Poltergeist

Are chairs tumbling over, as if by themselves? Do drawers spontaneously open and slam shut? Are rocks falling from the ceiling, as if materializing from thin air? Well then, it’s quite possible that you have a poltergeist on your hands! The poltergeist phenomenon is probably one of the most widely misunderstood paranormal concepts. As a result, people often mistake ghost phenomenon for poltergeist activity, and vice versa. In this guide, you’ll learn the five stages of a poltergeist, which will help you determine if you've got a ghost or one of these beings.

The Truth About Poltergeists

Many of the common misconceptions regarding the poltergeist phenomenon began in 1982, when Steven Spielberg and Tobe Hooper released their frightening special effects masterpiece called Poltergeist. The movie was a hit at the box office and has since come to be seen as a classic of the horror cinema genre. There’s just one problem with this film … it has absolutely nothing to do with poltergeists.

The word poltergeist comes from the German language and roughly translates as “noisy ghost/spirit.” Although it is no longer believed that spirits or ghosts have anything to do with poltergeists, the use of the original term has continued for the sake of familiarity.

You may be wondering why this phenomenon first came to be called a “noisy spirit.” Well, the answer to that one is simple. One of the most common attributes of poltergeists is that they are loud like you would not believe. They slam doors, toss objects (they seem especially fond of rocks and silverware), turn over furniture, bang on walls, and violently yank open and slam shut kitchen cabinets and drawers. Sometimes a poltergeist will even make taps turn off and on, or spontaneously (and, as one might guess, rather disconcertingly) cause electrical devices to turn on and off. In some of the most extreme cases, it has seemed as if the entire home had gone crazy. You can probably imagine what it would look like if all this poltergeist activity happened in one house simultaneously. to say the least, it’d probably scare the wits out of most people.

Apparitions, however, are not a part of the poltergeist phenomenon. Witnesses see the activity it causes, of course, but no one has ever actually seen a poltergeist with their own eyes. You hear and see what it does, but if you see an apparition, then it isn't a poltergeist.

There are generally five primary stages by which the level of a poltergeist is identified. These stages range from mildly annoying to downright dangerous. Basically, the more extreme the poltergeist activity becomes, the higher the number by which it is classified.

Stage 1:

Latent/Dormant/Passive Stage

Nothing all that remarkable occurs at this stage. In fact, most people aren't even aware that anything is awry, and they certainly aren't thinking their house is under the influence of a poltergeist. The activity is minimal and often dismissed as coincidence or a series of “freak occurrences.”

However, there are certain things one can look for in order to identify such phenomena. Animals are usually more in tune to paranormal activity than humans. As a result, your pet may begin to act strangely—for example, a dog may stare, growl, or bark at a spot when nothing is there. Another tell tale sign is noticing cold spots, meaning the temperature will suddenly seem to drop in certain places for no reason.

Stage 2:

Obvious/Detectable Presence

This stage occurs when those experiencing the phenomenon become aware that something is not quite right. Of course, this is not true of everyone. There are always those individuals who will continue to dismiss the unusual activity with the usual excuses, such as it’s all “just their imaginations,” “just the wind,” or caused by “the house settling.”

The cold spots will usually increase at this point. For example, entire rooms may suddenly be engulfed by frigid air, often more intensely in certain rooms than in others. Also, unexplained scratches, gashes, or cuts may begin showing up on walls and/or furniture at this point. Sometimes, one person in the house might start experiencing light but unexplained scratches on his or her skin. Needless to say, these are not good signs.

Stage 3:

Increased Kinetic Activity

Probably the best way to describe a stage three poltergeist is that this is the “holy crap phase.” There’s no more ignoring the phenomenon by now, because its presence is far more obvious. You see, at this stage the really weird stuff starts happening. Most of the time, owners/inhabitants are finally convinced to seek out the help of a paranormal investigation team (or a religious figure) by this point. Can you blame them?

Lights and appliances sporadically turn off and on. Closed and sometimes even locked doors and windows may suddenly come open, and unexplainable rapping and banging sounds may also begin to occur. People in the house may begin to feel as if unseen hands are touching or scratching them.

Stage 4:

Intelligent/Individual Targeting

This is where things start to get really, really scary, because the activity turns from disrupting to violent. At this stage, poltergeists often behave as if they’re targeting one or more specific individuals in the home. For unknown reasons, most of the violent activity seems to specifically target adults (especially parents) and teenagers in the home more often than young children.

Objects may fly at people from places unseen. Doors may suddenly slam in people’s faces (or into them) as they enter certain rooms. Sharp objects, such as kitchen knives, may even shoot out of open drawers. However, these often don’t seem aimed at anyone or at least don’t have enough force to be lethal.

Stage 5:

Dangerous/Life-Threatening Kinetic Activity

If a poltergeist reaches this stage, you should get out of the house … right now. This thing isn't playing around any-more and has the potential power to seriously injure, or even kill, someone in the house. The safety of everyone inside the house, no matter if they live there or not, is now in serious jeopardy. If you haven’t sought professional help by now, what in the heck are you waiting for—an invitation?

The scratches are now drawing blood from the skin, or ripping deep gashes through walls and furniture. Knives are flying hard enough to embed deeply in counter tops. And what’s worse, small fires spontaneously spark up in different places and spread out all over the house (fire extinguisher, anyone?). Needless to say, this stage is about as bad as a poltergeist can get … and they can get very bad.

The thrown objects now move with far more force, making them capable of serious damage. Also, the size and weight of the objects can increase. For example, the poltergeist may have started by tapping you lightly in the back with the occasional tossed, but still relatively small, rock. By stage five, it’s more likely to send a 40-pound dumbbell flying straight at your head.

Telling the difference between sometimes similar yet distinctly different paranormal phenomena can be tricky, but armed with this information, you’ll at least know if you've got a poltergeist on your hands.

Saturday 23 November 2013

The Amherst Poltergeist

The story of the Amherst Nova Scotia Poltergeist is one of the best known and most terrifying ever recorded. It began in 1878 at a small and very crowded home on Princess Street. The residence was the home to Esther Cox then age 18 or 19, her married sister Olive and her husband Daniel, as well as Esther’s brother and sister, Jennie and William. In addition to the family members others occasionally rented a room at the house. At the time that the poltergeist phenomena began a man named Walter Hubbell was a boarder at the home on Princess Street. Hubbell recorded the poltergeist activity on a daily basis and would later publish the book “The Great Amherst Mystery” in which he tells the story of the Esther Cox poltergeist in great detail.

Shortly before the first paranormal activity occurred, Esther Cox was the victim of an attempted sexual assault by a man named Bob McNeal . Fortunately, Esther managed to escape her attacker and suffered only minor physical injuries. The injuries to her mental and emotional well-being however seem to have been far worse and appeared to unleash months of violent poltergeist activity. The first sign that something was wrong happened one evening when screams were heard coming from the bedroom shared by Esther and sister Jennie. When others got to the room the two said that something was moving under their blanket, nothing was found and everyone was soon asleep. The next night more screams came from the sister’s room. This time they had heard loud banging sounds under their bed. A box containing sewing scrapes was removed and placed on the floor. As all watched the box suddenly flew across the room, crashing into a wall.

The following day Esther was not felling well and went to bed early. Her screams were soon heard and the family again ran to her aid. Esther was found in terrible shape, her body appeared to be greatly swollen and red. She was very hot and then began shivering as if she were freezing. The group then heard three very loud bangs “like the clap of thunder.” Esther then collapsed on the bed and went into a deep sleep. A local doctor was called but was not able to help, he did however return to visit Esther and witnessed much of the poltergeist activity. The doctor later wrote to a colleague about his experience and said that he had considered writing about the paranormal events he had witnessed and submitting it to scientific journals. He decided against submitting the stories because he felt no one would believe him and added he wouldn’t believe it ether had he not seen it for himself.

In the coming months the poltergeist activity became more frequent and dangerous. Lit matches would appear in the air and drop onto beds causing small fires. Sewing pins would appear and often stab Esther in the face. A pocket knife held in a boy’s hand was ripped from his grasp and flew thru the air, stabbing Esther in the back. On one occasion scratching noises were heard only to find the words “Esther Cox you are mine to kill” carved into the wall in one foot high letters above Esther’s bed. Esther was afraid that the poltergeist activity was going to harm some one other than herself and moved out of the home on Princess Street, the poltergeist followed. At one of the places she found to live, a farm, a fire broke out in the barn, burning it to the ground. The farmer had heard stories about Esther and the mysterious fires on Princess Street, he was not a believer and called police. Esther was charged with arson and sentenced to four months in jail. She was released after serving just one month due to public out cry.

After being released from jail the poltergeist seemed to almost disappear. Only a few minor incidents occurred and Esther was able to move on with her life. Esther married twice and had a son from each husband, she died in 1912 at the age of 53.

There here...

When your family is the victim of the unseen forces of a poltergeist, the solution might surprise you
Knocks on walls
Objects thrown about by unseen hands
Furniture moved around by the invisible
Water dripping inexplicably from ceilings where no pipes are hidden
Even small fires breaking out.
These are classic manifestations of what has become known as poltergeist activity.
As the word itself implies (poltergeist translated from the German means "noisy ghost") such manifestations were long thought to be the mischievous pranks of spirits or, more frightening, the malevolent works of demons. Most researchers today, however, theorize that poltergeist activity is not the work of spirits (either impish or evil) at all. Thanks largely to the work of parapsychologist William G. Roll in the 1950s and '60s, they are now commonly understood to be psychokinetic manifestations produced by living persons. (Psychokinesis refers to things being moved solely by the power of the mind.)

RSPK

Roll called it "recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis" or RSPK and found that the paranormal activity could almost always be traced to a person, clinically labelled an "agent." This agent, although a victim of the puzzling and sometimes frightening activity, is unaware that he or she is actually the cause of it. By some mechanism that is still not understood, the activity arises out of the unconscious or subconscious of the individual in response to emotional stress or trauma.

So little is really known about the human brain and mind, but somehow the psychological stresses suffered by this agent produce effects in the surrounding physical world: pounding on the walls of a house, a book flying off a shelf, glowing orbs zipping across a room, heavy furniture sliding across the floor - perhaps even audible voices. In some rare cases the manifestations can turn violent, producing scratches on skin, shoves and slaps. So powerful is the unconscious mind under stress.

One possible and famous historical case is that of The Bell Witch from the early 19th century. This was a case of severe poltergeist phenomena that centred around young Betsy Bell. The activity, then attributed to a "witch", threw things around the Bell home, moved furniture, and pinched and slapped the children, according to eyewitnesses. Betsy Bell appears to have been the agent in this instance. It has been suggested (although never proved) in two films about the case - "The Bell Witch Haunting" and "An American Haunting"- that Betsy was under profound emotional stress brought about by sexual abuse from her father, John Bell. It's interesting to note that John Bell became a special victim of the "witch", who was blamed for his sickness and death. Was this a case of Betsy's unconscious exacting revenge?

HOW COMMON IS IT?

Poltergeist agents are very often adolescents, but not always. It seems true that some adolescents under the combined stresses of growing up and the hormonal changes occurring during puberty can produce poltergeist activity, but adults under stress can be agents as well - especially, perhaps, if they have unresolved stresses from childhood.

It is unknown how common poltergeist activity is. Certainly, remarkable cases in which household objects are tossed about are relatively rare. But those are the cases that get attention and are documented simply because they are remarkable, especially if the activity persists over many days, weeks or months. There may be many more cases, however, that occur just once or on rare occasions to people. A child furious with his parents storms into his room and a picture flies off the wall. A couple having a heated argument is interrupted by a pot inexplicably falling to the floor. These and a thousand other possible scenarios could be taking place all the time to temporary poltergeist agents, but are dismissed as coincidence or with some other rational explanation. (Indeed, in many instances it might be just coincidence or have another rational explanation; the point is, we don't know.)

MANY DOCUMENTED CASES

There is ample documentation that poltergeist activity does take place, in various levels of severity and for various lengths of time.

So if you have poltergeist activity in your home, what should you do?