Poltergeist

In German folklore and ghostlore, a poltergeist (/ˈpoʊltərˌɡaɪst/ or /ˈpɒltərˌɡaɪst/; German:

[ˈpɔltɐɡaɪ̯st] ⓘ; 'rumbling ghost' or 'noisy spirit') is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible
for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most
claims or fictional descriptions of poltergeists show them as being capable of pinching, biting,
hitting, and tripping people. They are also depicted as capable of the movement or levitation of
objects such as furniture and cutlery, or noises such as knocking on doors. Foul smells are also
associated with poltergeist occurrences, as well as spontaneous fires and different electrical
issues such as flickering lights.[1]
 Artist conception of poltergeist
activity claimed by Thérèse Selles, a
14-year-old domestic servant of the
Todescini family at Cheragas, Algeria.
From the French magazine La Vie
Mystérieuse in 1911.

These manifestations have been recorded in many cultures and countries, including Brazil,
Australia, the United States, Japan and most European nations. The first recorded cases date
back to the 1st century.

Etymology
The word poltergeist comes from the German language words poltern 'to make sound, to rumble'
and Geist 'ghost, spirit' and the term itself translates as 'noisy ghost', 'rumble-ghost' or a 'loud
spirit'. A synonym coined by René Sudre is thorybism, from the Ancient Greek θορυβείν
(thorubeín) 'to make noise or uproar, to throw into confusion'.
Suggested explanations

Hoax
Many claims have been made that poltergeist activity explains strange events (including those
by modern self-styled ghost hunters), however their evidence has so far not stood up to
scrutiny.[2] Many claimed poltergeist events have been proven upon investigation to be hoaxes.[3]

Psychical researcher Frank Podmore proposed the 'naughty little girl' theory for poltergeist cases
(many of which have seemed to centre on an adolescent, usually a girl).[4] He found that the
centre of the disturbance was often a child who was throwing objects around to fool or scare
people for attention.[4][5] Skeptical investigator Joe Nickell says that claimed poltergeist
incidents typically originate from "an individual who is motivated to cause mischief".[6] According
to Nickell:

In the typical poltergeist outbreak, small objects are hurled through

the air by unseen forces, furniture is overturned, or other
disturbances occur—usually just what could be accomplished by a
juvenile trickster determined to plague credulous adults.

Nickell writes that reports are often exaggerated by credulous witnesses.[7]

Time and time again in other "poltergeist" outbreaks, witnesses have

reported an object leaping from its resting place supposedly on its
own, when it is likely that the perpetrator had secretly obtained the
object sometime earlier and waited for an opportunity to fling it, even
 from outside the room—thus supposedly proving he or she was
innocent.

Unsubstantiated claims:

Stockwell ghost (1772) - since 1825 [8]

Ballechin House (1876)
The Enfield poltergeist claim (1977) -
John Beloff, a former president of the
Society for Psychical Research and
Anita Gregory concluded that the
claimants were playing tricks on the
investigators.[9]
Columbus poltergeist case (1984)

Psychological
A claim of activity at Caledonia Mills (1899–1922) was investigated by Walter Franklin Prince,
research officer for the American Society for Psychical Research in 1922. Prince concluded that
the mysterious fires and alleged poltergeist phenomena were because of a psychological state
of dissociation.[10]
Nandor Fodor investigated the Thornton Heath poltergeist claim (1938). His conclusion of the
case were a psychoanalytical explanation and in a subsequent publication: "The poltergeist is
not a ghost. It is a bundle of projected repressions,".[11]

According to research in anomalistic psychology, claims of poltergeist activity can be explained

by psychological factors such as illusion, memory lapses, and wishful thinking.[12] A study
(Lange and Houran, 1998) wrote that poltergeist experiences are delusions "resulting from the
affective and cognitive dynamics of percipients' interpretation of ambiguous stimuli".[13]
Psychologist Donovan Rawcliffe has written that almost all poltergeist cases that have been
investigated turned out to be based on trickery, whilst the rest are attributable to psychological
factors such as hallucinations.[14]

Psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung was interested in the concept of poltergeists and the occult in
general. Jung believed that a female cousin's trance states were responsible for a dining table
splitting in two and his later discovery of a broken bread knife.[15]

Jung also believed that when a bookcase gave an explosive cracking sound during a meeting
with Sigmund Freud in 1909, he correctly predicted there would be a second sound, speculating
that such phenomena were caused by 'exteriorization' of his subconscious mind. Freud
disagreed, and concluded there was some natural cause. Freud biographers maintain the
sounds were likely caused by the wood of the bookcase contracting as it dried out.[16][17]

Unverified natural phenomena

Attempts have also been made to scientifically explain poltergeist disturbances that have not
been traced to fraud or psychological factors. Skeptic and magician Milbourne Christopher
found that some cases of poltergeist activity can be attributed to unusual air currents, such as a
1957 case on Cape Cod where downdrafts from an uncovered chimney became strong enough
to blow a mirror off a wall, overturn chairs and knock things off shelves.[18]

In the 1950s, Guy William Lambert proposed that reported poltergeist phenomena could be
explained by the movement of underground water causing stress on houses.[19] He suggested
that water turbulence could cause strange sounds or structural movement of the property,
possibly causing the house to vibrate and move objects. Later researchers, such as Alan Gauld
and Tony Cornell, tested Lambert's hypothesis by placing specific objects in different rooms and
subjecting the house to strong mechanical vibrations.[19] They discovered that although the
structure of the building had been damaged, only a few of the objects moved a very short
distance. The skeptic Trevor H. Hall criticized the hypothesis claiming if it was true "the building
would almost certainly fall into ruins."[20] According to Richard Wiseman the hypothesis has not
held up to scrutiny.[19]

Michael Persinger has theorized that seismic activity could cause poltergeist phenomena.[21]
However, Persinger's claims regarding the effects of environmental geomagnetic activity on
paranormal experiences have not been independently replicated and, like his findings regarding
the God helmet, may simply be explained by the suggestibility of participants.[22][23]

David Turner, a retired physical chemist, suggested that ball lightning might cause the "spooky
movement of objects blamed on poltergeists."[24]

Sampford Peverell (1810–1811) -

poltergeistal noises were determined
made by smugglers from behind a false
wall [25]

Paranormal
Parapsychologists Nandor Fodor and William G. Roll suggested that poltergeist activity can be
explained by psychokinesis.[26][27]

Historically, actual malicious spirits were blamed for apparent poltergeist-type activity, such as
objects moving seemingly of their own accord.[28] According to Allan Kardec, the founder of
Spiritism, poltergeists are manifestations of disembodied spirits of low level, belonging to the
sixth class of the third order. Under this explanation, they are believed to be closely associated
with the elements (fire, air, water, earth).[29] In Finland, somewhat famous are the case of the
"Mäkkylä Ghost" in 1946, which received attention in the press at the time,[30] and the "Devils of
Martin" in Ylöjärvi in the late 19th century, for which affidavits were obtained in court.[31] Samuli
Paulaharju has also recorded a memoir of a typical poltergeist — the case of "Salkko-Niila" —
from the south of Lake Inari in his book Memoirs of Lapland (Lapin muisteluksia). The story has
also been published in the collection of Mythical Stories (Myytillisiä tarinoita) edited by Lauri
Simonsuuri.[32]

Famous cases

Epworth Rectory, supposed site of

paranormal hauntings in the mid-
1710s

Glenluce Devil (1654–1656)

Drummer of Tedworth (1662)
Mackie poltergeist (1695)
Wesley poltergeist claim at Epworth
Rectory (1716–1717)
Hinton Ampner (1764–1771)
Bell Witch of Tennessee (1817–1872)
John Bovee Dods (1824)
Bealings Bells (1834)
Angelique Cottin (ca. 1846)
Great Amherst Mystery (1878–1879)
Gef the Talking Mongoose (1931)
Borley Rectory (1937) [33]
Seaford poltergeist (1958)
Matthew Manning (1960s–1970s)
The Black Monk of Pontefract (1960s–
1970s)
Rosenheim poltergeist claim
(1967)[34][35]
 The Stambovsky v. Ackley poltergeist
(1970s–1980s)
The Amityville case (1975)
Enfield poltergeist (1977-1979)
Thornton Road poltergeist claim,
Birmingham (1981)
Ammons Haunting case 2011

See also

Apparitional experience
Ghost
Ghost hunting
Parapsychology topics (list)
 List of topics characterized as
pseudoscience
Lithobolia
Mischievous fairies
Spiritism
Stigmatized property

References

1. "poltergeist | Chambers Dictionary of the

Unexplained - Credo Reference" (https://sea
rch.credoreference.com/content/entry/cha
mbun/poltergeist/0) .
search.credoreference.com. Retrieved
2022-02-18.
2. Aliens, Ghosts, and Cults: Legends We Live.
Bill Ellis. 2001
3. Hines, Terence. (2003). Pseudoscience and
the Paranormal. Prometheus Books. p. 98.
ISBN 978-1573929790
4. Dingwall, John; Hall, Trevor H. (1958). Four
Modern Ghosts. Duckworth. pp. 13–14
5. Goldstuck, Arthur. The Ghost that Closed
Down the Town: The Story of the Haunting
of South Africa. Penguin Books. p. 275.
ISBN 978-0143025054 "Podmore advanced
a 'naughty little girl' theory, suggesting that
trickery accounted for nearly all poltergeist
manifestations, and that the girls and boys
who so often seemed to be the victims of
poltergeists were actually pulling the
strings."
6. Joe Nickell (3 July 2012). The Science of
Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead (h
ttps://archive.org/details/scienceofghostss
0000nick) . Prometheus Books. pp. 283 (htt
ps://archive.org/details/scienceofghostss0
000nick/page/283) –. ISBN 978-1-61614-
586-6.
7. Nickell, Joe (July 2012). "Enfield
Poltergeist, Investigative Files" (http://www.
csicop.org/si/show/enfield_poltergeist) .
August 2012. Committee for Skeptical
Inquiry. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
8. Hone, William. (1878 edition, originally
published 1825). The Every Day Book (http
s://archive.org/stream/everydaybookorgu0
1hone#page/30/mode/2up) . London:
William Tegg. pp. 31-35
 9. Clarkson, Michael (4 February 2006).
Poltergeists: Examining Mysteries of the
Paranormal. Firefly Books. p. 135. ISBN
978-1554071593. "Anita Gregory, of the
Society for Psychical Research, who had
spent just a short time at the Hodgson
home, said the mysterious men's voices
were simply the result of Janet and
Margaret putting bed sheets to their
mouths. In addition Gregory said that a
video camera had caught Janet attempting
to bend spoons and an iron bar by force
and 'practising' levitation by bouncing up
and down on her bed."
10. Colombo, John Robert. (2000). Ghost
Stories of Canada. Dundurn. p. 43. ISBN 0-
88882-222-7
11. Timms, Joanna. (2012). Phantasm of
Freud: Nandor Fodor and the
Psychoanalytic Approach to the
Supernatural in Interwar Britain (http://ww
w.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/pa
h.2012.0097) . Psychoanalysis & History.
Volume 14: 5-27.

claim for the recognition of a malevolent type of psycho-physiological

disturbance, to which "haunted people" find themselves
subjected...Nothing that is submitted in this book is believable

12. Zusne, Leonard; Jones, Warren H. (1989).

Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of
Magical Thinking. Psychology Press. p.
192. ISBN 978-0805805086
13. Lange, R; Houran, J. (1998). Delusions of
the paranormal: A haunting question of
perception. Journal of Nervous and Mental
Disease 186 (10): 637–645.
14. Rawcliffe, Donovan. (1988). Occult and
Supernatural Phenomena. Dover
Publications. pp. 377–378. ISBN 0-486-
25551-4
15. Colin Wilson (8 November 2010).
Poltergeist: A Classic Study in Destructive
Hauntings (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=O68ayjhr3O8C) . Llewellyn Worldwide.
ISBN 978-0-7387-2237-5.
16. Colin Wilson (21 February 2019). C.G.Jung:
Lord of the Underworld (https://books.goog
le.com/books?id=cvaKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT
2) . Aeon Books. pp. 2–. ISBN 978-1-
912807-53-6.
17. CG Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections,
Flamingo 1983, pp 126, 179
18. Christopher, Milbourne (1970). ESP, Seers &
Psychics: What the Occult Really Is. New
York: Crowell. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-690-
26815-7. OCLC 97063 (https://www.worldc
at.org/oclc/97063) . "A heavy mirror fell
from the bedroom wall and an ash tray that
had been resting on a table with a glass top
slammed against the surface with such
force that the glass was shattered."
19. Wiseman, Richard (1 April 2011).
Paranormality: Why We see What Isn't
There (https://books.google.com/books?id
=TO67ZcZ3wUUC) . Macmillan. pp. 167–
169. ISBN 978-1743038383.
Lambert, G. W. (1955). Poltergeists: A
Physical Theory. Journal of the Society
for Psychical Research 38: 49–71.
20. Dingwall, Eric; Hall, Trevor H. (1958). Four
Modern Ghosts. Gerald Duckworth. p. 105
21. Houran, James (2004). From Shaman to
Scientist: Essays on Humanity's Search for
Spirits. Lanham: Scarecrow Press. p. 11.
ISBN 0-8108-5054-0.
22. French, CC., Haque, U., Bunton-Stasyshyn,
R., Davis, R. (2009), "The "Haunt" project: An
attempt to build a "haunted" room by
manipulating complex electromagnetic
fields and infrasound" (http://research.gold.
ac.uk/4209/2/French_et_al_Haunt_accepte
d.pdf) (PDF), Cortex, 45 (5): 619–629,
doi:10.1016/j.cortex.2007.10.011 (https://d
oi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cortex.2007.10.011) ,
PMID 18635163 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.
nih.gov/18635163) , S2CID 3944854 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:3944
854)
23. Wiseman, Richard (September 2011). "The
Haunted Brain" (https://www.csicop.org/si/
show/the_haunted_brain) . Csicop.org.
Retrieved 7 January 2019.
24. Muir, Hazel (2001-12-20). "Ball lightning
scientists remain in the dark" (https://www.
newscientist.com/article/dn1720) . New
Scientist. Retrieved 2011-01-15.
25. Codd, Daniel. Paranormal Devon (2013).
Amberley Publishing. p.30-34.
ISBN 9781848681668.
26. Fodor, N. (1964). Between Two Worlds (http
s://archive.org/details/betweentwoworlds0
0fodorich) . West Nyack, NY: Parker
Publishing.
27. Houran, James; Lange, Rense. (2007).
Hauntings and Poltergeists:
Multidisciplinary Perspectives. McFarland.
p. 290. ISBN 978-0786432493
28. Goss, Michael. (1979). Poltergeists: An
Annotated Bibliography of Works in English,
Circa 1880–1975. Scarecrow Press. p. 92.
ISBN 978-0810811812
29. Allan Kardec, Le Livre des Esprits. (2000).
chapter 106, Jean de Bonnot. p.46.
30. IS: Espoon poltergeist: Mitä tapahtui
Mäkkylän kummitustalossa syksyllä 1946?
(https://web.archive.org/web/2015103113
0541/http://www.iltasanomat.fi/asuminen/
art-1445938119491.html) (in Finnish)
31. Esko Mustonen: Poltergeist: tuntematon
voima. WSOY 1986. ISBN 951-0-13810-X (in
Finnish)
32. "Paulaharju Samuli, Lapin muisteluksia –
Salkko-Niila" (https://www.gutenberg.org/fil
es/57770/57770-8.txt) (in Finnish).
Retrieved October 9, 2020.
33. Harry Price, The Most Haunted House in
England: Ten Years' Investigation (new
edition, 1990)
34. Spraggett, Allen (Jan 2, 1974). "Pursuing
the Elusive Poltergeist" (https://news.googl
e.com/newspapers?id=oBsfAAAAIBAJ&pg
=5846,1740188&dq=rosenheim+poltergeist
&hl=en) . The Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved
4 December 2013.
35. Fairley, John; Welfare, Simon (1984). Arthur
C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers.
London: Harper Collins. pp. 28–31. ISBN 0-
00-216679-8.
 Radford, Benjamin (July 17, 2013).
"Poltergeists: Noisy Spirits" (https://ww
w.livescience.com/38223-poltergeists.h
tml) . Live Science.

Further reading

Christopher, Milbourne (1970). ESP,

Seers & Psychics. Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
ISBN 978-0-690-26815-7
Nickell, Joe (2012). The Science of
Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead.
Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-1-61614-
586-6
Podmore, Frank (1896). Poltergeists (htt
ps://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofs
oc12soci#page/44/mode/2up) .
Proceedings of the Society for Psychical
Research 12: 45–115.
A.R.G. Owen. (1964). Can We Explain the
Poltergeist? Garrett Publications / New
York
Goss, Michael. (1979). Poltergeists: An
Annotated Bibliography of Works in
English, Circa 1880–1975. Scarecrow
Press.
Price, Harry (1993). Poltergeist: Tales of
the Supernatural. London: Bracken
Books. ISBN 1-85891-084-6.
Sitwell, Sacheverell. (1988, originally
published in 1940). Poltergeists: An
 Introduction and Examination Followed
by Chosen Instances. Dorset Press.

External links

The Poltergeist and his Look

up
explainers (http://www.
polterg
psychanalyse-paris.co eist in
Wiktion
m/807-The-Poltergeist-
ary, the
and-his.html) , Andrew free
diction
Lang, Psychanalyse-
ary.
paris.com
Wikisou
Skeptic's Dictionary (htt rce has
the text
p://www.skepdic.com/
of the
poltergeist.html) 1911
Encyclo
pædia
 Britanni
ca
article
Retrieved from "Polter
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