During April and May in 1821, a series of apparently supernatural harassments were reported in a house near Carclew Street. The building, occupied by soldiers and their families, was ferociously pelted by stones that were thrown by an unseen hand. Repeated searches failed to detect a human culprit. The incidents became so unnerving and the occupants became so afraid, that they called upon the civil authorities for help. The Mayor of Truro personally investigated. According to a local newspaper account (The West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser -  April 20th, 1821), he witnessed the phenomena for himself. Another newspaper account (West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser - May 4th, 1821) stated that a reward was offered to anybody with helpful information. A week later the same newspaper declared the case solved ("Discovery of the Truro ghost." West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, May 11th, 1821) - one of the soldiers' children confessed to throwing the stones.

We believe that there are several loose ends which aren't explained by the explanation offered above. How did one child throw a considerable volume of stones from a place of concealment (sometimes in broad daylight) without being detected? How did he/she manage to do this at times when lots of people were scouring the area? When the Mayor of Truro intervened, the child supposedly remained hidden from investigators who were specifically looking for signs of human agency - yet still contrived to toss stones so effectively that the Mayor was completely perplexed and (according to some accounts) obliged to flee.

There are many verified instances of poltergeist phenomena associated with children, so it's tempting to speculate that the child might have been the focal point of genuinely supernatural events. Did the child's parents sieze upon a convenient (and comforting) interpretation of the disturbances? Did the prospect of financial reward lead to a swift and profitable conclusion?