Cock Lane Ghost

the name given to the imagined cause of certain knockings which were heard in the house of a Mr. Parsons at No. 33 Cock Lane, Clerkenwell, London, in 1762. A "luminous figure" was said to have been seen in the same house. Dr. Johnson wrote an account of the supposed phenomena for the Gentleman's Magazine. In consequence Johnson was severely attacked for his credulity in a poem entitled, The Ghost, by Churchill. It was decided that the strange occurrences had been produced purposely by Mr. Parsons and his little girl. Mr. Parsons was therefore pilloried. The expression "Cock Lane Ghost," has come to be used to designate any tale of fright or credulity that is purely imaginary.