One of my favorite paranormal stories, and possible the most documented: The Enfield Poltergeist.

You’re likely already familiar with the case, even if you don’t know the details. It inspired The Conjuring II, even though the Warrens had almost nothing to do with it. Just in case you’re not, here’s an introduction:

 The Enfield Poltergeist plagued the Hodgson family in a London suburb from 1977 to 1979. The center of activity focused on Janet, the youngest daughter. It has been hypothesized that poltergeist activity is triggered by puberty, especially around girls (really, patriarchy? we’re responsible for sin and ghosts?) as an energetic manifestation of the hormone time-bomb of pre-teendom. Janet, age 11 when it began, was the locus, and the possible source of all of the activity.

The police were involved early on, and after a chair slid across the floor, they said, well, nothing we can do here, moving on. There isn’t a formal here be ghosts document, but there is an incident report filled out by the responding constables of what they witnessed: objects moving seemingly of their own accord.

“I did call the police on the following day, and spoke to Sgt. Hyams, who was first in on the case in August, and he went back in November, he said, to recheck on it. He verified for me about constable Carolyn Heeps actually seeing the marbles move and another object, I suppose, and also telling me that there were raps and knockings on the house next door. And that was the end of that, and I think they checked in November, and I don’t think there were any more paranormal activities happening at that time.”

-quote from Charles Moses of the Southern California Society for Psychical Research after a 1978 visit to the Hodgsons’ house on a tape recording he sent to Maurice Gross. I doubt I have any gen-z readers, but just in case, a tape recording is an old-fashion voice note.

Guy Playfair and Maurice Gross, members of the Society of Psychical Research, came in and led the paranormal investigation. Gross moved into the Enfield house, and spent all of his time documenting the events.

Playfair and Gross believed in the actual presence of an entity, although they did catch Janet on more than one occasion contributing to the tricks. The poltergeist moved furniture, tossed objects around the rooms and through walls and floors. Lights flicked on and off, water pooled, and there were regular bangs and knocks. Janet was often thrown from her bed, levitated, and was the voice of the spirit - a guttural, growling voice would speak through her.

MY NAME IS BILL WILKINS AND I COME FRON DURAN’TS PARK AND I AM SEVENTY TWO YEARS OLD AND I HAVE COME HERE TO SEE MY FAMILY

You’re dead, didn’t you know?

YES I COME FROM THE GRAVE

You come from out the grave?

YES IN DURANTS PARK

William Charles Wilkins DID live at 284 Green Street until his death in 1963, and was interred in Lavender Hill Cemetery, not Durants Park. The Hodgson family moved into the council house in 1965. Durants Park is the closer cemetery to the Green Street house, so it does raise the question - did Janet know about Bill? She could have heard stories of him from the neighbors, and inferred that he was in the closer cemetery.

What happened when you died?

I WENT BLIND, AND I HAD A HAEMORRHAGE, AND I FELL ASLEEP AND I DIED ON A CHAIR IN THE CORNER DOWNSTAIRS

This was partially true - he did die in the house, but the COD on his death certificate was coronary thrombosis.

My take on the case is a mixed bag: I do believe that there was something out of this realm happening there, but I also think that the children may have amped it up. I don’t think it’s full on Fox Sisters, where the entire thing was fabricated & wound up being for profit. I don’t believe that the Hodgson’s had any sort of monetary compensation for any of this, and Janet refused almost all publicity after it ended.

What always struck me in the videos of Janet channeling the Voice is the total lack of reaction from her siblings. Just, nothing. Bored looking, even. Were they so desensitized by the constant active and constant observation that it had become as uninteresting as anything else that adults make them sit through?

For more detailed accounts and in depth overviews, there is a two part episode of Last Podcast on the Left (pre-Ed if that makes a difference to anyone, hoping they revisit it in a new episode) and the book This House is Haunted by Guy Playfair. Full transparency: I DNF and abandoned it about 50 pages from the end. Its fairly dry, but very detailed play by play of the entire year and a half of events.

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