Enfield Poltergeist Confirmed

Recordings made between 1977 and 1978 during investigations of the world famous Enfield Poltergeist case have proven "unlikely" to be normal in nature, according to a report published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. This is the first time the recordings have been examined in detail against "control" disturbances, in which living humans knocked on the walls and furniture of the home. The nature of the many recorded knocks and rappings have proven different from one another, suggesting some unseen force was, in fact, present at the home.

Journalists, local police officers, neighbors, and others witnessed all manner of phenomena in and around the area at the time of the disturbance. Experiences reported included levitation, unexplained sounds, moving furniture, and visible apparitions. Children's toys were said to be too hot to touch and to have been thrown forcibly across rooms. The phenomenon lasted approximately one year, from 1978 to 1979, but thee may have been a second burst of activity in the 1980s. All told, there were some 30+ witnesses, and several inexplicable encounters and incidents were caught on tape, both audio and visual.

Guy Lyon Playfair, an author who spent two years investigating the case before writing a book on it entitled This House Is Haunted, called the examination of the evidence "the biggest step forward in the last 30 years [for paranormal investigation, and the Enfield case]." Playfair's experiences included feeling cool breezes where there were no natural source, seeing pools of water appear on the floors, objects moving of their own accord, and more. At least one witness, a photographer, claimed to have been physically assaulted -- he claimed a Lego brick hit him in the head.

Possession of one of the young girls in the house was also said to have occurred.

But the Enfield Poltergeist case is also famous for one other things: The girls at the center of the case were caught playing "practical jokes" on the investigators, and admitted to faking some of the phenomena, casting doubt, for some, on the entire case. However, several of the more inexplicable events -- such as moving furniture and a dismantled fireplace -- could not have been achieved by the children.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010