Old Jeffrey

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• Epworth, Lincolnshire, England · English

  Old Jeffrey

  The Epworth Rectory disturbances

  Told, never investigated

  

  From 1 December 1716 the household of the Rev. Samuel Wesley at Epworth heard groans, knocking and the sound of breaking bottles, mostly in the nursery, through that winter. One of the daughters, Emily, named the cause "Jeffrey". The family's letters were published in 1791 by Joseph Priestley, who thought it most probably "a trick of the servants, assisted by some of their neighbours".

  Earliest written source: Letters from the Wesley household to Samuel Wesley the younger, the first from his mother dated 12 January 1716/17, printed by Joseph Priestley in Original Letters by the Rev. John Wesley and his Friends (Birmingham, 1791)

  Joseph Priestley (ed.), Original Letters by the Rev. John Wesley and his Friends (1791)

  Tradition · not evidence