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I Was A Ghost Club Investigator

A

Archaeoastronomer

Junior Acolyte
Joined
Mar 28, 2022
Messages
56
When i was 20 i joined the Ghost Club and trained to be a paranormal investigator, which was approx. 45 years ago, i joined on 25th April 1977, and took my training seriously, which was to look for all other reasons for paranormal activity before reasoning that it could not be explained.
The Ghost Club alleges it is the oldest paranormal organization in the world, perhaps it is, as Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had been members.

https://ghostclub.org.uk/

My membership letter is below on link:-

https://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/vt5bb659d0.png
 
At the time i lived in a suburb of London called Enfield, i studied my instruction in how to become an investigator and was a junior and part of team that investigated a very frightening case.
Below is a very old passport showing me at twenty, and that i was born in Enfield, but as my memory goes back to April 1977, i had no idea what was going to follow in the Autumn of that year, it still gives me chills and i can't explain it:-
https://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/pw5bb65a13.png
 
Hi Sollywos,
Yes you are right, for many years i didn't want to remember my experience, and it was my first case as a junior after i had been taught as an investigator.
It was a few years ago i noticed Guy Lyon Playfair had died, i hadn't contacted him in years, but i was involved with him all those years ago, i was more attached to Maurice Grosse, as we both lived in Enfield, he died in 2006, so it seems i'm one of the few witnesses left to the events at 284 Green Street Enfield, a suburb of London.
Both Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair were members of the Ghost Club in 1977 and the Society of Psychical Research (SPR), i was only a member of the Ghost Club,
The obituary is below:-

https://www.spr.ac.uk/news/guy-lyon-playfair-1935-2018

The Enfield Poltergeist is the most documented case of paranormal activity in the world, even a woman police officer, Carolyn Heeps signed an affidavit explaining that she saw a chair move across the room which she checked for wires or fraud, but she couldn't explain it.
It wasn't long before the media were camped outside the house:-

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...year-old-North-London-girl-levitated-bed.html
 
As I find coincidences pleasing, I like this from the obituary :-

'Continuing to be active in psychical research until a few weeks before his final illness he would have appreciated the coincidence that he died the same morning as the BBC broadcast an edition of the Radio 4 programme The Re-Union dedicated to the Enfield case.'

In all the rest of your years investigating have you ever found anything that came anywhere near close to this case?
 
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Hi Sollywos,

The Enfield Poltergeist was my most frightening case, but the reason i joined the Ghost Club was that i grew up in a very creepy house, that was pulled down years ago but i have a picture on link below:-

https://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/gf5bb79f14.png

It was i lived in Enfield that i had jurisdiction in being involved with the Enfield Poltergeist case as a side kick or junior, the link below is a tape recording that i verify is 11 year old Janet Hodgson speaking in a very bassy male voice, that i still find disturbing:-

 
I have to be careful regarding my observations with Janet aged 11, who spoke in a gruff male bassy voice. Could it have been a hoax? When adult women are trained for a deep singing voice, it is possible, please listen to female mongolian throat singers on link below:-

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...AC8D9ED1434307F2AE03AC8&view=detail&FORM=VIRE

However i did learn as much as i could from Janet, there wasn't any singing training, my thoughts were for a child to shout and swear in a deep male voice, which she did for long periods of time, would have damaged a young girls throat, you will have to make up your own mind.
 
Hi WeirdExeter,

I thought the voice came from just above her head but behind, i knocked myself out searching for wires and speakers, but never found any, also remember this was 1977, so we couldn't afford video equipment, being very expensive then.
The BBC did visit but strangely their video equipment was found to be faulty, and i mean all of it.
 
The Enfield Poltergeist can disturb, so i also try to create some humour, below are some ghost pranks that i hope gives you a good ole belly laugh, before i continue with serious reportng:-
 
Not all Hollywood films are factual, and the Conjuring 2 film is far from it, Lorraine and Ed Warren (Ghost Hunters) only came to Enfield for one afternoon as far as i can remember, and were never the prime investigators on this case that was approx. 18 months in length.
There was no ghostly nun, and the house didn't have a cellar, the link below is almost truthful, however i never saw Janet levitating, but saw objects moving that i will write more about later.

https://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/conjuring-2-enfield-poltergeist
 
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Probably the best drama to watch would be "The Enfield Haunting", that is 98% truthful, however Guy Lyon Playfair was never flung up against the wall.
 

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The "knocking" in the house were frequent and moved, but i could never find the source, there were raps on the ceiling, but i checked no one was upstairs, the raps could be on the outside wall to the semi-detached house, so i would rush outside, but would find no human trickery!
Probably the raps on the floor were the most impressive, you could feel them through the floor boards near your feet, i have no idea how to explain this.
I know that the film Conjuring 2 in fiction, showed a cellar, but in truth the house never had a cellar, so this is difficult to explain.
 
The pressures on the investigating team and the family were huge during this period, Janet suffered badly in this period as newspapers used to camp outside, The Daily Star had the headline "Possessed by the Devil" referring to Janet, and Maurice Grosse was labelled a paedophile for his interest in Janet's paranormal skills, it was a crazy period of time in Green Street, Enfield.

I have to say, and i have to be honest, perhaps you feel that only being 21 when i was in the middle of all this, that you may feel i was impressionable, i don't feel i was, but it was only a few years previously i saw "The Exorcist".

When Janet was speaking in a male voice, we asked her to hold water in her mouth, we then taped up her mouth, she then talked in the male voice for approx. 20 minutes, where upon we took the tape off her mouth, and she spat the water back into a glass, i have no explanation for this!

Janet, when in a trance would swear a great deal, i was told to get out several times, on many of these occasions there were icy spots that happened in the room, i wish i had a rational explanation for this, but i don't.

Below is a video of Carolyn Heeps a Woman Police Officer explaining how she saw a chair move in the house:-

 
Hi Archi, interesting posts.
You say it still gives you chills but what were your feelings at the time? Was it frightening at the time or only later when you realised that there didn't seem to be any normal explanation?

Watching the pranks you posted got me to thinking about different people's reactions; lucky some of those guys didn't have a heart attack or at least request you paid for new underwear. :)
 
Hi Tunn11,
I was taught to be just an investigator, however if you want an impression from me, i would have to say that i feel there were several personalities that Janet seemed to switch between, i have to say there was one personality that i felt was malevolent, which put the hairs up on my head, it did seem that this was the most powerful.
The pranks were there to only make people laugh, the first one was done by Sky Living who sponsored the drama, "The Enfield Haunting".
 
Archaeoastronomer said:
The pranks were there to only make people laugh, the first one was done by Sky Living who sponsored the drama, "The Enfield Haunting".
Click to expand...
Sure, not taking it seriously but it's interesting that estate agents don't seem to be that prepared for weird happenings. I've gone to look over houses that have just felt downright creepy. I would have thought that the average agent would have come across a few of them and been a little less phased at least by the earlier stunts.
 
Hi Tunn11,
When you are an investigator you are always looking for tricks and fraud, but the average person on the street don't think that way.
I saw Janet a few years ago on day time tv, bless her she still looks like a frozen rabbit in the glare of headlights of an on coming car:-

 
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Archaeoastronomer said:
Hi Tunn11,
When you are an investigator you are always looking for tricks and fraud, but the average person on the street don't think that way.
I saw Janet a few years ago on day time tv, bless her she still looks like a frozen rabbit in the glare of headlights of an on coming car:-

Click to expand...
I'd have thought that the average person on the street would be the FIRST to call trick or fraud. They aren't generally great believers, the person on the street.
 
Archaeoastronomer said:
Hi WeirdExeter,

I thought the voice came from just above her head but behind, i knocked myself out searching for wires and speakers, but never found any, also remember this was 1977, so we couldn't afford video equipment, being very expensive then.
The BBC did visit but strangely their video equipment was found to be faulty, and i mean all of it.
Click to expand...
I am very much a believer in poltergeist activity and it is fantastic to have you on this forum sharing your experience. i have definitely watched a news report or documentary from 1977 that featured her “speaking” in his voice whilst sat down. Do you have a link for it?
 
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Hi WeirdExeter,

Please note that i'm just writing about my experiences that i can't explain, to be a good investigator you need to be unbiased.
Janet suffered a lot during this period, therefore attention of the investigators were the only bright area of her life, she wasn't like an adult witness. It is true if there wasn't any paranormal events in a few days, she would try to trick us into believing events had happened, but we always caught her out with child-like tricks.
For some she may appear not a good witness, but she had got used to the poltergeist activity, therefore sometimes didn't feel any threat.
I have found a video for you:-
 
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catseye said:
I'd have thought that the average person on the street would be the FIRST to call trick or fraud. They aren't generally great believers, the person on the street.
Click to expand...
Hi Catseye,
The second prank video had 370 people apply for the flat, so they only picked the video's showing people who were scared by it.
 
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I am thinking back to 1977, to something that happened, but i didn't witness it, but i was at the house the next day. A caste iron old fireplace had been ripped out the wall and allegedly flung across the room, i could hardly pick up the fireplace, so have no idea how Janet or the other children managed to do this!
 
Archaeoastronomer said:
Hi Catseye,
The second prank video had 370 people apply for the flat, so they only picked the video's showing people who were scared by it.
Click to expand...
My reference was to your post about looking for fraud regarding the Enfield Poltergeist, so I'm a bit puzzled as to why you'd bring the 'prank' video into it! I didn't watch that as I hate 'pranks' of any kind.

Edited to add, I see that the prank video was on the end of that post, so that's why you'd think that I was referring to it. No. I was quoting your entire post to include the bit about you looking for fraud regarding the poltergeist but uncertain that members of the public would do the same. Yes, yes they would, and it would be the very first assumption they would make.
 
Hi Catseye,

No worries, just a misunderstanding.

Movement of small objects in Enfield:-

There were numerous occasions when small children's toys, such as lego bricks and marbles would swirl up in the air and shoot off in all directions, i was hit a number of times, once on the head by a marble, ouch!
I could never see the direction thrown by all the small objects, but i am sure a lot were thrown where no one was standing, when the marbles hit the carpet, they didn't bounce or roll, it was as if they fell on sticky mud, when i picked them up they were hot to touch!
Matches would sometimes burst into flames, that i observed several times.
When i can, i will write of my memories of large objects moving including furniture.
 
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