Do you live with a Poltergeist?

By Joanne Donaldson

Poltergeist: A ghost or other supernatural being supposedly responsible for physical disturbances such as loud noises and objects thrown around.

ORIGIN German, from poltern 'create a disturbance' + Geist 'ghost'.
(Oxford English Dictionary)

The term Poltergeist was first used by German paranormal researchers and simply means 'noisy ghost'. A polt seems to be an angry or mischievous spirit that may be unaware it has passed on from physical existence. It bangs on walls, throws objects and even scratches people in an attempt to get itself noticed. There have been numerous reports of poltergeist activity all over the world and they all seem to behave in a very similar fashion. Interestingly, a poltergeist haunting is often connected to adolescents, girls especially. Researchers believe they can draw on the energies of young people to carry out their sometimes quite disturbing pranks.

One of the most spectacular poltergeist hauntings took place in Enfield, north London in August 1977. Peggy Hodgson and her four children had just moved into their new home. Strange things began to happen. Beds shook, furniture moved by itself and loud knockings were heard.

The activity seemed to be centred around Janet Hodgson, then aged eleven. Her mother, of course, thought that Janet was playing pranks. However, things began to get worse and it soon became evident that none of the children, or anybody else for that matter, could be responsible for the strange events that were beginning to unfold.

Toys and ornaments flew through the air, beds levitated, heavy furniture moved and objects became hot to the touch. Many people, including police officers, witnessed this bizarre activity. A journalist was hit on the head by a flying LEGO brick, wielded by an invisible hand. Janet Hodgson was even flung across her bedroom by some unknown energy.

The highly respected researchers Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair recorded over 2,000 unexplained events. One of the most frightening was an old man's voice emanating from Janet, who continued to be the focus of this unwanted attention. Psychic mediums were brought in to try and communicate with the angry spirit. Some of these mediums believed that the house was haunted by the ghost of an old man who was able to feed off Janet's energy.

Eventually, this poltergeist gradually calmed down and left the poor Hodgson family in peace. Guy Lyon Playfair wrote a fascinating book called This House is Haunted about the strange events in an ordinary suburban home. The Enfield case remains one of the most famous and controversial hauntings ever investigated and continues to be debated by believers and sceptics alike.

Another famous case that focused on a young female is the Rosenheim poltergeist that occurred in Germany in the late 1960s. The young lady in question was a teenage secretary, Anne-Marie Schneider, who worked in a lawyer's office. Soon after she started work, her colleagues began to notice strange phenomena. Lights would turn themselves on and off and telephones would ring without anybody at the other end. Doors could be seen to open and close by themselves, likewise desk drawers, which were prone to spilling their contents on the floor.

The speaking clock was called hundreds of times at a rate physically impossible for a person to manually dial. This strange activity always happened in the vicinity of Miss Schneider, who, of course, was accused of attention-seeking. However, two scientists who investigated the case and kept a close eye on Miss Schneider could find no evidence that she was physically responsible for these events. Schneider eventually left her job, although debate continues over exactly what role she played in the strange events.

A bit closer to home is the Thornton Road poltergeist that began to seriously annoy the residents of a Ward End street in 1981. Almost every night a group of five houses were subject to a barrage of stone throwing that caused significant damage to roof tiles and windows. Local yobs were suspected and the police were called in.

Officers camped out in the gardens, feeling certain that they would apprehend the culprits. However, even with the houses under close observation, no one was ever seen, even though the number and frequency of the stones thrown meant that a sizeable gang must be responsible. The mystery was never satisfactorily explained and remains one of Birmingham's strangest unsolved cases.

One of the most widely reported modern cases is the South Shields Poltergeist, which attracted national and international attention. This particular polt is in a different league to a relatively harmless stone thrower.

Some truly terrifying events happened to a young family living in an ordinary house in the small town of South Shields. Apart from the usual loud knocks and flying objects, this poltergeist liked to arrange children's toys in sinister displays of violence. A fluffy rabbit was poised holding a knife to the throat of a toy duck. A teddy bear was hanged by its neck from a shelf.

The young couple received obscene text messages from phones that were not in working order. Other messages were scrawled on a child's doodle board. One said 'just go now'; another message introduced their tormentor as 'Sammy'. The couple were physically attacked, large red scratches appearing on their bodies.

Their three-year-old son would suddenly disappear, only to be found seconds later locked in a closet, tightly bound in a blanket. Many of these strange events were witnessed by other people, including experienced investigators Michael J.Hallowell and Darren W.Ritson. They have thoroughly researched and documented this disturbing case and their investigation and conclusions can be read in their book The South Shields Poltergeist.

If you have ever experienced any bizarre poltergeist activity we would love you to tell us about it.