Thursday, April 5, 2012

Enfield Poltergeist

This month Minnie is exploring the alphabet by digging out the unusual, often unexplained and alternative way of thinking. Stories of creatures, places and mysteries that have been passed down to us through centuries tease our imagination, live in our dreams and dare us to explore the impossible. Join Minnie each day as she discovers something unusual in the alphabet.

"They're Here.....yesterdays TV people are todays PC people"

A scene from the 1982 film Poltergeist. Photograph: Allstar/MGM
One of the most spectacular Poltergeist cases ever recorded took place in Enfield, London from August 1977 to September 1978. During this time a woman and her four children who were living in a council house in Enfield experienced almost every single Poltergeist phenomenon ever identified.

Over 1500 separate phenomena were recorded. Among these were objects being thrown around and materializing out of thin air, as well as loud knocking sounds. Many items were found to catch fire on their own accord while metal items seemed to bend and twist out of shape. Researcher Maurice Gross spent a considerable amount of time researching the case and stayed with the family while these events happened. His testimonies have helped add considerable weight to the reports and experiences there.

On many occasions it appeared that the activity was focused on 12-year-old Janet. In a series of well-known photographs journalist Graham Morris photographed her being levitated out of bed by an unseen force while her sister looked on. In other occasions Janet would begin to speak in a very deep, manly voice that seemed impossible for a child. The occurrences became more and more chilling until finally it stopped as abruptly as it had started. The case of the Enfield Poltergeist remains mostly unsolved, the types of phenomena which appeared at the home and the period of time for which they continued helped make this one of the most chilling cases of its kind.


14 comments:

Christine Murray said...

Reading that gave me shivers. I'm quite a scientific person, but stories like this make me wonder whether there is such a thing as supernatural phenomena.

Sally said...

Frightening and disturbing - that's why I don't watch horror. I did see the Exorcist when it came out in the 1970's and I haven't watched anything like that since.

Lynn Proctor said...

the exorcist used to be my favorite movie---but a couple of years ago i was disappointed as i re watched it for about the dozenth time--it just didn't hold up for me any longer--i still love it though---just not as much--enjoyed your entry

shelly said...

Unlike some of the other posters here, I've never watched the Exorcist. Never wanted to. Never will.

At 5, when the movie trailers played on T.V., it horrified me.

Strange for someone who likes scary and creepy things.

Anyway, great post, Siv!


Shelly
http://secondhandshoesnovel.blogspot.com/

liz young said...

Exorcist? No thanks. The spider in Swiss Family Robinson in the 1950s was enough for me. I'm a coward and proud of it.

Unknown said...

I love reading about stuff like this. Thanks for sharing

Stopping by via the A - Z challenge link up. I am following you through GFC, twitter, pinterest and facebook request sent.

Feel free to stop by my blog at http://www.scatteredmusings.net/2012/04/buying-car/ (my combined b-d post)

Bossy Betty said...

Sppppoooooookkkky! I can't watch stuff like this but I enjoyed reading about it!

Fairview said...

Fascinating! Keep it coming

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

That last image if Minnie is freaking me out!
At least they had an expert present who could verify what was happening.

Anonymous said...

Well that was creepy! lol

Amalie Berlin said...

Cool post, very into the creepy stuff and hadn't heard of this story.

I was a tiny baby when it came out. My dad likes to tell the story about how mom thought I was possessed after seeing the Exorcist because of gurgly baby noises.

I watched it not too long ago, the creepiest thing was the backwards craw-walking down the stairs. That part gave me a bad case of the woogs...

Crazy Life of a Writing Mom said...

Sooo bone-chilling . . . CREEPY! You wrote this perfectly.

P.S. Here I am terrified and then seeing that picture at the end ROFLMAO. What a way to end it. You are sooo awesome!

Sarah Tokeley said...

The Daily Mail online recently brought that story up again. If I remember rightly, the children never wavered. Sadly I think at least one, maybe two died quite young.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Siv .. I knew nothing about this - what an extraordinary story .. and that's an added bonus reading Sarah's comment ... very strange to put it mildly .. Cheers Hilary