In
ghostlore, a poltergeist ( or ; German for "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit") is a type of
ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...
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
Levitation (from Latin ''levitas'' "lightness") is the process by which an object is held aloft in a stable position, without mechanical support via any physical contact.
Levitation is accomplished by providing an upward force that counteract ...
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.
They have traditionally been described as troublesome spirits who haunt a particular person instead of a specific location. Some variation of poltergeist folklore is found in many different cultures. Early claims of spirits that supposedly harass and torment their victims date back to the 1st century, but references to poltergeists became more common in the early 17th century.
Etymology
The word ''poltergeist'' comes from the
German language
German ( ) is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and the Italian province of South Tyrol. It is also a ...
words ''poltern'' ("to make sound" and "to rumble") and ''
Geist'' ("ghost" and "spirit"), and the term itself translates as "noisy ghost", "rumble-ghost" or a "loud spirit". A synonym coined by
René Sudre is ''thorybism'', from Greek ''θορυβείν'' ("to make noise or uproar; throw into confusion").
Suggested explanations
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.
Natural phenomena
Many claimed poltergeist events have been proven upon investigation to be
hoaxes.
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).
[ Dingwall, John; Hall, Trevor H. (1958). ''Four Modern Ghosts''. Duckworth. pp. 13–14] He found that the centre of the disturbance was often a child who was throwing objects around to fool or scare people for attention.
Skeptical investigator
Joe Nickell says that claimed poltergeist incidents typically originate from "an individual who is motivated to cause mischief".
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.
Time and 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.
According to research in
anomalistic psychology
In psychology, anomalistic psychology is the study of human behaviour and experience connected with what is often called the paranormal, with few assumptions made about the validity (or otherwise) of the reported phenomena.
Early history
Accord ...
, claims of poltergeist activity can be explained by psychological factors such as
illusion,
memory lapses, and
wishful thinking. A study (Lange and Houran, 1998) wrote that poltergeist experiences are
delusion
A delusion is a false fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, hallucination, or som ...
s "resulting from the affective and cognitive dynamics of percipients' interpretation of ambiguous stimuli". 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.
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
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
where downdrafts from an uncovered chimney became strong enough to blow a mirror off of a wall, overturn chairs and knock things off shelves.
Unverified natural phenomena
In the 1950s, Guy William Lambert proposed that reported poltergeist phenomena could be explained by the movement of underground water causing stress on houses.
[
*Lambert, G. W. (1955). ''Poltergeists: A Physical Theory''. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 38: 49–71.] 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
Alan Gauld (born 1932) is a British parapsychologist, psychologist and spiritualist writer best known for his research on the history of hypnotism and mediumship.
Biography
Gauld was born in Portland, Dorset. In the late 1950s, he attended H ...
and
Tony Cornell
Anthony Donald Cornell (born 1924, died 10 April 2010, aged 86) was a British parapsychologist and prominent figure in the investigations of ghosts and other paranormal activity across the United Kingdom during the later part of the twentieth c ...
, tested Lambert's hypothesis by placing specific objects in different rooms and subjecting the house to strong mechanical vibrations.
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." According to
Richard Wiseman the hypothesis has not held up to scrutiny.
Michael Persinger has theorized that
seismic activity could cause poltergeist phenomena. 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.
David Turner, a retired physical chemist, suggested that
ball lightning might cause the "spooky movement of objects blamed on poltergeists."
Paranormal
Parapsychologists Nandor Fodor and
William G. Roll suggested that poltergeist activity can be explained by
psychokinesis.
Historically, malicious spirits were blamed for poltergeist activity. According to
Allan Kardec
Allan Kardec () is the pen name of the French educator, translator, and author Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail (; 3 October 1804 – 31 March 1869). He is the author of the five books known as the Spiritist Codification, and the founder of ...
, the founder of
Spiritism
Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard R ...
, 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). In Finland, somewhat famous are the case of the "Mäkkylä Ghost" in 1946, which received attention in the press at the time, and the "Devils of Martin" in
Ylöjärvi
Ylöjärvi () is a town and a municipality in the Pirkanmaa region, northwest of Tampere and north of the capital city Helsinki in Finland. The town has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population densit ...
in the late 19th century, for which affidavits were obtained in court.
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.
Psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung was interested in the concept of poltergeists and the occult in general. Jung believed that a female cousin's
trance
Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...
states were responsible for a dining table splitting in two and his later discovery of a broken bread knife.
Jung also believed that when a bookcase gave an explosive cracking sound during a meeting with
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
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.
Famous cases
*
Glenluce Devil (1654–1656)
*
Drummer of Tedworth (1662)
*
Mackie poltergeist
Auchencairn () is a village in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland. It is located on the coast of the Solway Firth at the head of Auchencairn Bay and lies on the A711 road between the town ...
(1695)
*
Epworth Rectory (1716–1717)
*
Hinton Ampner
Hinton Ampner is a village and country house estate with gardens within the civil parish of Bramdean and Hinton Ampner, near Alresford, Hampshire, England. The village and house are 8 miles due east of Winchester. The name probably derives f ...
(1764–1771)
*
Stockwell ghost (1772)
*
Sampford Peverell (1810–1811)
*
Bell Witch
The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a legend from Southern United States folklore, centered on the 19th-century Bell family of northwest Robertson County, Tennessee. Farmer John Bell Sr. resided with his family along the Red River in ...
of Tennessee (1817–1872)
*
Bealings Bells (1834)
*
Angelique Cottin (ca. 1846)
*
Ballechin House
Ballechin House was a Georgian estate home near Grandtully, Perthshire, Scotland. It was built in 1806, on the site of an old manor house which had been owned by the Steuart family since the 15th century. This house is the subject for a popula ...
(1876)
*
Great Amherst Mystery
The Great Amherst Mystery was a notorious case of reported poltergeist activity in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada between 1878 and 1879. It was the subject of an investigation by Walter Hubbell, an actor with an interest in psychic phenomena, who ...
(1878–1879)
*
Caledonia Mills (1899–1922)
*
Gef the Talking Mongoose (1931)
*
Borley Rectory (1937)
*
Thornton Heath poltergeist (1938)
*
Seaford poltergeist (1958)
*
Matthew Manning
Matthew Manning (born 17 August 1955) is a best selling British author and healer, alleged to have psychic abilities. As a child he and his family were allegedly subjected to a range of poltergeist disturbances in their homes in Cambridge and Li ...
(1960s–1970s)
*
The Black Monk of Pontefract (1960s–1970s)
*
Rosenheim Poltergeist
The Rosenheim Poltergeist is the name given to claims of a poltergeist in Rosenheim in southern Bavaria in the late 1960s by German parapsychologist Hans Bender. Bender alleged that electrical and physical disturbances in the office of the lawy ...
(1967)
*
The Amityville case (1975)
* The
Enfield Poltergeist (1977)
* The
Thornton Road poltergeist
The Thornton Road Poltergeist refers to stone-throwing incidents in a residential area of Birmingham, England, in 1981 and the subsequent police investigation.
History
In 1981, Ward End residents at Thornton Road told police they could not loca ...
of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
(1981)
*
Tina Resch (1984)
* The
Canneto di Caronia fires
In 2004–2005, there was a series of unusual fires in Canneto di Caronia, Sicily ( Italy). While popular speculation ascribed the fires to various causes, including an unknown natural phenomenon, paranormal events or secret military technology, a ...
poltergeist (2004–05)
*
Ammons Haunting Case - 2014
See also
*
Apparitional experience
*
Ghost
A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...
*
Ghost hunting
Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are reported to be haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity. Ghost hunters use a variety o ...
*
Parapsychology topics (list)
*
List of topics characterized as pseudoscience
*
Lithobolia
''Lithobolia: or, the Stone-Throwing Devil'' is a 7,000-word narrative folk tale by Richard Chamberlayne first printed in London in 1698. It is considered an early example of esoteric literature and supernatural horror writing, and has been compa ...
*
Mischievous fairies
*
Spiritism
Spiritism (French: ''spiritisme''; Portuguese: ''espiritismo'') is a spiritualist, religious, and philosophical doctrine established in France in the 1850s by the French teacher, educational writer, and translator Hippolyte Léon Denizard R ...
*
Stigmatized property
In real estate, stigmatized property is property that buyers or tenants may shun for reasons that are unrelated to its physical condition or features. These can include death of an occupant, murder, suicide, and even the belief that a house is haun ...
References
*
Further reading
*
Christopher, Milbourne (1970). ''ESP, Seers & Psychics''. Thomas Y. Crowell Co.
*
Nickell, Joe (2012). ''The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead''. Prometheus Books.
*
Podmore, Frank (1896)
''Poltergeists'' Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 12: 45–115.
*Goss, Michael. (1979). ''Poltergeists: An Annotated Bibliography of Works in English, Circa 1880–1975''. Scarecrow Press.
*
*
Sitwell, Sacheverell. (1988, originally published in 1940). ''Poltergeists: An Introduction and Examination Followed by Chosen Instances''. Dorset Press.
External links
The Poltergeist and his explainers Andrew Lang, Psychanalyse-paris.com
Skeptic's Dictionary
{{Authority control
German ghosts
Psychokinesis