The Epworth Poltergeist is a fascinating story of one Christianity’s famous families, the Wesleys, based in their home, Epworth rectory.

One of the family, John Wesley, is well recognised as the founder of the Methodist movement. Less well known however is his interest as a paranormal investigator. This stemmed from a poltergeist encounter his family had between December 1716 and January 1717.

Samuel Wesley Jr. was training in London at the time of the haunting. However, thanks to correspondence between him and his family at this time we’re able to determine the fine details of this haunting. These eye witness accounts from the family, guests and servants have led to the encounter being described as one of the most well documented of all poltergeist cases. The level of detail even helped stewards of the Old Rectory locate various original room names! The letters are also very revealing about their particular beliefs in the afterlife, including:

• the notion that perhaps Samuel Jr. had died whilst away, and that it was his spirit that had come back to them,

• the spirit of a previous servant was haunting them,

• the noises in the house were a portent of doom for the father, and

• communication with the spirits of the dead was possible.

In this series, we shall explore the home of the family [1], and reconstruct the haunting on a day by day basis, using their own words [2]. Was this just bored children having a bit of fun at their father’s expense? Was it villagers, angry at the preaching of the parish priest, Mr Samuel Wesley? Was it the spirit of a servant who had earlier died in the rectory and was making itself known? Was it one of the newly appointed servants? Or was it a poltergeist effect, the source of which was one of the family children?

This first post sets the scene in terms of the main characters, ages at the time of haunting, floor plans for the Old Rectory and where the family members slept. Also we will find links to the various source letters and statements given by witnesses to the events. Referencing codes for the documents referred to in further parts of this series are also located here. You can use the Interactive Timeline at the top of each page to access various stages of the haunting, as well as the analysis at the end.

Rectory Location and Floor Plans

The Old Rectory is located in the Lincolnshire village of Epworth, UK. A Google map of the location can be found here.

The following plans have been drawn from original plans provided by an English Heritage tree-ring analysis report [3], data from the various letters, and information on the garrets extending above the whole of the first floor [4].

Note: The rear, NW, room is unknown as yet, though it may be a rear entrance hall for use by those coming in from the rear garden. The Rear Dining Room / Parlour must have had a door between it and the back kitchen, as described in Letter XI when Robin Brown chases an apparition between the Back Kitchen and the Parlour.

n this first week of the Epworth Poltergeist, we see the odd one or two things starting to happen around the house. The groan of a dying man, and curiously, a levitating object. I say curiously, because poltergeist hauntings don’t usually start with such “energetic” activity. As we progress, this may become an important factor in determining what was happening in the Wesley household. Things then become a little more kinetic, with latches being lifted, knocking sounds, and other metal objects being tinkered with.

If you are reading John Wesley’s The Haunting of Epworth Rectory alongside this, you will find he uses artistic, storytelling licence to compress and alter timeline events, as well as insert new information that was never in the original letters. I have used some of the HER entries, but have put them into the correct sequence as analysis of the original letters nearer the time dictates.

In each diary entry, I have included a comments section, where a brief analysis of the day’s events is given. Please do feel free to add your own comments in underneath as I would love to hear your thoughts on what you think about the various events of the Epworth Poltergeist, and whether anything like these fit your own experiences of similar phenomena.

Astronomical data has been added to aid knowledge of ambient light levels [1].

To try and relive the experience, you may want to have the materials from Part 1 of the Epworth Poltergeist alongside to help.