COCK LANE GHOST, a supposed apparition, the vagaries of which attracted extraordinary public attention in London dur ing 1762. At a house in Cock Lane, Smithfield, tenanted by one Parsons, knockings and other noises were said to occur at night varied by the appearance of a luminous figure, alleged to be the ghost of a Mrs. Kent who had died in the house some two years before. A thorough investigation revealed that Parsons' daughter, a child of eleven, was the source of the disturbance. The object of the Parsons family seems to have been to accuse the husband of the deceased woman of murdering her, with a view to black mail. Parsons was prosecuted and condemned to the pillory. See A. Lang, Cock Lane and Common Sense