Scratching Fanny of Cock Lane

Scratching Fanny of Cock Lane

June 8, 2026 · 52 min · Episode 23

About this episode

The episode explores the story of a landlord's claim that his daughter was haunted by a ghost accusing her husband of murder.

A landlord claimed that his daughter was haunted, by the deceased wife of a former tenant. Most shocking of all, this ghost was accusing her husband of murder. Ghosts aren't real (most of the time, sorry), but murders plots can be very, very real. But who is the real murderer here? SOURCES: Gentlemen’s Magazine archives (by Samuel Johnson)  “Ghostly Hands and Ghostly Agency,” Jennifer Bann “Missionaries, Methodists, and a Ghost,” Travis Glasson “We See a Ghost: Hogarth’s Satire on Methodists and Connoisseurs,” Bernd Krysmanski “Samuel Johnson and Spectral Media,” Rachael Scarborough King  Elizabeth [called the Cock Lane Ghost], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Topics covered

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Gentlemen’s Magazine, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Books & works: Ghostly Hands and Ghostly Agency, Missionaries, Methodists, and a Ghost, We See a Ghost: Hogarth’s Satire on Methodists and Connoisseurs, Samuel Johnson and Spectral Media

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