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Poltergeist

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For other uses, see Poltergeist (disambiguation).
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Therese Selles, a 14-year-old domestic servant, experiences poltergeist activity in the home of her employer, the Todeschini family at Cheragas, Algeria, as featured on the cover of the French magazine La Vie Mysterieuse in 1911.

A poltergeist is a paranormal phenomenon which consists of events alluding to the manifestation of an imperceptible entity. Such manifestation typically includes inanimate objects moving or being thrown about, sentient noises (such as impaired knocking, pounding or banging) and, on some occasions, physical attacks on those witnessing the events.

While no conclusive scientific explanation of the events exists up to this day, poltergeists have traditionally been described in folklore as troublesome spirits or ghosts which haunt a particular person. Such alleged poltergeist manifestations have been reported in many cultures and countries including the United States, Japan,[1] Brazil, Australia, and all European nations, and the earliest recorded cases date back to the 1st century.

Etymology

The word poltergeist comes from the German words poltern ("to make noise") and Geist ("ghost"), and the term itself literally means "noisy ghost".

Observation

Most reports of poltergeist manifestations involve noises and destruction that have no immediate or verifiable cause. Situations include inanimate objects being picked up and thrown; noises such as knocking, rapping, or even human voices; and physical attacks on human beings, such as pinching, biting, and hitting.

Single poltergeist cases often range in duration from a few hours to several months.[2]

Interpretations

Spirit

Allan Kardec believed that poltergeists were spirits associated with the elements

Poltergeist activity has often been believed to be the work of malicious ghosts. According to Alan Kardec, the founder of Spiritism, poltergeists are manifestations of disembodied spirits of low level, belonging to the sixth class of the third order. They are believed to be closely associated with the elements (fire, air, water, earth).[3]

Psychokinesis

In parapsychology, Nandor Fodor proposed that poltergeist disturbances were caused by human agents suffering from some form of emotional stress or tension. William G. Roll studied 116 different poltergeist cases and found that the agents were often children or teenagers, and supposed that recurrent neuronal discharges resulting in epileptic symptoms may cause recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis (RSPK), which would affect the person's surroundings.[2][4][5][6][7] The case of the Rosenheim Poltergeist, where none of the disturbances could be explained via physical means, was suggested to be caused by psychokinetic forces.

Others

Attempts have been made to explain scientifically Poltergeist disturbances that have not been traced to fraud. David Turner, a retired physical chemist, suggested that ball lighting, another phenomenon, could cause inanimate objects to move erratically.[8] Some skeptics propose that poltergeist activity might be caused by simpler phenomena such as static electricity, electromagnetic fields, ultrasound, infrasound, or ionized air. Hallucinations, like the sounds of bells or footsteps, may be caused by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Famous poltergeist cases

Lithobolia (1698)

Main article: Lithobolia

Lithobolia, or the Stone-Throwing Devil, is a pamphlet that records poltergeist activity that allegedly 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 1666 Chamberlain was boarding at the Walton tavern and witnessed the attack.[9] 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."[10]

Borley Rectory (1937)

Main article: Borley Rectory

William Roll, Hans Bender, and Harry Price are perhaps three of the most famous poltergeist investigators in the annals of parapsychology.[citation needed] Harry Price investigated Borley Rectory which is often called "the most haunted house in England."

Rosenheim, Germany (1967)

Main article: Rosenheim Poltergeist

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 and controversy 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. Karger stated that "these experiments were really a challenge to physics" and the disturbances "could be 100 percent shown not to be explainable by known physics."[11] 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.[12][13][14][15]

Other cases

  • Drummer of Tedworth (1662).
  • A poltergeist in Japan (1740'), during the Edo period.[1] Eizo Otake, a clerk of court, reported that after his father hired a girl from Ikejiri village, Setagaya, as a domestic servant, objects in the house and in the yard began moving by themselves. The phenomenon continued for several days until the girl was dismissed.[16]
  • The "Wizard", Livingston, West Virginia (1797)
  • The Bell Witch of Tennessee (1817–1872)
  • 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
  • Gef the Talking Mongoose (1931)[17]
  • The possession case of Robbie Mannheim (1949)[18][19]
  • The Black Monk of Pontefract[20]
  • The Enfield Poltergeist (1977)
  • The Thornton Road poltergeist of Birmingham (1981)
  • The case of Tina Resch (1984)
  • The Orland Hills, Illinois case located on 169th Street. (1988)
  • Contemporary Oklahoma 'talking poltergeist' case "The Stone-Throwing Spook of Little Dixie" (1995)[21]
  • Stambovsky v. Ackley (1991)
  • The Mackenzie Poltergeist (1998) – Famed for haunting Greyfriars churchyard, Edinburgh.
  • The Canneto di Caronia fires poltergeist (2004–5)[22]
  • The Miami Poltergeist (2008)[23]
  • Barnsley near Sheffield in England (2009)[24]
  • 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)
  • "Jim", the Coventry poltergeist (2011). In a series of articles during March 2011, The Sun reported the story of Lisa Manning and her children.[25][26][27] According to those articles:
    • The family observed pots and pans being thrown around the kitchen, blinds moving up and down, lights going on and off, doors locking themselves, chairs flying across the room, and cupboard doors opening and banging shut before being ripped off their hinges among other phenomena.[25]
    • The strange occurrences started a couple of weeks after Manning and her children moved into the Coventry council house.[25]
    • The disturbances became more malevolent when the poltergeist pushed the family's two dogs down the stairs, one being injured so seriously it had to be put down.[26]
    • The housing association who owns the property sent a priest who blessed the house, and the phenomena temporarily abated for a couple of weeks before starting up again.[25]
    • Renowned medium, Derek Acorah visited Manning's home, stating that he was able to communicate with the spirit, and that it was called "Jim" and had died from a heart attack at the age of 58 around 1900. Acorah then performed an exorcism ceremony, after which the paranormal activity ceased.[27]
    • The Sun report also includes a video, which shows a closet door opening and a chair moving across the floor with no visible cause. Lisa Manning is quoted as having taken the video via hidden camera.[25]

Poltergeists in fiction

Both the name and concept of the poltergeist became famous to modern audiences from 1982 in the Poltergeist movies, where poltergeist activity in a family home was caused by actual ghosts attracted to the youngest daughter.

  • A poltergeist named Peeves appears in the Harry Potter series, who is described by the series author J.K. Rowling as not a ghost but an "indestructible spirit of chaos."[28]
  • In the TV series Afterlife, Alison encounters many poltergeists, including the ghost of her mother who rearranges Alison's objects, moves her bed, and creates noise.
  • In Tales to Astonish #1 "I Know the Secret of the Poltergeist", a paranormal investigator explains various poltergeist incidents but is biased in his explanation.
  • In Season 5, Episode 22: "The Children's Parade" of the TV show Ghost Whisperer, Melinda Gordon investigates a poltergeist in a hospital.
  • In Supernatural Season 1, Episode 9(home): a poltergeist hunts a the Winchester's old house.
  • In X-Files Season 1 Episode 6 (Shadows), Agents Scully and Mulder encounter a poltergeist of a deceased CEO.
  • In an episode of the 1970's TV series The Waltons, called the Changeling, (Season 7 Episode 5) Elizabeth Walton, who is turning thirteen, sees a chair a banging up and down, a vase breaking itself, a rag doll changing position, and various other strange activities, which disappear immediately after she declares her fear and anger on the night of her slumber party. According to an older John Boy, the strange events "never happened again", and Elizabeth had a normal birthday.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b 日本史怖くて不思議な出来事, PHP研究所, 2006, ISBN 4569657036, pp.156-158.
  2. ^ a b Hefner, Alan C. "Poltergeist". The Mystica. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  3. ^ Allan Kardec, Le Livre des Esprits, chapter 106, Jean de Bonnot, 2000, p.46.
  4. ^ Who is William G. Roll?
  5. ^ What about the poltergeist?
  6. ^ William G.Roll and Elson de A.Montagno, "SIMILARITIES BETWEEN RSPK AND PSYCHOMOTOR EPILEPSY", Research in Parapsychology 1982 (pp.270 -271).
  7. ^ Roll, William G. The Poltergeist. NY: The New American Library Inc., 1972.
  8. ^ Muir, Hazel (2001-12-20). "Ball lightning scientists remain in the dark". New Scientist. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
  9. ^ Salem State, "Lithobolia"
  10. ^ George L. Burr, ed., Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1914), 55–77.
  11. ^ "Uri Geller". Uri Geller. 2002-02-19. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  12. ^ 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)
  13. ^ Fabienne Grow. "Poltergeist von Rosenheim". Geister-und-gespenster.de. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  14. ^ "Trivia on Biography of Electric Psychokinetic Anne-Marie Sch. Part 1". Trivia Library. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  15. ^ "Accueil du site Ouriel – Paranormal". Perso.orange.fr. 2005-04-31. Retrieved 2009-08-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ Tozuisha "Kokon-zodan-omoide-zoshi", 1839 - (東随舎『古今雑談思出草紙』)
  17. ^ "Gef the talking Mongoose". DalbySpook.110mb.com. 2010-06-27. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
  18. ^ Paranormal Experiences. Unicorn Books. Retrieved 2010-04-02. A thirteen-year-old American boy named, Robert Mannheim, started using an Ouija board at the insistence of an aunt inclined towards spiritualism. A few days later, poltergeist activity in the form of raps and scratches was heard in some parts of the house.
  19. ^ Good Spirits, Bad Spirits: How to Distinguish Between Them. Writers Club Press. Retrieved 2010-04-02. On Saturday, January 15, 1949, Karl and Phyllis Mannheim went out for the evening, leaving Robbie and Grandmother Wagner alone in the house. Not long after...Grandmother Wagner heard a dripping sound. She and Robbie checked every faucet in the neat, well-maintained house. The could not find the source of the dripping...They finally decided that the dripping came from Grandmother Wagner's bedroom under the sloping ceiling of the second floor. The entered and while listening to the loud dripping, saw a painting of Christ begin to shake, as if some-body were bumping the wall behind the painting.
  20. ^ "Pontefract". Ghosts. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  21. ^ "The Stone-Throwing Spook of Little Dixie"
  22. ^ "WorldWide Religious News-Devil in the detail of Sicily's mysterious village fires". Wwrn.org. 2004-02-11. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  23. ^ "Council pays psychic for exorcism". BBC News. 2008-02-12. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  24. ^ "Hideous ghost won't stop flushing pub loo – The Star". Sheffieldtoday.net. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  25. ^ a b c d e "Our 'geist bedroom". thesun.co.uk. The Sun. 28 March 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  26. ^ a b O'Shea, Gary (29 March 2011). "Poltergeist wrecks house in Coventry ...and kills the dog". thesun.co.uk. The Sun. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  27. ^ a b O'Shea, Gary (30 March 2011). "See you, Jimmy". thesun.co.uk. The Sun. Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  28. ^ "The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two". 2005. Retrieved 2007-06-01.

External links

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