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
An 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
An early 19th-century hoax that reinforced the standard white-sheeted ghost look, and set a legal precedent for self-defence.
Predictions of Isaac Bickerstaff
Isaac Bickerstaff was a 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
The Bottle Conjurer was advertised to appear at the Haymarket Theatre in England, on 16 January 1749, when he was to have placed his body inside an empty wine bottle, in full view of the audience.
Cock Lane ghost
A purported haunting that attracted mass public attention in 1762.
Kosmoid
Kosmoid was a 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
The Holy Maid of Leominster, known only as Elizabeth, 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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