The Enfield Poltergeist

[Mouldy13]

Poltergeists as an extreme and involuntary psychokinetic form of Tourette's resonates with me, but is it the child or the poltergeist that has Tourettes?

Colin Wilson who believed that polts were actual discarnate entities decribed them as "of relatively low intelligence with the same sense of humour one would expect from adolescent boys"

"ooh look at me I'm saying f**k and c**t!!"

 

[Steven]

Did Wilson not make the obvious connection (in regard to his remark) that the adolescents involved - not any supposed poltergeists - created the verbal phenomena? Even in the Gef case, there's a parallel: though this admittedly was not a poltergeist event, it's clear that the reported utterances of 'Gef' read just like echoes of things a child had often heard adults saying; that doesn't seem a coincidence to me.

 

[catseye]

Did Wilson not make the obvious connection (in regard to his remark) that the adolescents involved - not any supposed poltergeists - created the verbal phenomena? Even in the Gef case, there's a parallel: though this admittedly was not a poltergeist event, it's clear that the reported utterances of 'Gef' read just like echoes of things a child had often heard adults saying; that doesn't seem a coincidence to me.

Yes, I've often thought it odd that investigators tie themselves in knots in cases like this to explain why a poltergeist might communicate like a dirty-minded adolescent, when the alleged 'focus' is an adolescent...

And I remember being not much older than Janet and having a small breakdown during which I screamed hysterically, but a part of my mind remained detached and wondering why I was making that noise and how much longer it would go on for. I knew it was me screaming, but I seemed to hear it from another part of my brain. I wonder whether this kind of detachment could result in a child 'speaking with another voice', almost 'letting out' emotion from a part of the brain.

 

[brownmane]

And I remember being not much older than Janet and having a small breakdown during which I screamed hysterically, but a part of my mind remained detached and wondering why I was making that noise and how much longer it would go on for. I knew it was me screaming, but I seemed to hear it from another part of my brain. I wonder whether this kind of detachment could result in a child 'speaking with another voice', almost 'letting out' emotion from a part of the brain.

The detachment/disassociation is a coping mechanism. Children have fewer coping mechanisms simply due to inexperience.

Disassociation is one coping mechanism which children resort to in order to protect themselves (their minds) from severe trauma. Which is where Disassociative Identity Disorder originates from (this is a controversial diagnosis in psychiatry).

I'm not saying that there is any trauma involved in poltergeist incidents, only that children can do this fairly easily, as catseye's example shows. And they may do it unconsciously.

 

[Tempest63]

Colin Wilson who believed that polts were actual discarnate entities decribed them as "of relatively low intelligence with the same sense of humour one would expect from adolescent boys"

There was a boy at School who wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, he got caught having a J Arthur over the lingerie pages of his mums Kay’s catalogue.

I wonder if he will come back as a poltergeist?

 

[Stormkhan]

I'm not saying that there is any trauma involved in poltergeist incidents, only that children can do this fairly easily, as catseye's example shows. And they may do it unconsciously.

It might be said that any long-term poltergeist activity could cause trauma in itself. so this might explain why being caught out happens after some time of the activity; it's the 'victims' response, not only to the expectations of the investigators but their own fear.
Sure, there is the possibility of fakery in any case. But once fakery is discovered, it seems most investigators lose interest - even though they can't explain any early phenomena.

 

[Steven]

Yeah, that has echoes of lab experiments/tests for ESP & the like: as in most activities, long endurance and, consequently, waning enthusiasm leads to increasingly poorer results. So maybe that - essentially merely human nature - shouldn't lead to a dismissal of a phenomena's authenticity.

 

[Swifty]

There was a boy at School who wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, he got caught having a J Arthur over the lingerie pages of his mums Kay’s catalogue.

I wonder if he will come back as a poltergeist?

I went to school with a lad who became infamous for hiding 'girlie' porno mags on top of our school cistern in the boys toilets. We only found out about this because he stood on the toilet bowl one day, slipped and his foot became stuck in the U bend of the toilet bowl so they had to call the fire engine out to release him .. his magazines sprawled across the cubicle floor. (years later me and him went on a school ski trip and I found him with one of his skis snapped and sticking into his leg so they had to airlift him off .. he's alright these days and looks to have a Mrs and two kids).

ANway .......... The Enfield Poltergeist

 

[Steven]

That is a brilliant example of extreme public embarrassment.