Henry Hitchings

Are the English exceptionally gullible?

It became common in the 18th century to speak of ‘English credulity’ and there was no shortage of hoaxers to exploit it, as Ian Keable’s enjoyable case histories show

‘English Credulity or the Invisible Ghost’. In a thronged room in Cock Lane two children lie in bed while the ghost of Fanny Lynes appears above them carrying a mallet (to make knocking sounds). [Alamy]

  • The Century of Deception: The Birth of the Hoax in Eighteenth-Century England

    Ian Keable

    Westbourne Press, pp. 305, £20

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