Scratching at the door

Anthony North: 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.’

View: Full Article | Source: Beyond the Blog