The Cock Lane Ghost

The Cock Lane Ghost is a true story of sexual infatuation, conspiracy, murderous accusations and ghostly visitations. Played out in London in the 1760s, it involved everyone from a drunken landlord, respected clergymen, newspaper journalists and a powerful aristocratic family to Dr Samuel Johnston. Its effect was such that the term Cock Lane was still synonymous with folly, superstition and corruption over a century later. Paul Chambers draws on a wealth of contemporary sources to paint a vivid picture of the events that led to the scandal and its aftermath in this entertaining portrait of eighteenth-century life.