THE ENFIELD POLTERGEIST
The Enfield Poltergeist is regarded as one of the most fascinating cases of paranormal activity ever recorded. One thing that distinguishes the Enfield haunting from most other cases is that the strange events were witnessed by over 30 people including neighbors, police and reporters.
To add even more validity to the existence of the Enfield Poltergeist, there were over 2,000 pieces of evidence collected by reputable paranormal researchers, Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair. Both Grosse and Playfair were members of the Society for Physical Research.
The night of August 31, 1977, started out just like any other night for Peggy Hodgson and her children. While the children, Margaret 12, Janet 11, Johnny 10 and Billy 7, were upstairs getting ready for bed, Peggy was tidying up as usual. Little did she know, this ordinary night would be the beginning of a supernatural nightmare which would last for more than a year!
It all began with the children complaining of their beds moving up and down. The activity stopped when Peggy entered the room and turned on the light. Believing the children were making it up, Peggy had no reason to be overly concerned and went about her normal routine.
However, the next night, the children began to complain of a shuffling noise in their bedroom. Again, the paranormal activity stopped when Peggy entered the room and turned on the light. But, as she turned the light off to leave, Peggy heard the shuffling noise too, as well as loud knocks and a chest of drawers scooting across the floor.
Terrified and shaking, Peggy immediately took all of the children out of the house and went to the neighbors for help.
Though they later searched the entire home, they could not find anyone in the house. But, when the neighbors began to hear the knocking noises as well, the police were then called to the home.
As the police entered the North London council house, Peggy turned off the lights. Almost immediately the knocking began and this was witnessed by the policeman who heard it coming from different walls. They also saw a chair glide about four feet across the room with no one around it.
The next day the paranormal activity increased and became worse over the preceeding months. Items such as toys, pictures, plates, cutlery and even furniture was hurled across the rooms. Puddles of water and flames would appear and then suddenly vanish and items began materializing and disappearing.
Soon the events became more sinister and even life threatening. One morning, Playfair heard a loud vibrating noise and ran into the bedroom to find a cast iron fireplace had been ripped from the wall...an incident which was captured on tape.
Whilst all of the Hodgson family were affected by the Enfield Poltergeist, it seemed to have more interest in Janet.
One evening Grosse was going over the days and events when he was interrupted by Janet's screams. As he reached the foot of the stairs, he witnessed Janet being dragged across the floor and then hurled down the stairs.
This was just the beginning of the torment directed at Janet. She was later seen hanging in mid-air and then spun around - banging into a window - she then levitated and dropped to the floor.
Also, curtains were twisted and wrapped around one of the other children's necks in an attempt to strangle them.
The poltergeist would answer the researchers questions by knocking or opening doors. But soon Janet was seemingly possessed by the poltergeist and they would get to talk to him. As Janet spoke in a deep, raspy, masculine voice, Grosse's son would conduct what is referred to as an "interview with a poltergeist"!
He learned that the man's name was Bill. At one point he asked him how he had died, the poltergeist replied, "I went blind, then I had a hemorrhage and fell asleep. I died in a chair in the corner downstairs".
Later, when Grosse located the son of the previous owner, the tape was played for him. The son confirmed that his father had indeed died in the matter in which the poltergeist described.
The paranormal activity began to decline by the spring of 1978 and eventually stopped, allowing the Hodgson family to get back to their normal lives.
While many of the local residents had been eyewitnesses to some of the phenomena, many others believed the Enfield poltergeist be a hoax. One of the reasons for their doubt was the fact that Peggy had called the media in so quickly. But, when the police, a local vicar and a medium couldn't help, she had felt they were her only resource.
In fact, the suggestion that she contacted the Society for Physical Research had come from the media in the first place. And, thanks to Grosse and Playfair, there are hours and hours of recorded evidence as well as photographs and documentation. But still, even today there is much debate about the truth behind the Enfield Poltergeist!
By, Connie Corder
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By Connie Corder, (Copyright, 2009 @ World Mysteries And True Ghost Tales).