Mass Hysteria and Murder: the Tale of the Hammersmith Ghost

How a cobbler in a tablecloth terrorized his neighborhood and caused an innocent man’s death

Image from the Newgate Calendar’s account of the Hammersmith ghost (public domain)

During the long, dark nights of November and December 1803, a rumor spread in Hammersmith, a neighborhood in west London. Several residents reported seeing a ghost. He was tall and dressed in a white cloak…