How Do Poltergeists Fit In?

German for “noisy ghost” or more specifically poltern “to knock” and geist “spirit”, poltergeists would appear to be exactly that. It is the occurrence where random objects are moved and sounds made by unseen forces. The common belief is that this is to draw attention to itself. Poltergeist cases always seem to involve specific individuals, which is usually a child or adolescent. However, it’s not always a case of unexplainable sounds and moving objects. In some cases individuals have been known to be harmed, presenting scratches and bruising which they can not explain the cause of. Also unexplained pools of liquid appear and small fires may start and then extinguish themselves without warning.

Further to that in some famous cases, levitation has also been experienced. One of the most famous cases, which included all of the fore mentioned, is possibly the Enfield Poltergeist.

During August 1977 to September 1978, with an additional outburst in August 1980, a single mother and her four children were plagued by the actions of such a poltergeist in their council house in North London.

The phenomena began with the moving of furniture before their eyes. Then the family were kept awake by strange noises and knockings. A neighbour, Vic Nottingham entered the house at one point to investigate for the distraught mother, only to hear noises and knocking sounds for himself literally following him from room to room. This was the early stages of what was almost a year long period where the family experienced more knocking on the walls, Lego bricks and marbles being thrown aggressively, and more movement of furniture. Later on it became even more terrifying when a cast iron fireplace was ripped from the wall. Fires would ignite and then extinguish themselves spontaneously, and Janet would be thrown from her bed, and made to levitate around her room.

Police were called and witnessed some events and even wrote a statement to support what they had seen.

Then paranormal researchers Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair were brought in and conducted an intense investigation which lasted many months.

In the later months of their investigation, Maurice coaxed the entity into speaking to them. Its voice was that of an old man, but the voice came from Janet! Maurice recorded the voice as evidence. And it was tested to ensure its credibility and it was found unlikely that Janet could keep up the voice for the length of time it was heard under the conditions Maurice tested it.
The voice or entity claimed to be an old man called Bill. Who said he was the previous occupier of the house, and stated that he had died of a brain haemorrhage in the armchair in the living room. This was confirmed to be true. Also the man’s son listened to the recorded voice and was sure it was his father.

Was this a clever elaborate hoax or a true poltergeist encounter?

Looking at the evidence we have, we are compelled to believe it, yet not from the photographs or voice recording, but from the number of eye-witness statements confirming the events in Enfield. However, eye-witness accounts can also be flawed too!



The few photos’ I have seen of the levitation could easily be shots of Janet jumping from her bed too. You see the problem is there is no evidence of her lifting up from her bed and then moving around the room. Today we would expect to see video footage covering the bedroom constantly picking up every little movement. After all we are not truly satisfied until we see it with our own eyes!

As for the voice recording, this could have been faked. However, it is unlikely Janet would have managed to talk like an old man for as long as she did, without it causing her pain or recognisable as being fake. This may have been faked later by the adults, trying to add more to the story.



I am not saying I don’t believe in the Enfield Poltergeist, just that the distinct lack of physical and solid evidence makes it hard for me to buy into it entirely.

That’s why we would try and cover every base with our investigation and ensure we had good hard evidence to present. After all it makes more sense to investigate and debunk some paranormal activity claims, before admitting somewhere is haunted!

However, there is a common belief between many paranormal researchers that poltergeist are not ‘ghosts’ or ‘spirits’, but manifestations of unconscious mental upset, usually in children or teenagers. Repressed psychic energy may suddenly express itself by projecting from the person that is troubled and paranormally move objects or make noises. This in turn frightens the individual who is at the centre of the activity resulting in more fear that again feeds the escaping psychic energy. However, if the fear of the poltergeist activity is overcome the circle is broken and the activity usually fades away.

It is thought that in most cases poltergeist activity is an example of the minds ability to influence matter, something which American parapsychologist JB Rhine called psycho kinesis.

However, occasionally it is believed that an independent spirit entity may harness the energy and give intelligent communication by means of knocking or other noises.

Another spin on the explanation of poltergeist activity is that it is related to localise telluric rays from the earth’s core. The psychics believe that these ‘Earth Fields’ can be detected by dowsing. Underground rock strata, streams and springs distort these rays and result in areas of ‘geographic stress’ that are harmful to humans and some animals. Dowsers also believe that the megalithic standing stones were designed to mark the lines of these earth fields, named ‘Ley Lines’ by dowser Alfred Watkins. They apparently crisscross Britain and converge on Glastonbury in Somerset, Stonehenge in Wiltshire and the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt.

Studies have revealed many poltergeist cases to have occurred in buildings that have been built exactly on the intersection of two major ley lines.

My last thought on poltergeist is that perhaps they are explainable by the means of psycho kinesis. Perhaps the traumatic events, stress or another factor subconsciously creates these phenomena using the power of the mind itself. However, cases like that of the ‘Enfield Poltergeist’ suggest the involvement of an entity. Perhaps the use of the mind in this higher manner attracts ghosts or spirits as a conduit for communication. If this was the case, perhaps individuals plagued by poltergeist may also have medium type abilities?

As ever your comments are welcome.