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He Shot a Ghost. They Sentenced Him to Death | Tales From the Bottle

Qxir | June 23, 2026



In one of the most bizarre legal cases of the past 200 years, a man shot a ghost, and suffered the consequences.

“The Hammersmith Ghost murder case of 1804 set a legal precedent in the UK regarding self-defence: that someone could be held liable for their actions even if they were the consequence of a mistaken belief.
Near the end of 1803, many people claimed to have seen or even been attacked by a ghost in the Hammersmith area of London, a ghost believed by locals to be the spirit of a suicide victim. On January 3, 1804, a 29-year-old excise officer named Francis Smith, a member of one of the armed patrols set up in the wake of the reports, shot and killed a bricklayer, Thomas Millwood, mistaking the white clothes of Millwood’s trade for the shroud of a ghostly apparition. Smith was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, later commuted to one year’s hard labour.
The issues surrounding the case were not settled for 180 years, until a Court of Appeal decision in 1984.”

More on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammersmith_Ghost_murder_case

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Written by Qxir

Comments

This post currently has 49 comments.

  1. @MajorT0m

    June 23, 2026 at 3:35 am

    Possibly your finest work yet young man. Top marks for the churchyard background too, due to its comprehensive detail I am looking forward to seeing it recycled many times, mirrored, zoomed in, added to etc in many future videos. Just writing this and your GhostMoan© outro came on 😂 Excellent work sir.

  2. @balisongkid1

    June 23, 2026 at 3:35 am

    I'm sorry, but he should not have been arrested. He warned the man multiple times and he kept approaching like nothing was going on? No, you stop, you raise your hands, you fucking SAY SOMETHING! I'd have shot the moron dead myself. Did he not speak the language or is he just that fucking daft?
    It's not about him being mistaken. Peoples understanding of what is "real" in this world are different… but a gun being pointed at you and commands telling you to stop approaching are pretty god damn universal.

  3. @heckzotica

    June 23, 2026 at 3:35 am

    The wild thing is there was way more sightings than the person who was the actual ghost could account for which means other people In this town were also copy catting him!

  4. @MrJayrock620

    June 23, 2026 at 3:35 am

    He should’ve used rock salt instead of buckshot. Salt is believed to cleanse evil, so it’s effective against evil spirits, but it will only wound a human. If you’re wrong, it’s only aggravated assault instead of murder/manslaughter charges that you’d be fighting

  5. @KisniCovek

    June 23, 2026 at 3:35 am

    –If I become a ghost after offing myself, don't worry. I won't be coming to eat you out at night. Erhm… I meant eat you.*

    –No, I'll just be there. In your bathroom, watching you shower. Now, I won't be aroused by this in any manner, since I will obviously be a ghost. I'll also stand there to awkwardly lock eyes with you while you're taking a poop. Especially the excruciatingly long ones.

    –Don't worry if you need to take a piss tho, I'm not gonna bother wasting my time on that shite, too short and boring.

  6. @乾燥剤-u7o

    June 23, 2026 at 3:35 am

    I once heard of a story happened in Edo period. 1658 to be exact. There was this Yokai threatening the neighborhood called “white butt of the 大手 city”, which jumps out from below the bridge, showing off its signature unnervingly white butt while screaming like crazy.

    One day, samurai encountered with it and slashed it in half with his katana, but it was turned out to be some dude who had spooking someone as his hobby (or kink, depends on how you interpret it).
    Local chief retainers were like “what the hell is this” and couldn’t decide what to do with this case, so at the end they decided to cover up the truth of “white butt”, and officially stated that he died by seppuku ordered by his boss, which was considered much more honorable than whatever “this” is.

    Which failed miserably, and people soon talked about this hilarious incident, made paintings and such a lot, and to this day after over 300 years, there’s still photo spot and occasional museum special exhibition about this incident. Poor guy.

  7. @Chichi-sl2mq

    June 23, 2026 at 3:35 am

    My nephew hates the barbershop.
    We bribe him …a lot. Sometimes it work…this term it didn't.
    We are just waiting for him to make is decision because he hates washing his hair, and combing it out.
    Now we wait.
    He is 6 and has the kinkiest 4c hair.

  8. @maskedmarvyl4774

    June 23, 2026 at 3:35 am

    Why did bricklayers wear all white??
    It sounds like a dirty job.
    This is a case of two not too bright guys meeting each other.
    I feel sorry for the bricklayer, but he really should have listened to his wife.

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