Hammersmith Ghost Hysteria
In November of 1803, reports began circulating of ghost sightings in the Hammersmith district in west London. Many thought that the ghost was that of a recent suicide buried in Hammersmith’s churchyard, which was in line with a widespread contemporary belief that suicides should not be buried in consecrated grounds, because their souls would then find no rest there.
The ghost was described by all who saw it as being very tall and dressed all in white, with some witnesses adding horns and glass eyes to the description. Alarm at the sightings quickly grew to widespread panic, and then mass hysteria, as more and more people stepped forward to report that they had not only seen the Hammersmith ghost, but had been attacked by it as well. In response, fearful citizens took to arms and began patrolling the neighborhood.
On the night of January 3rd, 1804, one of the armed citizens, Francis Smith, was on patrol when he came across a bricklayer, Thomas Millwood, returning home from a visit to his parents while clad in the typical clothing of his trade: white pants, white shirt, and white apron. Leveling his shotgun at what he took to be the ghost, Smith shot Millwood in the face, killing him instantly.
Smith was arrested and tried for willful murder. The presiding judge instructed the jury that establishing malice was not necessary for a conviction, and that all killings were either murder or manslaughter, absent extenuating circumstances that were not present here. Smith was duly convicted, then sentenced to death, which sentence was subsequently commuted to a year’s hard labor. As to the Hammersmith “ghost”, it later emerged that it was an elderly local shoemaker who wore the guise to frighten his apprentice.
