, and particularly Elizabeth Parsons, must be the spirit of Fanny herself, hence scratching Fanny. This didn't sound too out of the ordinary or impossible back then in England because there was a widespread belief in ghosts. You know, Shakespeare's been around. There are ghosts aplenty. And the literature and the folklore of the time, well, I certainly think folks.

[Noel]

Were a lot more willing to accept this stuff without any proof, imaginations running wild like they do. And also just the kind of zealous religious nature of the time, and the fact that a member of the clergy would take this issue that seriously speaks to the mindset of, I think, the public. Right.

[Ben]

Yeah. And here's the other part. They did see themselves as rational investigators, because, you see, they devised a method of attempting to communicate with the ghost, transforming back from scratchings to knocks. Right. And they said, maybe we can speak with this ghost through a very simple system, and we can make sure it can hear us and respond to us with the sounds it's making. And we'll set up a system and we'll explain it aloud to the ghost or the entity so that the ghost then knows the rules of interaction, and we'll keep it simple. So no Morse code? Nothing like that. Morse code wasn't around by that time.

[Noel]

What's the system, Ben?

[Ben]

Well, if There's a question where the answer is, yes, you have one knock. There's an answer where the question is, no, you have two knocks. But here's my question, like, what's the space between two knocks and. Right. And does it all get all gummed up when you ask things that aren't yes or no questions? You know what I mean? That was a clap, I think, for.

[Noel]

The rest of the podcast. Ben, I would like to communicate back with you only with knocks, only with yes or no responses. Is that okay? So what was the line of questioning, Ben? That. The exorcist. I'm going to call him that. How did he start grilling the ghost?

[Ben]

It's interesting because we have the questions, and we're fairly certain that we have the actual exact questions because we found them in a couple of different sources. I found them in a book called the Cock Lane Ghosts by a guy named Paul Chambers, and I think they've been printed out in another couple of places. But we're fairly certain these are the actual questions. Let's see. Do you want to be the priest, or do you want to be the ghost?

[Noel]

Dealer's choice, Ben. Dealer's choice.

[Ben]

Dealer's choice. All right. I think you would be great for the character of the priest, Ben.

[Noel]

Thank you. First of all, I want to preface by saying that these are some pretty leading questions for this ghost, but just the same, we're going to present them here without comment.

[Ben]

Casey, can we get some tense music?

[Noel]

Are you the wife of Mr. Kent? Did you die naturally? Was that two or three knocks? Okay, then by poison.

[Ben]

Imagine a pregnant pause here.

[Noel]

Did any person other than Mr. Kent administer it? And then at this point, somebody in the audience shouts, kent, ask the ghost.

[Ben]

If you shall be hanged.

[Noel]

And the question was asked and the ghost responded thusly, Yikes.

[Ben]

I know. Yeah. Trial by ghost, maybe. Maybe by ghost. So this is a. To some people, to the more religiously minded, this is a damning smoking gun for Mr. William Kent because there's already.

[Noel]

That hubbub around town about why would she have left him all of her possessions when she had no falling out with her living family, right?

[Ben]

So as this ghost, quote, unquote, ghost is answering further questions, people decide that she had not died from smallpox, but rather specifically from arsenic poisoning. And according to their theory, the arsenic had been given to Fanny by Kent himself two hours before she died. And now, again, allegedly, her spirit had returned for vengeance.

[Casey]

Breaking news. T Mobile network outperforms expectations in all sectors because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the Heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network. Switch now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com KeepAndSwitch up to four lines of a virtual prepaid card. Last 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service port in 90 plus days device and eligible carrier and timely redemption. Required card is no cash access and expires in six months.

[Ben]

Picture this. You're in the garage, hands covered in grease, just finished tuning up your engine with a part you found on ebay. And you realize, you know what? I could also use new brakes.

[Noel]

So where do you go next? Back to ebay.

[Ben]

You can find anything there. It's unreal.

[Noel]

Wipers, headlights, even cold air intakes. It's all there.

[Ben]

And you've got ebay Guaranteed fit.

[Noel]

You order a part and if it doesn't fit, send it back. Simple as that.

[Ben]

Look, DIY fixes can be major. Doesn't matter if it's just maintenance or a major mod, you got it.

[Noel]

Especially when things are guaranteed to fit.

[Ben]

So when you dive into your next car project, start with ebay.

[Noel]

All the parts you need at prices you'll love. Guaranteed to fit Every time ebay Things.

[Savannah Guthrie]

People love Every morning brings a fresh new energy.

[Noel]

This is TODAY with and no matter.

[Savannah Guthrie]

What the day holds, we come to the Today show for all of it.

[Craig Melvin]

When things are tough, we talk about it. When there's something to figure out, we dig into it. And when there's joy, we celebrate it.

[Savannah Guthrie]

Because today is where it's all happening. We get the best start to every morning because we start it together.

[Noel]

Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin. Weekdays at 7am on NBC.

[Unknown]

Get this, adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes, us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives. But are we investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight you can teach your kids financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than that. After school treatment, start prioritizing their financial education and future. Today with a risk free [e-mail] iheart greenlight.com iheart.

[Noel]

And this experiment was repeated several additional times. On January 5th, a guy, a reverend by the name of Thomas Broughton came to the house and checked out the hauntings and we start seeing this popping up in the papers and them like kind of this guy's being Kind of tried in the court of public opinion because public opinion leans pretty heavily on the word of ghosts, apparently.

[Ben]

Right. The Public Ledger started publishing regular accounts of the cockling ghost phenomenon. And more and more people would read the paper and say, you know, that William Kent is a murderer. And Kent vowed to clear his name. So he brought in two of the doctors who had taking care of Fanny in her last days, along with Reverend Broughton, and took them to Cock Lane and said, okay, let's do a seance. This seance did not go the way that they thought it would. It started with a relative of the Parson family, a lady named Mary Fraser, running around the room shouting, fanny, Fanny, why don't you come? Do come, Pray, Fanny, come. Nothing happened. According to Moore, it's because they were too noisy.

[Noel]

There's a pretty incredible article that I found that's from the Derby Mercury, which was a paper of note. And it's. It's almost impossible to fully read because it really is written in like almost Canterbury Tales type language.

[Ben]

Yeah. And so. And it's a large font too, where the lowercase S's look like lowercase F's. This is the one from January 21st, 1.22nd.

[Noel]

That's right. Priced at 2 pence and a half penny.

[Ben]

It's a steal. You just don't know who's getting robbed. Yeah. The Derby Mercury reported pretty extensively on this during the time that it was happening. You want to go for some interpretations here?

[Noel]

I was thinking you might be able to. I was having a hard time. Let's see if we can find a choice graph.

[Ben]

It begins with. For some time past, a great knocking having been heard in the night, the officiating parish clerks of St. Sepulchre's in Cock Lane near Smithfield, to the great terror of the family and all means used to discover the meaning of it. Four gentlemen set up there on Friday night, among whom was a clergyman who asked various questions. Questions is capitalized. I feel like we have to say it that way.

[Noel]

Yeah. And the S's F's is really throwing me for a loop. Can I give it a try?

[Ben]

Yeah, give it a go.

[Noel]

On his asking if anyone had been murdered, nothing answered. But on his asking if anyone had been poisoned, it's knocked six times. Various other conjectures in the neighborhood of this supposed specter, but the cause as yet has not been discovered. My accent shifting. The report current in the neighborhood is that a woman was some time ago poisoned and buried at St. John's Clerkenwell.

[Ben]

And he goes on in detail Offering these question and answer sessions across various days as proof. There are some parts of the narrative where you see investigators asking the ghost to identify how many people were present in the room and even asking the ghost to predict the future as well. So one of the questions is, how long would it be before William Kent was executed? And they said three years.

[Noel]

Wow.

[Ben]

And the ability to see into the future is another trait commonly associated with ghosts or those who dwell beyond the veil.

[Noel]

Yes, but it's really kind of unconfirmable, isn't it? I mean, he could have said 30 years, he could have said two weeks.

[Ben]

And we should also mention at this time, William Kent is married. He has his third wife, not related to his previous two. And as they were holding these seances, the Lord Mayor of London becomes involved and they also start moving Elizabeth, the young Elizabeth, Elizabeth Parsons, to different houses to conduct seances because they say the ghost is somehow associated with her.

[Noel]

Huh.

[Ben]

Huh.

[Noel]

Interesting.

[Ben]

Who'd a thunk it? And also, there's just no way we can get through Cock Lane. The crowds are too pressing.

[Noel]

Right.

[Ben]

So we have to try somewhere else.

[Noel]

We need to do some like, pop up seances elsewhere in London town. So shall we get to the twist?

[Ben]

If you haven't already predicted it, here's another twist. Yeah, let's just, let's go for it. They keep having seances and more and more notable people come. One seance In February of 1762, a Dr. Samuel Johnson is allowed to visit the seance. And what do they find there, Noel?

[Noel]

Well, you may recall earlier that there was some talk of the ghost being kind of emanating or being associated with Elizabeth Parsons. Well, yeah, it turns out she'd been hiding some wood blocks up her skirt and banging them together, making those knocks.

[Ben]

Yeah, she had hidden the wood in her clothes and following a trial, she was busted. Busted. They found the little pieces of wood and it explained all the past imperfections of seances where they said, oh, we have to do it with the lights low or we can't. The knocking stops if you look under the table where the kid's legs are. So Elizabeth Parsons comes clean. She says she's doing this because her dad made her.

[Noel]

That's right, the dad, the drunk who had apparently drunk his one guinea a month interest payments away after he tried to extort Kent. See, I don't think Kent comes off as a bully in this story. I think Parsons comes off as more of the bully here. Kent's just trying to ply his trade, man. He's not forcing Anybody to take the loan. He's just offering it, you know, I don't know, maybe that makes me sound like a bad guy, but that's how I feel. So yeah, it was all in revenge of like him bringing legal action against this guy. And you know, if you could accuse Kent of being anything, it was cheap. Because a guinea isn't a lot. I don't believe. And we talked about these being usurists rates because, you know, it almost sounds like, I think it was a 12 guinea loan and he was supposed to pay back that one guinea a month.

[Ben]

Yeah. And didn't get to go. Didn't go to court until it was down to three guinea a month or three guinea total.

[Noel]

Yes. And I think that Kent took him to court even though it wasn't even that much money. It was more for the principle of the thing as far as he was concerned. So I think what I'm getting at is that clearly the villain here is not Kent. Despite, you know, maybe it's not cool that he married his or semi married his dead wife's sister, but I don't know, she was there for him. She helped him raise the child.

[Ben]

They seemed like they were in love.

[Noel]

They shared a tragedy together, you know, when this child died, I don't know, it seems fine to me.

[Ben]

So yeah, it's very difficult and I would say unfair to ascribe those personal motives if we don't really know the story. So I would say from their behavior, it seems like as a couple they were on the up and up despite the fact that society didn't approve of them. Ultimately society does side with Mr. Kent, at least because Parsons goes to trial and he is sentenced to two years in jail.

[Noel]

Yeah, and he even has a co conspirator which I believe was his, his maid, Mary Fraser. Mary Fraser, not to be confused with Franzen. There's a lot of, a lot of characters and names in this story, so it's a little bit of a tricky one. But this is, this is good. She gets six months hard labor, which is no good. What happened to the daughter, though? She was, because she was a minor, she didn't get anything. You don't hear about anything happening to her. But it seems like she was the one perpetrating the ruse. Maybe it was just because he was contributing to her delinquency, but she was like 20 years old, I believe she was of age.

[Ben]

She had grown by that time, but was probably still thought to be a hapless pawn.

[Noel]

Yeah, that's true.

[Ben]

Obeying the wishes of her parents. And additionally Parsons, who said he was innocent, by the way, the whole time and never confessed, was pilloried. A pillory for anyone who you kind of recall the term, but you don't know exactly what it is. A pillory is when people are put in those weird stocks that hold them at their neck and their wrists. It's a form of public humiliation.

[Noel]

Does not sound like fun. Yeah, they do it at the Renaissance Fair, though, here in Atlanta.

[Ben]

Yes, but in contrast to the way the crowds would treat other criminals in the pillory, people didn't throw rotten fruit and meat at him. They actually took the opportunity to walk around and collect money for him for his cause.

[Noel]

Interesting.

[Ben]

Because no matter what he had done, he still hadn't married the sister of his dead wife.

[Noel]

Wow, Ben. Full circle. So it really is more of a puritanical judgment at the end of the day.

[Ben]

A little. A little bit more. And there's much more to the story regarding the cultural context of the time, the religious controversy between Methodists and orthodox Anglicans. But that may be a tale for another day. We hope you enjoy the story of this early spiritual investigation, skepticism versus spirituality versus Scandal. But this is far from the only ghost story that we'll tell eventually. Right?

[Noel]

Yeah. You said we're going to. We're going to really lean into some ghost stories for the month of October. Maybe.

[Ben]

I say I would love to, but we are nothing if not a democracy. Right. So that's fair. Write to us and let us know if there are any spooky stories from history that you think your fellow ridiculous historians would like to hear. And also, you know, write to us if you're like, no, don't tell any spooky stories.

[Noel]

Yeah, you can write to [e-mail] you can hit us up on Facebook or Instagram where we're ridiculous History. Please also join our Facebook group where we have lots of fun discussions. And that's a good place to post any suggestions for us as well, because we do kind of hang out in there. And that's called Ridiculous Historians on Facebook. Big thanks to super producer Casey Pegram and Alex Williams, who composed our theme.

[Ben]

As well as Christopher Haciotes, our research associate and erstwhile cameo expert on the show. We need to have him back on soon. As well as Yves Jeffcoat. And big thanks to you, Noel. And big thanks to you, listeners.

[Noel]

And please stick around for our next episode where we talk about what happened to the Mad Hatter who killed the man who killed Abraham Lincoln. It's a doozy folks.

[Ben]

That's all for today. I guess we could end on a knock knock joke.

[Noel]

Sure. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Casey]

Breaking News T Mobile Network outperforms expectations in all sectors because T Mobile helps keep you connected from the heart of Portland to right where you are on America's largest 5G network. Switch now keep your phone and T Mobile will pay it off up to $800 per line via prepaid card. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com keepandswitch up to 4 lines of via virtual prepaid card. Allow 15 days qualifying unlock device, credit service report in 90 plus days device knowledgeable carrier and timely redemption. Required card is no cash access and expires in six months.

[Noel]

Hud luck, we got one play. Everything we work for comes down to this. Quick question.

[Ben]

Speaking of workouts, how would you rate your athletic program?

[Noel]

Bro, we're in the middle of the state championship.

[Ben]

Oh, so like a B then?

[Noel]

Dude, get out of our huddle. Well, at holmes.com we leave it all.

[Ben]

On the field to get you detailed.

[Noel]

Information on local schools. Off the field, off the field. Copy.

[Ben]

All right. Go sports.

[Noel]

How'd he even get in here? Homes.com we've done your homework.

[H]

Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance, and keep an eye on what your kids are spending with real time notifications. Kids learn to earn, save, and spend wisely. And parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight Risk free [e-mail] iheart Dietz.

[Craig Melvin]

And Watson's been making meats and cheeses the right way since forever. What's that mean? It means never cutting corners. Ever. It means cooking, not processing. It means our Virginia brand ham that's cooked to perfection, then twice baked to layer the flavors. It takes more time, but you can taste the difference. We come to work every day to do it the right way, even if it's the hard way. Cause if it's not right for us, it's not right for you. Dietz and Watson. It's a family thing. Since 1939.