Skeptical spirit.

From hence I went on to Colchester[, Essex, England]. The story of Kill-Dane, which is told of the town of Kelvedon, three miles from Witham, namely, [is] that this is the place where the massacre of the Danes was begun by the women, and that therefore it was called Kill-Dane; I say of it, as we generally say of improbable news, it wants confirmation. The true name of the town is Kelvedon, and has been so for many hundred years. Neither does Mr. Camden, or any other writer I meet with worth naming, insist on this piece of empty tradition.

"Tour through the Eastern Counties of England, 1722." By Daniel Defoe, History House.