Today in History: Methodist leader Charles Wesley was born on this day in 1707. He is not as well known as his brother John Wesley, who was also a leader of a revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. Charles is most widely known for writing about 6,500 hymns.
What is not widely known is that the Wesleys believed that their family home (Epworth Rectory) was haunted by a ghost they called "Old Jeffrey." The "Wesley poltergeist" made his presence known to all on Christmas Day 1716. In Mrs. Wesley's words, "there was such a noise in the room over our heads, as if several people were walking, then running up and down stairs that we thought the children would be frightened". According to the tale, as she and her husband searched the house in vain for the culprit, Old Jeffrey continued "rattling and thundering in every room, and even blowing an invisible horn at deafening decibels". "Old Jeffrey" supposedly disappeared in January 1717 just as suddenly as he had appeared.
Addington Bruce (1908) noted that the earliest records that document the haunting have large discrepancies from later reports. According to Bruce the original records from the 18th century reduce the "haunting" to nothing more than some alleged creaking noises, knocks, footsteps or groaning sounds. Bruce commented that "we are, therefore, justified in believing that in this case, like so many others of its kind, the fallibility of human memory has played an overwhelming part in exaggerating the experiences actually undergone." He suggested that Hetty had produced the phenomena fraudulently.
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