The Chained Ghost of Athens
Nearly two thousand years ago, a Roman writer told of a house in Athens where an old man in chains appeared at night, until a philosopher followed him.
What was reported
In a letter written around AD 100, the Roman author Pliny the Younger told a story he believed: a large house in Athens had a terrible reputation. At night came the clank of chains, and then a ghost appeared, a thin old man with a long beard and chains on his hands and feet. No one would live there, and it was let cheaply.
The philosopher Athenodorus rented it anyway, and when the ghost beckoned, he followed it into the courtyard, where it vanished. He had the spot dug up, and a skeleton in chains was found. Once it was properly buried, the house was quiet.
Explanations offered
It's one of the oldest written ghost stories, and its shape, a restless spirit at peace once its remains are found and buried, appears in ghost stories ever since. Pliny was reporting a tale told to him; there's no other record of the house.
- When
- Told around AD 100
- Where
- Athens, Greece
- Witnesses
- Recorded by Pliny the Younger
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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