The full title of this work, in characteristic C18 style, is "A True Relation of the Apparition of one Mrs. Veal the Next Day after her Death to one Mrs. Bargrave at Canterbury the 8th of September, 1705." This work has been regarded by some as a literary hoax, a work of fiction trying to pass itself off as journalism, but it is now known that the individuals referred to in this piece, including "Mrs. Veal" (actually "Miss Veal") really existed, and that Defoe reported the events in a manner consistent with other recountings of the same incident. Defoe did, however, embellish the reported events.