Editing Drummer of Tedworth (section)

==Critical reception==
In 1716 the [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]] writer and politician [[Joseph Addison]] wrote a play ''[[The Drummer (play)|The Drummer]]'' inspired by events at Tedworth. However, he updated the story to the recent [[War of the Spanish Succession]] and gave a rational explanation for the ghostly drumming; a returning veteran thought killed in action does it to scare off two suitors from his now wealthy "widow".<ref>Michael, Hunter. ''The Decline of Magic: Britain in the Enlightenment''. Yale University Press, 2020. p. 117</ref>

[[Charles Mackay (author)|Charles Mackay]], in his ''[[Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds]]'' (1841), considered the phenomena to be undoubtedly fraudulent produced by confederates of the drummer and suggested Mompesson was easily deceived.<ref>[[Charles Mackay (author)|Mackay, Charles]]. (1856 edition). [https://archive.org/stream/memoirsextraord10mackgoog#page/n240/mode/2up ''Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds'']. London, New York: G. Routledge and Sons. pp. 226–227</ref>

[[Amos Norton Craft]] (1881) also suggested that the phenomena were the result of trickery:

{{blockquote|text=We are to remember also, that the house of Mr. Mompesson contained several servants who doubtless possessed a good degree of human nature; Mr. Mompesson had caused the arrest and imprisonment of a member of a band of gypsies, who were intensely enraged at him on that account that the disturbance ceased as soon as the gypsy was transported beyond the sea and his associates had no farther hope of his release; that these manifestations began again as soon as the gypsy returned from transportation; that the gypsy professed to be the cause of the disturbance, and that the excited imagination would naturally add to the manifestations which the enraged trickster really produced.<ref>[[Amos Norton Craft|Craft, Amos Norton]]. (1881). [https://archive.org/stream/EpidemicDelusions/Epidemic%20Delusions#page/n193/mode/2up ''Epidemic Delusions: Containing an Exposé of the Superstitions and Frauds which Underlie Some Ancient and Modern Delusions, Including Especial Reference to Modern Spiritualism'']. New York: Phillips & Hunt. p. 193</ref>}}

[[Addington Bruce]] (1908) has argued that the phenomenon was fraudulently manufactured by Mompesson's own children, especially his oldest daughter, a girl of ten. Bruce wrote that the noises and movement of objects were reminiscent of [[Practical joke|pranks]] and often occurred in the children's bedroom. Bruce noted that Glanvill "passed only one night in the haunted house, and of his several experiences there is none that cannot be set down to fraud plus imagination, with the children the active agents."<ref>[[Addington Bruce|Bruce, Addington]]. (1908). [https://archive.org/stream/historicghostsgh00bruciala#page/28/mode/2up ''Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters'']. New York: Moffat, Yard & Company. pp. 28–35</ref>

[[Andrew Lang]] of the [[Society for Psychical Research]] wrote that "the Drummer was suspected, but, consciously or not, the children were probably the agents."<ref>[[Andrew Lang|Lang, Andrew]]. (1893). ''Fairies and Psychical Research''. In [[Robert Kirk (folklorist)|Robert Kirk]]. ''The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies''. London: David Nutt. pp. 55–56.</ref>