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Poltergeists

Mighty_Emperor

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There doesn't seem to be a general polt thread so here it is.

Some more specific threads:

The Mackie Poltergeist
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19106

Canneto di Caronia
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13411

Smurl polt:
www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13111

-------------
And a report:

Wednesday 23 February 2005

News

Mysterious fires traumatise students

TUDUETSO SETSIBA
2/23/2005 2:46:10 PM (GMT +2)

TONOTA: Boarding students at Shashe River School have been traumatised by mysterious fires and stones thrown by an invisible hand. The students say the head teacher has barred them from reporting the issue to their parents.


They appealed to members of the community to intervene to save the situation. “We are not allowed to talk about it in school, the head teacher has even threatened to expel from boarding those who may bring up the issue,” said a student on condition of anonymity. Terrified students said they could not talk openly about the issue as the head teacher said issues of witchcraft should not be discussed in the school.

One female student said they are disturbed by the whole situation. “During the night, stones are thrown into our rooms and we never get to see who throws them. It’s a painful experience because we are not allowed to talk about it,” she said with a frown on her face. Students said they are always worried when darkness falls.

One student who claims to have consulted traditional healers said he has been told that more fires are going to burn the hostels. “The traditional healer told me that some students are going to turn into lunatics. If the community does not intervene, then we are in trouble. We hardly concentrate in class because we do not get enough sleep.”

The dilapidated state of the hostels was made worse by mysterious fires, which engulfed the hostels some months ago. Since then, the hostels have not been renovated. A Form Five student, who preferred anonymity. said no one knows what causes the fires. “I heard that it happened a year before we started schooling here, then it only affected the boys’ hostels, but this year it has affected the girls hostels badly.” He said they are devastated especially because they have been forbidden from telling others about their parents. The school’s headmaster, Usinalufu Maunganidze declined to comment, claiming that her diary is fully booked for the whole term. “I cannot help you. I don’t know when I will find time but I will be busy for the whole term.” The school matron, a Mrs Marobela, could not comment either. “I am just a mere person, if the head teacher cannot comment there isn’t any help that I can offer. This is her school.” The deputy headmaster could not shed light on the issue. “If she cannot talk to you, who am I to talk to you,” he asked.

Source
 
Ooh, there was a Mackie poltergeist? I wonder if we're related? ;)
 
And a similar (and earlier case to the one at the start of the thread):

Bombolulu Tragedy: Many Theories But No Answers Yet, Seven Years On


The Nation (Nairobi)

March 25, 2005
Posted to the web March 24, 2005

Ngumbao Kithi
Nairobi

Bombolulu Girls' Secondary School, now known as Mazeras Memorial Secondary School, is situated on a ridge and has a panoramic view of the surroundings.

A shallow valley separates it from Mazeras Boys High School, about 500 metres to the south. The land in the west sags and then rises gently and undulates leisurely into the savannah hinterland.

The immediate north is dotted with thinly spread-out coconut and mango trees, which are interspersed with small-scale seasonal subsistence crop farms.

The east features plantations of coconut trees, the fronds whispering softly and swaying gently in graceful response to the refreshing winds blowing from the Indian Ocean.

On the night of March 25 and 26, 1998 - exactly seven years today - a mysterious fire gutted the school's dormitory and killed 22 girls on the spot, while four others died as they were being treated at Pandya Memorial Hospital in Mombasa.

A commission was appointed by President Daniel arap Moi to find out the cause of the inferno.

According to its 136-page report, which the Government has yet to make public, there are four possible causes.

The report, presented to President Moi in July 1998, lists them as electrical fault, arson, an accident and spontaneous combustion.

On the electrical fault theory, the commission heard of various procedural irregularities and omissions in the way electrical installations were done in the ill-fated hostel.

But evidence adduced before the commission did not establish this as the cause of the fire.

Lights at the ablution sub-block and security lights outside the dormitory were on even as the fire raged.

The commission was told that the lights could not have been on if the fire had been caused by an electrical fault.

The commission also considered static electricity as a possible cause. The report's summary says that the ideal environment for static electricity to cause ignition is the presence of materials such as textiles, temperatures of 27-28 degrees Celcius and humidity of 20-25 per cent.

Evidence from meteorologist Richard Adera (witness No 74) was that humidity on the fateful night averaged 90 per cent.

The commission concluded that it was not possible for static electricity to have caused the fire.

On the arson theory, the commission was told that there were no proper security arrangements at the school. Not a single teacher lived in the compound, and only an unqualified matron stayed with the girls at night as two watchmen kept vigil.

The guards reported the incident to nobody in particular. On the fateful night, one was found sleeping outside the administration block, away from the dormitory as the girls scampered for safety.

He was totally unaware of the fire and he told the girls to go back and sleep, the commission heard.

Evidence was given that the students were twice pelted with stones at Mazeras on their way back from co-curricular activities on March 14 and 21, 1998.

But no evidence came forth to satisfy the commission that arson was the cause.

In the accident theory, the commission was told that there was a science congress at Matuga Girls Secondary School on March 21 and that 11 Bombolulu students attended it. They carried science equipment and chemicals with them.

The commission was told that after their return to school in the evening, they did not return the materials to the laboratory. Instead, they kept them in the ill-fated dormitory until the night of the fire.

The equipment included a gas burner containing a gas reagent bottle with the chemical ethanol. Both the gas and ethanol are inflammable.

Boxes of matches, lanterns, irons and paraffin tin lamps were also in the dormitory on the night of the fire.

The possibility of the fire having started accidentally through the use of one of these items, the report says, was definitely there.

However, no tangible evidence came before the commission to confirm the applicability of the arson theory.

The final theory was that of spontaneous combustion, which would apply to situations where materials are tightly packed in a poorly ventilated room.

This was not the case with the Bombolulu dormitory, so spontaneous combustion was ruled out.

The hostel doors opened inwards against the flow of outgoing traffic. The students had not received any coaching on how to react to a fire.

A science teacher at the school, though a university graduate, told the commission that he had not received instructions on how to use a fire extinguisher and had never used it in his life.

The Bombolulu students had been gripped by fear of a supernatural phenomenon. That and the school administration's failure to address their grievances, even after reporting them, seemed to have demoralised them to the point of desperation.

The report says that, at one stage, they marched to the Coast provincial director of education, Mrs Khadija Karim, to seek help, arguing that the administration was insensitive to their plight.

The commission began its work on April 29, 1998, and completed it on June 29.

All the sessions were held in public at the Mombasa town hall, and witnesses were examined on oath or affirmation.

Two counsel, Ms Muthoni Kimani and Mr George Dulu, were appointed to help to assemble evidence and present it before the commission.

Three police officers were attached to the two assisting counsel to help them in tracing witnesses.

The 13-member commission was chaired by retired Methodist bishop, Lawi Imathiu, while the secretary was Mr Benjamin Patrick Kubo, now a High Court judge.

The commissioners were Captain Mohammed Hatimy, Mr Mohammed Sururu, Mr Samuel arap Ng'eny, Ms Priscilla Mrabu, Dr Eddah Gachukia, Ms Zainab Haji and Dr S.K. Sharrif.

The others were Mr Steven Marangi Mbogho, Mr Mohammed Said Demu, Mr Samuel Chityeke Tuku and Mr Japhet Gideon Kiti.

Source
 
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewa ... 0&id=77547

POLTERGEIST TERROR

Published on 01/03/2004
Haunted house: Left, Carol Tuttle examines some of the damage she claims was made by a poltergeist at her home on Mount Pleasant Road in Currock. Above, more evidence of the poltergeist’s work LOUISE PORTER
Haunted house: Left, Carol Tuttle examines some of the damage she claims was made by a poltergeist at her home on Mount Pleasant Road in Currock. Above, more evidence of the poltergeist’s work LOUISE PORTER

By Natalie Wilson

A TERRIFIED mother says she has been driven out of her Carlisle home by a poltergeist.

Carol Tuttle, 34, is afraid to return to her house on Mount Pleasant Road in Currock after a series of ghostly happenings.

Shattered glass lies on the floors, window sills and furniture where she says the poltergeist threw glasses around the living room, and smashed a glass cabinet door.

All of the back windows in the house have also been broken. Miss Tuttle originally thought yobs were responsible but she now believes that was also the work of the poltergeist.

Neighbours say they have also witnessed the spooky goings-on, which started a couple of months ago. Kevin Blythe, 37, who lives next door, was initially sceptical about the unwanted visitor but began to think differently after seeing its work for himself.

He went to the house one day last week to fetch Miss Tuttle’s cats as she decided she could not live there any longer, and narrowly missed being harmed by the poltergeist.

“The cat ran down the stairs and I followed it, and two glasses flew right in front of me and smashed against the wall,” he said.

Mr Blythe went through into the living room to see if anything was there, and got a shock when he looked towards the kitchen.

“There was a pepper pot flying in one direction and a wire basket flying in the other direction,” he said. “It was really powerful, you couldn’t have caught it.”

Another neighbour reports having a bottle of perfume thrown at her, and seeing a lightbulb from an upturned lamp shoot upwards at the ceiling, leaving a dent in the plaster.

Miss Tuttle has had the house blessed by a priest five times and has also been visited by a paranormal investigator from Manchester.

After researching the subject on the internet and speaking to experts, Miss Tuttle believes the disturbances will only stop if she leaves the three-bedroomed end terrace. She is in negotiations with Carlisle Housing Association (CHA) about the possibility of alternative accommodation being found.

“I won’t live there again,” she said. “I was told the only way to get rid of it was to move.

“I’m willing to take a two-bedroomed house if I have to.”

She and her nine-year-old daughter are staying with her mother for the moment.

CHA representatives visited the house on Thursday, had a meeting with Mrs Smith on Friday and were due to see her again today.

A spokeswoman for the association said: “We are still investigating and there are various things that are happening at the behest of the tenant.

“We are just reviewing the case at the moment. It’s not something that we write policy for so we should know better what is going to happen by early next week.”

Have you had any spooky experiences with poltergeists? call our Talkback line on 01228 612300.
 
Not sure if this is a polt or not, but it surely was noisy!

Today, in Rynner's Olde Curiosity Shoppe, during a quiet period with no customers, there was suddenly a loud crash.

A radar reflector had somehow fallen from a wide window ledge, past shelving, and onto the floor.

There were only two of us present, but both at least six feet away at the time. The RR, by virtue of its weight and shape and location, should not have been able to move at all - no way could a draught have been responsible. Even an earthquake would have been unlikely to shift it!

Just another mystery. No one in the building near puberty, AFAIK, what's more.

The building is old - 1676 or thereabouts - if that has any bearing on things.
 
My other-half works in a charity shop which appears to be also populated with something that doesn't seem to like the box where the left shoes are kept whilst the others are on display.

All the staff can be in the front of the shop, then they'd hear a noise only to go into the back to find shoes having been taken randomly out of the box to the other side of the room. The box is floor level and never piled up so shoes are falling out.

The shop isn't that old though, early Victorian.
 
We appear to have a poltergeist. It's not a old flat (maybe 1950's) but the weird things keep happening.

My sister lost her keys, nothing usual there until she found them on her pillow two weeks later. Now they were resting right on the middle of the pillow, no way could you miss them (it would hurt for one ;) )

Now just recently the polt nicked her phone, my hubby rang it (to find it) and it dropped it in the middle of the room. We think it didn't like the vibrations.

Door tend to open, things creak without reason and things are always getting moved. It mostly seems to be my sisters stuff but it does happen with mine a far bit. (we think it a male polt, she attracts men too ;) )
 
As this is a general polt thread, here's a relevant episode of Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAxDj-o7U-w

It's a treasure trove of polt cases, some of them lesser known, plus an attempt at a scientific explanation which features a vibrator strong enough to shake a house. Anyone know if the unsolved stories in that were ever solved?
 
Here's a follow up to the first story, the Thornton Road polt, in the ACC programme above:
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/lo ... ars-178411

I won't copy and paste the whole thing, but this was interesting:

Police never bought into the poltergeist theory, believing the culprit was using a giant catapult to bombard houses from a 200-yard distance.

Anyone in Birmingham ever noticed a giant catapult? Or trebuchet, as I believe they might have been thinking of?
 
Besides a recent UFO experience, I had another odd one, when I was a teenager. Back in 1988 when I was still in college, myself and four other people decided to go have a few beers in the outdoors. We drove to Spencer's Butte in Eugene Oregon, USA, where I grew up, at about 10:00 pm. We parked the car and hiked about .25 miles to a large clearing, surrounded by trees. We sat on a fallen tree and began drinking, etc. and were having a good time, talking loudly. It was very dark, and with a lighter, one could see maybe 20 ft or so. Suddenly a large piece of wood landed about 10 feet from us with a thunk. It was a sawed section of a tree limb or trunk. Everyone was suddenly silent, Everyone began talking excitedly about it and flicking lighters to see what was going on. Nothing, and dead silence. Eventually we went back to talking and drinking, when it happened again. Another large piece of wood landed nearby. Quiet again. No sound of anyone else moving nearby, and there is no way a person 20 feet away could have thrown pieces that size, in retrospect. This happened several more times, until we decided to leave. If one of us had been struck by a piece of the wood that person would have been hurt. Gives me chills to remember it. Maybe a stealthy ninja was camped nearby with a catapult and supply of sawed wood? I get the impression someone or thing was annoyed with us being there.
 
Bigfoot wanting some privacy, perhaps?
 
Where have all the ghosts gone?
Where have all the poltergeists gone? Surely young people aren’t so at ease in their puberty, so comfortable in their sexuality and identity that they no longer repress their emotions to the extent that they believe they see ghosts. What’s the modern equivalent of an invisible spirit that breaks things with an unknown strength? Could it be catfishing, using false online identities for deception, bruising the furniture of every relationship? Is that where the ghosts are today, in the WiFi?

Slightly muddled article but I guess the central question it raises is worthy of thought: are there fewer poltergeists because nowadays teenagers can access social networks that serve as escape valves for their frustrations?

Of course, this theory requires you to accept that
1) Poltergeists are the result of raging teenage hormones, and
2) There are fewer poltergeists now than in the past
 
Where have all the ghosts gone?


Slightly muddled article but I guess the central question it raises is worthy of thought: are there fewer poltergeists
because nowadays teenagers can access social networks that serve as escape valves for their frustrations?

Of course, this theory requires you to accept that
1) Poltergeists are the result of raging teenage hormones, and
2) There are fewer poltergeists now than in the past

I think it's because they've gone out of fashion. Once upon a time there was a fashion for round flying discs described as UFOs, during Victorian times we had ectoplasm, etc. I guess polts have simply had their time....
 
Where have all the ghosts gone?


Slightly muddled article but I guess the central question it raises is worthy of thought: are there fewer poltergeists because nowadays teenagers can access social networks that serve as escape valves for their frustrations?

Of course, this theory requires you to accept that
1) Poltergeists are the result of raging teenage hormones, and
2) There are fewer poltergeists now than in the past

Unfortunately self-harming seems to be cooler than polts these days
 
Someone needs to invent the next Fortean phenomenon and turn it into a craze!
 
Where have all the ghosts gone?


Slightly muddled article but I guess the central question it raises is worthy of thought: are there fewer poltergeists because nowadays teenagers can access social networks that serve as escape valves for their frustrations?

Of course, this theory requires you to accept that
1) Poltergeists are the result of raging teenage hormones, and
2) There are fewer poltergeists now than in the past

In my early teens my mother would arrive home from work to the sound of my hi-fi blasting out music, my computer would switch itself on too - but not the portable TV. I was at work and no-one else was in until 5pm mon-fri. This oddness lasted for a few months and then stopped. So......???
 
In my early teens my mother would arrive home from work to the sound of my hi-fi blasting out music, my computer would switch itself on too - but not the portable TV. I was at work and no-one else was in until 5pm mon-fri. This oddness lasted for a few months and then stopped. So......???
At work...in your early teens?
 
Those chimneys won't clean themselves!

Anyway, I was trying to remember the most recent polt I'd heard of and could only think of FT articles about entities starting fires in Third World countries, but I'm struggling to think of a new-ish one in the West. Seems everyone is content to see their polts in jump scare movies now. Maybe they are still going on but are simply lost in the blare of modern internet life?
 
Those chimneys won't clean themselves!

By heck lad. Up ah t crack of dawn, a stale slice of bread for me breaky and then sweeping the yard. Mucking out t pigs and then chimny duties all before 8am. Made a real man ov yah youth, ah can tell yee. Av bin t see t doctor and he tells me, am 22yrs yet me body is the age of ah oad un. (cough, splutter)
 
Poltergeists caught on CCTV or clever fakes?

 
I think it does still happen, it's just not of much interest to the papers. In the early oughts, a friend of my in-laws suffered disruptive poltergeist-type activity in the house (right after his divorce, with adolescent children in the house, as per typical). It happened, but they were not inclined to call out a news crew or a psychic, or anything like that...

Also, tv shows like "paranormal witness" and such have polt stories, though how accurate or believable they are is debatable.

The SPR used to study quite a lot of poltergeist cases, no? Maybe tney still do, only we don't hear about them?
 
Poltergeists caught on CCTV or clever fakes?

The Malaysian (yeah, I know, sorry) clip does seem unnerving. It might be a clever set up, but the speed with which the items block the door is impressive, and for her to deliberately bang her head in that manner would take some choreography. It could be a happy accident and she stayed in character, but...
 
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