If you shoot a ghost that’s been frightening people to death, is it against the law? This could be one of the strangest murder defences in history, when Francis Smith armed himself with a pistol and went in search of the ghoulish apparition that was haunting Hammersmith in 1804.

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Sources:
https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/record/t18040111-79?text=Francis%20Smith
Hull Packet, 17 January 1804
London Courier and Evening Gazette, 9 January 1804
The Lore of the Land by Westwood & Simpson