Phantom Stalkers: The Halifax Slasher and The Hammersmith Ghost

Episode of Morbid · July 20, 2026 · 54 min

Morbid hosts Ash Kelley and Alaina Urquhart recount two English mass-hysteria cases: the 1803–04 Hammersmith Ghost killing and the 1938 Halifax Slasher panic.

Summary

After a previous four-part series, Ash Kelley presented what she called a lighter episode on phantom stalkers and mass hysteria in England. The hosts opened with banter about Mercury retrograde, their dislike of summer, Halloween decorations and a sick dog, and noted that a recent recording with Aaron Mahnke had foreshadowed the topic.

Kelley first recounted the Hammersmith Ghost of 1803–04, a white-shrouded figure blamed for frightening and assaulting villagers west of London. On January 3, 1804, customs officer Francis Smith, patrolling alone, shot dead bricklayer Thomas Millwood, whose white work clothes resembled the ghost. At the Old Bailey the jury returned a manslaughter verdict, but the judges would not accept it because Millwood posed no threat and the ghost's pranks were at most a nuisance, so Smith was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to one year of hard labor, and shoemaker John Graham later confessed to playing the ghost to scare his apprentices. Kelley described the case as an example of mass psychogenic illness and said it raised enduring questions about self-defense in English law.

Kelley then described the Halifax Slasher panic of November 1938, which began with mallet attacks on young women and recalled a 1927 dress-slashing case. Reports multiplied into surrounding towns, prompting curfews, Boy Scout patrols, a Scotland Yard detective and vigilante mobs of thousands that beat men mistaken for the attacker. Investigators later concluded there had been no slasher, that many injuries were self-inflicted, and several people were charged over hoaxes. Urquhart argued that multiple offenders were not implausible, and both hosts reflected on groupthink before closing with a fun fact about the invention of the Moon Pie.

Chapters

0:00
Opening banter
The hosts discuss Mercury retrograde, hating summer, Halloween village purchases and Alaina's sick dog Blanche.
4:23
Episode setup
Ash introduces a less intense episode on the Hammersmith Ghost and the Halifax Slasher, noting Aaron Mahnke foreshadowed it.
5:11
The Hammersmith Ghost sightings
Reports of a white specter attacking travelers lead villagers to form armed patrols convinced it may be a man in costume.
12:19
The shooting of Thomas Millwood
Francis Smith shoots bricklayer Thomas Millwood, dressed in white work clothes, believing him to be the ghost.
16:03
Inquest and Old Bailey trial
Witnesses testify about Smith's agitation and good character and Millwood's sobriety as the court weighs murder versus self-defense.
23:35
Verdict, commutation and confession
Judges reject a manslaughter verdict, Smith is sentenced to death then commuted to hard labor, and John Graham confesses to being the ghost.
Linked moment · 28:51Skip to 28:51 using a listen link in the info box.
28:51
The Halifax Slasher's first attacks
In November 1938 young women report mallet attacks, and a 1927 dress-slashing case by James Leonard is recalled.
37:16
Panic spreads
Attacks multiply across towns, prompting rewards, Boy Scout patrols, curfews, a Scotland Yard detective and violent vigilante mobs.
45:26
The slasher debunked
Investigators conclude most reports were false or self-inflicted, hoaxers are charged, and the hosts reflect on groupthink.
51:13
Moon Pie fun fact and sign-off
Alaina explains the 1917 invention of the Moon Pie and the hosts close the episode.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart said Smith's fear made sense given the era's genuine belief in a ghost terrorizing the community.
“it makes sense for back then that they truly thought that a ghost was terrorizing their community”
Listen from 21:45 · Hammersmith Ghost
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart said she did not believe Smith intended the outcome, but that he still killed someone.
“I don't think he, like, truly meant to do what he did, like, for it all to shake out the way that it did”
Listen from 22:43 · Trial of Francis Smith (1804)
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argued that Millwood's failure to stop gave Smith no justification, since nobody must obey a stranger's order to stop.
“no one has an obligation to stop walking when some stranger tells them to stop walking”
Listen from 23:25 · Trial of Francis Smith (1804)
Ash Kelley
Kelley recounted that John Graham, a local shoemaker, came forward and confessed to being the Hammersmith Ghost after Smith's conviction.
“caused the real Hammersmith ghost, a local shoemaker named John Graham, to come forward and confess”
Listen from 25:13 · Hammersmith Ghost
Ash Kelley
Kelley recounted that Smith's death sentence was commuted after the judge took the case to the king.
“And in the end, Francis Smith was spared the death sentence and instead served one year of hard labor”
Listen from 25:13 · Trial of Francis Smith (1804)
Ash Kelley
Kelley said the Smith case raised questions about the limits of self-defense that British courts grappled with for over a century.
“it raised several questions about the limits of self-defense in cases where somebody kills another person or causes their death”
Listen from 25:40 · Self-defence in English law
Ash Kelley
Kelley characterized the Hammersmith Ghost as a solid example of mass psychogenic illness.
“So the Hammersmith ghost is a very solid example of mass psychogenic illness, also known as mass hysteria”
Listen from 28:25 · Mass psychogenic illness
Ash Kelley
Kelley highlighted that James Leonard received the same one-year hard-labor sentence for cutting dresses as Smith did for a killing.
“and that this man who cut a couple dresses was sentenced to that, you really got to sit with that”
Listen from 33:43 · Halifax Slasher
Ash Kelley
Kelley explained that near-simultaneous reports from distant towns made a single attacker, or even three, implausible.
“it would have been impossible for one man or really even three to get across town so quickly”
Listen from 46:23 · Halifax Slasher
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart disagreed that multiple slashers were unlikely, citing criminal pairs such as the Hillside Stranglers and Leopold and Loeb.
“It's not, in my opinion, it's not that unlikely. Like, men are nuts”
Listen from 46:41 · Halifax Slasher
Ash Kelley
Kelley quoted Scotland Yard's Detective Sergeant saying people were cut but no slasher was involved.
“certainly 15 persons did actually receive slashes, but the police are now satisfied that no one who has been termed the slasher was concerned”
Listen from 48:13 · Halifax Slasher
Ash Kelley
Kelley recounted that a Halifax teenager was arrested for staging her own attack.
“a teenage girl in Halifax was arrested for providing a false report after she was found to have tied herself up and torn her clothing”
Listen from 49:05 · Halifax Slasher
Ash Kelley
Kelley compared the Halifax hoaxes to the Salem witch trials and suggested boredom drove people to invent drama.
“It's very similar to the Salem Witch Trials. I think life was fucking boring back then”
Listen from 50:26 · Mass psychogenic illness
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart said both cases were interesting because crowds believed something implausible and acted recklessly.
“Just because it's a bunch of people believing something that is unbelievable for us to think of”
Listen from 51:02 · Mass psychogenic illness
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart said the Moon Pie was invented in 1917 by Earl Mitchell of the Chattanooga Bakery.
“The moon pie was invented in 1917 by Earl Mitchell. He was a traveling salesman for the Chattanooga Bakery”
Listen from 51:21 · Moon Pie

People

In the conversation

Ash KelleyCo-host of the true crime podcast Morbid
Alaina UrquhartCo-host of Morbid, autopsy technician and author of the Butcher novels

Discussed

Thomas MillwoodHammersmith bricklayer shot dead in 1804 after being mistaken for the ghost
Francis SmithCustoms officer convicted of murdering Thomas Millwood while hunting the Hammersmith Ghost
John GrahamHammersmith shoemaker who confessed to impersonating the ghost
Archibald MacdonaldLord Chief Baron of the Exchequer who presided over Smith's trial and sought royal clemency
James LeonardLaborer jailed for slashing women's dresses in Halifax in 1927
Robert BartholomewMedical sociologist who studied the Halifax Slasher as mass hysteria
Gary RidgwayAmerican serial killer known as the Green River Killer
Aaron MahnkeHost of the podcast Lore
Earl MitchellChattanooga Bakery salesman credited with inventing the Moon Pie in 1917

Topics

From the publisher

In eighteenth and nineteenth century England, two phantom stalkers terrorized the public and captured the collective imagination to the point of violence. However, violent outcomes and legal consequences notwithstanding, neither phantom was ever anything more than a figment of people’s imaginations.

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 30, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: History·True Crime·Social Sciences