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The Smithfield Ghost

MrRING

Android Futureman
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(I posted this on another board, but as I haven't gotten any info there yet, I thought I'd try here as well)

So exactly what was this event all about? I found a picture (that doesn't seem to fit any story in the book) in M.R. James' The Book of Ghost Stories, where the description made it sound a bit like Spring-Heeled Jack.

Online, I could only find a German account that was web-translated:

The market spirit of Smithfield

To the probably strangest and become on record spirit, probably belongs around the center the 17. Century, on the market place of Smithfield, umherspukende spirit.

In the year 1654 the brochure “A described true relation OF the Smithfield Ghost” phantom as follows: The spirit of Smithfield is the shape of a lawyer, which is wrapped into a robe and carries horns on the head. At the feet it carries pointed shoes and in its hand holds it a large butcher's knife.

Its nuisance apparent floated the spirit of Smithfield in each Saturday night from for instance 21:00 to 0:00 clock. It proceeded completely purposefully and looked for all butchers home, in order to annoy these excessively. From whose entriss it arranged stands the large meat clubs and substantial damage. Some courageous men tried the shape with its own chopping and Fleischmessern too vertreiuser you did not succeed this however, there her only a Lufthauch felt instead of a true shape from meat and blood opposite to stand.

An involuntary confession at the Spuk was that the spirit as, into that turning lawyer wrapped, feature was described. Mallet, a local resident lawyer, had died briefly before at a meat poisoning. Unfortunately itself Mallet could not do probably in the fight of death, any more does not remember with which butcher it the spoiled meat had acquired. Thus it came that the spirit, after it had terrorized the butchers of Smithfield its “revenge campaign” to Whitechappel and Eastcheape expanded, around which there still by far worse things to butchers did.

Finally, after all butchers were afflicted, that disappeared to phantom just as suddenly as it had emerged. The question, whether it actually concerned with the market spirit of Smithfield now around the spirit of a deceased of lawyer, or only a Possenreisser, could be never clarified.

Any ideas about what happened? or a better copy of the story?
 
Derelict London says this:
Smithfield Market was haunted in the middle of the 17th century by the ghost of a lawyer named Mallet, who is said to have died in 1654 after eating poisoned meat. Described as being dressed in the gown of a lawyer and wearing long-pointed shoes, he appeared in the market every Saturday night between the hours of nine o’clock and midnight, tormenting the butchers by pulling joints of meat off their stalls. Some of the braver of these men attempted to drive the ghost away with their knives and meat-cleavers but could feel “nothing but aire”. It would appear that the ghost was not absolutely certain that the affected meat had come from Smithfield however, because after terrorising the butchers at Smithfield he often moved on to Whitechapel and Eastcheap, where he similarly angered the butchers there.
I'm sure there's an account in Peter Underwood's Haunted London, too.
 
I think there is also a reference to the Smithfield ghost in Peter Haining's (?) Dictionary of Ghosts. Incidentally, there are some pictures in this book that still continue to scare me today - the etching of a scene from 'Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad' and one of the Hammersmith ghost :shock:
 
If you want weird ghost stuff look up james haddock the irish ghost.
If my memory serves me right it was a murder case and they laughingly
called his ghost as a witness.
AND THE BLOODY GHOST APPEARED!!!!!!!
 
This Haddock(And this should probably be moved off to another thread):

Belfast's most famous ghost
The following is a slightly edited version of an article from George Treanor, Secretary of the Irish Heritage Group.

Belfast's most famous ghost is James Haddock. Like Hamlet's father, he had a wrong to right. When James Haddock died in 1657 he left part of his land in the Malone area to his wife Arminell and the rest to his young son. James Haddock's trouble was that his wife was trying to filch some property from his son John. The executor of the will was one Daniel Davis, who eventually married widow Arminell. They had a son and Davis altered the will to benefit this son instead.

Davis nearly succeeded with his deception except five years later, during Michaelmas, James' friend, Francis Tavener, was riding over Drum Bridge late one night when his horse reared up and there before him stood Haddock's ghost. "Take Daniel Davis to court" moaned the ghost. "There is something strange happening to my will."

This apparition appeared on several occasions, until at last Francis did take Davis to court.

The case was heard in Carrickfergus under Bishop Jeremy Taylor. By now the country was all agog, for news of the apparition had spread. The courtroom was packed. The blinds were drawn and in the gloom the proceedings began. Eventually came the moment all had anticipated.

"Call James Haddock" shouted the Usher - No reply. The crowd laughed nervously.

"Call James Haddock" - again silence. The crowd held their breath.

"Call James Haddock" went the cry again and slowly a hand, draped in a shroud, arose from the witness box and a disembodied voice boomed out "Is this enough?" The crowd erupted. It was indeed enough and Davis was found guilty.

These facts were all authenticated by Thomas Alcock, secretary to Bishop Jeremy Taylor who recorded the whole affair in choice Latin. The lad was righted but James Haddock's gravestone in Drumbeg churchyard was thrown down to keep him quiet. And so it remains to this day.
 
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