SOURCE: "The Friendly Demon" (1726) by Daniel Defoe

DESCRIPTION: "...Upon this advice, he kept within until towards the evening, and, feeling the need of air, ventured to set one foot over the threshold of the door..., which he had no sooner done but a rope was cast about his middle, in he sight of several standers-by, and the poor man was hurried from the porch with unaccountable swiftness. followed by many persons." ("The Friendly Demon" by Daniel Defoe)

NOTES: The ghostsnatchers are a group of evil spirits (Defoe uses 'demon', 'ghost', 'spirit' and 'goblin' interchangeably) who try to tempt a butler into committing an evil act so they may carry him to hell. They try to drag him on a magic rope. They are defeated because good Christians are not under the powers of Hell. They are also defeated one of their own number, the friendly demon of the title, a ghost of an acquaintance of the victim. This demon may be working against them or a clever agent that tries to win the victim's trust.

HISTORY: The belief in the power of the Devil and evil spirits in Defoe's time would have lessened from the time of Shakespeare. Defoe uses the supernatural to poke fun, though many of the ideas about spirits would still be around when Dickens' penned A Christmas Carol about a hundred years later.