John Darrell (born 1562 in or near Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England, died after 1602) was an Anglican clergyman noted for his Puritan views and his practice as an exorcist, which led to imprisonment.
In 1596–1597 he conducted further exorcisms, mainly at St Mary's Church, Nottingham, where he was appointed curate by Robert Aldridge, but also in Lancashire, where with others he exorcised demons from seven members of the household of Nicholas Starkey in Tyldesley on 17 and 18 March 1597,[2] and in Staffordshire.
Because of the intense public interest and the fierce arguments in Nottingham, John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, ordered an investigation.
Shakespeare read it, and King Lear contains the names of devils, like Flibbertigibbet and Smulkin, taken from Darrell's book.
What he wanted to prove was that Puritans were as capable as Roman Catholics in the matter of dispossessing evil spirits.