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{{Audio|De-poltergeist.ogg|'''Poltergeist'''}} (from [[German language|German]] ''poltern'', meaning to make noise, and ''[[Geist]]'', meaning ''"[[ghost]]"'' or ''"[[spirit]]"''), denotes an ostensibly [[paranormal]] phenomenon attributed to an invisible [[Soul|spirit]] or [[ghost]] that manifests itself by moving and influencing objects, generally in a particular location such as a house or room or place within a house. Poltergeists have been reported in many cultures, including India (where they are known as a Mumai), the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil. Like the existence of [[ghosts]] in general, there is no credible [[scientific]] evidence for the existence of poltergeists.<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/haunted_inns_tales_of_spectral_guest/ |title=Haunted Inns Tales of Spectral Guests |accessdate=2009-08-29 |last=Nickell |first=Joe |date=Sept-Oct 2000 |publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] }}</ref><ref name=visit> {{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/paranormal_visit/ |title=The Paranormal Visit |accessdate=2009-08-29 |last=Weinstein |first=Larry |date=June 2001 |publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] }}</ref><ref name="nsf">{{cite web|url=http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/c7s2.htm#c7s2l3|title=Science and Engineering Indicators 2006|work=Chapter 7: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding|publisher=National Science Foundation|accessdate=2009-08-29}}</ref> though scientists have suggested completely non-supernatural/paranormal physical phenomena (tremors, air current and ultra-infra sound etc) which could in some cases produce the effects reported in poltergeist cases. |
{{Audio|De-poltergeist.ogg|'''Poltergeist'''}} (from [[German language|German]] ''poltern'', meaning to make noise<ref>[http://en.pons.eu/german-english/poltern Poltern] - PONS Online-Dictionary</ref>, and ''[[Geist]]'', meaning ''"[[ghost]]"'' or ''"[[spirit]]"''), denotes an ostensibly [[paranormal]] phenomenon attributed to an invisible [[Soul|spirit]] or [[ghost]] that manifests itself by moving and influencing objects, generally in a particular location such as a house or room or place within a house. Poltergeists have been reported in many cultures, including India (where they are known as a Mumai), the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil. Like the existence of [[ghosts]] in general, there is no credible [[scientific]] evidence for the existence of poltergeists.<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/si/show/haunted_inns_tales_of_spectral_guest/ |title=Haunted Inns Tales of Spectral Guests |accessdate=2009-08-29 |last=Nickell |first=Joe |date=Sept-Oct 2000 |publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] }}</ref><ref name=visit> {{cite web|url=http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/paranormal_visit/ |title=The Paranormal Visit |accessdate=2009-08-29 |last=Weinstein |first=Larry |date=June 2001 |publisher=[[Committee for Skeptical Inquiry]] }}</ref><ref name="nsf">{{cite web|url=http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/c7s2.htm#c7s2l3|title=Science and Engineering Indicators 2006|work=Chapter 7: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding|publisher=National Science Foundation|accessdate=2009-08-29}}</ref> though scientists have suggested completely non-supernatural/paranormal physical phenomena (tremors, air current and ultra-infra sound etc) which could in some cases produce the effects reported in poltergeist cases. |
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==Famous poltergeist infestations== |
==Famous poltergeist infestations== |
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(from German poltern, meaning to make noise[1], and Geist, meaning "ghost" or "spirit"), denotes an ostensibly paranormal phenomenon attributed to an invisible spirit or ghost that manifests itself by moving and influencing objects, generally in a particular location such as a house or room or place within a house. Poltergeists have been reported in many cultures, including India (where they are known as a Mumai), the United States, United Kingdom, Japan and Brazil. Like the existence of ghosts in general, there is no credible scientific evidence for the existence of poltergeists.[2][3][4] though scientists have suggested completely non-supernatural/paranormal physical phenomena (tremors, air current and ultra-infra sound etc) which could in some cases produce the effects reported in poltergeist cases.
Famous poltergeist infestations
Although poltergeist stories date back to the first century, the evidence supporting the existence of poltergeists is purely anecdotal. In addition many of the stories below have several versions and/or inconsistencies.
Lithobolia (1698)
Lithobolia, or the Stone-Throwing Devil, is a pamphlet that records poltergeist activity that took place in the tavern of George and Alice Walton in 1682. Two copies of the pamphlet exist in the British Museum. The Waltons' tavern was located in New Castle, New Hampshire, then known as the Great Island. Lithobolia was written by “R.C.,” one Richard Chamberlain, the secretary of the colony of New Hampshire. In 1682 Chamberlain was boarding at the Walton tavern and witnessed the attack.[5] The pamphlet was later printed in London by Chamberlain in 1698. The opening reads:
"Lithobolia," or stone throwing Devil. Being an Exact and True account (by way of Journal) of the various actions of infernal Spirits or (Devils Incarnate) Witches or both: and the great Disturbance and Amazement they gave to George Walton's family at a place called Great Island in the county of New Hampshire in New England, chiefly in throwing about (by an Invisible hand) Stones, Bricks, and Brick-Bats of all sizes, with several other things, as Hammers, Mauls, Iron-Crows, Spits, and other Utensils, as came into their Hellish minds, and this for space of a quarter of a year."[6]
Borley Rectory (1937)
William Roll, Hans Bender, and Harry Price are perhaps three of the most famous poltergeist investigators in the annals of parapsychology. Harry Price investigated Borley Rectory which is often called "the most haunted house in England."
Rosenheim, Germany (1967)
Dr. Friedbert Karger was one of two physicists from the Max Planck Institute who helped to investigate perhaps the most validated poltergeist case in recorded history. Annemarie Schneider, a 19-year-old secretary in a law firm in Rosenheim (a town in southern Germany) was seemingly the unwitting cause of much chaos in the firm, including disruption of electricity and telephone lines, the rotation of a picture, swinging lamps which were captured on video (which was one of the first times any poltergeist activity has been captured on film), and strange sounds that sounded electrical in origin were recorded. Fraud was not proven despite intensive investigation by the physicists, journalists, and the police. The effects moved with the young woman when she changed jobs until they finally faded out, disappeared, and never recurred.
In the Rosenheim case of 1967, [7] The Rosenheim Poltergeist (1967),[8][9][10] Friedbert Karger's whole perspective on physics changed after investigating the events. "These experiments were really a challenge to physics," Karger says today. "What we saw in the Rosenheim case could be 100 per cent shown not to be explainable by known physics."[11] The phenomena were witnessed by Hans Bender, the police force, the CID, reporters, and the physicists. The case was made into a documentary by the BBC in 1975 as part of a TV series called "Leap in the Dark.
Other cases
- Drummer of Tedworth (1662).
- The "Wizard", Livingston, West Virginia (1797).
- The Bell Witch (1817).
- The Haunting of The Fox sisters (1848) - arguably one of the most famous, because it started the Spiritualism movement.
- The Great Amherst Mystery, 1878-79.
- Hopfgarten near Weimar (1921).
- Eleonore Zugun - The Romanian 'Poltergeist Girl' (1926).
- The Epworth Rectory
- The Wayne, NJ (1931)
- The Black Monk of Pontefract[12]
- The Enfield Poltergeist (1977).
- The Mackenzie Poltergeist (1998–) - Famed for haunting Greyfriars churchyard, Edinburgh.
- The Canneto di Caronia fires poltergeist (fairly recent (2004-2005)) - Famed for defying all attempts at a scientific explanation, Sicily, Italy.[13]
- The case of Tina Resch, widely reported in the media in 1984.
- A 2009 case in Barnsley near Sheffield in England, where either poltergeist effects or a faulty cistern were witnessed by police.[14]
- The Thornton Road poltergeist of Birmingham (1981).
- Easington Council in County Durham, UK paid half of a medium's exorcism fee to remove a poltergeist from council housing in Peterlee, deemed more cost effective than relocation of the tenant (2008).[15]
Hypotheses
 | This section contains weasel words: vague phrasing that often accompanies biased or unverifiable information. (February 2009) |
Historically, several different hypotheses have been put forward to explain the poltergeist phenomenon.
Physical explanations
Some scientists and skeptics propose that all poltergeist activity untraceable to fraud has a physical explanation such as static electricity, electromagnetic fields, ultra-, and infrasound and/or ionized air. In some cases, such as the Rosenheim poltergeist case, proponents claim that no evidence of fraud was ever found, even after a sustained investigation from the police force and CID.
Others think poltergeist phenomena could be caused by more mundane phenomena, such as unusual air currents, air vibrations such as in acoustic levitation, or tremors caused by underground streams.[16][unreliable source?]
John Hutchinson has claimed that he has created poltergeist effects in his laboratory while scientist David Turner has suggested that ball lightning might cause the movement of objects blamed on poltergeists.[17]
Poltergeists in fiction
Both the name and concept of the poltergeist became famous to modern audiences from 1982 in the Poltergeist movies and the subsequent TV series Poltergeist: The Legacy. A poltergeist named Peeves appears in the Harry Potter series.
See also
- Ghost hunting
- Spiritism
- Apparitional experience
- List of basic parapsychology topics
- Stigmatized property
- Mischievous fairies
References
- ^ Poltern - PONS Online-Dictionary
- ^ Nickell, Joe (Sept-Oct 2000). "Haunted Inns Tales of Spectral Guests". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Weinstein, Larry (June 2001). "The Paranormal Visit". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- ^ "Science and Engineering Indicators 2006". Chapter 7: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding. National Science Foundation. Retrieved 2009-08-29.
- ^ Salem State, "Lithobolia"
- ^ George L. Burr, ed., Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914), 55-77.
- ^
Fairley, John (1984). Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers. London: Harper Collins. pp. 28–31. ISBN 0002166798.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Fabienne Grow. "Poltergeist von Rosenheim". Geister-und-gespenster.de. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
- ^ "Trivia on Biography of Electric Psychokinetic Anne-Marie Sch. Part 1". Trivia Library. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
- ^ "Accueil du site Ouriel - Paranormal". Perso.orange.fr. 2005-04-31. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Uri Geller". Uri Geller. 2002-02-19. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
- ^ "Pontefract". Ghosts. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
- ^ "WorldWide Religious News-Devil in the detail of Sicily's mysterious village fires". Wwrn.org. 2004-02-11. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
- ^ "Hideous ghost won't stop flushing pub loo - The Star". Sheffieldtoday.net. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
- ^ {{cite web
- The Miami Poltergeist, a poltergeist witnessed by police and a skeptic who admitted he could not explain the phenomenon. Many others witnessed phenomena including reporters, parapsychologists, and workers at the warehouse. http://www.ufopsi.com/articles/miamipoltergeist.html, http://www.mediastorehouse.com/pictures_615763/miami-poltergeist-case.html
- ^ "poltergeist - The Skeptic's Dictionary". Skepdic.com. 2005-12-31. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
- ^ Ball lightning scientists remain in the dark, New Scientist, 20 December 2001
External links
- Poltergeist caught on video, The Sun UK newspaper, August 9, 2008. * Andrew Lang, The Poltergeist and his explainers, The Making of Religion, (Appendix B), Longmans, Green, and C°, London, New York and Bombay, 1900, pp. 324–339.
- Haunted Ontario - Founded in 1996 by Bob Milne, Haunted Ontario chronicles the ghosts, spirits, spooks, and poltergeists said to haunt Canada's most populated province.
- Poltergeist: The Legacy Website
- Dehaunting Techniques
- International Journal of Parapsychology
- Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research
- Skeptic's Dictionary
- 1926 silent short film of the Eleonora Zugun poltergeist case On YouTube, with German title cards.