![]() ![]() The psychical researcher Renée Haynes had noted that doubts were raised about the alleged poltergeist voice at the SPR conference at Cambridge in 1978, where video cassettes from Enfield were examined. ![]() The two men were mocked by other researchers for being easily duped. When Janet and Margaret admitted "pranking" to journalists, Grosse and Playfair compelled the girls to retract their confession. According to Playfair, one of Janet's voices she called "Bill" displayed a "habit of suddenly changing the topic-it was a habit Janet also had". Grosse had observed Janet banging a broom handle on the ceiling and hiding his tape-recorder. ![]() Janet was detected in trickery a video camera in an adjoining room caught her bending spoons and attempting to bend an iron bar. Other paranormal investigators who studied the case included American demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren, who visited the Enfield house in 1978 and were convinced that the events had a supernatural explanation. Still, Grosse and Playfair believed that even though some of the alleged poltergeist activity was faked by the girls, other incidents were genuine. Society for Psychical Research (SPR) members Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair reported "curious whistling and barking noises coming from Janet's general direction." Although Playfair maintained the haunting was genuine and wrote in his later book This House Is Haunted: The True Story of a Poltergeist (1980) that an "entity" was to blame for the Enfield disturbances, he often doubted the children's veracity and wondered if they were playing tricks and exaggerating. The story was regularly covered in the Daily Mirror newspaper until reports came to an end in 1979. Many also heard and recorded knocking noises and a gruff voice. Over a period of eighteen months, more than thirty people, including the Hodgsons' neighbors, psychic researchers, and journalists, said they variously saw heavy furniture moving of its own accord, objects being thrown across a room and the sisters seeming to levitate several feet off the ground. Later claims included disembodied voices, loud noises, thrown toys, overturned chairs, and children levitating. A woman police constable reported witnessing a chair "wobble and slide" but “could not determine the cause of the movement”. The children included Margaret (13) and Janet (11). In August 1977, single parent Peggy Hodgson called the Metropolitan Police to her rented home at 284 Green Street in Enfield, London, claiming she had witnessed furniture moving and that two of her four children had heard knocking sounds on the walls. The story attracted press coverage in British newspapers, has been mentioned in books, featured in television and radio documentaries, and dramatized in the 2016 horror film The Conjuring 2. Members of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), including stage magicians such as Milbourne Christopher and Joe Nickell, criticized paranormal investigators for being credulous whilst also identifying elements of the case as being indicative of a hoax. Some members of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), such as inventor Maurice Grosse and writer Guy Lyon Playfair, believed the haunting to be genuine, while others such as Anita Gregory and John Beloff were "unconvinced" and found evidence the girls had faked incidents for the benefit of journalists. The alleged poltergeist activity centred around sisters Janet (11) and Margaret Hodgson (13). ![]() The Enfield poltergeist was a claim of supernatural activity at 284 Green Street, a council house in Brimsdown, Enfield, London, England, United Kingdom, between 19. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |