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It is a story which has all the hallmarks of a modern thriller but which actually took place 250 years ago in 18th century England. A tightly woven tale of intrigue, affairs, multiple marriages, loan-sharking, death, courtroom drama and mass media frenzy lends what was once a supernatural mystery from the 1700s a decidedly modern air.
In January 1762 a ghost was reported to inhabit rented lodgings in a quiet London street, however the events which followed the alleged haunting just a few streets from St. Paul's Cathedral in Holborn saw two competing factions of the Christian faith dragged into the public spectacle and even Dr Samuel Johnson become involved.
Charles Dickens is one of several Victorian authors whose work alluded to the story and the pictorial satirist William Hogarth referenced the ghost in two of his prints.
The incident began with the untimely death during childbirth of grocer's daughter Elizabeth Lynes, who had married William Kent from Norfolk around 1756. While the child survived William was unable to care for the infant alone and his dead wife's sister, Fanny, moved in to help him. Sadly the little boy also died.
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