The Spirit of Old Jeffery: John Wesley & The Epworth Poltergeist

Dark Histories

Ben Cutmore

History

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Over the Christmas of 1716, during a time of political tension and uncertainty in England, strange events began to trouble Epworth Rectory. After nightfall, the home of Reverend Samuel Wesley was disturbed by unexplained sounds. Soft footsteps thumped in hallways, as dull thuds knocked on the walls and door latches rattled in their housings. The Wesley family spoke cautiously of a presence they called Old Jeffrey, an unseen force that seemed intent on making itself known. Whether trick, imagination, or something darker, the disturbances unsettled the household for only a short time, but held a potential influence that would be felt centuries later, through the beliefs of the son, John Wesley, who would later go on to be a founding member of the Methodist church. SOURCES Southey, Robert (1904) The Life of John Wesley. Hutchinson & Co. London, UK. Tomkins, Stephen (2003) John Wesley: A Biography. Lion Books, Oxford, UK. Wesley, John (1784) The Haunting of Epworth Rectory: An Account of the Disturbances in my Father's House. The Arminian Magazine, No.7, 1784, London, UK. ------ For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at ⁠⁠⁠⁠darkhistories.com ⁠⁠⁠⁠ Support the show by visiting our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://author.to/darkhistories⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dark Histories merch is available here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3GChjk9⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connect with us on Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ Or find us on Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠http://twitter.com/darkhistories⁠⁠⁠⁠ & Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/⁠⁠⁠⁠ Or you can contact us directly via email at ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠ or join our Discord community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017 Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	A world on fire, nations collapsing, ideologies clashing, and ordinary men and women caught in the storm.
0:09.3	Hi, I'm Ray Harris Jr. of the History of World War II podcast, and we'll cover the battles that shaped the war, from the deserts of North Africa to the frozen forests of the Ardennes.
0:19.9	Because history isn't just names and dates.
0:23.4	It's people, choices, and consequences at World War II podcast.net.
0:31.2	As a long-time foreign correspondent, I've worked in lots of places, but nowhere is important
0:36.5	to the world as China.
0:38.5	I'm Jane Perlase, former Beijing Bureau Chief for The New York Times.
0:42.6	In our third season of Face Off, the U.S. versus China,
0:45.9	we'll explore some of the biggest issues dividing these global powers today.
0:50.5	Trump and Xi Jinping, AI, China's growing military might, and also robots.
0:57.1	New episodes of face-off are available now, wherever you get your podcasts.
1:02.8	Over the Christmas of 1716, during a time of political tension and uncertainty in England,
1:09.5	strange events began to trouble Epworth
1:11.7	rectory. After nightfall, the home of Reverend Samuel Wesley was disturbed by unexplained
1:18.1	sounds, soft footsteps thumped in hallways as dull thuds knocked on the walls and door
1:24.1	latches rattled in their housings. The Wesley family spoke cautiously of a presence that they called Old Geoffrey, an unseen
1:32.1	force that seemed intent on making itself known.
1:36.2	Whether trick, imagination or something a little darker, the disturbances unsettled
1:41.6	the household for only a short time, but still they held a potential influence that would be felt centuries later.
1:49.0	Through the beliefs of the son, John Wesley, who would later go on to be a founding member of the Methodist Church.
1:55.0	This dark histories, where the facts are worse than fiction.
2:03.5	Hello and welcome to Dark History,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 22 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Ben Cutmore, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Ben Cutmore and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.