WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:10.919 In the winter of eighteen o three, a London neighborhood 2 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:14.119 was gripped by fear as reports of a ghostly figure 3 00:00:14.480 --> 00:00:18.839 haunting the streets of Hammersmith spread like wildfire. But when 4 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.679 a man with a gun ran into the specter in 5 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:25.559 the streets, the line between folklore and tragedy vanished in 6 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:30.199 a single fatal shot. This is the true story of 7 00:00:30.239 --> 00:00:35.960 the Hammersmith Ghost Murder, where panic and superstition, plus a 8 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:41.560 deadly mistake all collided in one of Britain's strangest legal cases. 9 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:47.359 My name's Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked Ingram. 10 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:54.640 A true crime podcast. The following podcast and material intended 11 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.359 for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised. 12 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:17.959 Welcome to Wicked and Grim. 13 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:19.879 And I'm naked today. 14 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:23.519 Oh my gosh, that sounds not okay. 15 00:01:24.280 --> 00:01:26.280 Why I'm in my own home. Why can't be naked? 16 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:31.319 Yeah, but just like sitting here recording a podcast, buckus. 17 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:33.760 I'm done with nude. I don't have headphones. I feel 18 00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:37.000 naked and broke his headphones. Yeah, so I got to 19 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:39.000 buy some new headphones. It feels weird, does. 20 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:42.159 Feel really weird? I know I've recorded a couple, not 21 00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:44.719 for breaking them, but because I just had a shower 22 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:47.319 and then I didn't want to dent my hair from 23 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:49.359 the top of my headphones, so brutal. 24 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:52.719 It it feels different when you're not wearing headphones. 25 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:56.519 It doesn't feel quite as legit or professional, really, I 26 00:01:56.519 --> 00:01:58.040 think is something. 27 00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:00.519 It doesn't And for me a big thing is if 28 00:02:00.519 --> 00:02:04.799 I have the headphones on, I can really understand when 29 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.719 we're overlapping each other in a conversation. 30 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:08.919 Yeah, it really. 31 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:11.800 Helps focus in on that. And when I don't have 32 00:02:11.840 --> 00:02:14.280 the headphones, you and I can talk to each other 33 00:02:14.280 --> 00:02:16.960 and we can overlap and understand each other easy, but 34 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:20.039 it doesn't betray the same way in audio, and it's 35 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:21.199 harder to differentiate. 36 00:02:21.639 --> 00:02:25.080 So yeah, well hopefully, I mean I'm more in mine. 37 00:02:25.159 --> 00:02:28.080 Hopefully I'm catching things, but I don't quite have the 38 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:29.919 ear as you do for this. 39 00:02:32.680 --> 00:02:33.879 Is that the right term? I don't know. 40 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:34.800 I don't even know. 41 00:02:35.639 --> 00:02:38.159 But we have a really interesting case for you guys today. 42 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:42.719 This is a paranormal case about a ghost and then 43 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:46.199 it transitions into a murder, so you get a ghost 44 00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:48.080 story and a murder story all wrapped up in one. 45 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:49.840 Sounds very intriguing. 46 00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:52.080 Plus it's in the eighteen hundreds. 47 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.080 Yeah, so it's crazy. 48 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:55.879 What more could you ask for it this case. 49 00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:56.840 Early eighteen hundred. 50 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:00.520 Yeah, yeah, literally has everything you could ask for. Like, 51 00:03:00.599 --> 00:03:03.000 I don't know why this isn't a movie or something yet, 52 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:05.599 because it's it's quite the story. 53 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:06.960 Well, let's make it a movie. 54 00:03:07.280 --> 00:03:09.000 Let's make it a movie. Let's do it. Let's just 55 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:12.800 start filming it. Someone quickly give us a budget of 56 00:03:12.840 --> 00:03:15.639 several million dollars so we can make this movie. 57 00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:17.840 Yeah, you probably need about them. I have no idea 58 00:03:17.879 --> 00:03:20.439 how much you need to make a movie, but people 59 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:22.840 probably do it for less. But then you can tell. 60 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:27.639 Yeah, you generally can tell, that's for sure. And especially 61 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:29.680 I mean if we're gonna do this and if we're 62 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:33.639 gonna have Chris Hemsworth be the main character, oh my god, 63 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:37.479 which we can't do it without obviously. 64 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:42.479 Yeah, that's our ticket of fame to meet him. 65 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.919 I mean yeah, I mean, picture like eighteen hundreds, like 66 00:03:45.000 --> 00:03:49.039 streets outside of London and you have like a rugged 67 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:52.639 ghost spectral thing happening, and someone's out in the streets 68 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:56.719 with a gun hunting the ghost, obviously shirtless, and it's 69 00:03:56.800 --> 00:03:57.479 Chris Hemsworth. 70 00:03:58.280 --> 00:04:00.520 Obviously shirtless, obvious. 71 00:04:00.599 --> 00:04:05.039 JESU tell me you wouldn't watch that movie. I'm a dude, No, homo, 72 00:04:05.240 --> 00:04:07.680 I'd still watch that movie. 73 00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:11.479 I'd watch that movie. I watched out of that movie exactly. 74 00:04:12.439 --> 00:04:14.879 Call Chris Hemsworth, get him on this now. See, we 75 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:18.920 need to make this happen. Anyways, let's get going. In 76 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:21.639 the early winter of eighteen oh three in Hammersmith, a 77 00:04:21.720 --> 00:04:25.480 quiet village just outside of London, and the streets were 78 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:29.600 colder than usual, just not from the chill, but also 79 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:33.040 from fear. Now. At the time, Hammersmith felt more like 80 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:36.199 a countryside than a city. Its narrow lanes were lined 81 00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:40.040 with hedgerows and scattered cottages, and at night, the only 82 00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:43.839 light came from the lanterns or whale oil lamps without 83 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:48.600 gaslight er police patrols. Darkness held power, and that December 84 00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:51.279 the dark seemed to be hiding something more than just 85 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:52.240 the silence. 86 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:57.519 Okay, darkness held power. Yeah that's a good line, thank you. 87 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:01.480 That might be one of our best lines. So ah, yeah, 88 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:03.040 that just blew me away. Well done. 89 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:08.319 Now imagine Chris Hemsworth, shirtless, walking through the dark with 90 00:05:08.439 --> 00:05:10.959 oil lamps going glistening off his bottom. 91 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:15.600 Oh, oil up, body, he is brutal ware going with this. 92 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:18.199 That's my last reference of Chris Hemsworth. I'm done. I'm 93 00:05:18.199 --> 00:05:22.680 done until maybe at the very end, but probably not now. 94 00:05:22.759 --> 00:05:25.399 Rumors began to swirl through the tavern and the homes. 95 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:29.199 People spoke of a tall, pale figure drifting through the 96 00:05:29.279 --> 00:05:33.519 village after sundown, sometimes wrapped in a white cloak, and 97 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:38.079 others said to have maybe horns or glowing eyes as well. 98 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.399 The stories varied, but the message was always the same. 99 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:44.680 There was something or someone haunting the churchyard at night. 100 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:47.800 Some villagers claimed it was the ghost of a man 101 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:51.079 who had taken his own life the year before. He 102 00:05:51.160 --> 00:05:55.120 was buried improperly in the churchyard of Saint Paul's, just 103 00:05:55.399 --> 00:05:58.959 off Black Lion Lane Now. At the time, it was 104 00:05:59.079 --> 00:06:02.480 widely believed that those who died by suicide shouldn't be 105 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:08.800 buried in consecrated ground, so doing so people feared would 106 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:13.240 keep their souls restless and even dangerous. It didn't take 107 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:16.920 long for superstition to turn into obsession, and by mid December, 108 00:06:17.040 --> 00:06:20.560 locals were claiming that the ghost had attacked people. He 109 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:23.360 had chased them right through the night and even scared 110 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:27.199 a pregnant woman to death. Panic set in, and the 111 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:30.800 lines between myth and reality were blurring each more every night. 112 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:36.040 In an era where people were fearing the supernatural just 113 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:39.160 as much as actual crime, it wasn't hard to believe 114 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:42.120 something otherworldly might be walking in those streets that time. 115 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:45.480 But what no one in Hammersmith realized was that their 116 00:06:45.519 --> 00:06:48.959 ghost story, real or imagined, was about to lead to 117 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:54.079 a very real death, also a dramatic murder trial, and 118 00:06:54.199 --> 00:06:57.040 a legal dilemma that would haunt British law for nearly 119 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.959 two hundred years. So that's our intro to the story. 120 00:07:00.519 --> 00:07:00.920 Okay. 121 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:04.199 Now, in the early eighteen hundreds, Hammersmith wasn't yet part 122 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:07.000 of the sprawling metropolis of London. It was a semi 123 00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:10.040 rural type village tucked along the north banks of the 124 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:14.639 River Thames, with open fields, narrow footpaths, and just enough 125 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:17.759 development to hint at a city that it would eventually become. 126 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:20.959 At the center of the village stood at Saint Paul's Church, 127 00:07:21.240 --> 00:07:24.519 surrounded by a quiet graveyard, and this is where that 128 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:26.759 ghost story began, or at least where it was most 129 00:07:26.759 --> 00:07:30.800 often said to be seen. The first reported sighting came 130 00:07:30.839 --> 00:07:34.279 in November of eighteen oh three, locals began whispering of 131 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:39.199 a strange, white clad figure that appeared after nightfall. According 132 00:07:39.240 --> 00:07:43.480 to some accounts, it floated, Others said it walked silently 133 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:47.600 through the mist. People claimed the ghosts would spring out 134 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:51.639 from behind gravestones, chase passers by, or simply stand there 135 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:54.720 in the darkness, just watching and waiting. 136 00:07:55.319 --> 00:07:57.720 Gosh, that's creepy, yeah, no kidding. 137 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:03.360 Descriptions were not exactly consistent. Some said the figure was 138 00:08:03.399 --> 00:08:07.399 covered in a white shroud like a burial cloth. Others 139 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:10.839 swore yes, large horns or big glassy eyes, or it 140 00:08:10.839 --> 00:08:14.000 wore a cloak made of calf skin. A few thought 141 00:08:14.040 --> 00:08:17.600 it was seven feet tall, unnaturally silent, and capable of 142 00:08:17.680 --> 00:08:21.800 vanishing in an instant. Now, whatever it was, it scared 143 00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:25.480 people badly enough to avoid certain roads altogether after dusk, 144 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:28.879 and that's where, hey, the darkness has its power, right. 145 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:34.159 The villagers soon settled into a theory the ghost was 146 00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:36.799 the restless spirit of a man who died by suicide 147 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:40.240 the year before. He'd been buried in the churchyard. Against 148 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:43.960 custom and belief at the time in the early nineteenth century, 149 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.480 many people believed that such a burial would actually leave 150 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:52.720 the deceased soul trapped and condemned to wander for all eternity. Stories, 151 00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:56.919 of course, piled up quickly. One Brewer's assistant, Thomas Groom, 152 00:08:57.000 --> 00:09:00.440 told of walking through the churchyard at night when something 153 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:03.840 lunged at him from behind a tombstone. It grabbed him 154 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.919 by the throat and spun him around, and when he 155 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.799 threw a punch, she felt it hit something soft like 156 00:09:10.039 --> 00:09:16.120 a great coat quote unquote, but he saw no one there. 157 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:20.480 In another case, a pregnant woman reportedly fainted after the 158 00:09:20.519 --> 00:09:25.559 ghost wrapped its arms around her. She was found hours later, 159 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:29.159 still unconscious and died not long after the encounter. 160 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:32.159 Really, so she could have had a heart attack. 161 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:36.159 Or something ain't Potentially, yes, though it's impossible to confirm 162 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:39.879 the story, it only added fuel to the hysteria. I mean, 163 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:43.600 you can't necessarily say that this woman who's found unconscious 164 00:09:44.240 --> 00:09:48.039 encountered the ghost because she wasn't conscious to say that 165 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.240 she did or did not, right, she could. 166 00:09:50.039 --> 00:09:52.679 Have just said had something wrong with her that night. 167 00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:54.639 She may have just yeah, she may have just been 168 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:56.679 walking home and just had a heart attack. And then 169 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:59.399 with all the ghost hysteria, someone's like she obviously encountered 170 00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:03.279 the ghost, and then that word spreads like wildfire, and 171 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.279 you have a pregnant woman who just got attacked and 172 00:10:05.360 --> 00:10:06.559 killed by a ghost. 173 00:10:07.399 --> 00:10:09.360 Or I mean, yeah, something could have even gone wrong 174 00:10:09.399 --> 00:10:10.679 with her pregnancy or something. 175 00:10:10.759 --> 00:10:13.200 Who knows. Yeah, but one way or another, it was 176 00:10:13.320 --> 00:10:16.759 just hysteria and this was just fuel for that fire. 177 00:10:18.200 --> 00:10:22.399 Then came the stagecoach incident. One night, a carriage driver 178 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:28.039 hauling sixteen passengers saw a ghostly figure rise from the roadside. 179 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.000 In a panic, he abandoned the horses, the wagon, and 180 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:37.200 every single passenger on board, and he just sprinted away 181 00:10:37.320 --> 00:10:38.000 into the night. 182 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:40.440 I didn't laugh, but was that you. 183 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:44.200 Me in a past life? 184 00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:44.480 Maybe? 185 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:49.519 Yeah? Now the horses were found still, just standing in place, untouched, 186 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:52.519 just not knowing what's going on. Right, there's like, okay, 187 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:54.200 buddy just ran off. What do we do now? 188 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:57.720 And I feel like horses a lot get spooked too, right, 189 00:10:57.879 --> 00:10:58.720 They can get spooped. 190 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:02.879 Yeah, I mean they're giant, is what horses are. So now, 191 00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.799 by late December of eighteen oh three, Hammersmith had crossed 192 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:09.159 a threshold from a worried curiosity to a full blown 193 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:12.840 ghost panic. What had started as a whisper and an 194 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:16.639 eerie sighting became a village wide obsession. The stories were 195 00:11:16.679 --> 00:11:20.039 growing darker and the fear more intense. People weren't just 196 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:26.480 avoiding the churchyard. Instead, they were now arming themselves with superstition, hearsay, 197 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.600 and in some cases, yes, even weapons. Now, there was no 198 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:34.799 official police force in London at the time. This was 199 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:38.759 decades before Robert Peel's Metropolan Police, so law enforcement came 200 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:42.200 in the form of night watchmen, volunteer patrols, and the 201 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:47.080 occasional constable. With villagers reporting attacks by a ghost. Even 202 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:49.879 the authorities weren't sure how they should respond to the situation. 203 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:53.440 They did what they could, though. They started patrolling the 204 00:11:53.480 --> 00:11:56.399 streets at night in shifts, hoping to catch whoever was 205 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:00.360 behind the hauntings, or maybe whatever was behind the hunts. 206 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.519 But patrolling nineteenth century Hammersmith wasn't easy. The village was 207 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:08.919 full of narrow, twisting paths and dark hedgerows, making it 208 00:12:08.960 --> 00:12:12.320 nearly impossible to cover every single route in or out, 209 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:14.919 and with the sheer number of ghost stories now floating around, 210 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.240 it was hard to tell which sightings were actually credible 211 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:20.879 and which were simply fear. Taking over One of the 212 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:25.080 men involved in the patrols was William Girdler, a local 213 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:29.440 night watchman. On the night of December twenty ninth, Girdler 214 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:34.559 reported seeing the figure himself. He described chasing a white 215 00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:38.559 cloaked form through the churchyard, only for it to tear 216 00:12:38.600 --> 00:12:41.240 off the sheet and disappear into the night. 217 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:45.000 He actually chased this thing. Hey, but I guess that's 218 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:45.919 what he was there. 219 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:49.759 For exactly now, left behind there was a tablecloth dropped 220 00:12:49.879 --> 00:12:50.879 during that escape. 221 00:12:51.519 --> 00:12:53.840 Huh wild Yeah. 222 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:56.360 It was the first solid proof that at least some 223 00:12:56.399 --> 00:12:58.679 of the ghost sightings were the work of a person 224 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:03.960 in disguise. Literally, have someone classic Charlie Brown sheet draped 225 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:08.919 over him, left exactly, and it's hey, this is a tablecloth, 226 00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:11.600 like you know, like we know someone in the village 227 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:13.480 who's making these or something like that. Like this is 228 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:16.360 an actual tablecloth. Someone had it draped over him. That 229 00:13:16.519 --> 00:13:18.399 was a person. They ripped it off and they ran. 230 00:13:20.519 --> 00:13:23.159 Now this only added to the confusion. Though if the 231 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:26.279 ghost was just a prankster, it was no longer harmless fun. 232 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:29.600 It was at this point dangerous, especially now that citizens 233 00:13:29.600 --> 00:13:33.639 were arming themselves in hopes of catching it. Rumors spread 234 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:37.879 even faster. Some believed the ghosts could breathe fire, had claws, 235 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:41.039 or moved without touching the ground. Others were convinced there 236 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:43.679 were multiple people dressing up as ghosts and they were 237 00:13:43.720 --> 00:13:48.480 the source. Each and every new account added layers and 238 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:52.480 layers of panic. By the time the calendar turned to 239 00:13:52.559 --> 00:13:56.120 January eighteen oh four, Hammersmith was a village living on 240 00:13:56.240 --> 00:14:00.120 high alert. The ghost wasn't just a curiosity anymore. It 241 00:14:00.159 --> 00:14:03.320 was a serious public threat, and people were growing desperate 242 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:06.759 to put a stop to it. Seemed like everyone had 243 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:09.440 a story. Some had seen the ghosts with their own eyes, 244 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.600 Others knew someone who had chased it or been chased 245 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:15.360 by it, and a few claimed they've even lost loved 246 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:18.039 ones in the frights from it. Whether it was real 247 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:21.279 or imagined, the fear felt real enough to shape daily 248 00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:25.559 life here. Families refused to go out after sunset. Roads 249 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:29.320 at once bustled with evening foot traffic now stood silent 250 00:14:29.399 --> 00:14:32.360 and empty. Even the taverns had started to clear out 251 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:38.039 earlier than usual, and yet the ghosts kept appearing, or 252 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:42.840 at least someone pretending to be did. The white figure 253 00:14:42.919 --> 00:14:46.039 was said to stalk the area near Black Lion lane 254 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:49.799 close to the churchyard late at night. That made it 255 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:53.159 the hotspot for citizen patrols, men from the community, some 256 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:56.519 armed with pistols, others with clubs or shotguns. They took 257 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:59.159 turns walking the village, hoping to catch the ghosts in 258 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:03.240 the act. The patrols weren't organized or trained. These were 259 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:06.919 civilians acting on fear and frustration, and they weren't always 260 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:10.080 coordinated with each other either. The lack of structure would 261 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:14.360 soon prove to be a serious problem. Still, some seemed 262 00:15:14.360 --> 00:15:18.240 genuinely motivated to by desire to protect the village. One 263 00:15:18.279 --> 00:15:23.000 of them Francis Smith, the twenty nine year old excise officer, 264 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:26.799 essentially a government tax collector. He wasn't a soldier or 265 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:29.799 a constable, but he felt responsible for his neighborhood safety. 266 00:15:31.120 --> 00:15:34.320 He thought that someone could be dressing up and terrorizing people, 267 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:37.559 especially when someone believed a woman had already died and 268 00:15:37.639 --> 00:15:41.919 on fright right. That enraged him. Others in the village 269 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:44.879 were beginning to believe that the ghost was, yes, a prankster. 270 00:15:45.679 --> 00:15:48.440 It was shifting more this way, perhaps a local with 271 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:51.960 a grudge or a sense of cruel humor. But even then, 272 00:15:52.159 --> 00:15:55.879 the line between superstition and reality was still blurred. The 273 00:15:55.919 --> 00:15:58.679 people of Hammersmith weren't just dealing with a physical threat. 274 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:02.200 They are reacting to a community wide delusion built on 275 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:05.960 fear and superstition fan by rumor, and now given the 276 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:08.240 weight of real danger. 277 00:16:08.799 --> 00:16:10.799 I'm kind of on the page where I think there's 278 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:13.840 a lot of people that could just be dressing up 279 00:16:13.919 --> 00:16:16.600 and kind of like playing on this a little bit, 280 00:16:16.679 --> 00:16:17.159 having fun. 281 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:19.600 You know, Well, definitely, I mean if you look back, 282 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:22.799 like that sort of thing happened not too long ago 283 00:16:22.879 --> 00:16:25.240 with the whole like clown sightings that were going on, 284 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:28.120 Like I think that was pre COVID or maybe like 285 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:29.879 twenty or seventeen. 286 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:30.759 I forgot about that. 287 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:34.399 Like there was a hysteria because like there was a 288 00:16:34.440 --> 00:16:37.679 clown sighting or two, and it was like obviously it's 289 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:40.279 a person, right, but it's like this person seems very 290 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:45.600 aggressive and malice intent, right, And then all of a sudden, 291 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:47.720 more and more people started dressing up with this clown 292 00:16:47.799 --> 00:16:51.559 doing this and pranking people. Yeah, so okay, is this 293 00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:54.360 the same sort of situation? But that also you need 294 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:56.440 to ask yourself, Okay, what started this? 295 00:16:57.360 --> 00:16:58.840 Yeah, something did for sure? 296 00:16:59.039 --> 00:17:01.759 Yeah, was it a peron in a sheet that started it? 297 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:05.319 Or was there an actual specter that started this, because 298 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:08.240 remember there are accounts of people saying that there was 299 00:17:08.279 --> 00:17:11.599 something that disappeared or this one individual, like I said, 300 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:14.279 is the specter wrapped its arms around him and he 301 00:17:14.359 --> 00:17:15.799 hit it with his fists and he felt it like 302 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:17.960 he was hitting a great coats But then there was 303 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:22.160 nothing there. So you have ghostly stories and encounters, and 304 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:27.799 you also have more real reality human stories and encounters. 305 00:17:28.519 --> 00:17:30.720 Yeah. Well, I mean the one person that was wearing 306 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:33.720 the sheet and then it got taken off or he 307 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:37.319 let it drop and then looked to just disappear, like 308 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:39.319 he could have just been wearing dark clothes, right and 309 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:42.000 then just like yeah, disappeared in the night. It's hard 310 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:45.039 to see someone wearing all black or like all white. 311 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.440 True, And I mean in that same sense too, if 312 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:52.599 you're a hundred yards away you see this ghost in 313 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.200 a graveyard, right, and all of a sudden you see 314 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:57.839 it disappear. Maybe that's someone in dark clothes and all 315 00:17:57.839 --> 00:17:59.720 you see is the white sheet dropped to the ground, 316 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:01.759 and that's quote unquote disappearing. 317 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:05.039 Yeah, but I don't disagree that there was something that 318 00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:07.640 started this, and you know, Yeah. 319 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:11.119 There needed to be a spark that started the fuck yeah, 320 00:18:11.160 --> 00:18:15.039 and what was that? It's hard to say. Now, some 321 00:18:15.079 --> 00:18:17.440 stopped waiting for a solution and started taking matters into 322 00:18:17.480 --> 00:18:20.440 their own hands. And that's exactly what Francis Smith decided 323 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:23.480 to do. On the evening of January third, eighteen oh four, 324 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:26.559 Francis Smith left his home in Hammersmith with a loaded 325 00:18:26.599 --> 00:18:30.279 shotgun in hand and a plan in mind. He was 326 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:33.359 going to patrol the streets and, if possible, put an 327 00:18:33.519 --> 00:18:37.160 end to the so called Ghost's reign of terror once 328 00:18:37.319 --> 00:18:40.759 and for all. Now, Smith wasn't a soldier or part 329 00:18:40.799 --> 00:18:44.200 of any official militia. He was a civilian, an excise 330 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:48.640 officer responsible for collecting taxes on goods like alcohol. By 331 00:18:48.640 --> 00:18:52.240 most accounts, he was an honest and respectable man, not 332 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:56.480 known for violence or even reckless behavior. Like many in Hammersmith. 333 00:18:56.599 --> 00:19:01.319 He simply just had enough now. Earlier that evening, Smith 334 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:04.680 had reportedly spent some time at a local tavern, the 335 00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:08.480 White Heart Inn, possibly to gather his courage. It's unclear 336 00:19:08.519 --> 00:19:10.559 how much he drank, but by the time he headed 337 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:15.880 out he was tense and determined and carrying a Blunderbuss 338 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:20.440 style shotgun, a powerful short barreled weapon loaded with lead shot. 339 00:19:22.039 --> 00:19:25.960 Around ten thirty pm, while walking along Black Lion Lane, 340 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:30.720 Smith encountered William Girdler, the same watchman who had chased 341 00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:34.119 the ghost just days prior. Now, Smith told Girdler he 342 00:19:34.200 --> 00:19:37.200 planned to hunt the ghost that night, and Girdler agreed 343 00:19:37.200 --> 00:19:40.039 to meet up with him after finishing his patrol and 344 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:44.440 calling the hour at eleven pm. The two men even 345 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:48.640 devised a password exchange, a call in response of who 346 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:54.240 comes there and friend advance friend, so they wouldn't mistake 347 00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:55.519 each other in the dark. 348 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.279 Right they're taking this real seriously? 349 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:00.799 They definitely are. Now it's worth remember how dark the 350 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:03.519 streets of Hammersmith were at the time. There were no 351 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:06.960 street lights, the sky was moonless, the narrow lanes were 352 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.359 lined with hedges and stone walls, making visibility close to 353 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:14.319 zero in that setting. With his nerves frayed and his 354 00:20:14.359 --> 00:20:17.759 weapon ready and a drink or two in his system, 355 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:22.640 Smith continued on alone. It was just past eleven pm 356 00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:26.720 on January third, eighteen oh four, when Francis Smith, still 357 00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:32.279 patrolling that black lined lane, saw something or someone emerge 358 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:35.839 from the darkness ahead of him. What he saw match 359 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:39.920 the ghost stories perfectly, a figure dressed entirely in white, 360 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:43.240 moving through the gloom. What he didn't know was that 361 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:47.559 figure wasn't a ghost. It was Thomas Millwood, a twenty 362 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:50.880 nine year old bricklayer, returning home after visiting his parents 363 00:20:50.880 --> 00:20:54.519 and sister. He was dressed as bricklayers typically were at 364 00:20:54.519 --> 00:20:58.680 the time, in white linen trousers, a white flannel waistcoat, 365 00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:04.119 and a white apron, his standard work attire. This wasn't 366 00:21:04.160 --> 00:21:06.519 the first time Millwood had been mistaken for the ghost either. 367 00:21:07.160 --> 00:21:09.519 Days earlier, he'd been confronted by a man and two 368 00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:12.279 women riding in a carriage who shouted that he looked 369 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:15.920 like the infamous apparition. According to his wife and sister, 370 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:19.880 Millwood had even joked about it afterwards, but refused suggestions 371 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:21.680 to wear a coat over his work clothes. 372 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:23.920 That night. Yeah this is not going to end well. 373 00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:28.240 Yeah. Smith spotted Millwood from across the narrow lane in 374 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:31.359 the pitch black night, and with adrenaline running high already, 375 00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:34.160 Smith believed he had finally found the ghost he was 376 00:21:34.200 --> 00:21:37.920 searching for. Without taking time to confirm who or what 377 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:42.960 he was looking at, Smith raised his shotgun and shouted quote, 378 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:46.680 damn you, who are you? And what are you? Damn you? 379 00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:50.359 I'll shoot. Then almost immediately after, he pulled the trigger 380 00:21:50.440 --> 00:21:51.119 and fired. 381 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:51.920 Oh no. 382 00:21:52.599 --> 00:21:56.279 The shot hit Thomas Millwood in the lower left jaw, 383 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:00.400 shattering bone, severing part of his spine, and in instantly 384 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:03.839 dropping him to the ground. He died right there where 385 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:04.319 he fell. 386 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:06.680 Holy shits. 387 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:10.880 Inside the nearby house, Milwood's sister Anne had just seen 388 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:11.440 him off. 389 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:16.119 Oh like, he was just leaving the house of the family. 390 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:16.440 Just leaving. 391 00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:17.240 Oh no. 392 00:22:17.799 --> 00:22:20.880 From her window, she heard the confrontation, the shout from 393 00:22:20.920 --> 00:22:24.759 the blast. She rushed outside to find her brother motionless 394 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:28.319 in the street, blood spreading across his white clothes. 395 00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:30.960 Oh no, that is terrible. 396 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:35.880 Meanwhile, Smith remained at the scene, stunned, shakened, and pale. 397 00:22:36.559 --> 00:22:40.519 A few others arrived, including watchman William Girdler, and neighbors 398 00:22:40.599 --> 00:22:44.200 John Locke and George Stow. Smith admitted to what he 399 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.359 had done, but he said he hadn't meant to kill 400 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:50.200 a man. He truly believed he had shot a ghost. 401 00:22:50.599 --> 00:22:53.200