This Paranormal Life - The Man Who Shot a Ghost - The Hammersmith Ghost Murder

Episode Date: June 9, 2026

LONDON LIVE SHOW⁠ ⁠https://www.tickettailor.com/events/cheerfulearful/2084541 In the winter of 1803, a strange phantom began appearing late at night in the streets of Hammersmith, haunting locals and even physically assaulting them - Women refused to go out at night, gangs patrolled the streets with guns, and by the time the frenzy was over… one man would be dead and another on trial for his murder. Become a commune member to get access to bonus episodes: ⁠https://thisparanormallife.com⁠ Follow us on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join our Secret Society Facebook Community⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy Official TPL Merch!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Edited by Philip Shacklady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the winter of 1803, a strange phantom began appearing late at night in the streets of Hammersmith, haunting locals and even physically grabbing them. Within weeks, the village of Hammersmith had fallen into a full-blown panic. Women refused to go out at night. Men were patrolling the streets with guns. And by the time the terror was over, one man would be dead and another on trial. For murder. But how could it escalate to this point? If you shoot a ghost, Can you kill it a second time? Why can't I bring a snake on the subway? If anything, it's weird that we're underground, not him!

All these questions you can find the answer to on this paranormal life! Hello everybody and welcome back to this paranormal life, the comedy paranormal podcast where every week we dissect a brand new paranormal tale and come to the conclusion to figure out once and for all whether or not it truly is paranormal. Sometimes, like last week, we are looking at newly released UFO footage by the government. And sometimes like this week, we're not doing that at all. We're going back in time to investigate some crazy paranormal cases that happened right here in the UK. You know, Kit last week showed us videos of unidentified objects, the likes of which I've never seen.

After we recorded that episode, I cried in the bathroom for 45 minutes. But this week, I'm actually bringing some cool people. paranormal evidence to the table as well. Yeah, from a case that happened in 1803. Will I be crying in the bathroom about it afterwards? Possibly. Maybe. Possibly. I'm telling you, this is a case that we've never covered on the podcast before. It's one of the UK's most famous, I would say, ghost stories because it descends in a way that you would not expect. I kind of gave away the twist at the end there, but somebody dies at the end. Wow. And it's a way. It's Kit if he gives this episode a no.

Well. But before we dive into today's case and frankly the incredible evidence that I have for us today, a reminder that if you want to join the paranormal commune, you should head on over to this paranormal life.com or www.war.gov. Either one will take you to this paranormal life commune where you can get access to a bunch of cool extra stuff like extra podcasts. Um, but it's mostly extra podcasts. mostly, but that is what we do.

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This paranormal life.com. Well, you were asking as well for like, hey, let us know what you've been playing and what you've been reading. And Phil sent all those over. And then when I responded, I just sent you a bunch of bomb schematics. And I said, put this in. They need to know how to make these for what's coming. And I said they're not ready yet.

I know that's what the newsletter is ultimately for, but they're not ready yet. So keep it light for now. Check it out, guys. This paranormallife.com. Visit BetMGM Casino and check out the newest exclusive. The Price is Right Fortune Pick. BetMDM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. 19 plus to wager.

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Locked in. Loyal, invested. They're called fans. Fans don't just listen to music. They feel seen by it, like it belongs to them. So when your brand shows up on Spotify, that's who you're talking to. And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify advertising. You're among fans. Our story today begins way back in 1803 in Hammersmith, West London. It was a simpler time. Long before Hammersmith became a bustling metropolitan borough with a tube station and a taco bell.

Which is true, I did check. There's actually a taco bell there now. In 1803, it was a quiet, rural village, surrounded by countryside, market gardens, and maybe most importantly, graveyards. In November of 1803, a young man named Thomas Groom was walking home from a late-night shift working as a brewers servant. It's important for me to tell you that he was a brewer's servant because this was around the time when people, their second name would be reflective of what they do as a career. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. So Thomas Groom, won't do on doing any of that shit. Oh. I don't make that clear. He was, what did I say? He was a brewer's servant. He was an honorable man. Yeah, because actually my mind just went to like,

oh, bride and groom. No. No, no, no, no, no. Well, as Thomas Groom was walking past the local churchyard at night, he spotted something quickly shuffling between the graves. Thomas froze in his tracks. Hello? Is someone there?

There was no response. Thomas figured it must have been a fox or just a trick of the light. So he turned back towards the road. to continue his journey home. But before he could take a single step, he saw it again, this time clearer, a strange, widest shadow dashing between the tombstones. Thomas couldn't help himself. He slowly walked into the graveyard, passing between the headstones towards the back

where he'd seen this figure. I know you're back there. I'm not scared, you know. Unfortunately, Thomas should have been. moment a tall glowing white shape erupted upwards from behind the tombstone. Good heavens! Before Thomas could run, the figure lunged at him, seizing him by the throat. Thomas thrashed wildly trying to break three from the specter's grasp before he was choked to death on the spot. What? He finally managed to wriggle three and scramble on his hands and knees out of the churchyard before running home as fast as he could.

Now Thomas Groom might not have known it at the time, but he had just had a first-hand encounter with the Hammersmith Phantom, an otherworldly phantom from the early 1800s who was terrorizing locals on a daily basis. Today, Kit, we are investigating this legend, quite literally an old-fashioned ghost story that is one of London's most famous, and there's a good reason why. Because, as I said in our intro, by the end of our case, one man is going to be dead. It's Phil. It's scary because we've just learned immediately that this ghost could touch people.

So, no spoilers to where this is going. That means he can also hold a gun. Now, Thomas Groom might be the first person to be chokeslammed by this ghost, but he was far from the first Hammersmith local to have seen the phantom. In fact, by this point, dozens of people in Hammersmith had reported a strange apparition hovering around the churchyard and the nearby lanes. This specter was said to be tall and entirely white in color, moving around the ground like smoke in the wind. In one story, an elderly woman claimed that while walking past the churchyard, she was seized by the phantom.

And like Thomas Groom, she had to break free from its grasp before her. running home. Another story claims that a pregnant woman suffered the same fate, and in some retellings, both women were said to have been so scared, they died of shock. Oh. Yeah. So the ghost didn't kill them. They got away, and then they later went. Once the adrenaline wore off, I guess they just dropped dead. I think he crushed their esophagus. He might have also done that a little bit. Because I was going to say, I don't want to like, is it dreadful? This is bad? Scary. Sorry it happened to people. That being said, I don't want to give a serial killer notes or a serial ghost killer notes here, but he's a work in his grip strength because he keeps

successfully grabbing people by the throat, but then they keep wriggling away. Yeah, I don't know what is going on here. Or he's grabbing, he's scaring them so much that they're just having a heart attack as well. He's kind of all over the place. Maybe for a ghost, getting your body to the point where it can physically interact with the human world takes so much energy. You could only do it for like a split second. Yeah. Because like Darth Vader never really actually killed motherfuck with the force choke. It feels like he always kind of was like, man, that's enough.

Yeah, yeah. You would lift people up and be like, oh, you should have learned your lesson. Yeah. And then he'd lower them down and he'd be like, get out of here. I can't even look at you. And they'd all like leave the room and he'd be like, oh, my God. Oh, I took so much out of me. Jesus. Jesus Christ.

Yeah. And actually, it takes a lot of energy to do it. You're lucky I'm feeling merciful today. Also, get out of here as fast as possible. Get out, get out, get out, get out. You know, it's kind of like an erection. You can hold it for like seven, eight seconds, but then at that point it's like... You should be able to hold it for longer. Eight seconds.

People dying from shock after they saw the ghost Might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it does tell us something important about the atmosphere at the time in Hammersmith. Whatever this thing was, people were terrified. Which raises the questions, what was it? There were a lot of graves in that churchyard. Why was one spirit causing so much trouble? Well, in the local taverns, rumored began to spread about the origin of the Hammersmith Phantom. I heard it's the ghost of a man with unfinished business on earth.

I heard it's the ghost of a pervert. That's why he's always grabbing women. Then a voice cut through the crowd. Pools! Sorry, he probably didn't sound like that, to be fair. Bulls! We're not dealing with a simple pervert ghost. This is the ghost of a sinner who committed the forbidden act of taking one's own life.

That's right. As you can imagine, Hammer Smith in 1803 was a pretty religious place where people believed that someone who died by suicide should not be buried in consecrated ground because their soul would never rest. Ah, yes. Which is pretty cruel. I think that's like the kindest thing you could do.

It's rough that they're like, this isn't a diddler, it's far worse. A depressed person. Right, yeah. A sick son of a bitch who had the misfortune of having their wrong brain chemicals. We have generations of grooms buried in that graveyard and it's fine.

Listen, we've all got the urinary. It's perfectly normal, but not being sad. That's unforgivable. Totally unforgivable. Kit, I know that you're curious, so I'm happy to say that I do have some illustrations of what the Hammersmith Phantom does look like. Obviously, these are artists illustrations from 1803. It's the best we've got today, so let's get him up. Phil, can you bring up the evidence, please? All right. That's a guy. He's a guy in a 90. Uh, no, it isn't. And for our audio listeners, I don't want them to think that's what I'm showing you.

Why not, isn't it? It looks angelic. It looks like a figure all in white. Bill's laughing. In the dark, yeah. Well, he's fired. Because I want you guys to take this case seriously. He's standing on the ground, though, is he? Did I say that for some reason this is a ghost that can physically grab people in the night? Sure, that is maybe something ghosts are capable of. We don't understand our place in this universe. Does this look like a drawing of a guy? Yes.

Yeah, kind of. That's why I brought... He has like a receding hairline and shit. Maybe he died before the invention of f-h-h-h-himm's dot com. Phanasteride, all right? That's not his problem. Luckily, I brought two pictures with me. Okay, well, let's...

Phil, please reveal photo number two. It's another guy. It's clearly... Silence! Another guy. So it's also a guy in both images a guy wearing a sheet. Now, in the first image, at least you couldn't see his feet. But in this image, the sheet is like blowing in the wind.

So you can see his legs and boots because he's running after a woman. And so the sheet is blowing off him. So it's as if they completely knew it was a guy in a sheet. I'm not getting buried in the graveyard because I'm going to kill myself. I didn't realize how bad this case was going to go so quickly. Hey, unless I was going bad, I'm just saying that these two artist's interpretations happen to be guy forward. What do you think a, what do you think a ghost is, motherfucker?

The ghost of a living man or woman who was here on Earth? Right. What do you think they're going to look like? Translucent, hopefully, and unable to interact with our physical reality. Falling down on both those accounts so far. You know, I thought you would have a lot of problems with this. I thought it was mostly going to be based around his little hat, but you didn't even bring up the little hat.

Well, you know, priorities. Yeah, he's wearing a little Pikmin hat. Okay, kid hates the photos. That's fine. Can we remove the other ones? Drawings. Please. Guys, remember that.

While the most common depiction of the Hammersmith Ghost was this, a tall figure dressed in all white, some accounts described the phantom with glowing eyes, horns, or spectral chains rattling ominously in the dead of night. At this time, the people in Hammersmith were taking these ghost sightings very seriously. Seriously enough, the people began to change how they moved through the area. Streets that had once been busy corners of the city became empty as soon as the sun set. Visiting the old churchyard was essentially a death wish.

Fear of the Hammersmith Phantom was at an all-time high. On one occasion, a local watchman called William Gerdler reportedly spotted the operation near a place called Beaver Lane. Instead of fleeing for his life, William decided to try and chase down the phantom and capture it. But after a short and heated pursuit through the streets, the mysterious figure escaped into the night. Why did you tell me that people's last name was what they did? And then you tell me there's a watchmaker called Girdler. What does he do? Wiggs watches, is this what you just said?

William Girdler? Yeah. Yeah, but Girdler's not a word. What's your bird? Why were you at pains to tell me at the beginning? Now, remember, in this era, something that will make everything make sense, is that everyone's last name refers to what they do.

You're like, anyway, this was the village. Montford bumpkin. This was the village girdler. He was a burger flipper. Yeah, the girdling industry really died out, but of course it was to make the girdles that would define a lady's silhouette.

Isn't that what a girdle does? Oh. Yeah. He was the town girdler. Well, actually, you might call that one back again. Yeah. Fair play. So no comment on a man chasing a ghost through the streets?

Sorry, I was too distracted. By the girdler. The girdler does sound like the name of like a McDonald's mascot that got canceled. Right, I'm girdler. Yeah. Like we all just rediscovered him from like an old YouTube video and we were like, oh yeah, he was weirdly racist. They had to get rid of the girdler. Yeah.

You know, so it's like McDonald's have just tried to erase him from history. By this point, the local men were getting angry. If anyone was going to harass women at night, it would be them. So they formed what would typically be known as a Dad Squad, but because we're in the 1800s and in Central London, we're calling it a Lad Squad. Phil, play the music. Tugatuckoooooozat coming up the hill, yeah, don't be scared, it's a Lad Squad.

You can run, but you can't hide. Breaking the law to their force the law, Lad Squad. The Lad Squad began patrolling, the streets at night, hoping to catch the mysterious Hammersmith Phantom. A bunch of lads wandering round at night with a bunch of old-timey pistols. What could go wrong? One of the Ladd Squad members was called Francis Smith, a 29-year-old customs officer who had heard stories of the Hammersmith Ghost and wanted to be the one to banish it. Now, in lieu of some kind of ghost-busting technology or any paranormal hunting equipment, Francis decided to be the one to banish it.

to bring a shotgun. Yeah. So you mentioned guns at the top, and it made me think, when did guns become illegal to own in Britain? And then I thought, huh, something bad must have happened. And then guns became illegal. Yeah. Is this the thing?

It could be, you know, we might have to go to one of our favorite websites. Gun Timeline.com. To figure that out. But yeah, I think as you're going to you're going to find out as the story goes on, this was kind of a landmark paranormal case that had some legal repercussions that had to be considered when, well, I've said too much. I've already said too much. Let's just continue the story. Someone may or may not be about to get shot. Let's just say it like that.

And he ain't a phantom. He's about to be a f***, Santo. Jeez. Do you want to guess when guns became banned? In the UK? Yeah. I bet it's like way later than you think. 1997!

That's crazy. We had a massacre for sure. Yeah, I did know that, the Dunblane Massacre. So that was why. 97? That's wild. In our lifetime. Wait, I could have had a gun as a kid?

Yeah. I think yes. It was specifically handguns. Wow. Made illegal. I did see a guy carrying a shotgun in London once. It wasn't a crime. It was like, I guess it was like a hunting rifle.

I think he was getting it serviced somewhere. I think that's still not on. Do you know what it is? Because we're in East London, we see a gun where like a crime's about to happen. Yeah. If you're in Hammersmith, you're in West London. Oh. Some gentlemen are about to go on a hunt.

Oh, boy. They're about to get their gun serviced and then go out in the range river out in the countryside and chase the foxes. Sorry, did I say foxes? I meant to say, poor people. This is probably some sort of military artifact. Yeah. It's about to be donated to the British Museum.

Exactly. Yeah, whereas if I see a guy with a gun in East London, he's probably asking for my iPhone. It's very different energy. Now, as I said, Francis Smith headed out with his shotgun. At around half past 10 on one January night, Francis Smith and a few members of the Ladd Squad were out patrolling the churchyard hunting for the ghost. All right, Francis, it's getting late. You better head home. Bullocks! I'm not leaving till I find this ghost. You lad's head off, I'll take it from here.

So off went Francis Smith by himself, searching the dark and gloomy streets for the Hammersmith Phantom. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before he did find something. Around this exact time, Thomas Millwood, a local bricklayer, was making his way home. You gotta be kidding me. You gotta be kidding me. Mr. Straw Hut, a bricklayer. What, f***ing, three piggy's ass, universe is this? It's old-timey days, man. They all had simple lives.

Just don't tell me that their name means what they do, where that clearly isn't the case. Now, Thomas had been visiting his parents and sister who lived to, in Black Lion Lane. Unfortunately, because he'd been working that day, he was wearing his work uniform. White linen trousers, a white flannel waistcoat and a white apron.

Looking like stay puffed. Yeah, he might as well have been wearing the mask from scream. You're basically cosplaying as a ghost on your walk home. It was during Thomas's walk home that Francis Smith believed he had finally spotted

the Hammersmith ghost. And he was playfully grabbing the neck of his sister on a doorstep. Francis cried out. And apparently this is a real quote. Damn you! Who are you and what are you? Damn you all shoot! Thomas had no time to answer.

Francis fired his shotgun. Killing him on the spot. Oh, dude. Fragid. Yeah. Really sad stuff. This is something I don't know if we've ever. had happen in a ghost case like this before where, I don't know, where someone gets physically mistaken

for a ghost and gets killed? Yeah, a lot of weapons have been fired at cryptids, ghosts and whatever, but actually, weirdly, few people, it seems in these stories have ever got hurt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I guess it's because you'd think we as a society will be smart enough to know that a gun isn't going to do anything to a ghost. But back in 1803, I don't know. Maybe they didn't know that. Maybe the lore around ghosts was different. I mean, this motherfucker is grabbing people by the throat.

So maybe everyone is like, we know it's not a real ghost. There's some kind of weirdo out here grabbing people. Yeah. It's a good point that the cultural interpretation of these things might have been different. You covered a story recently about the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. Yes. Which I was, I probably came down a little hard on. That's big of you to admit.

Because, yeah, I've got a heart on. Because it was kind of clearly just a guy. Well, to me, it felt clear it was a guy. I thought you were going to apologize. But I understand that the vibe was different. The vibe is different. It seems to be that maybe we're drawing a different distinction between ghost and person. Whereas before, they seemed quite fine with the idea of a guy being a spirit that runs around

town and poisons people. Yeah. And in this case, a guy running around town, strangling people, they're like, no, no, that could be a ghost. That could be a ghost. I guess, I guess my conception of a ghost is wrong. Well, I mean, you're not wrong here. It's like, look, because of pop culture and stuff, what a ghost looks like and how it works

has been redefined over the years. Maybe there was a point where it was just literally a human person, same shape, same vibe. maybe a little translucent or glowing, but more or less physically a human also. Yeah. I do feel bad for Thomas, who quite literally got caught in the crossfire of this one, but at the same time, according to Thomas Millwood's sister, Anne, her brother had already been mistaken for the ghost once before. In fact, his... Shouldn't laugh, shouldn't laugh, but...

Come on! In fact, his wife had... His speech was covered in fly. and action. He's like, he'd recently gotten really into playing the theramen. He would kind of play that on his walk home. He was usually in a good mood too, so he would do this kind of like floaty skip all the way home.

Take the shortcut through the old graveyard. And one time he grabbed a woman by the throat. Yeah, just because he was bored. So yeah. Yes, he had been warned. In fact, his wife had warned him before to come cover up his white clothing with a coat when he went out. She even said that on the Saturday evening, before his death,

he had told her that two ladies and a gentleman had, quote, taken a fright at him as he was coming down from the terrace, thinking he was a ghost. He told them he was no more of a ghost than any of them, and asked the gentleman if he wished for a punch in the head. Yeah, I think he's enjoying a little attention he's getting. Unfortunately, this cost him his life. has. I do really enjoy those kind of old-timey threats. Yeah. Asking a gentleman if they would like a punch in their head is better than just saying,

like, I'm going to put a fucking what, mate. Exactly. Yeah. Hey, it's like, what's the line from point break? I don't really remember. It's like if the wave breaks here, don't be there. If the entire town is searching for a guy in white to kill him, don't be standing there. Don't be that guy. In that moment. Yeah. Just goes to show guys, you can't mess around with a The world of the paranormal is a dangerous place. Yeah. Or in a kind of more modern context, you know, classic, classic modern internet prank where you yell, I have a bomb in an airport.

Right. We think it's funny. Great joke. And has ended in lengthy prison sentences for many people. Including Kit. That's why we took a break in the podcast from 2014 to when we had to relaunch in 2017. Right, there's like two years of podcast. Now as you can imagine, after shooting a stranger in the street, the Ladd Squad was disbanded.

Not only did they not catch the ghost, they made another one. Francis Smith was arrested and within days he was standing trial at the old Bailey being charged with murder. Now what makes the trial so interesting is that the judge and jury had to consider a lot of very strange questions for the first time. Was Smith a murderer? Or was he just a frightened man who made a sincere mistake in self-defense? He did intentionally fire his gun, but he genuinely believed he was firing it at a ghost. Does that make him a real murderer?

Turns out yes. Right. Yes, it does. The jury decided that Smith, believing Millwood was a ghost, did not excuse a shooting. Yeah. It's a good point, though, because as clear cut as that seems,

I think those are the kind of mitigating circumstances that would see a murder charge downgraded to a manslaughter conviction. Right. It might be like, look, we're charging you with killing somebody. You may not have intended to kill Mr. Thomas. Right.

But yet it. Yeah. It's got to be strange for the judge to be sitting up in his booth and hearing that one where it's like, you know, I assume that was their ace in the hole where it's like, It's like, okay, we're ready to come down on a verdict here.

One more thing, Your Honor. I know that you've probably made your minds up about me already. Sure, a killer on the loose. That's what all the tabloids are saying. Would I do it again? You betcha. Do I have regrets? No. Because I think you'll find your honor.

Warrior head in Hans. He's like, I think you'll find your honor that Mr. Millwood was a ghost. He's not. I've seen the body. Really? That f***. Right. He opens the casket.

Fries come out. Oh, God. His family burst into tears. Very well. Take me away then. A prop body? Very clever, Mr. Mill. The way he's grieving to the rafters.

Come down, you bastard. He takes out his shotgun again, starts firing. Yeah, that's not an excuse that you can get away within court is I thought they were a ghost. Yeah. One to try, though, I guess if your back is up against the wall. And I'd love to know what other kind of legal situations that that could be a possible excuse. Not paying your rent on time, for example, or being arrested by a loan shark for not paying back your loans plus the money that you owe. is saying, I thought they were ghosts.

I thought my landlord was a ghost. I thought my landlord was a ghost. I thought I was a ghost. Wait a minute, Your Honor, you can see me? They're like, just put them in jail. I think it's known as the classic, classic legal defense of playing dumb. Right. Yeah, a little bit.

I know in this case, he actually did think it at the time. But then it's like, just, just pretend you're stupid. You can put me in jail, Your Honor. But I think you'll find I'll just float through the bars. It's like, do you think that you're, I'm a ghost, yes. The judge came down on a guilty verdict and Smith was sentenced to death. Jeez. However, for better or worse, the sentence was later lessened to just one year's hard labor.

What? I know, isn't that nuts? Jeez. I think when I was reading this as well, it's kind of nuts. Basically, the judge was like, you're guilty and we're going to hang you. You're dead. And then I think some people in the... the jury or at another part of this judicial process where like, oh, judge, please reconsider.

And the judge went, okay, one year prison. Yeah. Like, I would be happy, but I'd also be like so angry that my judge is just this, like, weak-minded. I clearly caught him on a really bad day the first time. Who slipped them a little bag of gold coins. Yeah. Yeah, I know it is mad because we tend to think that the modern legal system is quite soft in Britain in some ways,

in large part because the prisons are completely full. So, which they're not supposed to take into account, but they kind of do end up taking into account. So, you know, you have all these things like, which are standard across the world, but if you plead guilty, you'll get your sentence reduced. Whatever you do get sentenced for, you only end up serving half of it.

Right. So it does create these kind of slightly farcical situations where you blow, up a hospital with dynamite. And then it's like, well, you were sentenced to 25 years. But then due to a buy one, get one free, pizza express coupon. You get eight years knocked off. Then, okay, so now you're down to 17. And then you only serve half of that, of course. And then we'll let you do house arrest for a quarter of that. And it's like, he's out. He's got. He was in prison for two years and now he's gone. He's walking out of the courthouse with another stick of dynamite

heading to the next hospital down the road. It's already going to happen. And then we did talk on the podcast recently about how, I think was it like, it's a lot of great statistic recently. There was a while when they were just letting prisoners go. In the UK, yeah. And so there was like a month where they let like a thousand people

out of prison by accident. They just, which is so insane when you think about all the steps involved where they just like go up to their cell and they're right, right? So there's your lucky day, bud. and just like unlock it. And then the prisoner is just like, what? It's like, prisoners obviously confused.

It's like, no, no, I know. I know you're shocked. You know, I'd be shocked too if I were in your position. In here for 20 years. And he's like, oh, yes, 20 years I've been here. Oh, yeah, I don't know if I can survive on the outside. He got there Monday. He was admitted yesterday.

Yeah. I'm honestly surprised they showed so much mercy back then because, as I just said, one of the options is just hanging. That's just it. So they didn't even have to think about the repercussions of like, will the prison system be able to hold that many

inmates? I think it was literally like the first time the judge was hung over and he was like, fuck him, get him out of my side, I can't be bothered. I'm hanging. He's hanging. That's how it works. And then probably a few days later, they were like, Your Honor,

he thought it was a ghost. Come on. Let's let the guy off. And he's like, fine, one year in prison and someone teach him that ghosts aren't real. And then he can come back and join society? By the way, can you imagine being Jesus and having to explain to Thomas in heaven? Just like, Thomas is just like, he's hitting the martinis. He's like, things are good. My murderer has been convicted.

Hey, Jesus, can I give you a drink? He's like, I should go to talk to you about that. Yeah, what is it? More good news, Jesus, hey? Like, actually he was, yeah, they're letting him off, man. What? Oh, but like life in prison though, right? That is kind of a punishment.

Worse than death is life behind bars. Yeah. Forever. I don't think he's going to be, yeah, not forever. That's for sure. He's, um, yeah, he's going to be walking next year, but he's going to say, oh my God, this day can't get any worse. Yeah, when Thomas thought that his killer was going to be hung, he was waiting by the door to heaven with a fist cocked. He was like, any second now he's coming to.

through that four and I'm going to drop him. And Jesus is like, buddy, just come in through the gates. One, Jesus, one second, I'm going to lay this guy out for what he did. His own wife comes through the gates. Soxer. Sweety! Yeah, he shot me next. He shot me too. You're kidding.

So, listen, where are we now in the story? The Ladd Squad was disbanded. Francis Smith was in jail. And the guy who looked like the Hammersmith ghost was dead. So, was this the end? of the legend? Actually, no. The ghost did continue. Well, there's a new ghost. That's why the hunting's continued. Changed appearance. And he's got a vengeance.

I mean, actually that would work out great because Thomas Millwood was already pretty much dressed in ghost clothes. Right. He would make a really easy ghost. No, the legend of the ghost did continue, but not in the way you would think, Kit. The Hammersmith ghost murder trial had received huge publicity locally. It's all everyone was talking about. So imagine the village's surprise when an elderly shoemaker named John Graham stepped forward with a confession. My name is John Graham and I am the Hammersmith Ghost. What? John went on to explain that he had been pretending to be the Hammersmith Ghost, dressing in white to frighten his apprentice who at the time had been scaring his children with ghost stories.

What? Who's scaring who with ghost stories? The apprentice was scaring. John Graham's apprentice was scaring John Graham's children with ghost stories. So John Graham thought, I'm going to teach you a ghost story. Better start believing a ghost story. You're in one. Yeah, I'm going to scare you by dressing up as a ghost and presumably jumping out at his

apprentice. Got it. And like being around the graveyard to make him and the local thing goes to real. When did the strangling begin? Well, this is, yeah. That's fine, mate. Yeah, because it's like, it's what, just like, if that was in your house, I don't care. That's cool.

Yeah, like, it's one thing to tell us that you have been dressing up as a ghost, fine. Does that mean you strangled a pregnant woman to death? Because that's not like a silly goof. Yeah. Yeah, this is where the part of the story gets a little bit messy. Obviously, while John's confession was enough to satisfy most of the villagers, others weren't convinced. Many people believe there was no way John could be responsible for every encounter. Even if he had dressed in white and pretended to be the ghost, was he the one that rose behind the tombstone and grabbed our first individual by the throat?

Did he scare the women to death outside the churchyard? To make matters even more confusing, after John confessed and apologized, sightings of the Hammers, Smith Phantom continued for years. So, I mean, at that point, it could have been the ghost of Thomas Millwood. Yeah. As you said, a real person who, you think the first guy had unfinished business on Earth, Thomas Millwood isn't going to be a happy specter, is he? Yeah.

So I think people, there's a lot of theories about how this all plays out in the legend. Some people believe that maybe John Graham is the one that started the side of And then, you know, as the story spread and more and more people talked about this ghost, this poltergeist, it became maybe mixed up with legend and pub talk and stories. And maybe when people had that imagery in their head, they started to trick themselves into seeing things too. Yeah. I just don't know. So true.

Well Kit, we do joke, but the interesting twist at the end of this story is that Thomas Millwood actually did return as a ghost. when he was shot that unfortunate night, they took his body to the Black Lion pub in Hammersmith. Why? What do you mean? To the pub? I think it was like the nearest establishment. That they were like, take him to the pub.

I don't know, man. What do you want on a pint, didn't they? What do you want from me? This is a really complicated story, actually, isn't there? There's so many less. You're never going to believe the next twist. They took a dead. dead hands of the pub.

They thought that was a ghost. All right. It was probably the Ladd Squad headquarters to the fair. It was just the pub. I think that's where they were like, they were trying to, I don't know, 1803. Maybe the pub was also like an inn or something. So they took them there before they could get a doctor out to recover him. But they took him to the Black Lion Pub in Hammersmith, where unfortunately, I believe that is where he died.

And the interesting thing is the Black Lion Pub. still exists to this day. In fact, it is only an hour away from the studio. And I'm excited to say that myself and editor Phil went to the Black Lion Pub. What? We're going to take you with us on that adventure right now, and you can see what we found.

Hello, Investigators. It's Rory here to tell you all about my visit to the Black Lion pub, a place I probably wouldn't have agreed to visit if I'd known it was going to take me an hour and 40 minutes to get there. But I am a professional, and if I can put even one pint of Guinness on the company credit card, by God I'm going to do it! After walking along the river and some narrow alleyways, I finally arrived at the Black Lion pub.

And let me tell you, this place was awesome. Outside the pub, I immediately spotted a plaque on the wall talking about the Hammersmith Ghost, acknowledging that it haunted the nearby area, and even mentioned Thomas Millwood by name, the man who was accidentally shot and, became this pub's resident ghost. It definitely feels like it's been refurbished over the years, but the inside of the pub still has a lot of old school charm. It's got a fireplace, some portraits on the walls, a guy in the bathroom who tells you it's not okay to film in the bathroom, but unfortunately,

during my time there, the most haunting thing that I encountered was the fact that I paid five pounds 90 for a pint of Guinness Zero. Still very cool pub and an awesome part of London's paranormal history. episode. Well Kit, as you can tell, we didn't find much. And even if we had really found anything, it doesn't help us prove today that the Hammersmith Ghost is real, which is really what we're coming down on today, investigating not Thomas Millwood, but the Hammersmith Ghosts. Well, you always know it's a good investigation when there's more pints sunk than ghosts seen. Yes. Yeah, yeah. Not a good investigation, but a successful one. Yeah, and I think it's an interesting case because, guys, I've given you everything today.

I've given you the paranormal explanations and the very, very rational explanations, which is that a guy confessed to being the ghost. So, you can do with that what you want. It's time for conclusions. Kit, do you believe in the Hammersmith Phantom? I mean, how quickly you want to do this? Did you want him to beat around the bush or what are you? I'd appreciate a little bit of discussion, to be honest.

Should I say any last words? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, pretty interesting stuff. One thing that's interesting about this time period is that it's really hard to get across to someone if they don't know how small London was. I mean, London was so small at this point that Hammersmith wasn't in London. As you say, Hammersmith was a small hamlet almost. So we're dealing with a, it's just an interesting note. We're dealing with incredibly small community, very tight knit, very easy to understand how something like this would have, I don't know, just a couple of people being scared

or attacked by this thing would have become quite an issue. Yeah. Quite an issue indeed. So although it seems incredibly rogue, the actions of this vigilante, it's actually pretty damn believable. Yeah. It's all very believable. And I think the thing that I love about this case is, you know, it's probably, well, it's most definitely not the strongest ghost or phantom case that we've covered before on the podcast.

But I do like that it is part of paranormal history where for, you know, one of the first times in the justice system, did a judge have to kind of consider these questions? Is it still murder if you genuinely believed you were shooting a ghost? Yeah. At this point, who knows even if the. judge believed in ghosts. Maybe he was like, fair enough, you thought he was a ghost. I believe in ghosts too, but it wasn't a ghost. It was a man, so you have to go to jail. It's interesting. Yeah, it's almost like factoring in, it's almost like pleading insanity, but you're not pleading insanity. You're just pleading you had a different understanding of reality than is agreed upon

by everyone else. Yeah, which might sound crazy, but you know, a lot of people would look at our current justice system and think it's wild that people still swear on a Bible before they like take the stand for some people or maybe in a couple hundred years they'd be like, that was insane that we did that. You never know. So I think it's an interesting case. I think it's disappointing when a guy admits to being the ghost. The ghost gets shot and it turns out to be just a different guy. And anytime the ghost had an encounter with someone, it looked like a guy, walked like a guy, and just grabbed people like a guy. Yeah. Everything's pointing towards a guy. Guys are real. Yeah. Guys are real and they're unfortunately not paranormal. Unless you're

talking about the guy from last week. That's true. That's really true. We saw a ghost last week on the podcast. It was the guy. There's also a kind of beautiful and sad irony to like some of the say, like vigilante rioting crazy stuff that's like happened in like Britain and Ireland in the last couple of years, you know, where groups of lads get together to like, quote unquote, protect the community from say immigrants or whatever it is. They've decided they hate. And it's like men have been doing this for a long time. Men making the community way more dangerous in order to attempt to protect people from drum roll please men it was men all along yeah men stalking people and strangling them other men getting shotguns to stop the first men and then killing innocent people

lads we need to just chill out we need to sit down i think we we had it happen um recently back near our hometown where it was a bunch of dudes being like we need to protect our community and keep our country safe. And it was like, okay, what are you going to do to do that? We're going to all go burn down the leisure center. There's children in there. It's their fault. We told them three seconds ago that were burning down the leisure center.

It's like, you guys are the scariest thing here. Go home, you f*** maniacs. That really is true. They did burn down the leisure center. Yeah. So, yeah. So this is why. you know, we have a lot of fun

when the dad squad comes along and dad squads have been good things in some episodes of this part. I'm like... In some episodes. But we're playing with fire when we get a bunch of lads together. I would say 80 to 90% of our cases involve a dad squad getting disbanded

after somebody gets shot. Like that's all that happens. It's like someone gets really hurt and the police are like, we're shutting this down. Shut it down. Disband the dad squad. the lad squad. This is guys, this is why golf exists.

Five Aside football exists. Right. You know, rock climbing. Fishing? We just need to place it. Absolutely. We need to have positive dad squads. You know?

Right. You know whenever like you turn on BBC News and every morning there's a new like, three dads are running the length of the UK to raise money for this new charity. It's like good. Good. Yes. Because otherwise, they'll get a gun and they'll start burning down leisure centers. We need to chatt all the energy into something positive.

Yeah, exactly. Before another innocent person gets shot for looking like a ghost. Guys, that's the end of our story. I don't know if Kit concluded yet, but it's obviously no from him. And it's a no from your boy, Rory, as well. But hey, I think it's a great case. I think it's fun. It's interesting.

Yeah. It's part of London's paranormal history. And it's cool to see the paranormal get wrapped up in on, on trial. It's really interesting. But unfortunately, the Hammersmith Phantom is a double no this week. Wow. Hope you guys enjoyed this week's

case anyway. Hope it was a blast. Boom. Is that in bad taste? Yeah, it's cut probably. Guys, if you want more from this paranormal life, maybe you're all caught up and you want some extra episodes, you need to head on over to this paranormal

life.com. Over there, you can sign up to our Patreon where you get extra bonus episodes, weekly bonus episodes, merchandise. That's you! Sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit! Whoa! Because it's nonsense that you haven't signed up to our Patreon yet, and if you have already, thank you.

You're sick. I actually, it's so hot in here. It's just started. Yeah, it's not the heat, dude. If anyone thought that this episode was a little rambly and short, it's because I am hot and sick. There's a heat wave in London right now. I walked into the office earlier, and I was so. white kit almost shot me on the spot.

I'm just got to come completely clean. We're wearing shorts right now. The gig's up. It's so hot. I'd stand up, but I'm not wearing anything below the waist. It's just talking balls for days. Yeah, guys. But this is, you know what this paranormal life is about?

It's about turning up every week and bringing you guys paranormal news, whether it's 110 degrees outside. whether or not I am deathly ill, whether or not I look more like the ghost in our story. You shouldn't have told me you were ill though, because we're going to get ill now. I kissed you as well on the lips when you came in.

Sorry, was I not supposed to say that? That's on Patreon, though. It's over on Patreon. It's like four and a half minutes long. It's crazy. Go check it out. 4K, 60 frames per second. Digital download.

Check it out, guys. Over on patreon.com. And one of the other cool things you can get on Patreon is a shout out at the end of the podcast. That's what we're going to do right now. So, thank you to Andrew Kearney. Yikes. Andrew Bernie Kearney. He was the one who actually burned down the leisure center that day. But he didn't mean to. It's a bit like the drama starring Robert Pattinson. Yeah, he thought about it. He was actually just lighting a cigarette and then he tripped and, uh-oh. Burned it down. An entire building. Andrew Kearney, you need to learn when to stop,

when to disband your lad squad. Yeah, just take up Call of Judy Black Ops or something. You know, like, we need to get the guys together in a safe environment. Yeah. The commune is also very flammable so we can't have any open flames, Andrew.

Thank you also to Cat King. Now, we do say in the commune that there are already two kings, room for no more kings, but a cat king. You know, that's not something that we've considered before, some sort of like royal peasant,

that would obviously just immediately have substantially more benefits than the peasants. The people, the servants, the... What do we call them? Surf's, no, that's wrong too. Underclass, no. Yeah. Um, whatever.

The cat king? The cat king. Well, yeah. I mean, see, I've never owned a cat, but you own a cat, so you kind of know what kind of privileges are involved. It organizes a coup day one, throws us out.

Everyone wants to worship the cat king. No! Yeah, very much a... in the desert. I'm going to be gone for five minutes. Don't start worshipping the cat king again like last time. You walk out the door, you just hear muffled. God, King, God, Koo, oh, for God's sakes. Oh, for God's sakes. Pierre Astille. Pierre Astille, I hope you enjoy Astille because there is no Pierre

a sparkling in the paranormal community. It is flat, warm, nuclear. river water, but it's drinkable. It's all drinkable. In the way, though, that like, you know, sometimes drinkable. Of course, yeah. Pierre Astille does sound like the name of a fancy water. Yeah, I think we would be interested in licensing that from you, Pierre. If you're up for it, you know, you can see it now. Pierre Astille. And the slogan could be get it down yeah. I like it You know The lumps are supposed to be there

These are like the slogans that would I think Because like the name could be fancy And that's great But at some way we need to face the reality Of what the actual product is Right Which is not even a liquid

Yeah It's like toothpaste Neither liquid nor solid Thank you also to Annabel Crumpton The American mind Cannot comprehend The name is British

As Annabel Crumpton Yeah that's You sound like someone who could have been a character in today's case. Annabelle Crumpton from 1803 Hammersmith. I could really see this as like a kind of a trashy Netflix series where Annabelle kind of like, you know, drops her bag one day. And then a guy picks up, it's like, hey, Brock Skyler. Nice to meet you.

Oh, hello. I'm Annabelle Crumpton. I just moved into the street. It's like, we're completely different from each other, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other around from now on. please write this show. You know? I would watch three seasons of Annabel Crumpton. And Annabel Crumpton.

Just like they're just, they're mismatched, but somehow it works. I'll pay to see it. I will. Thank you, Annabel, for your support. And thank you finally to Tony. If it isn't Tony the phony, this guy hit 18, realized he had to get a job and enter the real world and said, fuck that.

I'm going to wear white trousers, white t-shirt, white face-bean, white hat. And it was shot. Get shot? That was the alternative. A vigilante group. He was being a murder victim? Well, he didn't think. He thought he'd be able to like pick pocket.

Oh, he was going to pretend to be a ghost. Okay. The business plan wasn't to get shot. Christ, though. I was going to say, it was like, just work a job. He just took one step outside his front door. It was like a drive-by in the 50-cent movie. Ooh.

Shit, he's dropped immediately. Oh, Tony. I am so sorry. That's rough. That is rough. He's fine. He's fine. Oh, he's okay? Well, I guess he must be supporting us on Patreon. He was wearing a white bulletproof vest underneath. Thank God. That's smart. There's your little PSA today, folks. If you're going to pretend to be a ghost in any country where people can legally own firearms, make sure you've got some sort of protection.

Kevlar white sheet. Yeah, exactly. Guys, thank you so much for supporting us on Patreon. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of this paranormal life. We will see you once again next week with another paranormal tale. Are we going for verse two? Just so lads with a couple of guns. Keeping the community safe at night.

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