The Enfield Poltergeist: A Family Haunted

ever since the 1800s when the first legitimate paranormal researchers came to the fore science has been looking into claims of hauntings and ghosts in that time one type of alleged spirit has become the most prevalent in the public's consciousness known as a poltergeist which means noisy ghost in german these spirits are said to manifest themselves in very specific ways they remain invisible for the most part moving objects around and throwing things at people in some instances and they can even pull sleeping victims from their beds and leave bite marks and scratches on them they tend to focus their activity around young girls who are about to or have recently become teenagers but what evidence is there for such entities in this video we're going to take a deep dive into the most well-documented poltergeist case of all time known as the enfield poltergeist it's been the subject of books newspaper articles documentaries tv series and even feature films including the conjuring too with so much interest in one case and with people continually adding to the legend it's easy to get lost in the speculation and fictionalized elements that surround it however when we peel all of the artifice away we're still left with a modern day poltergeist case that is both puzzling and outright terrifying in places looking at the facts we're left with just one question on our minds was it real as with most poltergeist cases the activity revolved around a young family what's fascinating in many of these cases is that the activity often starts in one place but follows the people involved to other locations if most ghostly activity can be described as a spirit haunting a specific place like a haunted house for example then poltergeists are even more terrifying as they are said to haunt people in the enfield poltergeist case the activity centered around the hodgson family between 1977 and 1979 the family consisted of peggy hodgson and her four children however as poltergeist activity often attaches itself to young teenage girls it was peggy's daughters margaret and janet who seemed to be the focal point of the haunting margaret was 13 when the paranormal activity began and janet was 11 putting both of them in and around the age of puberty when most poltergeist phenomena is said to take place peggy's two sons johnny and billy were 11 and 7 years old respectively and were not directly affected by the poltergeist activity to the same degree as this case proceeded many would come to accuse both janet and margaret of faking some if not all of the phenomena however others argue that these accusations cruelly depict the children as bringing the frightening events upon themselves at the time of these occurrences the hodgson family was living at 284 green street in enfield london as the poltergeist became more forceful in the hodgson home the family and their struggles would become a national news item surrounded by reporters some of whom claimed to experience the strange goings-on for themselves [Music] on the 31st of august 1977 peggy had put her children to bed and was sitting downstairs reading a magazine she then began to hear a strange noise directly above her it was coming from margaret and janet's room it sounded like furniture was being moved around annoyed that her children weren't asleep peggy went upstairs and entered the room she expected to find her daughters playing around but they were both in their beds and silent the girls looked pale and frightened when peggy told them to stop moving things around in their room at night and to get some sleep margaret and janet told her that a large chest of drawers along the back wall of the room had been moving by itself of course peggy thought this was nonsense but she then heard a strange shuffling sound from the chest of drawers that was when she saw it with her own eyes the piece of furniture moved forward from the wall by itself when peggy tried to push the chest of drawers back to where it had been previously it was impossible to move it felt to peggy as though something was holding it where it was and pushing back as strange knocking sounds began to come from the walls peggy was utterly confused and feared for her children she took them downstairs and fled the house peggy ended up at her neighbor's house with her children her neighbor vic nottingham a construction worker who in the words of margaret wasn't frightened of anything went back into the hodgson house to see if something had broken in and was playing tricks on the family as soon as he went upstairs he heard repeated violent bangs coming from the walls and as he went back downstairs it was as if they followed him room to room being involved in the building trade vic knew the types of sounds houses can make this was unlike anything he had encountered before they waited back at the neighbor's house for a while and then with vic for company the hodgsons felt confident enough to re-enter the house while downstairs peggy thought the noises had subsided but when a sudden loud bang came from the ceiling right above her and her family's heads she knew it was time to involve the authorities peggy picked up the phone and called the police two police officers soon arrived after taking statements from peggy and vic the officers immediately stated that it must have been children playing a prank on the grown-ups but while speaking with vic police constable carolyn heaps watched in disbelief as a chair in the living room levitated about an inch off of the ground and then floated four feet before stopping and resting on the floor the constable was certain that there must have been some sort of trickery involved but she immediately examined the chair and saw no strings or attachments that could have been used to make it move as it had the two constables were at a loss the only thing they wondered was if something was under the house causing the things to move there was no procedure to deal with poltergeist phenomena and so they couldn't help after a few days of continuing phenomena and with no solution being given to the family peggy decided that she would speak to a newspaper to see if they could investigate the strange goings-on on september 4th of 1977 two employees from the daily mirror newspaper arrived at the hodgson's house interested in the story one was photographer graham morris and the other was journalist douglas bentz peggy told both men that she was terrified for her family but that she was too poor for them to move while graham and douglas stood with the family in the living room objects began to appear as if out of nowhere and were dropped and flung at the reporters graham was caught just above the eye with a children's toy both men were convinced that no one in the room had been throwing the objects in fact douglas stated in several interviews afterwards that he couldn't see where the objects came from as though they miraculously appeared out of thin air it isn't unheard of in fact it's a common reported event in poltergeist cases some researchers have suggested that whatever poltergeists are they're able to move or teleport objects from one place to another over very short distances being a photographer graham morris took photos but when they were developed they failed to show any objects flying through the air seeing first hand how terrified peggy and her family were and having seen the paranormal phenomena for themselves graham and douglas decided that it was time to bring in some experts graham and douglas from the daily mirror contacted the society for psychical research hoping that they could help formed in 1882 this organization was the first of its kind bringing together skeptics believers scientists and researchers the society has investigated thousands of paranormal claims including poltergeist cases the man the society sent to look into the enfield poltergeist case was maurice gross maurice was 58 years old at the time and had led an interesting life he served in the british army during the second world war and was present during the evacuation of dunkirk later he became an inventor and created the world's first rotating advertising billboard just one year before the enfield poltergeist case maurice lost his daughter janet in a tragic motorbiking accident after this he and his family experienced some strange paranormal activity and this is what led him to signing up with the society for psychical research he wanted to know if his daughter had been trying to contact him from the afterlife when maurice arrived at the house he saw that everyone involved from the family and the neighbors to the two daily mirror reporters were deeply on edge as soon as maurice began interviewing everyone involved he recognized the similarities between the enfield case and the other poltergeist reports interestingly no one in the family had ever heard of the term maurice soon brought in someone to assist him in the form of writer guy leon playfair guy had previously investigated a poltergeist case in brazil just four years previous together more recent guy would remain at the hodgson's home for 14 consecutive months documenting everything that went on there eventually their roles as observers would soon spill over into being active participants in the haunting more recent guys presence in the house only seemed to fuel the activity like many classic poltergeist cases they reported hearing noises things being moved or thrown around strange banging sounds coming from the walls and even a horrible smell that would often appear when something had just happened by late october of 1977 the family was so terrified that peggy and her four children were sleeping together in a single room one night a loud scraping sound was heard coming from the fireplace of the bedroom the front of the metal fireplace was observed being wrenched up from the ground and thrown over one of the beds this would prove to be the first physical piece of evidence one of the pipes attached to the fireplace had been bent which would have required a large amount of force maurice believed no adult let alone a child could have possibly done this the knocking sounds began to grow in frequency and intensity and so maurice began to wonder if there was an intelligence behind the poltergeist's activity on another night after margaret and janet were particularly frightened maurice asked the poltergeist to answer his questions one knock for yes two knocks for no in the beginning this seemed to anger the poltergeist when maurice asked if the poltergeist had died in the house it knocked not once and not twice but 53 times maurice's patience were running thin and so he challenged the entity asking it if it was playing games with him in that moment a box had levitated across the room at force hitting him directly in the face after that he and guy started to worry that the poltergeist might even become more violent if pushed too far by their questions in investigation towards the end of 1977 it became clear that janet was becoming consumed by the poltergeist phenomenon she began to draw violent and disturbing pictures and her behavior became agitated the poltergeist was also becoming more physically abusive late one evening while janet was sleeping she was dragged out of her own bed and thrown across the room when she was asked what happened she said it felt like ice-cold hands had wrapped around her waist and pulled her out of bed without any warning margaret observed that not only was the entity physically attacking her sister but that it also seemed to be possessing her sister as well but the family and investigators were not the only ones to see what was happening in 284 green street on the 14th of december one of the best pieces of evidence for the poltergeist's existence was corroborated by two independent eyewitnesses what makes their testimony so convincing is that they both had nothing to do with what was going on inside the house in fact it was while they were outside in the street that they witnessed the truly bizarre event a delivery driver was dropping off groceries at one of the hodgson's neighbors one morning when the driver was walking back to his van he happened to look up at the top window of the hodgson's house there in clear sight was janet she was floating in midair as if something was moving her around several children's toys were also floating around her at the same exact moment a lady that was working as a crossing guard was standing on the other side of the street she also saw janet floating in mid-air in the room the incident unsettled both witnesses but the fact that they both reported seeing the exact same thing suggest that something unusual was happening in that room the investigators more recent guy took note of both happenings and kept rigorous records maurice was fascinated with audio equipment and spent much time recording interviews even having a radio crew present at times this led to one of the most remarkable aspects of the enfield case the investigators claimed to have not only spoken to witnesses of such events but to have recorded a real conversation with the poltergeist itself there are various theories as to what a poltergeist might be some believe it's not an entity at all but instead a psychic manifestation of a child involved others suggest that poltergeists are demonic in nature and have never been alive or human and that they sometimes trick their victims into thinking that they're conversing with the spirits of the dead in the case of the enfield poltergeist it seems that the entity suggested that it was the restless spirit of the previous inhabitant of the house one evening while maurice gross was sitting with the hodgson family in their living room he was shocked to hear a loud dog bark the bark ended quickly but the family did not own a dog nor was there any animal present let me hear you say my name come on let me hear you say my name [Music] that's not my name this was a eureka moment for maurice he theorized that if the entity could produce sounds like an animal then perhaps it could do more than that perhaps it could talk using tape recorders maurice began asking questions of the entity at first it barked at him but soon it began to answer questions the disembodied voice sounded gravelly like that of an old man's when maurice asked the entity where it was in the room it said chillingly on top of janet these interviews took place over several sessions and it became clear that there were several different voices trying to come through at once perhaps from independently separate entities i can't hear you talking now say doctor bella come on maurice began to suspect the voice was coming directly from janet herself so he asked her to hold water in her mouth and then put tape over her lips and yet the voice still spoke when analyzed using an oscilloscope the recording suggested that the voice was in fact coming from janet however it seemed that she was using an unusual part of her vocal cords known as the vocal fold this sits just above the larynx this revelation explained why the voice sounded so gravelly several experts have claimed that even though this part of janet's voice was being used that she couldn't do so without damaging her vocal cords most people wouldn't be able to keep speaking like that for very long but some of maurice's interviews with the poltergeist lasted up to three hours janet herself didn't believe at first that the voices were coming from her she said that she felt the voices were coming from behind her one of the voices soon identified himself as a man named bill over time bill became the most prominent voice and communicated with maurice and others many times maurice's son who was a lawyer was brought in to ask the entity questions to see if he could glean more from it using cross-examination techniques used in a court setting slowly the entity opened up about its existence the voice eventually said that it was a man and had lived in the house until he died in a chair in the living room i had a language and not fell asleep and i died in the chair in the comb downstairs he told maurice and his son my name is bill wilkins and i come from durant's park i'm 72 years old and i come here to see my family but they are not here now the entity also said in another recording that he was buried in a cemetery called durant park and came out of the grave from there soon after these recordings peggy decided that janet needed to be evaluated by medical professionals in case all of this was a hoax and to protect her mental health janet spent two months in a hospital in a psychiatric ward being evaluated she was given a clean bill of health and sent home they found nothing to suggest that she was delusional or mentally ill when she got home after that the poltergeist activity slowly faded away until nothing of note ever happened again the hodgson family were finally left to live a normal life it's been over 40 years since the enfield poltergeist case and it still remains one of the most well documented and debated poltergeist cases in history but what's the truth behind it was it the product of two young girls playing tricks on the adults around them or was there something more sinister at work a genuine supernatural entity that would pull people from their beds and possess them skeptics argued that the voices were clearly faked and that all the other eyewitnesses testimonies are unreliable and they may have a point countless psychological studies show that memories change and alter over time and that people can't ever be truly sure of what they have or haven't seen however no one involved in the enfield case has changed their stories their accounts of what happened at 284 green street have remained consistent for all of these years one possibility is that some of the poltergeist activity was in fact real such as the moving of objects but that the voices were put on by the children even maurice conceded that he caught the girls playing pranks during his time with them including hiding his recording equipment it's been suggested by critics of maurice gross that janet and margaret eventually felt compelled to make things happen for the investigators in order to keep them happy maurice was clearly affected by the death of his own daughter and wanted to believe in the supernatural so badly that in his mind his daughter still lived the fact that one of the hodgson daughters the one who was at the center of the poltergeist activity shared the same name janet with maurice's dead daughter does make us question if she was unintentionally coerced into playing up for maurice providing proof to him that there is an afterlife but what if that's only half of the story is it possible then that the knocking and moving of objects was real but the voices were faked it seems likely except for one little detail a detail that maurice gross himself had to wait 19 years to uncover a man named terry wilkins contacted maurice after hearing recordings of the poltergeist interviews when played back to him he was convinced that the voice was that of his dead father his name was bill and he had indeed lived at 284 green street in the early 1960s before dying at the home but it gets stranger even still had janet heard stories about the old man who died in her house before she lived there regurgitating the facts as best as she could remember the facts had got some things right about bill's life but was wrong about his own age and where he had been buried to maurice gross's credit he was convinced up until his own death that the voice was not bill wilkins or a dead spirit but instead something malevolent that was in the house giving details of the previous occupant to manipulate and play with the investigators we may never know the truth both janet and margaret went on to live normal lives they both still hold firm that the enfield poltergeist was real margaret feels unnerved at night and in quiet situations to this day and janet herself states that she feels that the entity used her taking advantage of a young girl a feeling janet says that she may never quite get over but most chillingly of all she says that sometimes she feels as if the entity is still in her life watching and waiting to make itself known for janet's sake let's hope it really was all in her mind because if not who knows what such a malevolent force could do in the future thank you so much for watching and remember follow me on twitch at twitch.tv matthew santoro and follow my discord at discord dot gg slash matthew santoro both communities are a lot of fun and i go live every single day to play with you guys i'll see you soon over there and in the next video

Channel: Matthew Santoro

Views: 207,557

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Id: mwhtN6BMp3s

Length: 22min 35sec (1355 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 30 2021