Yorkshire witch
Redirected to Mary Bateman.
Mary Bateman
Poisoner and thief whose most audacious hoax was The Prophet Hen of Leeds.
The Sleeping Girl of Turville
A girl who, her mother claimed, fell into a deep sleep from which she could not be roused for nine years.
Mary Toft
English woman from Godalming, Surrey, who in 1726 became the subject of considerable controversy when she tricked doctors into believing that she had given birth to rabbits.
Hammersmith Ghost
Early 19th-century hoax that reinforced the standard white-sheeted ghost look, and set a legal precedent for self-defence.
Predictions of Isaac Bickerstaff
Pseudonym used by the satirist Jonathan Swift in a hoax predicting the “infallible” death of John Partridge, a well-known 18th-century astrologer and almanac maker, on 29 March 1708.
The Bottle Conjuror
18th-century hoax featuring an acrobat inserting his body into an empty wine bottle.
Cock Lane ghost
Purported haunting that attracted mass public attention in 1762.
Kosmoid
Group of three companies set up by Glasgow doctor Alexander Shiels in 1904: Kosmoid Ltd, Kosmoid Locks Ltd, and Kosmoid Tubes Ltd.
Holy Maid of Leominster
Known only as Elizabeth, she was installed in the rood loft above the chancel of the priory of Leominster by its prior in the late 15th or early 16th century.
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