The Drummer of Tedworth
After a magistrate took away a wandering drummer's drum, his house filled with drumming every night.
What was reported
In 1661 John Mompesson, a magistrate at Tedworth (now Tidworth) in Wiltshire, had a travelling drummer, William Drury, arrested for using a forged pass, and kept his drum. Soon after, the household said, loud drumming and knocking began at night, especially around the children's beds, and went on for about two years.
The clergyman Joseph Glanvill visited and wrote about it as evidence of a spirit world. The story became famous and inspired Joseph Addison's play The Drummer.
Explanations offered
No cause was ever proven. Visitors sent from the royal court reportedly heard nothing on the night they stayed. Sceptics suggest pranks by servants or the children, or ordinary noises magnified by fear and gossip; Mompesson was accused at the time of staging it, which he denied.
- When
- 1661–1663
- Where
- Tidworth, Wiltshire, England
- Witnesses
- John Mompesson's household and visitors, including Joseph Glanvill
- Status
- Never solved
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.