Poltergeist - Revision history

GaryJJSpate: Migrate PhenomenonInfobox to InfoboxPhenomenon

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Migrate PhenomenonInfobox to InfoboxPhenomenon

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	{{~~PhenomenonInfobox~~		{{InfoboxPhenomenon
	\|name=Poltergeist		\|name=Poltergeist
	\|type=Ghost / haunting phenomenon		\|type=Ghost / haunting phenomenon

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	[[Category:Parapsychology]]		[[Category:Parapsychology]]
	[[Category:Poltergeists]]		[[Category:Poltergeists]]
	~~[[Category:17th century]]~~

GaryJJSpate at 18:15, 1 August 2026

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	A '''poltergeist''' ("noisy ghost," from the German ''poltern'', to make noise, and ''geist'', spirit) is a type of reported haunting phenomenon centred on physical disturbance rather than a visible apparition — objects thrown or moved, furniture displaced, unexplained noises, and electrical disturbances, rather than a seen or felt presence. Unlike most entries under [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]], poltergeist activity is not always attributed to a deceased spirit at all; a major strand of research instead attributes it to a living person within the household — see [[Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis]] for the full account of this hypothesis and the research behind it.		A '''poltergeist''' ("noisy ghost," from the German ''poltern'', to make noise, and ''geist'', spirit) is a type of reported haunting phenomenon centred on physical disturbance rather than a visible apparition — objects thrown or moved, furniture displaced, unexplained noises, and electrical disturbances, rather than a seen or felt presence.<ref name="encyclopedia">{{cite web \|title=Poltergeist \|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/other-religious-beliefs-and-general-terms/miscellaneous-religion/poltergeist \|website=Encyclopedia.com}}</ref> Unlike most entries under [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]], poltergeist activity is not always attributed to a deceased spirit at all; a major strand of research instead attributes it to a living person within the household — see [[Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis]] for the full account of this hypothesis and the research behind it.

			== History ==

			=== Early cases ===
			The Drummer of Tedworth (1662) is generally regarded as the first well-documented poltergeist case in English history.<ref name="tedworth-wiki">{{cite web \|title=Drummer of Tedworth \|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drummer_of_Tedworth \|website=Wikipedia}}</ref> After magistrate John Mompesson won a lawsuit against a vagrant drummer, William Drury, and confiscated his drum, Mompesson's house in Tedworth (now Tidworth), Wiltshire, was reportedly plagued by loud phantom drumming and other disturbances, even after the drum itself had been destroyed.<ref name="tedworth-wiki" /> The case was recorded and promoted by clergyman Joseph Glanvill in his 1681 book ''Saducismus Triumphatus'', becoming one of the most famous episodes in the history of English witchcraft literature, though later scholarship has highlighted conflicting contemporary accounts and early scepticism about the case even at the time.<ref>{{cite web \|title=New light on the 'Drummer of Tedworth': conflicting narratives of witchcraft in Restoration England \|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-2281.2005.00226.x \|website=Historical Research (Wiley)}}</ref>

			The Epworth Rectory disturbances of 1716 affected the Lincolnshire home of the Reverend Samuel Wesley, father of Methodism founder John Wesley. The family reported loud knocking, groaning, clinking metal, and the sound of a phantom horn, with eldest daughter Hetty nicknaming the presumed spirit "Old Jeffrey."<ref name="psychicscience">{{cite web \|title=Notable Historic Poltergeist Cases \|url=https://psychicscience.org/polt2 \|website=PsychicScience.org}}</ref> Later analysis has speculated the disturbances may have reflected family or marital stress within the household, an explanation that would later become central to the [[Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis\|RSPK]] framework developed some two centuries afterward.<ref name="psychicscience" />

			Other well-known 18th and 19th-century cases include the Bell Witch of Tennessee (1817–1821), the Great Amherst Mystery centred on Esther Cox in Nova Scotia (1878–1879), and numerous other disturbances recorded across Europe and North America throughout the period.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Poltergeist \|url=https://sloppyintelligence.com/poltergeist/ \|website=Sloppy Intelligence}}</ref>

			=== Systematic modern investigation ===
			Poltergeist research shifted from anecdotal case collection toward systematic pattern analysis from the mid-20th century onward, driven substantially by parapsychologists Joseph Gaither Pratt and William G. Roll, whose investigation of the 1958 Seaford, New York case led them to coin the term "recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis" (RSPK) — see [[Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis]] for a full account of this hypothesis, its supporting case pattern, and its reception.

	== Notable cases ==		== Notable cases ==
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	=== The Rosenheim Poltergeist ===		=== The Rosenheim Poltergeist ===
	A 1967 case in Rosenheim, Germany, notable for occurring in ~~an office environment~~ rather than a private home, ~~with reported~~ electrical disturbances documented by physicists from the Max Planck Institute, ~~and~~ activity ~~again~~ linked to a ~~young~~ employee ~~present~~ at the time.		A 1967 case in the office of a Bavarian law firm in Rosenheim, Germany, notable for occurring in a workplace rather than a private home. Reported phenomena included exploding light bulbs, telephone malfunctions, and other electrical disturbances documented by physicists from the Max Planck Institute, with activity linked to the presence of a 19-year-old employee, Annemarie Schneider, reportedly under significant personal stress at the time.<ref>{{cite web \|title=The Rosenheim Poltergeist \|url=https://ghostwatch.com/paranormal-report/poltergeist-activity/germany/the-rosenheim-poltergeist/ \|website=Ghostwatch}}</ref>

	== Scientific and sceptical perspective ==		== Scientific and sceptical perspective ==

	Sceptics attribute poltergeist cases to a combination of deliberate fraud — often by the "agent" seeking attention — unconscious or conscious trickery, misperception of ordinary events, and investigator bias, and note that in several high-profile cases the agent was directly caught producing phenomena by normal means. As with other subjects gathered under [[:Category:Parapsychology\|Parapsychology]], RSPK remains a fringe hypothesis rather than an accepted explanation, even among researchers who take poltergeist reports seriously as a subject worth investigating.		Sceptics attribute poltergeist cases to a combination of deliberate fraud — often by the "agent" seeking attention — unconscious or conscious trickery, misperception of ordinary events, and investigator bias, and note that in several high-profile cases the agent was directly caught producing phenomena by normal means. As with other subjects gathered under [[:Category:Parapsychology\|Parapsychology]], RSPK remains a fringe hypothesis rather than an accepted explanation, even among researchers who take poltergeist reports seriously as a subject worth investigating.

			A distinct, environmentally-focused sceptical thread has developed around the work of British engineer Vic Tandy, who in 1998 proposed that low-frequency sound below the range of human hearing — infrasound — could account for some reported haunting and poltergeist experiences. Tandy traced an apparent "haunting" he personally experienced at a medical equipment laboratory to a standing wave of infrasound around 19Hz generated by a newly installed extractor fan; this frequency is close to the resonant frequency of the human eyeball, which Tandy proposed could cause peripheral visual distortion, feelings of unease, and other effects consistent with reported paranormal experiences.<ref>{{cite web \|title=Vic Tandy \|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Tandy \|website=Wikipedia}}</ref> He published his findings in the peer-reviewed ''Journal of the Society for Psychical Research'', and later investigated similar infrasound signatures at other reportedly haunted sites, including a 14th-century cellar in Coventry and Warwick Castle, and later reported measuring infrasound at levels roughly 200 times higher in "haunted" areas of Edinburgh's Mary King's Close than in unhaunted control areas.<ref>{{cite web \|title=The Haunted Frequency \|url=https://higgs.ph.ed.ac.uk/outreach/higgshalloween-2021/haunted-frequency \|website=Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics}}</ref> Subsequent attempts to replicate Tandy's specific findings under controlled conditions, including a large-scale "GhostFest" experiment exposing hundreds of participants to ambient versus deliberately introduced infrasound, found no significant difference in reported paranormal experiences between the two conditions, and infrasound is not thought to affect all individuals equally.<ref>{{cite web \|title="Has the Boom Been Busted? Should Paranormal Research Be Interested in Infrasound?" \|url=https://www.academia.edu/6393639/_Has_the_Boom_Been_Busted_Should_Paranormal_Research_Be_Interested_in_Infrasound_ \|website=Academia.edu}}</ref> Infrasound therefore remains, at most, a partial and contested explanation for some reported cases rather than a general solution to poltergeist phenomena as a whole.

			{{VaultBrief
			\|type=haunting
			\|classification=Haunting phenomenon / physical disturbance, distinct from apparitional hauntings
			\|earliest=1662 (Drummer of Tedworth)
			\|modern=1958–present (systematic RSPK-framework investigation); ongoing into recent cases such as Enfield (1977–1979)
			\|evidence=Witness testimony, some contemporaneous physical/electrical monitoring in select 20th-century cases (e.g. Rosenheim); no case has produced physical evidence accepted as conclusive by the wider scientific community
			\|investigations=Joseph Glanvill; Joseph Gaither Pratt; William G. Roll; Hans Bender; Vic Tandy; Guy Lyon Playfair
			\|assessment=No poltergeist case has been demonstrated under independently replicated, controlled conditions to involve a genuinely unexplained force. Explanations proposed by sceptics — fraud, misperception, and environmental factors such as infrasound — account for at least some reported cases, though infrasound specifically has not replicated well as a general explanation; the RSPK hypothesis remains an internal parapsychological framework rather than an accepted scientific finding
			\|status=Unconfirmed
			}}

	== See also ==		== See also ==
	* [[Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis]]		* [[Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis]]
	* [[Enfield Poltergeist]]		* [[Enfield Poltergeist]]
			* [[William G. Roll]]
			* [[Vic Tandy]]
	* [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]]		* [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]]
	* [[Society for Psychical Research]]		* [[Society for Psychical Research]]
	* [[:Category:Parapsychology\|Parapsychology]]		* [[:Category:Parapsychology\|Parapsychology]]

			== References ==
			{{Reflist}}

	== External links ==		== External links ==
	* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Roll Wikipedia — William G. Roll]		* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Roll Wikipedia — William G. Roll]
			* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vic_Tandy Wikipedia — Vic Tandy]
			* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drummer_of_Tedworth Wikipedia — Drummer of Tedworth]
	* [https://hauntedsilence.com/paranormal-101/poltergeist-activity-real-cases-explained/ HauntedSilence — Poltergeist Activity: Best Documented Real Cases & What Science Found]		* [https://hauntedsilence.com/paranormal-101/poltergeist-activity-real-cases-explained/ HauntedSilence — Poltergeist Activity: Best Documented Real Cases & What Science Found]

	[[Category:Ghosts and Hauntings]]		[[Category:Ghosts and Hauntings]]
			[[Category:Parapsychology]]
			[[Category:Poltergeists]]
			[[Category:17th century]]

GaryJJSpate at 22:20, 28 July 2026

2026-07-28T22:20:22Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:20, 28 July 2026
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	}}		}}

	A '''poltergeist''' ("noisy ghost," from the German ''poltern'', to make noise, and ''geist'', spirit) is a type of reported haunting phenomenon centred on physical disturbance rather than a visible apparition — objects thrown or moved, furniture displaced, unexplained noises, and electrical disturbances, rather than a seen or felt presence. Unlike most entries under [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]], poltergeist activity is not always attributed to a deceased spirit at all; a major strand of research instead attributes it to a living person within the household.		A '''poltergeist''' ("noisy ghost," from the German ''poltern'', to make noise, and ''geist'', spirit) is a type of reported haunting phenomenon centred on physical disturbance rather than a visible apparition — objects thrown or moved, furniture displaced, unexplained noises, and electrical disturbances, rather than a seen or felt presence. Unlike most entries under [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]], poltergeist activity is not always attributed to a deceased spirit at all; a major strand of research instead attributes it to a living person within the household — see [[Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis]] for the full account of this hypothesis and the research behind it.

	~~== Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) ==~~
	~~The scientific-sounding term "~~Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis" (RSPK) was coined by parapsychologist William G. Roll following his 1958 investigation, with Joseph Gaither Pratt, of the Seaford, New York poltergeist case, in which the Herrmann family reported repeated unexplained disturbances — later re-examined by sceptical investigator Joe Nickell, who concluded the phenomena were explainable by deliberate trickery on the part of the ~~family's twelve-year-old son. Roll proposed that at least some poltergeist activity might stem from a living person's own unconscious psychokinetic ability, rather than an external spirit.~~

	~~Analysing dozens~~ of ~~cases, Roll identified a recurring pattern: activity tends to centre on a single household member, referred to as the "agent" or "focus person," most often an adolescent,~~ and ~~disturbances typically cease once that person leaves~~ the location — a pattern Roll's own analysis of 92 cases found present in 62 of them. RSPK has never been accepted by mainstream science, and critics have characterised parapsychologists who investigated it~~, including Roll himself, as overly credulous~~.

	== Notable cases ==		== Notable cases ==
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	== See also ==		== See also ==
			* [[Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis]]
	* [[Enfield Poltergeist]]		* [[Enfield Poltergeist]]
	* [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]]		* [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]]

GaryJJSpate at 22:15, 28 July 2026

2026-07-28T22:15:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:15, 28 July 2026
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	== Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) ==		== Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) ==
	The scientific-sounding term "Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis" (RSPK) was coined by parapsychologist William G. Roll following his 1958 investigation, with Joseph Gaither Pratt, of the Seaford, New York poltergeist case, in which the Herrmann family reported repeated unexplained disturbances. Roll proposed that at least some poltergeist activity might stem from a living person's own unconscious psychokinetic ability, rather than an external spirit ~~— a marked departure from the traditional "ghost" framing of the phenomenon~~.		The scientific-sounding term "Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis" (RSPK) was coined by parapsychologist William G. Roll following his 1958 investigation, with Joseph Gaither Pratt, of the Seaford, New York poltergeist case, in which the Herrmann family reported repeated unexplained disturbances — later re-examined by sceptical investigator Joe Nickell, who concluded the phenomena were explainable by deliberate trickery on the part of the family's twelve-year-old son. Roll proposed that at least some poltergeist activity might stem from a living person's own unconscious psychokinetic ability, rather than an external spirit.

	Analysing dozens of cases, Roll identified a recurring pattern: activity tends to centre on a single household member, referred to as the "agent" or "focus person," most often an adolescent, and disturbances typically cease once that person leaves the location — a pattern Roll's own analysis of 92 cases found present in 62 of them~~. Proponents theorise the agent may be unconsciously channelling emotional stress, repressed anger, or hormonal changes, most commonly around puberty, into unintentional physical effects~~. RSPK has never been accepted by mainstream science, and critics have characterised parapsychologists who investigated it, including Roll himself, as overly credulous.		Analysing dozens of cases, Roll identified a recurring pattern: activity tends to centre on a single household member, referred to as the "agent" or "focus person," most often an adolescent, and disturbances typically cease once that person leaves the location — a pattern Roll's own analysis of 92 cases found present in 62 of them. RSPK has never been accepted by mainstream science, and critics have characterised parapsychologists who investigated it, including Roll himself, as overly credulous.

	== Notable cases ==		== Notable cases ==

	=== The Enfield Poltergeist ===		=== The Enfield Poltergeist ===
	The best-documented poltergeist case in British history occurred at a council house on Green Street, Enfield, North London, between 1977 and 1979, centred on 11-year-old Janet Hodgson and her family. Reported phenomena included furniture moving, loud knocking, thrown objects, and a gruff voice claiming to be a deceased former resident of the house, investigated over roughly 18 months by [[~~Society for Psychical Research~~]] investigators Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair and witnessed by police officers, journalists, and neighbours. Some specific incidents were later attributed to pranks admitted by the children involved, while investigators maintained that other elements remained unexplained; proponents of RSPK have linked the case to the ~~stress Janet was reportedly experiencing around her parents' separation~~.		The best-documented poltergeist case in British history — see [[Enfield Poltergeist]] for the full account.

	=== The Rosenheim Poltergeist ===		=== The Rosenheim Poltergeist ===
	A 1967 case in Rosenheim, Germany, notable for occurring in an office environment rather than a private home, with reported electrical disturbances documented by physicists from the Max Planck Institute, and activity again linked to a young employee present at the time.		A 1967 case in Rosenheim, Germany, notable for occurring in an office environment rather than a private home, with reported electrical disturbances documented by physicists from the Max Planck Institute, and activity again linked to a young employee present at the time.

	~~=== The Seaford Poltergeist ===~~
	Roll's original 1958 case, later re-examined by sceptical investigator Joe Nickell, who concluded that all the reported phenomena could be explained by deliberate trickery on the part of the Herrmann family's twelve-year-old son.

	== Scientific and sceptical perspective ==		== Scientific and sceptical perspective ==
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	== See also ==		== See also ==
			* [[Enfield Poltergeist]]
	* [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]]		* [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings\|Ghosts and Hauntings]]
	* [[Society for Psychical Research]]		* [[Society for Psychical Research]]
	* [[:Category:Parapsychology\|Parapsychology]]		* [[:Category:Parapsychology\|Parapsychology]]
	* [[Mother Shipton Inn]], whose reported "sealed room" discovery shares some thematic overlap with poltergeist case histories

	== External links ==		== External links ==

GaryJJSpate: Created page with "{{PhenomenonInfobox |name=Poltergeist |type=Ghost / haunting phenomenon |field=Parapsychology |also_known_as=Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) |notable_case=The Enfield Poltergeist (1977–1979) |status=Unverified — RSPK not accepted by mainstream science }} A '''poltergeist''' ("noisy ghost," from the German ''poltern'', to make noise, and ''geist'', spirit) is a type of reported haunting phenomenon centred on physical disturbance rather than a visible appar..."

2026-07-28T22:13:21Z

Created page with "{{PhenomenonInfobox |name=Poltergeist |type=Ghost / haunting phenomenon |field=Parapsychology |also_known_as=Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) |notable_case=The Enfield Poltergeist (1977–1979) |status=Unverified — RSPK not accepted by mainstream science }} A '''poltergeist''' ("noisy ghost," from the German ''poltern'', to make noise, and ''geist'', spirit) is a type of reported haunting phenomenon centred on physical disturbance rather than a visible appar..."

New page

{{PhenomenonInfobox
|name=Poltergeist
|type=Ghost / haunting phenomenon
|field=Parapsychology
|also_known_as=Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK)
|notable_case=The Enfield Poltergeist (1977–1979)
|status=Unverified — RSPK not accepted by mainstream science
}}

A '''poltergeist''' ("noisy ghost," from the German ''poltern'', to make noise, and ''geist'', spirit) is a type of reported haunting phenomenon centred on physical disturbance rather than a visible apparition — objects thrown or moved, furniture displaced, unexplained noises, and electrical disturbances, rather than a seen or felt presence. Unlike most entries under [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings|Ghosts and Hauntings]], poltergeist activity is not always attributed to a deceased spirit at all; a major strand of research instead attributes it to a living person within the household.

== Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) ==
The scientific-sounding term "Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis" (RSPK) was coined by parapsychologist William G. Roll following his 1958 investigation, with Joseph Gaither Pratt, of the Seaford, New York poltergeist case, in which the Herrmann family reported repeated unexplained disturbances. Roll proposed that at least some poltergeist activity might stem from a living person's own unconscious psychokinetic ability, rather than an external spirit — a marked departure from the traditional "ghost" framing of the phenomenon.

Analysing dozens of cases, Roll identified a recurring pattern: activity tends to centre on a single household member, referred to as the "agent" or "focus person," most often an adolescent, and disturbances typically cease once that person leaves the location — a pattern Roll's own analysis of 92 cases found present in 62 of them. Proponents theorise the agent may be unconsciously channelling emotional stress, repressed anger, or hormonal changes, most commonly around puberty, into unintentional physical effects. RSPK has never been accepted by mainstream science, and critics have characterised parapsychologists who investigated it, including Roll himself, as overly credulous.

== Notable cases ==

=== The Enfield Poltergeist ===
The best-documented poltergeist case in British history occurred at a council house on Green Street, Enfield, North London, between 1977 and 1979, centred on 11-year-old Janet Hodgson and her family. Reported phenomena included furniture moving, loud knocking, thrown objects, and a gruff voice claiming to be a deceased former resident of the house, investigated over roughly 18 months by [[Society for Psychical Research]] investigators Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair and witnessed by police officers, journalists, and neighbours. Some specific incidents were later attributed to pranks admitted by the children involved, while investigators maintained that other elements remained unexplained; proponents of RSPK have linked the case to the stress Janet was reportedly experiencing around her parents' separation.

=== The Rosenheim Poltergeist ===
A 1967 case in Rosenheim, Germany, notable for occurring in an office environment rather than a private home, with reported electrical disturbances documented by physicists from the Max Planck Institute, and activity again linked to a young employee present at the time.

=== The Seaford Poltergeist ===
Roll's original 1958 case, later re-examined by sceptical investigator Joe Nickell, who concluded that all the reported phenomena could be explained by deliberate trickery on the part of the Herrmann family's twelve-year-old son.

== Scientific and sceptical perspective ==
Sceptics attribute poltergeist cases to a combination of deliberate fraud — often by the "agent" seeking attention — unconscious or conscious trickery, misperception of ordinary events, and investigator bias, and note that in several high-profile cases the agent was directly caught producing phenomena by normal means. As with other subjects gathered under [[:Category:Parapsychology|Parapsychology]], RSPK remains a fringe hypothesis rather than an accepted explanation, even among researchers who take poltergeist reports seriously as a subject worth investigating.

== See also ==
* [[:Category:Ghosts and Hauntings|Ghosts and Hauntings]]
* [[Society for Psychical Research]]
* [[:Category:Parapsychology|Parapsychology]]
* [[Mother Shipton Inn]], whose reported "sealed room" discovery shares some thematic overlap with poltergeist case histories

== External links ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Roll Wikipedia — William G. Roll]
* [https://hauntedsilence.com/paranormal-101/poltergeist-activity-real-cases-explained/ HauntedSilence — Poltergeist Activity: Best Documented Real Cases & What Science Found]

[[Category:Ghosts and Hauntings]]