The Cock Lane poltergeist dates from the year 1760 and surrounds the story of the haunting of the household of Richard Parsons in Cock Lane, London. Mr Parsons was begining to become seriously alarmed at the strange and offtimes mysterious noises at his home. These rappings continued for some months and when no explination could be found for them, and now almost at wits' end, he decided to ask the Reverned John Moore to come to his house and help to investigate the goings on. Moore had been a follower of John Wesley, a man who's own family home had come under attack from a poltergeist in 1715 and who's father communicated with the spirit by means of knocks. This would be the approach that Moore would use in Cock Lane and it wasn't long before he announced that he thought the spirit was that of one Fanny Kent who had not been dead all that long. Moore also believed that the spirit centred itself on 11 year old Elizabeth Parsons, another comparison he was making with Wesley's poltergeist from some years earlier, when it was assumed the spirit attached itself to John Wesley's younger sister then. Moores sessions were found to be more productive when held in Elizabeth's room, after the girl had been put to bed. He would hear knocks which at times sounded like they were coming from the floorboards and at other times like they were coming from the bed itself ( the headboard on the bed ). The spirit appeared to make two sounds, to display either pleasure or displeasure. A clawing or scratching noise would show its displeasure and a noise like a fluttering of wings to show it was then pleased. Almost from the outset thw spirit made its identity known and its reason for been in the house. The spirit, Fanny Kent, said she had been killed by William Kent, her husband when alive, who had poisoned her with a herb mixture he had mixed in with some ale and served her two hours before she died. Fanny wanted justice. William Kent had set himself up in business as a stockbroker, and it was about a year after his wifes death, 1761, that he first heard of the continuing saga in Cock Lane, when reading a news sheet. The story now been public knowledge made matters worse for Mr Kent, who was frightened by the accusations that the spirit was making. He contacted Moore in time. Moore was impressed by the manner of Kent, but assured him that what was happening in the house in Cock Lane was very real. As a result of there meeting Mr Kent went to the house to sit in on a seance himself along with Moore. To his horror the knocks accused him personally of killing Fanny Kent by means of poison. When Mr Kent asked the spirit would he be hanged for this, there was in reply one knock ( yes ). Kent began shouting that the spirit was lying and not that of Fanny as she would never have come out with such a thing. Outside on the streets by the nights the crowds were growing in number. The more details that were made public the greater the interest in the Cock Lane poltergeist, as the people gathered for a glimpse at just who was going in and out of the house to the seances. As the year went on so did the seances.On one occasion one of the sitters, William Legge, suggested that the girl, Elizabeth, should be moved to a new location, just to see what would in turn happen. The knockings accompanied her, showing that she, not the Cock Lane house, was the catalyst. But she was watched very closely. Women and attendants holding both her hands and feet to rule out any fraud, but still the noises went on. By now the seances had become very much like a kangaroo style of court. Now attending the seances was the doctor who had treated the sick Fanny Kent , who was saying that her husband could not have murdered her, but the spirit, in its knockings, diagreed with this on every occasion. The servant, at the time in the Kent household, was also accused by the spirit of been involved in the death of Fanny Kent, and she too was present at these seances and shouted at the spirit of her innocence everytime her name was mentioned. Elizabeth Parsons by this time had bagun to have epiletic fits, and had even claimed to have seen the spirit. But it was no longer just about the Parson's any more. William Kent was anxious to clear up the matter too as quickly as was possible, and John Moore, convinced that the spirit was telling the truth was calling for the authorities to act and arrest and convict Kent for the murder of his dead wife. The only man who could order an arrest was the Lord Mayor of London, Sir Samuel Fludyer. But he opted against this, as a similar sort of case had caused a great deal of trouble for his predecessor. He instead ordered a full independant investigation of the matter to be held at the house of Revernd Stephen Aldrich, and a committee with respected people was formed, including, John Douglas, an investigator who was known for his eye to exposing frauds, Dr Samuel Johnson, who at the time was known for his facination with spirits and the afterlife, and a local nurse, a physician, and two or three other gentlemen. What the committee decided upon was to take Elizabeth Parsons to the house of Aldrich, and then leaving her there, they would then go to the vault of St John's, were Fanny kent was buried, and she, Fanny Kent, would knock on the coffin, to prove it was really her. This the spirit agreed to do after it was suggested at another seance to her. The night in question, 1st February 1762, Elizabeth Parsons was put to bed in the house of Aldrich, were she was looked after by the nurse. She claimed she could feel the spirit present, but no evidence of its power was visible to anyone else in the room at the time. The committee then made its way to the burial place of Fanny Kent in St John's, and called for the spirit to keep its promise and make itself known to them by knocking on the coffin. But nothing did occur at all, and the committee arrived at the decision that the child had some sort of art of making noises, and that there was no spirit of a higer cause. One or two more seances would follow. On February 3rd, a large gathering witnessed a curtain rod spining of its own accord, and heard a knocking of violence high up in the chimney. As the committee no longer believed the spirit story, it was now decided that Elizabeth had one more chance to prove her innocence in the whole affair, and if she could not her mother and father and herself would all be sent Newgate on charges of fraud. This final session would be held in the house of a gentleman named Missiter in Covent Garden on 21st February and to nobodies surprise nothing did happen on the night in question. Fear of been arrested had made Eliabeth on this night crawl from her bed and pick up a piece of wood and use it to make sounds on the floor. She was caught doing so and now things were turning in the favour of Kent. It was though pointed out that the sounds Elizabeth faked on this night were nothing near to other sounds heard in earlier seances. The headlines in the paper were now in all in Kent's favour, reporting that the mystery of the spirit had been resolved, and a poem about the event was even written, making fun of the whole affair. It was on 10th of July that John Moore, Richard Parsons, Mrs Parsons, were all brought before Lord Mansfield, in Court of Kings Bench, Guildhall, to face charges of conspiring, along with others, to take away the life of William Kent by charging with murdering his dead wife. After hearing all evidence of various witnesses, for both sides, and a trial lasting only a day, the accused were all found guilty. The Reverned Moore was heavily fined. Parsons was sentenced to two years in prison, with his wife been sentenced to one year in prison. Elizabeth Parsons did not stand trial, and was never troubled by her spirit again. Long after his release Parsons was still protesting his innocent. He had many believers, including the Duke of York, who had all heard these strange noises at the time and said they could not have been made by the girl. A final twist to the story occured when an illustrator decided to draw some images for a publication in 1850, and had gone to the burial vault in St John's at which point the casket lid had been removed. Fanny Kent's features had remained perfectly preserved, but there was no sign of the smallpox that she was said to have died from. Noticable though was the shaping of her nose, the fact that it had not clasped inwards, which in modern times would have gave cause for a coroner to look for traces of poison by arsenic.....