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Criminal

The Hammersmith Ghost

Criminal

Vox Media Podcast Network

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.738.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the winter of 1803, residents outside of London reported strange encounters with a ghost. Some said it looked like Napoleon Bonaparte, or a horse without a head. Others said the ghost breathed fire and smoke. By Christmas, there was a “full-scale phantom panic.” Shortly after the New Year, one man decided he’d stop the ghost once and for all. Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop. Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Support for this show comes from Krakan.

0:03.0

Krypto is like the financial system, but different.

0:07.0

It doesn't care where you come from, what you look like, your credit score,

0:11.0

or your outrageous food delivery habits.

0:13.7

crypto is finance for everyone everywhere all the time.

0:18.4

Krakhan, see what crypto can be.

0:21.3

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest.

0:25.0

This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. It was the talk of the taverns over the Christmas season 1803, 1804.

0:41.0

Christmas is of course a great time for ghost stories and ghost

0:45.8

storytelling and it started to seem in Hammersmith as though the stories were rather coming to life.

0:55.0

In the winter of 1803, there were persistent stories of a strange robed figure,

1:06.2

perrambulating around Hammersmith Churchyard

1:09.8

and in neighboring lanes. People who claim to have seen the ghost described it in different ways.

1:17.0

Some said it looked like Napoleon Bonaparte,

1:20.0

and others said it looked like a horse without a head.

1:24.0

Some said the ghost breathed fire and smoke, and had eyes that glowed.

1:30.0

A newspaper described the account of a stagecoach driver who said that he heard an uncommon

1:36.3

rustling noise while passing through Hammersmith one night.

1:41.0

And then he said, by a faint light from the moon, he saw a strange creature dressed in white

1:48.1

gliding over a meadow.

1:52.1

We're hearing about the Hammersmith ghost from Alan Murdy.

1:55.0

And this wasn't any sort of ordinary ghost because it was reported to begin attacking people.

...

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