Booty v Barnaby

Booty v. Barnaby is the name of an English court case in which a Mrs Booty brought a suit for slander against her neighbour, Captain Barnaby, who claimed that he had seen her deceased husband being driven into Hell.

Events

On May 12, 1687, Captains Barnaby, Bristow and Brewer with Mr Ball, a merchant of Wentworth, went to go shooting on Stromboli,^{[Notes 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.^[1]

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.^[2]

Distortions

Some later versions have Booty as a baker,^[3] or a receiver.

The Idler published two illustrations concerning Mr. Booty by George Cruikshank in 1837.^[3]

A poem titled "Old booty! : A serio-comic sailor's tale." was published in 1830 by William Thomas Moncrieff.^[4]

Case details

In the records at Westminster, Court of King's Bench, Reign of James the Second, 1687

• Sir Edward Herbert - Chief Justice
• Wythens, Holloway and Wright, Justices
• Defendant - Captain Barnaby
• Complainant - Mrs. Booty

Resources

• Kirby, R. S. (1820). "REMARKABLE TRIAL". 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. 2. London. pp. 247–249. 

Notes

References

External links

• Philological Society (Great Britain) (1814). "Some account of Mr Booty's Appearance at Mount Stromboli". The European magazine, and London review. 66. Philological Society of London. pp. 384–385. Retrieved 7 December 2010. 
• Cockburn, Sir George (1815). "Remarkable Trial". 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. J. Harding. pp. 335–338. Retrieved 5 December 2010. 
• Dendy, Walter Cooper (1841). "Nature of Ghosts". The Philosophy of Mystery. London. p. 7. 
• Hood, Edwin Paxton (1852). "Are All Ghost Stories Incredible?". Dream Land and Ghost Land. London: Partridge and Oakey. pp. 47–49. 
• Ennemoser, Joseph (1854). "MR. BOOTY AND THE SHIPS CREW". The history of magic. Vol. 2. H.G. Bohn. pp. 373–374. Retrieved 7 December 2010. 
• Jennings, Hargrave (1863). The Rosicrucian: or, Curious things of the outside world. London: T. Cautley Newby. pp. 92–97. 
• Harrison, William H. (2001-10-17). Spirits Before Our Eyes. Elibron.com. pp. 118–123. ISBN 978-1-4021-9424-5. Retrieved 7 December 2010.  Original edition published 1879
• "In the Matter of an Apparition". The Irish Law Times and solicitors' journal. Printed and published by J. Falconer. November 20, 1880. pp. 568–569. 
• "SECOND SIGHT". New York Times. March 5, 1882. Retrieved 5 December 2010. 
• Baker, Bart., Sir Sherston (1882). Pollock, Arthur William Alsager, ed. "Investigation of a strange ghost story". Colburn's United service magazine. H. Colburn: 452–460. 
• Lang, Andrew (1894). "Ghosts Before The Law". Cock Lane and Common-Sense. pp. 262–263. 
• Bardens, Dennis (1970). "Mind to Mind". Mysterious worlds: a personal investigation of the weird, the uncanny and the unexplained. Cowles Book Co. pp. 21–22. 

Ghosts
List of ghosts
Manifestations	Haunted locations Haunted highways Haunted house Haunted trains Haunted ships Hungry ghost Phantom vehicle Poltergeist Residual haunting Vengeful ghost
By culture	Ghosts in Bengali culture Ghosts in English-speaking cultures Ghosts in Spanish-speaking cultures Western Canada Caribbean Colombia La Candelaria France Mexican locations Day of the Dead Slavic folklore Romania United Kingdom Scotland United States Washington, D.C. Asian South Asian Bengali Burmese Chinese Ghost Festival Filipino haunted locations Japanese Onryō Korean Malay Thai Tibetan Vietnamese North America Navajo Ghost sickness Ghost Dance Oceania Maori Polynesian
History	Mesopotamian Ancient Egyptian culture Classical Antiquity
Parapsychology	Apparitional experience Electronic voice phenomenon kaidan Ghost hunting Séance Mediumship Spirit photography
Popular culture	Films about ghosts India Stories about ghosts Halloween Samhain Video games Paranormal television
Court cases	Booty v Barnaby
Related	Fear of ghosts Spectrophilia Spiritualism Spiritism The Ghost Club
Category