Amelia Dyer - the Baby Farmer

   In the year of 1869, a woman named Amelia Thomas (sometimes referred to as “Ann” or “Anne”) was widowed in London, England. Left unable to support herself, Amelia took to what is referred to in a modern tongue as “baby farming”.[1] Amelia was a serial killer and was found guilty in the late 1890s of multiple counts of infanticide. She was a figure I have encountered in both my History Ma, and my PhD work, however as she lived in a time after the era designated by my PhD I thought I would spend a few moments detailing her life here.

In Victorian London, not only was pregnancy out of wedlock a disgrace to those who found themselves in that situation, but it could completely ruin a young woman’s prospects of a normal life. Due to this, there were many boarding houses and private homes where a young woman could go to have her child privately to then put it up for adoption. Single mothers were not just harshly judged, but in other cases poverty stricken too and this condemned many of them to desperation due to an inability to adequately care for and feed more children.[2] An unmarried mother’s only alternative was either to abandon her child or foster it out into the care of another person. Many women, therefore, adopted this practice out of love and hope for a better future for their child. Sometimes these adoptions would be forever, and others were to last only until the mother was able to take the child back in a fashion similar to what is now called fostering.However, in every avenue of life where there is desperate need, there is room for corruption. Due to the sheer disgrace of such pregnancies, and the desperation of the “young woman in trouble”, there arose a group of people who began advertise for children to adopt, or in some cases, to answer the advertisements for adoption. They would agree to take on the babies under the guise of offering a loving home, as long as the mother was able to pay a sizable one-off fee, or continue a series of payments for the duration of the child’s life.[3] One of the most famous examples of this in literature were the Thenardier family in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserable, who took on the young heroine Cosette for the fee of ten francs a month.[4] Like poor Cosette, often children adopted in such a fashion were taken in for financial gain alone, and therefore were often neglected or mistreated. These people, often women, became known as baby farmers.[5]

Amelia Dyer was one such person. Amelia chose to advertise in local newspapers for children to adopt. She used a fake name, and assured the mothers that the child would go to a good safe home. In 1872 she remarried, taking the name would was to become so infamous, Amelia Dyer.From the early days of her career as a baby farmer, Amelia had no mind to keep the children alive. At first, she did not directly cause harm to the babies, but allowed them to die through neglect, acquiring death certificates from local doctors for seemingly legitimate causes. However a one of the doctors became suspicious and Amelia was arrested for neglect and served 6 months hard labour.It was around the time of her release that Amelia’s sanity crumbled. She spent time in and out of various asylums, including the Somerset County Asylum and attempted suicide twice. She did not, however, give up the baby farming and it was here that she began to take matters into her own hands, taping the necks of the babies who were intrusted into her care to end their lives, and then dumping the tiny bodies into the Thames.

It is not known how many children Amelia Dyer murdered. Eight bodies in total were found in the Thames, plus the multitudes which were killed by her neglectful care. The actual figures are supposed to be much higher. Dyer only pleaded guilty to one murder, that of a barmaid’s daughter Doris, daughter of Evelyn Marmon who gave evidence at her trial.[6]

Amelia Dyer was executed in 1896, after over twenty years of murder.[8] She is thought to be one of the most prolific serial killers who have ever lived in England, especially those of child murder. 
During trial, the case became so well-known, that even folk songs about her appeared in popular literature. The following, for example:
The old baby farmer, the wretched Miss DyerAt the Old Bailey her wages is paid.In times long ago, we'd 'a' made a big fy-er
And roasted so nicely that wicked old jade[7]
Her case is also the subject of a song by steampunk/Victorian punk band, The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. The song is called Baby Farmer from their fourth album.

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[1] Charlotte Beyer, “Baby Farming: Representing Amelia Dyer.” The Human, 5:1.[2] Allison Rattle and Alison Vale. The Woman Who Murdered Babies for Money: The Story of Amelia Dyer. (London: André Deutsch, 2011), p.13.[3] Annie Cossins, The Baby Farmers. (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2013)[4] “Sparknotes: Les Misérables: Cosette”, Sparknotes.Com, 2020 <https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lesmis/character/cosette/> [Accessed 20 February 2020].[5]Cossins, Annie. The Baby Farmers.[6] Online: The Old Bailey Online, Amelia Elizabeth Dyer REF: t18960518-451 [https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/ accessed 20/02/20][7] Lionel Rose, The Massacre of the Innocents, (London, Routledge, 1986) p.160[8] “Amelia Dyer” The Scotsman, Thursday 11 June 1896 p.5

Nursery Rhyme Origins - The Grand Old Duke

 So, I'd imagine many of us have sung this as a child, perhaps making the actions of marching up and down hills along with it as is dictated in many a playground... but who was the Grand Old Duke of York, and why did he do all this marching?

Firstly, in case you don't know it, here's the rhyme.

Oh, The grand old Duke of York,

He had ten thousand men;

He marched them up to the top of the hill,

And he marched them down again.

And when they were up, they were up,

And when they were down, they were down,

And when they were only half-way up,

They were neither up nor down.

In looking into the origins of this rhyme, I was expecting to stumble over a theory or two about who this Duke of York might be, and in truth that much is true - there are quite a few! However, what I also found was a list of variations which seem to be older than the Duke of York version, the oldest of which (according once again to our friend James Halliwell-Phillips) actually spoke of "The King of France with forty thousand men," who "came upon a hill and so came downe againe"This is quoted in the satire "Pigges Coranto, or Newes from the north" which was written in 1640. The song which includes it is labelled "Old Tarlton's Song.Tarlton, from what I can discover, was a "Clown" or comedic writer from the mid-fifteen hundreds although Halliwell-Phillips claims that he didn't actually write some of the tracts he is known for. He was, however, very well esteemed and considered a great wit!

Another version of this rhyme is that which includes the Dutch commander Maurice of Orange. It loosely translates to :

The hero prince Maurice 

came with a hundred thousand men 

with them he went up the hill and also down again

This version, however, is most likely to be a direct copy of the English version, and likely originated in it's English form. So, bearing in mind that originally this rhyme was not about a "Grand old Duke", let's ponder who might be being referred to in the modern version of the rhyme. Firstly, we have no clues about the date it was recorded, with the first complete version being found in 1913's Mother Goose (by Arthur Racken). Opie and Opie, however state that there is a version which references a Duke of York recorded in 1890 but is not the complete version we know now.

From here on in, the answer seems to come down to speculation. Could it be an early reference to Richard, Duke of York (1411–1460) who died during the war of the roses atop the Bailey of a Motte and Bailey castle with 8000 men? This theory seems unlikely due to the fact that this song was likely not written for another hundred or so years, and the details of the early versions don't match up.

More likely, this rhyme speaks of a battle during the French revolutionary wars. After the French Revolution, war broke out all over Europe with France, under it's revolutionary government. This conflict is perhaps too much to go into here, but suffice to say that during this skirmish, England launched what was to be known as the Flanders campaign. Flanders, in northern France, is well-known for being a very flat country, but with the exception of Cassel, a small town built up on a Hill. The leader of this campaign was Prince Frederick (d. 1827) who was Duke of York at the time, and whose campaign ended in defeat and the humiliation of being recalled to England. In this case then, the term "grand old Duke" could have been satirical or sarcastically spoken, rather than respectfully and with reverence. As stated above, however, this is mere speculation, and this modern version of the rhyme could in fact be one of many Dukes of York.

Sources:

Opie, Iona Archibald, and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary Of Nursery Rhymes, 1st edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997)
PIGGE, Pigges Corantoe, Or Newes From The North. [A Political Satire.], 1st edn (London, 1642)
"Pigges Corantoe, Or, Nevves From The North. - LUNA: Folger Digital Image Collection", Luna.Folger.Edu, 2017 <http://luna.folger.edu/luna/servlet/detail/FOLGERCM1~6~6~163446~109948:Pigges-corantoe,-or,-Nevves-from-th> [accessed 27 April 2017]
"Tarlton's Jests, And News Out Of Purgatory: : Halliwell-Phillipps, J. O. (James Orchard), 1820-1889, Ed : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive", Internet Archive, 2017

Victorian Spiritualism

 Victorian spiritualism was a movement built on the notion that the dead could be communicated with via the work of mediums. The movement was unusual for its time, in that it was led by women, its meetings were majoritively attended by women, and in many cases women conducted these meetings alone, out from under the watchful eye of their male counterparts.

I do feel I need to define that this article is specifically about the rise of the spiritualist mediums movement, and is not about a modern tongue terms "spiritualism" in general. Those are very different things, as ever - language evolves and takes us with it! This article also does not debate or deny the existence of mediumship, spiritualists or the feats they were able to perform. That is a very well-done and tired debate that I do not have the space or inclination to get into :) Instead, this article is a quick overview of the beginnings of Victorian Spiritualism and its links to early feminism.

Origins: The spiritualist movement first began in America in the late 1840s with the fame of two sisters who claimed to be able to communicate with a spirit which rapped on tables to answer questions. These women, known as the Fox sisters, became the first famous mediums in America, after they claimed to be able to communicate with a dead murder victim. In 1852, another American medium, Maria Hayden, came to England and introduced Spiritualism to an English audience, where it soon became immensely popular.[1] During the 1850s and the following decades, there was a boom seen in the Spiritualist movement in England, from a few mediums trickling over from America in the early 1850s, to a massive amount of people practising many of its activities, such as table rapping and full-blown seances, in households and halls all over the country by the end of the century. This led too to the rise in scientific exploration of the supernatural, with the Cambridge ghost club being founded in 1851, this becoming the London Ghost club in 1882 which was the same year that the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded by many of the same people.[2]

Background: For the average Victorian woman, life was often somewhat restricted by the social norms of the patriarchal society about her. This was especially true in the middle and upper classes. It was unusual for a woman to have any real power in her own life, or a voice outside of the home. [3]. A Victorian woman was expected to behave, to be polite and mild of temper, and to attend to the wishes of the men around her. Very few Victorian women owned property or businesses, nor did they run groups and societies other than charity work. (although some did - a side note, in my PhD research, I have come across several female asylum owners!) How much this stereotype was actually adhered to is debatable, but there is no doubt that the middle to upper class Victorian woman was one without very much agency in her own life.

Spiritualism in England: Spiritualism then, being brought over from America by female mediums, with tales such as those of the Fox sisters gave an opportunity for English woman to stand outside of her normal restrictive boundaries to step into a role which gave her a level of authority unusual for the time[4]. The rise of the spiritualist movement led to hundreds of ladies taking up mediumship all

over England, and thousands flocking to witness them. This was both a public spectacle, and a private one, with many people practising privately at home[5]. Georgina Byrne states in her research into the cultural implications of spiritualism, that outside of personal accounts and letters it is difficult to really examine private seances and spiritualist endeavours as these are generally not so well discussed or reported in media such as newspapers.[6] What is apparent though, is that there were many such seances and Janet Oppenheim discusses how it was more likely to be these private “Drawing room seances” which allowed the movement to really take hold in England.[7]
The rise of the sciences too played their part in the popularity of spiritualism and here it is possible to examine how the gender roles might have been affected, as in general for the era, the sciences were seen very much as a man’s domain. Spiritualism fit well into the new scientific way of thinking, as it gave the hint of an afterlife which was perhaps more scientifically testable than that of religion.[8] It might be for these reasons, then, that despite that spiritualism allowed women to indulge in what were considered normally unacceptable feminine behaviours, the female mediums were given more freedom because what they were doing was interesting to the men studying the newly blooming fields of sciences. For the female mediums, there was also the opportunity to discuss such matters as science and religion, doing so through the guise of speaking for the spirits.[9] Again, this allows for the women to have more authority, in being able to discuss matters where normally they would not be expected to.

Male Mediums: The spiritualist publication entitled The Two Worlds printed in most editions a list of

“Mediums and Speakers” from across England. This list was maintained by self-referral and gave the name and address of contact. The magazine does stress that the list accuracy was maintained by the mediums themselves so there might be omissions, but still it gives an interesting insight into the prevalence of mediums willing to offer their services. In July 1887, 19 of the listed 101 mediums were unmarried women (as identified by the prefix “Miss”), 31 were married women working alone, 5 were both “Mr and Mrs” at the same premises and 46 were male. [10] This then shows that a great deal of women were taking part in mediumship, but also that a good proportion of the self-reported mediums were male. A year later in 1888, the figures were similar but with a rise in the proportion of males, with 18 unmarried ladies, 34 married ladies 4 couples and 56 men registered. What is also seen though, is that whereas female mediums operated at home, within their groups, the male mediums took the idea and altered it, making societies for scientific study and so on.  In 1851, a group from Cambridge formed to investigate the supernatural. In their circular, they discuss how they hoped to “Earnestly investigate” the nature of supernatural phenomena, and offer a classification table with articles such as “Appearance of Angels” and “Spectral Appearances” of various kinds.[11] This group was known as the Cambridge Ghost Club, and founders were all male, indeed it was not until 1927 that women were permitted to join.[12] This trend seems to appear throughout the 1860s and 1870s, an article in the spiritualist in 1871 states:
“The necessity of forming a psychological society to investigate spiritualphenomena, for the purpose of bringing the manifestations now socommon into the realm of law and order. As will be seen by thecorrespondence on another page, several highly intelligent gentlemendesire that such a society should be formed.”.[13]

Again, this shows the gender stereotype of the time, with the "gentlemen" being the ones to desire this scientific research. It can also be seen from examining the lists of members from smaller clubs, that these types of gatherings and clubs tended to be male-led. However, this was changing. In 1874, for example, in the July issue of The Spiritualist, there is a small advertisement for the Liverpool Psychological Society, who although not a spiritualist society do advertise as being in pursuit of the truth through means of psychology, and development of both mental and spiritual powers. The listed office bearer shows that several of the office bearers for 1874 were female. [14]

In conclusion then, it would appear that the spiritualist rise in England during the 1850s was fuelled by the women of the movement. They seemed to spread the word via peer groups and circles of acquaintances. The women who advertised themselves as mediums were predominantly married women, although the male population in the movement seemed to be growing. Despite a large amount of evidence which examines the public face of mediumship, there were also a large number of women practising the art at home, for reasons of self-enrichment, or even just for the fun of it. The fact that the women were the main instigators of the movement does challenge the gender roles of the time, as they were able to act in ways previously denied to them. This was due to the safety of the spiritual influence over them, which set them apart from the restrictions of normal society.

[1] Candice Gregory, "A Willing Suspension of Disbelief", Loloya University, 1989 <http://people.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1989-0/gregory.htm> [Accessed 19 April 2018].
[2] Georgina A Byrne, Modern Spiritualism and The Church of England, 1850-1939 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2010), pp. 54
[3] Marlene Tromp, ‘Spirited Sexuality: Sex, Marriage and Victorian Spiritualism’, Victorian Literature and Culture (2003), pp. 67
4] Alex Owen, The Darkened Room (London: University of Chicago Press, 1989), pp. 199-205
[5] Georgina A Byrne, Modern Spiritualism and The Church of England, 1850-1939 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2010), pp. 50-52
[6] Georgina A Byrne, pp. 52
[7] Janet Oppenheim, The Other World, 2nd edn (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 8-12.
[8] William H. Swatos, "Spiritualism as A Religion Of Science", Social Compass, 37.4 (1990), 471-482. pp. 475
[9] Marlene Tromp, ‘Spirited Sexuality: Sex, Marriage and Victorian Spiritualism’, Victorian Literature and Culture (2003), pp. 67-81
[10] Robert Dale Owen, Footfalls on The Boundary of Another World (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1860), pp. 513-515.
[11] The Two Worlds, "Mediums and Speakers", 1887, p. 110.
12] Peter Underwood, The Ghost Club: A History, 1st edn (London: Limbury Press, 2010), p. 12.
[13] The Spiritualist, "A Psychological Society", 1871, pp. 1-2.
[14] The Spiritualist, "The Liverpool Psychological Society", 1874, p. 1.

Nursery Rhyme Origins - Jack be nimble

 Jack be nimble

Jack be quick

Jack jump over

The candlestick.

First found in a rhyme collection in 1815, this rhyme is not apparently as ancient as some nursery rhymes, especially since it would appear that it doesn’t pre-date this time.This rhyme, it would seem, is much more literal than some of the others we’ve looked at so far as it alludes, quite simply, to the tradition of candle leaping. Most notably, in England there is a feast to Saint Catherine (25^th November) which is sometimes known as Catterns day. St Catherine is the patron saint of spinsters, and was celebrated by lace-makers, spinners and rope-makers throughout the 1800s. At the culmination of these celebrations, a lighted candle would be jumped for luck. If it remained alight, then St Catherine was said to have granted such luck, and the following year would be prosperous. Sadly, despite the great value of lace, the lace-makers did not often have a great deal of money and since candles were expensive, often they would work with just one candle burning. Perhaps this is how Candle jumping became a part of the Catherine’s day celebrations.

Another reference to this custom is in social/local historian Ginette Dunne’s “fellowship of song”. This book is a study of singing traditions which was published in 1980 and contained what is now known as “Oral History”, that is an examination of stories told first hand to the researcher (Or in some cases recorded for later use by various researchers). In this study, Ginette records the experience of a man named Ben Lings who recalled seeing the ladies of the village, at Christmas, hitching up their skirts to leap the candle whilst singing this rhyme.

References
Dunn, Ginette, The Fellowship Of Song, 2nd edn (Routledge, 1980), p. 118

Opie, Iona Archibald, and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary Of Nursery Rhymes, 1st edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), p. 268

Tom Bawcock - A Cornish Christmas Tradition

 I saw a viral facebook post about the story of Tom Bawcock and I was interested in its origin so I thought I would have a rummage online and see what I could find :) 

To begin, the legend goes thus:

The story

At some time in the sixteenth century, a man named Tom Bawcock lived in a village called Mousehole in Cornwall. Tom was a fisherman, so the legend goes. One particularly bad year, the townsfolk were starving because the weather had not allowed them to go out fishing. Tom, it would seem, decided to brave the storms despite the danger to himself, and so took his boat out anyway to do some fishing in order that the townsfolk would have something to eat over Christmas. The day was the 23rd December, the year unknown! 

Despite all odds, and a treacherous sea, Tom did in fact make it back to land, and in his boat was enough food to feed everyone! Large open topped fish pies were cooked from the fish Tom caught, with the heads and tails of the pies still on show, so that the villagers could see that the pastry contained actual fish! This dish is known as stargazey pie.

The legacy:

Today the village of Mousehole celebrates Tom Bawcocks Eve every 23rd December with people baking pies as well as lights and celebrations in the streets. A book, The Mousehole Cat was written in 1991 which tells of the deeds  of Tom and "mowzer" , his cat, who the book proposed purred the waves to calm. 

The history:

Ok, so first off, interestingly, Bawcock wasn't really localised to Cornwall as a name in this era. Whilst this isn't conclusive, that would at once make a historian like me more skeptical. It's also true that these old traditions and such are often not this specific. A short internet search found me the theory from another blogger which seems to have merit, that "Bawcock" was a word used by Shakespeare. This generally meant "a fine chap". To me this makes more sense in the usual pattern of these type of traditions. The fisherman who went out, therefore, may not have been named Tom Bawcock at all, but was merely Tom, a fine chap! 

The origin:

Another theory, much older, is that of Cornish folklorist Robert Nance (1920s), who thought it was a translation of Beau Coq - a French term which translates to beautiful rooster! He attributed the figure of Tom with the "rooster bearer" in a pre-christian winter festival. There doesn't seem to be a lot to substantiate this though and several modern folklorists even go so far as to say Nace was known for his embellishing! It was Nance, however, who

brought us the song of Tom Bawcock, having found a scrap of it and been inspired to put the rest together himself!! 

In newspapers, the earlier record I can find about Tom Bawcock is actually 1928. This is quite interesting as if it was an age old tradition, you would expect to see much more mention in earlier newspapers! Thus gives support to several accounts I read which claimed that the festival was revived early in the 1900s, rather than one which has ever been celebrated. It's no coincidence whether, that this is the era that Nance first started writing about it. This is not to say that it didn't exist earlier, only that perhaps it wasn't celebrated the way it is now before then, or in fact that it is an older festival which died out and was revived :)

Let me know your theories in the comments! 

Conversations About Ghosts

 Ok so as some of you may know from following my work, I have been writing a book of "true" ghost stories for about a million years. I'm still collecting stories so if you have one please do send me an email via the address on my profile :) 

I have written an essay for the end of the book to discuss the concept of ghosts and ghost stories further. To add context, in my final year of my psych degree before I moved over to History, I decided to write my dissertation on the development of stories - more specifically ghost stories. In the end I did end up working on something a bit different (but still ghost related!). This essay began then and was tweaked, edited and perfected recently. 

In her 2007 research paper on ghosts in folklore, Jeannie Thomas made an assertion which I think is very relevant:

 ‘regardless of what scholars assert, people will go on narrating anomalous experiences and choosing to believe in either scientific or supernatural explanations.’[1]

 This is basically stating that no matter what researchers say, in the end people tend to have very strong opinions about whether ghost stories have a scientific or supernatural cause, but regardless of that, people will continue to tell them! And perhaps this is the case. Paranormal experiences and beliefs are described generally as the belief in, or experience of, phenomena which ‘violate basic limiting principles of science’.[2] That is, that they are outside of what would be considered acceptable if the laws of science are adhered to. In 2009 this view was challenged by a researcher named Irwin, stating that this definition is not adequate and that to dismiss the study of paranormal phenomena is to dismiss any chance to further the understanding of it.[3] It could be argued that these experiences and beliefs are natural in cause, and that the current views and understandings of science are simply not developed enough yet to add explanations. There is also an offshoot of psychology called Parapsychology which tried to find scientific proof of paranormal experiences too. This is where I come into the picture. As a Psychology undergraduate, I had the honour of working with Susan Blackmore (renowned believer turned sceptic through research) to conduct my own study into the way that people perceive ghosts, tell ghost stories, and formulate an understanding of the supernatural, from a psychologist’s perspective. Unfortunately I left the field after my degree but perhaps if I had stuck with it, my career might have been very different indeed!

 

Whilst the concept of a spirit or ghost has been around for longer than any scholar can pinpoint, the classic ‘ghost story’ as we know it now, seems to have begun development somewhere in the medieval period. It is here that the modern ghost was born and became separate from the medieval understanding of the term.[4] And of course, there was something of a burst of ghost stories too, especially in late medieval (Tudor) England. Henry and his wives who are said to haunt various royal houses, Shakespeare with his plays such as Hamlet. However, it is the long nineteenth century (1770 – 1900ish) which has been identified as the ‘golden age of gothic’. It is here where the ghost story as we now know it really blossomed, and began to take the format we know today.

As to that format, one thing which I have come across more than once, is the notion of ‘common elements’ in ghost stories. These are things which have now become a part of the fabric which makes up the stories themselves and tend to wind themselves into lots of tales. Cliché’s if you like. These cliché’s when they come up, do tend to ring alarm bells for me. In some cases it’s more of a psychological phenomenon where people feel that they need to weave such things into a ghost story to have it taken seriously. For me, however, they tend to do the opposite, although this does not necessarily invalidate the story! ‘I fainted’ or I ‘screamed’ are examples of this. Unless perhaps it was the ghost of somebody very close to a person, for example, fainting is unlikely. In fear, our bodies tend to elicit a fight or flight response and fainting is a very last resort. It’s also actually very unusual for a fear response in this way to result in a scream! Little shouts, or exclamations when shocked, yes, but rarely full-blown screams.

There are, of course, other horror ghost clichés which might make me cast off a story. I might roll my eyes at demons, possession, disembodied voices telling a person to ‘get out’, red eyes, and so on. I’m also very aware that the less impressive stories – knocking, rattles, the old standard things that go bump in the night, are often easily explainable outside of the paranormal.

Another thing I look out for is the escalating story. This is a horror movie format which is often picked up by ghost-story tellers. It starts with a simple thing that wakes a person in the night, then two or three things happen. With each event it worsens, the scares get bigger, the ghouls get more terrifying until suddenly people are forced to flee in the middle of the night leaving all their possessions behind (yes, I am looking at you, Amityville!). Whilst that is an extreme example, it’s amazing how many stories follow this pattern.

Another final thought on this, is that in my years of collecting these stories one thing that I don’t think is that obvious is the actual rarity of the full-blown apparition. That is not to say that I don’t believe it exists, in fact to the contrary there are a few accounts of them in this book, it’s just something I have noticed. More often there’s a bad feeling, accompanied by noises, or partial manifestations. It’s also rarer to see an apparition for a prolonged time as most of the sightings recounted here are very brief and fleeting. This ties in with the work of Wiseman who found an interesting pattern, that of the 30% of the people who claim some belief in ghosts, 15% claim this is due to having had an experience. Of this 15% only a third claim to have actually seen a fully-fledged figure. Of the other 66% of people claiming to have had a ghostly experience, at least half claimed to have experienced something more abstract such as orbs, mists, or shadows.

Due to this, the results of one of the parapsych studies I wrote and conducted was quite surprising. This was a photograph identification study, where people were given pictures of ghostly phenomenon and asked to state if they were real examples or not (they were actually all faked – by me!). This study showed that people were actually more likely to consider a full-apparition to be genuine than an orb etc. This study also showed that paranormal belief was not significantly related to interpreting ambiguous stimuli as paranormal – an interesting finding.[5] Evidence against the theory that paranormal experiences are simply misattributions of ambiguous stimuli, means that people are not, on the whole, mistaking random mists etc for ghosts. If this were the case, then it would be expected that more abstract photographs would have even identified than the more obvious figure pictures.

 

So what does this all mean? Honest answer, it means that the jury is still out! Currently paranormality and science are still at odds, but no longer the distinct rivals they once were. Whilst science cannot definitively explain the paranormal. It can’t disprove it either and until this changes that ever ongoing debate about the existence of ghost will continue.

 

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[1] Jeannie Thomas. ‘The Usefulness of Ghost Stories.’ In Haunting Experiences: Ghosts in Contemporary Folklore (2007)

[2] As first described in 1949

[3] Irwin, Harvey J. The psychology of paranormal belief: A researcher's handbook. Univ of Hertfordshire Press, 2009.

[4] Sasha Handley, Visions of an Unseen World: Ghost Beliefs and Ghost Stories in Eighteenth Century England. Routledge, 2015. (introduction).

[5] This study was never published, but I can produce copies on request. Emma Barrett, The Interpretation of Ambiguous Stimuli in Ghost Photography. (Plymouth University, 2014)

Nursery Rhyme Origins - Ring O Roses

 

This rhyme I felt I already knew for sure the origin behind. Indeed, even when discussing this project with a friend, they remarked “Oh, like how Ring a Ring o' Roses was sung about the black plague in London?” to which I nodded without hesitation. However, it would seem that this is a contested “fact” and does indeed seem to fall into the “urban legend” category. In fact, as stated by Simpson and Roud in the Oxford dictionary of English Folklore, this belief (of the rhyme’s origins) has no evidence to back it up and is “almost certainly nonsense.”. They give several points of evidence. Firstly, that the rhyme does not seem to appear in print before 1881, therefore quite late for nursery rhymes which have a tendency to pop up in the earlier eighteenth century tomes such as Tommy Thumb's song book if they are older, these being the first collections of early rhymes. Therefore it is unusual for a nursery rhyme NOT to appear during the late 1700s if it was an old one and 1881 is very late. Secondly, and agreed by Opie and Opie, the well-known "folkloreists" who wrote the Oxford dictionary of nursery rhymes, amongst other titles, that the theory of it being attributable to the black plague is only traceable to 1951, and that before then, it was not considered such.

Firstly, a quick overview of the Bubonic Plague is in order. Many people might believe that the black

death first appeared in 1665 in London, but this is not the case. In fact, it was already rife in Europe in the 1300s. Its main symptoms were blackening of the skin in patches (ring of roses?), inflamed glands, vomiting, headaches and then death. In London, 1665, it not so much as broke out again, but increased in deadliness. London was a crowded and dirty place to be and so gave the perfect environment for the plague to gain a stronghold, such as it did. Germs travelled quickly and so this, the main and last London outbreak spread quickly not just throughout London, but throughout England entirely, killing thousands of people in its wake. It should be noted here, in discussion of this rhyme, that sneezing was not one of the main symptoms of the plague, although some experts believe that its final stage might have included coughing up blood. The pocket full of posies could also be attributed to plague symptoms, where frightened citizens took to carrying “nosegays” (little bunches of flowers) to both ward off the disease and to cover the stench which would have been horrendous.
Here it can be argued then, that the words of the rhyme do seem to fit rather nicely with the symptoms of the plague, so what could be the reason for the nay-sayers?

Firstly, the fact that the rhyme was not known before 1881 is an important point. Whilst it is true that many children’s rhymes were being repeated from person to person for sometimes hundreds of years before they were recorded, it is also true that the tradition of recording them to paper began perhaps a hundred years before this in the late eighteenth century (1700s). It seems very strange that when publications such as Tommy Thumb’s Songbook, Tom Tit, and Mother Goose Melody were already old news, this particular ditty was simply “missed”. This is especially true if it did indeed date back to the plague years, as to have survived such a length of time, it would have to have been at least fairly well-known.
Another argument against this theory is the vast amount of variation in the wording of this rhyme. In 1898, for example, twelve different versions were recorded by Lady Gomme. Other versions include:Ring a ring a roses, a pocket full of posies, one for me, one for you and one for little Moses.Ring a ring a roses, a pocket full of posies, ash-a, ash-a, all stand downRing a ring a roses, a pocket full of posies, The king comes, the king comes, all bow down!And so on…As is stated by Opie and Opie, despite how the 1881 version is the most well-known, there is no evidence to prove definitively that this was the original version.
Finally, it is worth noting that, especially during the 1900s, “ring games” were on the rise. These games were played by children, and often involved holding hands and dancing in a ring, whilst

singing or chanting a song. Examples of this are “In and out the dusty bluebells”: an English song-game said to be influenced by the hiring of young people by farmers for the summer months at the May fair. “The Farmer’s in his den” (or dell, or field) is a German rhyme originally from the 1820s, and “A tisket, a tasket” is an American variant of this type of game about a lost letter. All of the games had in common that they also contained a task, or action to perform. Opie and Opie, in their 1985 book “The singing game”, discuss how Ring a Ring o' Roses can be much likened to these other games, and that the “fall down” or “bow down” at the final line might in fact simply be the action.

To conclude this entry then, whilst the subject matter of Ring a Ring o' roses might allude to the black plague, it is unlikely that it dates from it. Most likely, it is a Victorian children’s rhyme from a singing, or ring, game.

Sources:
Baring-Gould, William Stuart, and Ceil Baring-Gould, The Annotated Mother Goose, Nursery Rhymes Old And New, Arr. And Explained By William S. Baring-Gould & Ceil Baring-Gould, 1st edn (New York: C.N. Potter, 1962)
Gomme, Alice Bertha Merck, The Traditional Games Of England, Scotland, And Ireland, 2nd edn ( Dover, 1894) (Ebook available: https://archive.org/details/traditionalgames02gommuoft )Gurton, Gammer, "Gammer Gurton's Garland, Or, The Nursery Parnassus : A Choice Collection Of Pretty Songs And Verses For The Amusement Of All Little Good Children Who Can Neither Read Nor Run : Ritson, Joseph, 1752-1803 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive", Internet Archive, 2017 <https://archive.org/details/gammergurtonsgar00ritsiala> [accessed 4 April 2017]Opie, Iona Archibald, and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary Of Nursery Rhymes, 1st edn (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997Opie, Iona, Joan Hassall, and Peter Opie, The Oxford Nursey Rhyme Book, 1st edn (Oxford: Clarendon Pr., 1977)Shrewsbury, John Findlay Drew, A History Of Bubonic Plague In The British Isles, 1st edn, 1970"Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book", The British Library, 2017 <https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/tommy-thumbs-pretty-song-book> [accessed 11 April 2017]