Enfield Poltergeist

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Can such things be?

Paranormal

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The Twilight Zone

The Enfield Poltergeist refers to dodgy goings-on at a house in Enfield near London England where a brood of badly-behaved children managed to convince gullible adults that a poltergeist was responsible for their mischief. It was widely promoted by book-peddling psychic investigators and the British tabloid press during the 1970s.

Contents

[edit] What happened

Fooling grownups is such fun!

When four children living in a single parent household began blaming their destructive antics on a poltergeist, their mother gave in and called the police. Cue the always-looking-for-a-story-that'll-boost-circulation tabloid newspapers and sketchy psychic investigators. Reporters from the Daily Mail flocked to the scene of what promised to be a publicity exploitation bonanza. Society for Psychical Research members like Guy Lyon Playfair and his pal Maurice Grosse spent weeks hanging around the family hoping to get proof of otherworldly phenomena. Even Ed and Lorraine Warren got in on the action.

To say these folks were gullible and credulous is putting it mildly. One time the children instructed investigators to stand facing away from them, then proceeded to pelt them with Lego toys and other objects. The investigators eagerly took their word that a poltergeist had done it.[1] It soon became apparent that the trickster ringleader was 11-year-old Janet, a cheeky, pre-adolescent bundle of energy who could imitate a "demonic voice" (popularized in the "Exorcist" movies of the era) at the drop of a hat, and excelled at improvising spooky stories the sappy investigators swallowed whole. When she and her sister moved a small metal gas heater away from the wall in their bedroom then called investigators in to show them "what the poltergeist had done", the men excitedly reported "a heavy fireplace ripped from the wall by unseen forces." At one point, Janet and her sister agreed to have a still camera timed to snap a picture every few seconds installed in their bedroom. Subsequent photos captured Janet in mid-air, obviously using the bed as a trampoline, but Playfair and Grosse were convinced that a demonic spirit was levitating her. And (foreshadowing modern day TV charlatans like Ghost Hunters) when some piece of equipment like a tape recorder malfunctioned, the investigators were always 100% sure that a supernatural force was to blame for it.

The most embarrassing part of the whole episode is the fact that more than once, Janet was caught faking. The ghost-believing investigators argued that just because she faked a few times didn't mean she faked all the time. Which, if you think about it, is the only thing about the affair that actually deserves to be described as "amazing and unexplained". [2][3]

[edit] Movies

Operating on the principle that even the most implausible bullshit claims will go unchallenged if driven by a sufficiently energetic marketing campaign,The Conjuring 2 - The Enfield Poltergeist is supposedly based on the "true story"...according to Lorraine of Ed and Lorraine Warren.[4]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. Imagine an adult that so desperately wants ghosts to be real that they believe a kid who tells them a ghost will throw something but only on the condition that they don't look at it. Yes, such adults did (and still do) exist.
  2. What IS the truth about the Enfield Poltergeist? Daily Mail 28 October 2011
  3. Enfield Poltergeist, Investigative Files Committee for Skeptical Inquiry
  4. Conjuring 2 - Enfield Poltergeist

[edit] External links

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