Stop me if you’ve heard this one: there’s this legal case about the paranormal… No, not that one. This one is about a man that was seen being chased into hell right around the time of his death.

Wikipedia indicates the following (Wikipedia contributors 2020):

On May 12, 1687, Captains Barnaby, Bristow and Brewer with Mr Ball, a merchant of Wentworth, went to go shooting on Stromboli,¹ aboard the Spinks. Later, as they prepared to leave on the 15th, they saw two men running and Capt Barnaby cried out, “Lord bless me! the foremost man is Mr Booty my next door neighbour in London.” He was in grey clothes with cloth buttons, and the man who was chasing him was dressed in black. They both ran into the mouth of the volcano and at instant there came a great noise. Capt Barnaby said “I do not doubt, but it is old Booty running into hell.”

They arrived at Gravesend on October 6. After some discourse, Capt Barnaby’s wife said “I can tell you some news, old Booty is dead.” He answered, “that we all know: we all saw him run into hell.” Mrs Barnaby related this to an acquaintance in London, who informed Mrs Booty of it. Mrs Booty was very much displeased and went to court about it. The Judge asked Mrs Booty what time her husband died. She told them and it agreed with the time in which the Captain and his crew saw him running (Totten 1825).

Lord have mercy upon me, and grant I may never see what you have seen; one, two or three may be mistaken, but thirty never can be mistaken.—Herbert CJ

She lost her suit, based on the statements of thirty witnesses who were there and their journals (Thiselton-Dyer 1898, 241–43).

What’s the moral of the story? Next time you and your crew see a ghost being chased into hell, take note of it (and for god’s sake, Instagram that shit!), it may save your legal behind(s) one day.

References and Bibliography

(Lifted from Wikipedia and passed through pandoc.)

• Cockburn, G. 1815. A Voyage to Cadiz and Gibraltar, up the Mediterranean to Sicily and Malta, in 1810 & II, Including a Description of Sicily and the Lipari Islands, and an Excursion in Portugal. A Voyage to Cadiz and Gibraltar, up the Mediterranean to Sicily and Malta, in 1810 & II, Including a Description of Sicily and the Lipari Islands, and an Excursion in Portugal, v. 2. J. Harding. https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=F_wKAAAAYAAJ.
• Dendy, Walter Cooper. 1841. “Nature and Motives of Ghosts.” In The Philosophy of Mystery. Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longmans. https://archive.org/details/philosophymyste00dendgoog.
• Eames, J., ed. 1837. “The Baker of Wapping: A True Story.” The Idler, and Breakfast-Table Companion 1 (5). https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=WGAJAAAAQAAJ.
• Ennemoser, Joseph. 1854. The History of Magic. Edited by Mary Botham Howitt. Translated by William Howitt. Vol. 2. Bohn’s Scientific Library. H.G. Bohn. https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=N0oPAAAAIAAJ.
• Hood, E. P. 1852. Dream Land and Ghost Land. Partridge; Oakey. https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=JJECAAAAQAAJ.
• Jennings, Hargrave. 1863. The Rosicrucian: Or, Curious Things of the Outside World. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. London: T. Cawley Newby. https://archive.org/details/rosicrucianorcur00jenn/page/n5/mode/2up.
• Kirby, R. S. 1820. Kirby’s Wonderful and Eccentric Museum; or, Magazine of Remarkable Characters. Including All the Curiosities of Nature and Art, from the Remotest Period to the Present Time, Drawn from Every Authentic Source. Illustrated with One Hundred and Twenty-Four Engravings. Chiefly Taken from Rare and Curious Prints or Original Drawings. Vol. 2. London. https://archive.org/details/kirbyswonderfule02kirb/page/246/mode/2up.
• Moncrieff, William Thomas, and Robert Cruikshank. 1830. Old Booty! : A Serio-Comic Sailor’s Tale. London: William Kidd. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/2736741.html.
• N., J. 1814. “Some Account of Mr Booty’s Appearance at Mount Stromboli.” Edited by Philological Society of London. The European Magazine, and London Review 66 (November). https://books.google.com/books?id=9zkoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA386.
• The Irish Law Times and Solicitors’ Journal. 1880. Vol. 14. Ireland, Politics and Society Through the Press, 1760-1922. John Falconer. https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=xNwQAAAAYAAJ.
• Thiselton-Dyer, Thomas Firminger. 1898. The Ghost World. Ward & Downey. https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=tOERAAAAYAAJ.
• Totten, John C., ed. 1825. “MEMOIR Singular Account of Mn. Booty.” MEMOIR Singular Account of Mn. Booty 2 (20). https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=lGZGAAAAYAAJ.
• Wikipedia contributors. 2020. “Booty v Barnaby — Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.” https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Booty_v_Barnaby&oldid=965405465.

1. Later reports mention the island as Lessaria 1 and another called Shumbalon.

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