Ghost Hunting with Derek Acorah. Derek Acorah

       CHAPTER 5 Poltergeists

      Poltergeist is German for ‘noisy ghost’ and poltergeistal activity is commonly linked to children, especially girls, approaching puberty who have displayed signs of psychic ability. It is generally agreed, and is also my opinion, that a poltergeist is not the manifestation of a spirit person, rather an abundance of energy generated by and drawn to adolescents or people suffering severe emotional stress.

      Usually poltergeistal activity is limited to noises—rustlings, tappings, knocks and dragging sounds—but occasionally disarray can be caused within a home with items being thrown, furniture moved and obnoxious smells created. There have also been some reports of poltergeistal energy causing the person affected to levitate from their bed.

      In most cases the problems subside if the affected individual is removed from the premises and reappear when that person returns. Obviously the person who is attracting the poltergeistal activity is unaware that the entity is drawing on their emotional energy.

      It is unusual for poltergeistal activity to be of any duration. In some cases it lasts only for a few days; in others, a number of months.

      There are always exceptions to the rule, however. This was amply demonstrated by an early 1950s case when the poltergeistal activity focused on not one person, but two, and in both cases males. The events took place at 1 Byron Street in Runcorn, Cheshire. Sam Jones and his grandson, John Glynn, then 16 years of age, shared a bedroom in the family home. One night, having just retired to bed, they heard a scratching noise coming from the dressing-table drawer. An investigation showed nothing and, thinking it might have been a mouse scared away by them opening the drawer, they both returned to their beds and thought nothing more about it. The following night, however, not only were there scratching noises but the drawers began to rattle and the dressing table moved, despite being extremely heavy.

      After that numerous acts of poltergeistal vandalism took place—a clock was smashed, chairs were thrown against the wall and books flew through the air as though thrown by some invisible hand. There were many independent witnesses, including reporters from the Runcorn Guardian newspaper, two policemen, two Methodist ministers and various psychic researchers. No logical explanation could be given and it was declared to be a definite case of poltergeistal activity.

      Over the years I have come into contact with poltergeistal activity on numerous occasions. Sometimes it has been of extremely short duration—a sudden burst of disruption that is over as soon as it has started. There have been other occasions, however, when people have become so frightened that they have moved out of their home, only to find that the disruption follows them to their new house.

      One incident that I remember well involved a lady named Jean. She called me at my office sounding very agitated. She had been living together with her son Stephen, aged 12, and her daughter Lindsay, aged 15, since the breakdown of her marriage a year or so earlier. It had been an acrimonious divorce which Jean and her children had found extremely upsetting. As time had passed, however, they had come to terms with their new life and everything had seemed to be more settled. That was, until a few weeks before Jean’s call to me.

      Jean told me that strange things had started to happen—not very much at first, just little things like odd noises and belongings being moved. In fact initially it was more irritating than frightening. As the days turned into weeks, however, the noises had become more sinister. They seemed to be concentrated around Stephen’s bedroom, which was situated above the family lounge. When Jean and her children were watching television in the lounge, it sounded as though something heavy was being dragged along the floor of the room above. On investigating, they would find that bedclothes had been disturbed and books had been thrown around the floor. Stephen became afraid to go to his bedroom to sleep. He reported that when he did so, he felt as though his bed was vibrating. On one occasion Jean told me that he had been literally thrown out of the bed. After that he had insisted on sleeping on the sofa downstairs.

      Upon arrival at Jean’s home, I stood outside looking at the house. It was unremarkable, but I knew psychically that all was not well within the four walls. I knocked on the door, which was opened a few moments later by Jean, looking pale and nervous. She told me that the previous night had been very bad, with a constant array of noises, squeaks and bangs that had prevented her and her children from getting any sleep at all.

      ‘I’m at the end of my tether, Derek,’ she said. ‘I thought that we would be able to pick up our lives after my divorce and live happily here.’

      She led me through to the lounge. I asked her to tell me exactly what had been going on and how her son and her daughter had coped after the divorce.

      Jean told me that although Lindsay had been very upset, she had been able to continue with her life in a more or less regular way, maintaining her interests with her friends, and with the help and support of her teachers, her schooling had not been affected too badly. Stephen, however, had been a different matter. He had been extremely upset and had told his mother that he felt to blame for his father leaving the family to set up home with another woman. The fact that she had a son and daughter approximately the same ages as Stephen and his sister had exacerbated the problem. Stephen felt that his father had looked for another boy to be his son because he was not worthy of the position. Unfortunately, Jean was preventing her husband from visiting Stephen and Lindsay because of the deep hurt she had suffered. All in all, Stephen was a very miserable and confused boy. Jean had tried time and time again to explain to him that he had nothing to do with the family break-up, but he remained unconvinced.

      Then the strange events began to take place. The first occasion was when Jean was sitting in the lounge. From the bedroom above came loud knocking noises. Thinking that Stephen was in his room, Jean went into the hallway and shouted up the stairs for him to be quiet. As she did so, Stephen answered from the kitchen, wondering what his mother was talking about. They both knew that Lindsay was out of the house visiting a friend. They rather nervously climbed the stairs and went into Stephen’s bedroom. There was nothing there, though a pile of schoolbooks which had been lying on the desk was strewn over the floor. Jean assumed that the books had fallen to the floor, picked them up and put them away in the desk cupboard. They both went downstairs and thought no more about the matter.

      A couple of nights later a similar incident took place—the knocking noise, the investigation of the bedroom and the books all over the floor. This time, though, Jean knew that there was something amiss. She herself had put Stephen’s schoolbooks away not half an hour earlier. She also knew that both Stephen and Lindsay had been downstairs with her watching a favourite television programme when the noises had begun.

      Every day something would happen. There would be banging and knocking noises and items would fall to the floor inexplicably, no matter how securely they were placed. Jean also started to notice an awful smell on the landing outside Stephen’s room. Because his bedroom was next to the bathroom she thought there might be a problem with the drains, though the odour was not actually present in the bathroom itself. A visit from a plumber brought no relief, however, as he told her the plumbing system was in perfect working order.

      Jean and her children became more and more frightened. It got to the point where they all shared one bedroom, as they were too afraid to sleep in separate bedrooms. A priest was called in to perform an exorcism, but if anything things appeared to intensify. When the family went to their bedroom at night they now felt that there was a sinister presence in there with them. At her