The Case of the Tedworth Drummer

The case of the Tedworth Drummer is an early instance of poltergeist phenomena. It was originally recorded by Joseph Glanville in his Sadducismus Triumphatus (1668). The incidence was at the home of a magistrate, John Mompesson, in Tedworth, England, in April, 1661.

It all started with a simple case of vagrancy. William Drury was an traveling magician as well as a drummer who was caught in some shady dealings. Authorities seized his possessions, which included his drum. Drury was found guilty and forced to leave the area. His drum was not returned in him but was kept at the magistrate"s house.

Later, the magistrate had to leave home for a few days. He returned to frenzied reports of bizarre noises that had been plaguing his house while he was away. The noises sounded like the tapping and banging of a drum, and came from within the walls and on the roof. Roundheads, cuckolds, and tattoos played at all hours of the day and night, very obviously beaten out on a drum. Magistrate Mompesson had Drury's drum brought out and personally destroyed it. He assumed this would take care of things. It did not; the noises continued.

The Reverend Joseph Glanville, chaplain to King Charles II, was called upon to investigate. According to the report given in his book, Glanville went upstairs and found two young girls, ages seven and eleven, sitting on their bed, very frightened. Scratching noises came from the head of the bed and from the wall panels. Glanville could see the girls' hands in full view so he knew they were not the cause of the noises. He meticulously searched the room, but found no explanation for the sounds.

Glanville noticed a second bed with a linen bag hanging from one of its bedposts, swinging and moving as though it contained something alive. He snatched the bag and up-ended it, but found nothing inside.

After several days, the sounds began to die down. Mompesson learned that Drury had been found guilty of theft in Gloucester and exiled to the colonies. Drury's leaving seemed to calm the noises. Some months later, however, the noises started up again, and it was learned that Drury had returned to England. The sound of the drum became more intense than ever and was accompanied by other poltergeist phenomena. Shoes flew across rooms, chamber pots emptied onto beds, and dreadful sulfurous smells filled various parts of the house.

The drumming sounds were so loud that others in the village could hear them clearly. No explanation could be found, and the noises continued for almost a year until they suddenly stopped. Mompesson attempted to locate William Drury, but he seemed to have vanished. He was never heard from again, nor was the sound of his drum.

Bibliography
Buckland, Raymond: Ray Buckland's Magic Cauldron. 1995.
Robbins, Rossel Hope: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. 1959.