Chapter 8 looks at the involvement of Samuel Wesley and his family in the supernatural. It argues that the supernatural was profoundly political in this period. The contemporary examples of witchcraft and apparitions were heavily influenced by the Tory-Whig divide and by the High-Low Church divisions. Often belief in supernatural phenomena was regarded as the preserve of the educated and those of High Church and Tory principles. Whigs and Low Churchmen tended to adopt a more rationalist approach. The central discussion of the chapter is of ‘Old Jeffrey’, the Epworth Rectory Ghost which haunted the house for three months in 1716. The hauntings took form of noises and apparitions. It was especially well-documented because John Wesley was at school in London and asked for detailed accounts of the episode. The disturbances of 1716–17 almost certainly reflect community, political, and family divisions which marked the Wesleys in Epworth. There is also evidence that ‘Old Jeffrey’ shared Susanna’s Jacobite politics.
Gibson, William
Department of History, Philosophy and Culture
Year of publication: 2021Date of RADAR deposit: 2021-02-12
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