Poltergeist murder trial

How a poltergeist, a type of ghost, was ‘tried for murder.’

Richard Parsons was becoming seriously alarmed by the mysterious noises at his home in Cock Lane, London, England, in the 1760s.
The strange rappings had continued for several months and no natural explanation could be found for them.
Then, almost at his wits’ end, Parsons asked the Reverend John Moore to investigate, to see if some paranormal agency were the cause.
Moore was a follower of John Wesley, who was himself no stranger to the supernatural.
In 1715 Wesley’s family home had been troubled by a ‘knocking spirit’, and his father, the Reverend Samuel Wesley, had `communicated’ with it by knocking back.
Moore, told of Parsons’s theories as to the origin of the phenomena — he now believed that the ghost of the newly dead Fanny Kent was responsible — began holding seances, using one knock for yes, and two for no, in order to find out the ’spirit’s’ wishes.
The Wesley ghost had centered itself upon Hetty Wesley, John’s younger sister, and the Cock Lane ghost now orientated itself upon the person of i i-year-old Elizabeth Parsons.
Moore’s most productive sessions were held in Elizabeth’s bedroom, after the girl had been put to bed.
Sometimes the knocks came from the floorboards, sometimes from the bedstead or the walls.
On the rare occasions when the ’spirit’ appeared to be pleased, it made a noise like the fluttering of wings; when displeased it made a noise like ‘a cat’s claws scratching over a cane chair’ — and it became known as ‘Scratching Fanny’.
(to be continued)