Futility Closet

In 1759, ghostly rappings started up in the house of a parish clerk in London. In the months that followed they would incite a scandal against one man, an accusation from beyond the grave. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the Cock Lane ghost, an enduring portrait of superstition and justice. We'll also see what you can get hit with at a sporting event and puzzle over some portentous soccer fields. Intro: In 1967 British artists Terry Atkinson and Michael Baldwin offered a map that charts its own area. In 1904 Henry Hayes suggested adding fake horses to real cars to avoid frightening real horses. Sources for our feature on the Cock Lane ghost: Douglas Grant, The Cock Lane Ghost, 1965. Oliver Goldsmith, "The Mystery Revealed," in The Works of Oliver Goldsmith, Volume 4, 1854. James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D., Volume 1, 1791. Charles MacKay, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, 1852. Andrew Lang, Cock Lane and Common-S