The Enfield Poltergeist

[SimonBurchell]

Surely against the "it always happened when no one was looking" argument you have the fact that that is in fact a standard feature of most poltergeist activity everywhere and always has been, things appearing or moving when one glances away, but seldom witnessed in the process......and, conversely, the testimony of two separate uninvolved witnesses to seeing her seeming levitations through the bedroom window from the street.

Yes, a consistent feature is that objects are rarely seen  starting to move, usually movement in peripheral vision attracts the attention of the witness, and objects are seen already in motion. It is almost as if it is something to do with the nature of reality, and consciousness. Perhaps the movement can't take place when the object is being observed.

Paradoxically, in hauntings where movement of objects take place, sometimes the movement  is directly observed. As always, no answers, just questions.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

As regards Janet being seen "levitating" by two witnesses in the street below, there is an image of the upstairs bedroom windows in this article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfield_poltergeist

Not a great view to begin with. Then photos from inside her bedroom show the bed below the window and we also know Janet excelled at PE at school (her certificates) To the best of my knowledge she didn't know she was being observed and was probably just bored and messing around with her sister. For example, her sister could lie on her back on the bed and be lifting Janet with her feet :

https://www.alamy.com/young-smiling...daughter-on-straight-legs-image370045258.html

From the limited view below you would see a horizontal body moving up and down but would you see the feet supporting her, especially if her legs were bare and/or obscured to some extent by that centre window frame, but Janet was clothed...?

 

[Stormkhan]

I think there's some question in taking Janet being 'good' at PE as evidence of the possible cause of apparent levitation. From what I recall from the time, PE classes weren't overly concerned with the muscle control of 'planking' while balancing on her sisters feet or even bouncing up and down while maintaining a horizontal position.
That's like saying 'she was good at English lessons so, of course, she wrote a 500-page novel.

 

[Steven]

This aspect (from the first link Paul posted) needs highlighting more often:

'SPR investigator Anita Gregory...speculated that the girls had "staged" some incidents for the benefit of journalists seeking a sensational story.'

Of course, journalists would never in their reportage reveal that they egged Janet on.

Also...

'Janet was detected in trickery: a video camera in an adjoining room caught her bending spoons and attempting to bend an iron bar'

Wasn't this around the time that Uri Geller appeared on British television?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I think there's some question in taking Janet being 'good' at PE as evidence of the possible cause of apparent levitation. From what I recall from the time, PE classes weren't overly concerned with the muscle control of 'planking' while balancing on her sisters feet or even bouncing up and down while maintaining a horizontal position.
That's like saying 'she was good at English lessons so, of course, she wrote a 500-page novel.

Fair point, as ever, these are just my thoughts on the matter and I not claiming to have the answers. However, I did find this detailed account of what the two outside witnesses state they saw:

"The two witnesses outside the house whose testimony has gotten the most attention are Hazel Short, a crossing guard for the school across the street, and John Rainbow, a deliveryman for a local bakery. There are significant similarities and differences between what they report. They were looking at the house from different distances and angles and apparently during different times to some extent. Their testimony overlaps somewhat, but not entirely. Playfair quotes some of that testimony in his book"

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2022/12/evidence-for-december-15-1977-enfield.html

This document is written from the perspective of a 'believer' but regardless the details are from legitimate sources. From my interpretation of this evidence it both supports the theory that she was being levitated by the poltergeist and also casts doubt upon their respective interpretations of what they both saw, not least because their experiences took place some weeks after the BBC had broadcast a documentary about the Enfield case (details here:

).

Such a shame that these witness accounts haven't been subject to a reconstruction at some point over the years to establish exactly what respective views they had had of the inside of that bedroom from their outside location at around noon on that December day.

Looking at the location on Google maps, the actual house is blurred (can't blame them) but the terraced row hasn't changed it would seem and there is still a primary school across the road and a pedestrian crossing . If the day in question was indeed the 15th December then it was a Thursday and so right at the end of the Autumn term:

"Short and Rainbow were making claims about what happened in the middle of the day (close to noon) in a highly public setting, on a very busy street and when children were getting out of school"

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2022/12/evidence-for-december-15-1977-enfield.html

So it would seem that Hazel Short was on crossing duty right outside the house as school either broke up for lunch or the end of the term. So why wasn't Janet at school? She was ill:

"Playfair's book refers to how she was in too bad a condition to go to school that day and how David Robertson took her upstairs for the levitation session just after breakfast (132), so it seems highly plausible that she was wearing a nightgown or pajamas at the time. Rainbow refers to how Janet came out of the house shortly after the events in question" [my bold].

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2022/12/evidence-for-december-15-1977-enfield.html

Sorry, but what is this "levitation session"...?!

 

[gordonrutter]

Fair point, as ever, these are just my thoughts on the matter and I not claiming to have the answers. However, I did find this detailed account of what the two outside witnesses state they saw:

"The two witnesses outside the house whose testimony has gotten the most attention are Hazel Short, a crossing guard for the school across the street, and John Rainbow, a deliveryman for a local bakery. There are significant similarities and differences between what they report. They were looking at the house from different distances and angles and apparently during different times to some extent. Their testimony overlaps somewhat, but not entirely. Playfair quotes some of that testimony in his book"

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2022/12/evidence-for-december-15-1977-enfield.html

This document is written from the perspective of a 'believer' but regardless the details are from legitimate sources. From my interpretation of this evidence it both supports the theory that she was being levitated by the poltergeist and also casts doubt upon their respective interpretations of what they both saw, not least because their experiences took place some weeks after the BBC had broadcast a documentary about the Enfield case (details here:

).

Such a shame that these witness accounts haven't been subject to a reconstruction at some point over the years to establish exactly what respective views they had had of the inside of that bedroom from their outside location at around noon on that December day.

Didn't a police officer see the same thing at one point?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

About the levitation sessions:

"I gave Janet and Margaret spoons and a big metal bar that was beyond their strength to bend. They were asked to bend the spoons and try to also bend the bar, letting me know if they thought they had any results worth reporting. I gave feedback, encouraging them and saying that I was detecting bending, but not bending by psychokinesis. After this, we tried levitation. They were to get up in the air. They did their best to bounce around, jump, flap their arms, pretending they were wings, and do what I asked. I again gave similar feedback, so the responsibility for their actions was mine, and I wouldn’t have expected them to know exactly what was taking place or its context. The focus of this wasn't to be on proof unless something extraordinary happened. I was talking with Janet and Margaret through the closed door, with them answering in their normal voices. No poltergeist voice replies took place, and I wasn’t addressing it. This was certainly not anything of value as evidence, because no phenomena took place, and it wasn't a formal test. I wanted to see if I could use play to give them feedback, build confidence, and create an environment where paranormal effects might fit in."

Then:

"Towards the end of the case, the main problem was that the family were being kept awake much of the night and the girls having to take days off school. This was becoming a serious problem with the school and social services".

Later:

"I then asked the voice if it could lift the girls up. It said it could and to get out of the room. I did so, and the door slammed shut behind me. Then the bed immediately crashed up against it again. The girls described a series of levitations. As I remember, we tried each in turn, then both together. This went on over a few days, and the purpose was to use their energy. I also suggested doing somersaults. They were willing to try, and screams came as it happened. This went on a bit, and they became quite excited. There was screaming, and I asked if it could do anything else."

http://triablogue.blogspot.com/2018/05/david-robertson-on-enfield-poltergeist.html

So let us be clear: the girls were being encouraged to practice levitation but in their bedroom and in private. This wasn't just on one or two occasions, it went on "over a few days" whilst it seems they ere missing school and even social services were on the case.

Got to say I am pretty shocked at what might be best described as 'grooming' these young girls to produce results on demand, but crucially behind closed doors. Is it any wonder they started misbehaving? Levitation he wanted and so these agile young girls practiced and practiced "over a few days" until they were eventually able to lift each other up in the horizontal position to 'levitate' only to be seen by two people outside. I would wager that Janet was on her sister's back and being spun around or similar, indeed it seems Margaret was in the room also why wasn't she questioned about what had happened?

 

[Steven]

What weird methodology all-round...

 

[Stormkhan]

Didn't a police officer see the same thing at one point?

The only report I recall was early on in the case, when two coppers saw a large armchair move. Wasn't there also a cushion on the roof ... which might've been placed there by stretching out of a window - in plain sight of someone who claimed it wasn't there one minute and the next was.

 

[Min Bannister]

I think there's some question in taking Janet being 'good' at PE as evidence of the possible cause of apparent levitation. From what I recall from the time, PE classes weren't overly concerned with the muscle control of 'planking' while balancing on her sisters feet or even bouncing up and down while maintaining a horizontal position.
That's like saying 'she was good at English lessons so, of course, she wrote a 500-page novel.

Well not necessarily but I used to be a wee girl and did all sorts of gymnastics and jumping on people and holding each other up and so on. You don't need lessons you just do it. It is much easier when you are young! So I think it is possible.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Well not necessarily but I used to be a wee girl and did all sorts of gymnastics and jumping on people and holding each other up and so on. You don't need lessons you just do it. It is much easier when you are young! So I think it is possible.

...and I think even more so if instead of being at school you are shut inside your bedroom with your sister whilst a man outside encourages you to "bounce around, jump, flap [your] arms, pretending they were wings".

What is evident is that we can't discuss the levitation sightings by two apparently sincere witnesses without taking into account all of these goings-on behind the scenes.

 

[gattino]

This probably appears elsewhere on this thread but here is a This Morning interview with a middle aged and typically morose Janet, along with Guy Playfair recounting events from her grown up perspective.....and getting exasperated with a "I wasnt there but this is probably what happened " sceptic.

 

[catseye]

From the psi Encyclopedia
View attachment 72394

Hm. I wonder if these side efffects have been observed in every single case of plica ventricularis? Because symptoms and after effects of various things can present hugely differently in different people. Saying that the known side effects are six weeks of hoarseness and a sore throat are just begging for the words 'generally' and to be qualified as to whether they also happen when someone practices for some time and whether the effects are known in children - who often get off far more lightly as to side effects than adults.

 

[Tempest63]

and getting exasperated with a "I wasnt there but this is probably what happened " sceptic.

When me and the family encountered what appeared to be supernatural/paranormal incidents over the course of about 11 years, some events witnessed by two, three or more people at one time, it always fascinated me that those of a sceptical bent would insist that the events couldn’t have happened. They weren’t there, they never observed what we saw but still they would argue until they were blue in the face that we were lying or were mistaken about what we experienced.
It was as if their belief system was programmed to refute anything of that nature despite how many people could, hand on heart, confirm the veracity of the incident.

As I have aged I have never wavered from what I saw and heard, but now I am open to alternative theories on what caused our “manifestations” and don’t automatically believe it was down to a revenant. The ghost I saw was likely a dream, as I mentioned in another thread a couple of days ago, but something most definitely tapped me hard on the shoulder whilst washing up, and despite my own growing scepticism I can not understand what caused that sensation.

I could never dismiss out of hand the accounts given by others similar to what I experienced, but neither could I just deny that it never happened and then accuse people of making it up or misinterpreting what they saw when I wasn’t physically there to make up my own mind.

Sceptics always seem to be clutching at straws and to be honest, I think they have made up/invented a host of explanations to argue away what they would never believe in even if it trod on their toes and slapped them on the face.

 

[catseye]

When me and the family encountered what appeared to be supernatural/paranormal incidents over the course of about 11 years, some events witnessed by two, three or more people at one time, it always fascinated me that those of a sceptical bent would insist that the events couldn’t have happened. They weren’t there, they never observed what we saw but still they would argue until they were blue in the face that we were lying or were mistaken about what we experienced.
It was as if their belief system was programmed to refute anything of that nature despite how many people could, hand on heart, confirm the veracity of the incident.

As I have aged I have never wavered from what I saw and heard, but now I am open to alternative theories on what caused our “manifestations” and don’t automatically believe it was down to a revenant. The ghost I saw was likely a dream, as I mentioned in another thread a couple of days ago, but something most definitely tapped me hard on the shoulder whilst washing up, and despite my own growing scepticism I can not understand what caused that sensation.

I could never dismiss out of hand the accounts given by others similar to what I experienced, but neither could I just deny that it never happened and then accuse people of making it up or misinterpreting what they saw when I wasn’t physically there to make up my own mind.

Sceptics always seem to be clutching at straws and to be honest, I think they have made up/invented a host of explanations to argue away what they would never believe in even if it trod on their toes and slapped them on the face.

Not to dismiss your stories, @Tempest63 but I believe many 'I was tapped on the shoulder' stories spring from muscular spasms. It is possible to have a muscle twitch that feels almost exactly like a finger being poked into the spine (I've had this one) and I wonder if the same kind of muscular activity might account for some cases of the 'shoulder tapping'.

It's just one explanation, of course, and may not at all be what happened in your case. Just wanted to put it forward.

 

[Tempest63]

Not to dismiss your stories, @Tempest63 but I believe many 'I was tapped on the shoulder' stories spring from muscular spasms. It is possible to have a muscle twitch that feels almost exactly like a finger being poked into the spine (I've had this one) and I wonder if the same kind of muscular activity might account for some cases of the 'shoulder tapping'.

It's just one explanation, of course, and may not at all be what happened in your case. Just wanted to put it forward.

This was two quick, strong taps on the shoulder. It felt exactly like someone had come up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder, from memory it was where the collar bone meets the shoulder. I was 12 or 13 at the time and have never experienced anything similar in the near 50 intervening years.

 

[gattino]

I've recalled it on here a numbr of times but i too have had the shoulder tap. What was interesting about it is that in later recall i thought I must have dismissed it as "muscular spasm", but when i looked back to my postings on here found that at the time it was distinct and profound enough that I obviously did see something paranormal in it because i immediately started a thread on here all about the subject. An hour later i returned to the thread to report that I'd just been informed they were removing a young man's body from the flat opposite my house.

 

[Beresford]

Didn't a police officer see the same thing at one point?

I'm sure that claim was made in a documentary a few years ago.

 

[catseye]

I've recalled it on here a numbr of times but i too have had the shoulder tap. What was interesting about it is that in later recall i thought I must have dismissed it as "muscular spasm", but when i looked back to my postings on here found that at the time it was distinct and profound enough that I obviously did see something paranormal in it because i immediately started a thread on here all about the subject. An hour later i returned to the thread to report that I'd just been informed they were removing a young man's body from the flat opposite my house.

I have the opposite in that I quite frequently have back spasms that feel like being shot between the shoulderblades. It's a very intense sensation that literally stops my breath for a moment or two.

I have never known, or seen, anyone who's been shot in the back.

 

[catseye]

Sorry, pressed 'Post' too soon!

If I HAD known someone who had been shot in the back, I may well have attributed the sensation to some kind of 'link' to that person, simply because it feels so real at the time.

But rural North Yorkshire, incautious farmers aside, isn't rife with gun crime, so this state of affairs may well continue.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Not to dismiss your stories, @Tempest63 but I believe many 'I was tapped on the shoulder' stories spring from muscular spasms. It is possible to have a muscle twitch that feels almost exactly like a finger being poked into the spine (I've had this one) and I wonder if the same kind of muscular activity might account for some cases of the 'shoulder tapping'.

It's just one explanation, of course, and may not at all be what happened in your case. Just wanted to put it forward.

I get that but I still wonder about that distinct "shawl tug" I got at my late friend's service (in York Minster, Catseye!) The talking over, we headed to the chapter house for some grub. I'd been with my friend when she was in the hospice telling the vicar what she wanted at her funeral and she'd called this bit "the bunfight" so I was no doubt thinking of that and having a quiet laugh to myself as we walked across from the choir stalls to the chapter house and... this distinct tug/grab, not on my body but on the shawl I was wearing. I just thought it was my husband, turned round and it wasn't him or anyone else, close to me at all. And nothing to snag it on at the place where I was when it happened. I think a muscular spasm is a reasonable suggestion for many of these feelings but this was more like a playful grab and pull backwards of the thing I was (sort of) wearing. And I will have thought about her calling it "the bunfight" and to grab me at that point would have been in character. Because that was something that, even lying in bed in a hospice, she'd found quite funny, inbetween telling the vicar what music she wanted, etc. (Service was conducted by her own vicar not Sentamu, sadly). Mind you, eating buns was something we'd done together many times on our days out. She wouldn't want to stop me eating buns! Just reminding me she thought it was funny that her death warranted a bunfight.

Never had that sensation before or since.

Guessing you know the Minster, it was not far from the entrance to the Chapter House.

Watching Gattino's clip there - the sceptic isn't covering herself in glory. Seems to be inaccurate in her information and also not doing that very diplomatically with Janet just a metre or two away. No need for that aggressive put-down. I don't blame Janet for looking unhappy, it must feel awful to have to sit there and be called a liar to your face. Couldn't help noticing the underlying dynamic of posh person talking down to the Londoner, as well. Really disliked that - thought Playfair put up a good fight.

FWIW (very little), I think I come down on the side of thinking some of the Enfield events - especially at the start - were genuine poltergeist activity. Much of the stuff later on, was maybe done from motives of being scared and wanting to be taken seriously - also the whole way the "investigation"was skewed by investigators pretty well living in the house. On top of that, various culture clashes (not unlike what we see with the sceptic, there) creating a febrile sort of atmosphere. These more privileged people descending on the family, then acting like they were on safari amongst the poor people - the family being under the microscope, and judged by "posher" people... Also, kids being kids.

I'd give anything to research and write about this case, as someone else who had one parent and was dirt poor in the 70s.

 

[Steven]

Yeah, it was perhaps rather a perfect storm of events and people which undermined the (possible) credibility of the whole thing: from the involvement of the gentlemanly and unquestioning Grosse to reporters possibly cajoling the girls into 'playing-up'.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

I have the opposite in that I quite frequently have back spasms that feel like being shot between the shoulderblades. It's a very intense sensation that literally stops my breath for a moment or two.

I have never known, or seen, anyone who's been shot in the back.

Catseye, I had back spasms out of the blue for many years - would just be stood there and suddenly hit by one and the pain was unbelievable. Never injured my back and there seemed no obvious medical cause.

For unrelated reasons, Dr made me go gluten free - never had those spasms ever again (unless I accidentally re-gluten myself). Not sure it's a widely known thing but some back things can be caused by your body reacting to gluten. Just wanted to put it out there as it may save someone reading this a lifetime of pain.

Now I mention that, never had a back spasm that wasn't agony so think you'd be able to tell the difference between a back spasm and a phantom back grabber, now I think of it some more.

 

[catseye]

Catseye, I had back spasms out of the blue for many years - would just be stood there and suddenly hit by one and the pain was unbelievable. Never injured my back and there seemed no obvious medical cause.

For unrelated reasons, Dr made me go gluten free - never had those spasms ever again (unless I accidentally re-gluten myself). Not sure it's a widely known thing but some back things can be caused by your body reacting to gluten. Just wanted to put it out there as it may save someone reading this a lifetime of pain.

Now I mention that, never had a back spasm that wasn't agony so think you'd be able to tell the difference between a back spasm and a phantom back grabber, now I think of it some more.

Oh absolutely, I am only putting forward the 'back spasm' in a spirit of Devil's Advocate, not suggesting that it was purely and absolutely a physical thing. I'm just often surprised by how many people confidently report taps, pulls and pushes without considering the possibility, when the human body does weird things all the time.

My back spasms are usually fleeting - I get the 'shot' sensation then it gradually fades over a day or so. No real cause, other than unwise movement in my case. I had one standing in the shower once, completely stationary, no idea what I did to cause that one!

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Oh absolutely, I am only putting forward the 'back spasm' in a spirit of Devil's Advocate, not suggesting that it was purely and absolutely a physical thing. I'm just often surprised by how many people confidently report taps, pulls and pushes without considering the possibility, when the human body does weird things all the time.

My back spasms are usually fleeting - I get the 'shot' sensation then it gradually fades over a day or so. No real cause, other than unwise movement in my case. I had one standing in the shower once, completely stationary, no idea what I did to cause that one!

LOL that's like my son who once sprained his leg - cleaning his teeth. Go figure!

You're right to be devil's advocate - and there must be something in it - and maybe many back spasms aren't painful at all - I was thinking if that experience I had in the Minster had grabbed or pushed me, rather than my clothes - I'd definitely put it down to something physical. So you're not wrong.

 

[Analogue Boy]

I remember reading about this case as it happened. Have to say I wasn’t convinced in the slightest. From what I could see it was a couple of guys desperate to be right about their out there ideas and a picture of a girl who was obviously an expert at Bed Trampoline. That was my initial thoughts on it anyway. What is interesting is the renewed interest in this sort of thing so it’s good in terms of the birth of new Forteans I suppose.

 

[escargot]

a picture of a girl who was obviously an expert at Bed Trampoline.

Yup, I've mentioned that back in the '70s beds were sprung so kids could bounce on them like trampolines. That's obviously what was going on.

 

[Stormkhan]

Unless you yourself witness things like this, it's very difficult to come up with a definitive pronouncement.
Sure, there's plenty of still photos and videos where it's obvious what is occurring. But there are some which look obvious ... until you look closer.
I'm not convinced by the photo which shows Janet jumping out of bed ... but that's one photo out of a series of events. Like the girls being caught cheating ... that is undeniable. But that doesn't prove the whole thing was staged.

 

[Steven]

Good bleedin' grief...

'The two sisters have sinister shades of the children in Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw. Ella Schrey-Yeats makes a particularly impressive stage debut as the apparently possessed Janet. Grace Molony is the more mischievous Margaret, while her little brother, Jimmy, played by Noah Leggott on opening night, brings stuttering lugubriousness.'

The Enfield Haunting review – Catherine Tate and David Threlfall deliver the shivers:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2...te-david-threlfall-ambassadors-theatre-london

 

[Robbrent]

As regards the lack of witnesses and things happening when people were not looking, that seems to be all in the rules of Fortean phenomena, it does not like being seen sure it will do things to alert you of it's presence it will sow ambiguous evidence all over the place, but does not want you to get too close to it, it's always been that way, it's no surprise that some investigators go insane trying to work it all out, it will relish all the debate about Enfield and other cases, any attention is good attention just as it loves the wild goose chases after someone spots a black panther in the wilds of Dorset