SCRATCHING AT THE DOOR
Posted by anthonynorth on August 12, 2007
The poltergeist. No phenomenon is more disturbing than this. In August 1977 a poltergeist manifested in the Enfield home of a single mother and her four children. One of the most virulent and highly researched cases on record, it remained with the family for fourteen months and carried out a host of phenomena from tapping on walls, through moving objects, to levitating some of the children.
One child in particular – Janet – found she could communicate with the poltergeist. At various times it took her over, during which she would speak in a deep man’s voice. At one time it claimed to be a resident of a local graveyard.
THEY GET EVERYWHERE
Did this poltergeist really exist, or was it a figment of the imagination? And if it did, was it really a spirit causing the trouble? The latter is the often used explanation. Researcher Guy Lyon Playfair would blame other forms of energy.
In one case he investigated, in Sao Paulo in 1973, activity began in the home of a Portuguese family when the son married. Carrying on for over six months and three house moves, Playfair himself witnessed clothes hurl themselves out of a window and a wardrobe catch fire. In the end the infestation was eased when a mystic blamed malevolent curses put on the house.
The word ‘poltergeist’ is German for ‘noisy spirit’. Sometimes it even takes the form of a spirit, as happened in 1966 with the Black Monk of Pontefract. Exhibiting classic poltergeist phenomena, it eventually manifested as a black monk, seen by several members of the Pritchard family. It even physically pulled one of the children downstairs.
POLTS FROM THE PAST
The earliest recorded case of a poltergeist appeared in the ‘Annales Fuldenses’ in 858. It concerned an ‘evil spirit’ which threw stones and made walls shake in a house at Bingen on the Rhine.
Another famous case was the Phantom Drummer of Tedworth who infested the home of magistrate John Mompesson, beginning in 1661. A vagrant claimed responsibility in 1663. William Drury had had his drum confiscated, which he liked playing in the streets, by the magistrate. He sent the infestation to get his own back.
Samuel Wesley – grandfather of the founders of Methodism – had his home infested with the poltergeist called Old Jeffrey. Phenomena seemed to cling to his daughter, Hetty and included knocking noises and inexplicable footsteps in the night.
In 1878 an infestation broke out in Amherst, Nova Scotia after teenager Esther Cox was nearly raped by her boyfriend. Phenomena included noises, floating furniture and spontaneous fires; as well as a strange voice which said things such as ‘Esther, you are mine to kill.’
THEORIES
Various explanations for the poltergeist have been offered other than the traditional supernatural explanation. Typical is the Geo-physical Theory …
This essay has now moved to Anthony North’s new website. Read more of it here, including his own theories and more data.
© Anthony North, August 2007
BEYOND THE BLOG 
observantbystander said
I’ve always found it difficult to believe in the occult. My mother claims her house is haunted – after all, it’s 150 years old – because dishes break spontaneously and other family members claim to have heard a baby crying (there is an infant buried in the front yard, complete with headstone, from a long-ago family who lost a child). I experienced the phenonenon of my own plate breaking spontaneously just after I picked up a piece of toast to take a bite. It made a loud crack and broke in two. However, I wasn’t, and am still not, convinced it was poltergeist activity. Surely there is some kind of logical explanation for the dish breakage – sudden change in temperature being one. I suppose if our family was prone to hysteria, we all might be seeing all kinds of things. My 3 year old grandneice was taken to the bathroom by her mother (my neice) during a family dinner. She began laughing and jabbering while standing in front of the glass shower door. “What are you doing?” her mother asked. “Talking to people in there.” my grandneice answered, pointing to the shower. Now my neice (her mom) won’t go into that bathroom, convinced it is haunted. We laugh about that and tease her about being a scardy cat. So I don’t know, but lean towards family members goading each other into hysteria as to a cause of some reported hauntings.
Interesting subject. I’m glad you write about it on your site in a logical, no-nonsense way.
anthonynorth said
Hi OB,
Some interesting experiences there. I’ll no doubt be writing about quite a few incidences that have happened to me in time. Yes, I believe the subject DOES have importance, but can be dealt with rationally. I don’t think I’ve yet come across a case that is totally ‘supernatural.’
Marissa said
The experiences in my family centered around my sister and her cousin. They were both teens and were playing with a Ouija board. Whilst attempting to contact the beyond, the planchett flew across the room of its own accord. The house was an old Victorian in the old part of Sacramento.
I lived there for a time in the basement with my mother. One afternoon I was alone in the basement reading and when I went to climb the stairs to the main house, the light went out on the stairwell. This was not an unusual occurrence. It could have been a simple electrical issue of course. The house did have its history of toilets flushing on their own.
It was supposed to be haunted by a carpenter who worked on several homes in the area. He had been seen at this house and others. I am more likely to attribute any oddness to two teenage girls with rampant energies. They apparently stirred things up.
marissa
red pill junkie said
Well we definitely have to remember there’s a clear difference between the poltergeist phenomenon and a “haunted house”. Poltergeist is focused mainly on an individual (usually a pre-teen child as you have stated) while in a “haunting” episode the events are focused on a construction, independent of its inhabitants.
Spielberg named his blockbuster movie “Poltergeist”, centering the scary events on the little girl Regan. But as the movie progressed it become more complex and ended up being a sort of mix between haunting & poltergeist. The main thesis it proposes (which I find interesting) is that certain young individuals are more connected to “the other side” and as an effect of that numerous energies (or entities) are drawn to them. “The 6th sense” further develops this theory.
I’ve never experienced any haunting or poltergeist myself. Although I have visited many times a house that some member of my family claim is haunted. It is located in a town of Jalisco called Ocotlán, and it’s pretty old. In mexican lore, when peple report ghostly manifestations, it is believed that they are the result of some sort of treasure or money buried nearby(as it was done during the Mexican Revolution). Now that I write it, I find some paralelisms between this folk belief, and the belief of the irish leprechauns and their “pots of gold”…
But anyway, back to the old house. As I said, nor me or any close member of my family experienced anything unusual whenever we stayed there during Holy week holidays. Nevertheless, it was funny when we joked about it during day time, BUT as soon as the sun set and the house got darker and darker… well, the jokings stopped and no one wanted to go to the bathroom alone!
There was this time when my sister was already in bed but wanted a glass of water and was to afraid to go to the kitchen all by herslef, so she asks one of my cousins, right? so they run to the kitchen and feel less scared as soon as they turn on the lights.
Sudenly we all hear a scream!
My father runs down to the kitchen wearing nothing but his SHORTS and carrying a gun!
“What happened??” he asks to my sister nervously
“A… mouse! There was a MOUSE in the kitchen cabinet!” they answered
Well, I won’t write what my father told them afterward, I’ll leave you to figure it out; nonetheless we still get a big laught everytime we retell a story. Well, everybody BUT HIM of course 🙂
anthonynorth said
Hi Marissa,
It’s amazing that, even in a supposed material, non-spiritual, non-superstitious culture, you don’t have to go far before you find intriguing incidences like this.
I was once talking in a pub, having a quiet beer, and the subject of poltergeists came up. After I’d offered a few possible explanations, the stories came out, kept private for years. And this was in one pub in one small town!
Hi Red,
Yes, there is a definite difference between poltergeist and haunted house, although they do seem to cross at times – Borley Rectory comes to mind, with phenomena changing defendent on each individual family that lived there.
Your story was good, but a proviso. Did anyone catch the mouse?
If not, how do you know it wasn’t a … you know …
Mr Butterscotch said
Observantbystander,
The idea of group hysteria or group hallucination is not uncommon when looking for an explanation for the supernatural, however in your case I beg to differ. Plates can break easily, but the idea that temperature changes did it is extremely dubious – the fact is ceramics would have to cool extremely quickly to shatter – and you would certainly have noticed it, being in such close proximity. Your grandniece’s actions would have filled me with dread – I’m not a believer in any means yet I don’t carry a closed mind either. As we all grow older it’s very easy to deny what we don’t understand – yet this does not mean it is any less real than you or I, merely that we no longer have the capacity for acceptance let alone comprehension.
red pill junkie said
He he! No, the mouse escaped apparently. Maybe it finally went to the light 😉
observantbystander said
Mr. Butterscotch – I’m probably better off denying things than the alternative – being scared witless! Sometimes I think if I let myself be more open to things, I’d see all kinds of freaky stuff. And because I prefer to be alone and enjoy my alone time in my own very old house, I don’t really want to consider what might be floating around in there in the ether!
paulsquires said
It is my contention that if time is not linear the apparent inexplicability of these events becomes merely an inability to see them in the correct context.
anthonynorth said
Hi Paul,
Aren’t you taking out of the equation the peculiarities of the mind here? The way you view something provides ‘context’. It may differ from other views, but does not necessarily make it incorrect.