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Ep 163 - Poltergeists
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This week, Greg flies solo as Ash is away on holiday! He discusses the topic of Poltergeists. As one of the most terrifying types of hauntings, lets look at the subject in this special episode.
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Transition
00:00:00
Speaker
almost interesting i don't know where to white those are on shot or what it was it wasn' in an airplane it was not in your plane it was so off You're listening to Pursuit of the Paranormal Podcast, with your hosts, Ash Ellis, or this week, and Greg Tomlinson.
00:00:20
Speaker
It's just great tonight on this episode because Ash has decided to go and sun himself in foreign
Introduction to Poltergeists
00:00:30
Speaker
climates. So this is a slightly different version of the Paranormal Podcast where it's just me and I'm talking about all things surrounding my favorite subject which are poltergeists.
00:00:47
Speaker
So if this is your thing, strap in, take a chair, get a drink and have a listen. Let me know what you think. Cheers. I'm going to be looking at one of the most disturbing and chaotic forces in the paranormal, polgais. Unlike a typical haunting where spirits linger silently in the shadows, polgais are active, unpredictable and sometimes even violent. They slam doors, throw objects and even speak.
00:01:17
Speaker
What are they? Are they mysterious and mischievous spirits? Are they demons? Or could they be something a little bit more unsettling? A manifestation of our own minds? It's something that I've been interested in... since... oh...
00:01:34
Speaker
since so I was a young lad.
Personal Fascination and Cultural Impact
00:01:36
Speaker
um And I grew up watching Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Mysteries. And there was one particular episode whereby um they talked about polkais and the Enfield polkais, which has always been one of my most favorite cases. It's probably one of the most um studied, talked about polkais cases after Amityville.
00:02:04
Speaker
um whether or not that was ah haunting I don't know but the polarized enigma really stuck with me not only did it petrified me when I was little I won't I won't um show away from that it was fight the fact that something in your house a normal house that you live in can terrorize for want of a better phrase
00:02:36
Speaker
a whole family it can tear a family apart um um although you don't hear about so many cases nowadays around the 70s and 80s it definitely was when people were sort of in into um paranormal films you had poltergeist film um which was frightening back then. Most definitely probably doesn't stand up so well now. You had the ex Exorcist had come out in the 70s so there was a a renewed sort of horror.
00:03:14
Speaker
um angle that the general public were watching films about and there was definitely an interest in that and like I say I used to watch Arthur C. Clarke and he also used to do lots of weird shit and talk about loads of weird shit That's a program that if you've not seen it, Deafy, I
Media Influence on Paranormal Fascination
00:03:40
Speaker
recommend. And then you have programs like Ghostwatch that BBC did in 1992, which was like um an early mockumentary, but gained a phenomenal amount of complaints, people ringing in, um complaining to the BBC about it. It was one of the most frightening things I think I've ever seen on TV.
00:04:06
Speaker
And then you get through to like more modern day stuff where the guys that used to do League of Gentlemen and Inside Number 9, they did a live, in the air quotes, paranormal episode for Halloween a couple of years ago.
00:04:23
Speaker
um So it's it's something that's always piqued everybody's interests.
Nature and Fear of Poltergeist Activity
00:04:30
Speaker
um I think right from the Victorian times and when séances were around and whatnot it was definitely a subject whereby spirits and entities would manifest themselves in different ways um And I think it's really really interesting subject mainly because it's it's frightening. um You've got u a UFOs, UAPs, whatever you want to call them. And they're kind of like a solid object that people see. Park ice and stuff.
00:05:13
Speaker
and occurrences and and things that people don't see. And I think that's more scary because it invades you. It invades your personal space. So yes, is
00:05:31
Speaker
It's a really interesting interesting subject that I'm going to cover today. I'm absolutely fascinated by it and have done for like 40 years. I'm currently writing a book about polo geists, which will hopefully be only 25, depending on when you're listening to this. So polo geists are One of the most famous and unsettling types of paranormal phenomena, often associated with physical disturbances. So objects moving, in being thrown, unexplained noises um and even physical interactions like touching and pushing.
00:06:11
Speaker
So the term polgeist comes from German words polten to make noise and geist spirit or ghost. So basically a noisy spirit or noisy ghost but unlike other ghostly entities which are usually tied to a place or a person polgeists are believed to be more chaotic disruptive and malevolent in their interactions so
00:06:38
Speaker
podcast activity physical disturbances so objects move by themselves doors slamming furniture being rearranged or items being thrown and we'll come on to some of the cases and a bit more detail unexplained noises banging sounds knocking or strange voices often allowed and disruptive I was listening and watching ah Program about polo guys. I can't even remember where where or when it was some some years ago and they talked about the fact that they'd recorded a the rapping sound of a polo ghost Inside a wall
00:07:23
Speaker
in a house and when they played it back they were astonished to find that normally the the sound wave peaks it goes up rises rapidly when you when the the bang happens but with a polgeist bang knock the it's almost like an inverted so it is sort of like it's like a reverse knock it's very difficult for me to explain it orderly um but yes it was like the the noise was actually made differently the sound was different
00:08:08
Speaker
Park Geist activity is also thought to be related to a release of emotional energy, often centered around a person, typically an adolescent going through emotional turmoil or prepubescent girls.
Famous Poltergeist Cases: Enfield and Bell Witch
00:08:21
Speaker
This has led to speculation that Park Geist could be a form of psychokinesis or mind over matter rather than traditional haunting. I'll come on to that a little bit later.
00:08:31
Speaker
Park I's phenomenon tends to be temporary Lasting anything from days and weeks um up to sort of months and a couple of years and then just generally just dies off and this kind of fits in with the turmoil and ah the prepubescent previous and adolescence because that's sort of a time period where you your body and you you just go through changes and
00:09:01
Speaker
There were also some accounts the report podcast activity causing harm such as scratches or even pushing people making them distinct from other ghostly encounters. um The Enfield podcast is a particular a case where Janet the daughter of the the family was actually seen levitating in her bedroom um and the Enfield case took place in the 70s
00:09:38
Speaker
in Enfield in North London um and it all started with some some knocking noises then some furniture was moving witnessed by police officers loud noises and like I mentioned Janet was seen levitating at one point from somebody on the on the road looking up into her bedroom Investigators and paranormal researchers included members of the s SPR, of which I'm a member myself, the Society for Psychical Research. Morris Gross um was involved, but skepticism remains about whether the case was a hoax. We'll come on to that a little bit later, um and I'll put my thoughts on that.
00:10:20
Speaker
Then you've got the Bell Witch. The Bell Witch was between 1817 and 1821, so a little bit longer than some of the others. But this case was from Tennessee, involved a family plagued by strange noises, voices, physical attacks. The Bell Witch is considered one of the earliest and most documented examples of poltergeist activity in the US. And I believe that the Bell Witch was part of the inspiration of the Blair Witch, for anybody who's seen the Blair Witch Project, if you haven't, check it out. um That ending, oh my god, that ending. Anyway, the Rosenheim Polgeist in 1967, in this case, a lawyer's office in Rosenheim, Germany,
00:11:03
Speaker
Experience traits, strange phone calls, flickering lights, office items being thrown around, even electricians and police witnessed the events, though some sceptics attributed to faulty equipment or hoaxes.
00:11:20
Speaker
So there are some theories behind polkaist psychokinesis or RSPK. Some researchers propose that polkaist activity is a result of unconscious psychokinesis where a person, usually in emotional distress, unknowingly causes objects to move or creates disturbances. This is why we've got the pre-PBS and adolescent kids, typically girls, going through immense change in their life and causing a lot of emotional stress on their body and their mind. Another theory relates to spirit entity. So traditional ghost theories suggest poltergeist are mischievous or malevolent spirits.
00:12:12
Speaker
Environmental factors, so sceptics often point to environmental explanations such as electrical issues, seismic activity or even mental illness to explain the occurrences without invoking the supernatural.
00:12:28
Speaker
I also watched a documentary whereby they took elevated magnetic readings from a property that was known to have had poltergeist activity. So maybe that weird feeling you have when you think somebody is standing next to you, etc. And the feeling that somebody is close is actually just changes in the electromagnetic field around around you, which is
Historical Context and Theories
00:13:00
Speaker
quite possible. Part of those, though, do continue to fascinate and terrify people. Countless films, um countless TV programs, documentaries you only have to watch.
00:13:16
Speaker
um YouTube and type into a polkaist and you get um teen thousands of videos around polkas if you watch the Blackwell ghost
00:13:32
Speaker
The series of films there really does take an amazing look at podcast activity and hauntings in general. So if you haven't checked out The Blackwell Ghost, definitely do a big shout out to Turner Clay for creating some of the best paranormal films I've seen in a long time.
00:13:59
Speaker
they definitely are more ish in terms of content. So check those out. They're very good. um What we we need to look at now is sort of around the the origins of a polgeist. Polgeist activity isn't just a modern fascination. ah It's deep roots in folklore and history. Accounts of noisy and restless spirits date back to ancient cultures. In medieval Europe polgeists were feared as manifestations of witches or demons. The activity was seen as a curse or a punishment from an unknown force.
00:14:40
Speaker
And obviously back then people were more spiritual, so you you can understand that. During the middle ages though, polgas were linked to witchcraft and disturbances were considered malevolent acts or witches attempting to control or curse a household. Disbelief sometimes escalated into witch trials.
00:15:03
Speaker
um So you you only need to look at sailing witch trials, you've got the Pendle Hill witches, where the accused were tortured or executed, accused of invoking the poltergeist.
00:15:16
Speaker
In more modern settings such as Victorian England, polgeist activity often intertwined with seances and spirit communications. 19th century saw a rise in spiritualism, and many believed polgeists to be the work of troubled souls who needed to communicate, but whose messages were lost in violent and chaotic expressions. To psychological theories,
00:15:40
Speaker
Poltergeist activity in the human mind, one of the most compelling modern theories surrounding poltergeist activity, involves, like I mentioned a minute ago, RSPK, which is recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis.
00:15:57
Speaker
This theory suggests that a person, often referred to as an agent, and quote could subconsciously cause physical disturbances through psychokinetic energy, particularly in states of intense emotional distress.
00:16:14
Speaker
In many documented cases, this agent is frequented and is frequently an adolescent, often a teenage girl undergoing puberty or emotional turmoil. You only have to look at some of the cases that that see this and and I've spoken to many people, I've watched many, many documentaries and they all seem, not all of them,
00:16:41
Speaker
so I won't say oh you've got the South Shields polkaist which wasn't but surrounds this age of person particularly a female person and the Enfield polkaist from 1977 like I mentioned before um had Janet, Janet Hodgson was the 11 year old daughter at the centre of what appeared to be a manifestation and a girl dealing with her parents recent separation furniture moved objects flew across the room a deep disturbing voice was said to speak through Janet what makes this even easier is that investigators captured audio recordings of the voice an unnatural guttural tone allegedly coming from the voice now I will play this clip for you now
00:17:39
Speaker
I'm invisible. You're invisible? Why are you invisible?
00:17:47
Speaker
So much in Hank L. S. T.
00:17:54
Speaker
This correlation between adolescence and park-based activity has fascinated psychologists and paranormal investigators alike, suggesting that there may be an intense and conscious release of energy during periods of extreme emotional stress distress and strain. Dr. William G. Roll, a well-known parapsychologist, researched extensively into poltergeist and concluded that these agents might be projecting internal conflicts outward in the form of psychokinetic energy.
00:18:30
Speaker
To many paranormal investigators, polkais represent their most dangerous and unpredictable class of spirits. Unlike a residual haunting where spirits for replace scenes from their lives, polkais seem to have an awareness and an intent. They're often described as mischievous, sometimes malevolent, and seem to delight in creating fear.
00:18:57
Speaker
In some extreme cases, Park Geist activity is associated with demonic forces. In cases like the Bell Witch haunting, the Park Geist or entity claimed to be an evil witch that terrorised the Bell family, eventually leading to the death of John Bell.
00:19:13
Speaker
The activity was so profound and violent that it drew the attention of then future US President Andrew Jackson, who famously said he would rather face the British army again than confront the Bell Witch. Some stories claim that the polgeist was not just a wandering spirit, but a demon that had attached itself to the family.
00:19:36
Speaker
Skeptists often argue that poltergeist cases are nothing more than a result of trickery or exaggeration. For example, the Rosenheim poltergeist case, which we'll cover off, saw disturbances in a law office in Germany.
00:19:51
Speaker
Where telephones rang off the hook, lights flickered violently and office furniture moved. Despite having experts from several fields investigate, including physicists, no explanation was found, though skeptics suggest it could have been a result of a cleverly rigged devices.
00:20:09
Speaker
Similarly with the Enfield polgeist, while there were over 30 witnesses, including neighbours, journalists, investigators and, as I mentioned, the police, some skeptics argue that the activity was faked by the Hodson children. However, recordings, photographs and even video evidence of strange phenomena, including furniture moving with without human intervention, make it difficult to dismiss the case entirely.
00:20:34
Speaker
although Janet was caught on tape playing the tricks so who knows
00:20:44
Speaker
so Modern-day ghost hunters use sophisticated tools like infrared cameras, full-spectrum cameras, electromagnetic
Modern Investigations and Pop Culture
00:20:53
Speaker
field detectors or EMFs, and audio recorders to capture device and evidence of poltergeist activity. EMF spikes, sudden temperature drops and unexplained electronic malfunctions are often reported during such investigations.
00:21:12
Speaker
In rare cases, investigators claim to have captured poltergeist phenomena on camera, including objects moving without cores or strange shadows One controversial experiment involved using infrasound, which is extremely low frequency sound to stimulate poltergeist activity. It's believed that infrasound can cause unsettling feelings, hallucinations, and even the sensation of objects moving when they're not. This has led to debates over whether poltergeist phenomena are external forces or simply the brain's reaction to environmental factors.
00:21:49
Speaker
Poltergeist activity has been immortalised in horror cinema and literature. The 1982 film Poltergeist, which is terrifying, um was produced by Steven Spielberg. It played on classic themes of a haunted home being terrorised by poltergeist forces.
00:22:07
Speaker
the film's tagline there he has become synonymous with the unsettling feeling of malevolent spirits entering our world that was an absolutely awful awful impression of the little girl um Carrie Anne, I think her name is, or was in the film, who was sort of like that the main focus of the spirits. And whilst not pretty pubescent, she was like a young girl at the time. It showed that it centred around um young people, young people.
00:22:49
Speaker
The Poltergeist Curse, interestingly, a legend surrounds the Poltergeist movies series itself, with claims that Curse plagued the actors and crew. Several cast members, including young actress Heather O'Rourke, who played Carol Anne that I mentioned, died tragically after the film's release, fuelling rumours that the films had inadvertently invited a real poltergeist to torment the cast.
00:23:14
Speaker
Weirdly, if you look at the end of, I think it's the end of the Pole Glows film, the house sort of sinks, there's skeletons coming up from the ground in the water that the family are sort of submerged in. And my understanding is that the film budget, it was so expensive to to get like prosthetic um
00:23:41
Speaker
skeletons that they actually used real skeletons and some of those were from Indian Native American burial grounds um in some way cursed the the film's making so yeah it's it's proper weird there's lots of strange things that happen with that film In H.P. Lovecraft's works, Polkegeist-like entities often embody the fear of the unknown, invoking madness and chaos. They are forces beyond human comprehension, dangerous because of their unpredictability and their disdain for natural laws. So I'm just going to have a quick look at a few of the cases that we've mentioned. of there's There are a lot more. There's the Battersea Polkegeist, which is fascinating, surrounds a girl again.
00:24:30
Speaker
um
00:24:33
Speaker
You've got the Enfield haunting. You've got the Amityville haunting. um You've also got um the events that inspired the Conjuring films. It's just all sorts of famous poltergeist cases. You've got the Bothell Hell House. I've spoken um to the guy that that was subjected to this unknown force writing stuff on the walls, um burning bibles in his house. oh Phenomenal amount of stuff happened to him when he moved into a property and it was a new property, it wasn't even an old property.
00:25:18
Speaker
so You don't have to have polgeist activity in old properties, the typical properties that you would expect like mansions and old places. It can be brand new houses. This can be normal houses which to me suggests that it does centre her around a person rather than the property. You've got the stone tape theory, you've got residual hauntings where they ah tend to be the place rather than the person. Poltergeist activity is the person for definite. So the Enfield Poltergeist
00:26:07
Speaker
It's late 70s. It's North London.
00:26:14
Speaker
For 18 months, a quiet London suburb became the battleground. I say battleground because it's. A lot of shit went down. And it's one of the strangest post activities ever recorded. It's probably one of the most documented post cases ever. There's Um, plays about it had been numerous, numerous documentaries about it. There's, there's a really good one on YouTube from, I think it's from the BBC that did like an episode, like a panorama episode on it. So I suggest you watch that. It's where the clip of the voice that I played earlier come from.
00:26:56
Speaker
inspired a Conjuring 2 film that was inspired by events in the Enfield podcast in Bill Wilkins bewilkin if you listen to the bright Bro-Hio podcast it's even got as far as that where the password to get into their secret Facebook group is Bill Wilkins and that's the name of the guy who in their terms 70 years old and he died in this in this chair in his own shit but on a serious note it goes across all cultures and it's so famous that pretty much everybody of a certain age and everybody who's into the paranormal has heard of the Enfield pole geist
00:27:50
Speaker
furniture moved, voices were heard and voices were heard through Janet like I mentioned. So it was on Green Street in North London. Hodgson family ah was the centre of this activity and it all began with strange noises quickly escalated into something far more terrifying.
00:28:16
Speaker
So, August 1977, the year I was born, the Hodgson children reported hearing in knocking sounds and soon furniture in their bedroom began moving by itself, chairs tipped over, drawers opened and the activity seemed to focus on Janet. As it escalated, the disturbances grew more and more violent. Objects flew across the room, toys were thrown at one point, large chests of drawers slid across the room as if being pushed by an an invisible force.
00:28:47
Speaker
Eyewitnesses including neighbours and local police officers also witnessed the events. One of the most eerie parts for me of the Enfield case was this deep gravelly voice that spoke through Janet. Investigators recorded this voice, Morris Gross did, um during interviews which claimed to be Bill Wilkins, a man who died in the house before. um And they were saying that Janet could talk for hours in this voice and it was like coming from the back of her throat and if you've ever tried to do a gravelly voice after a few minutes you your voice gets sore but she never got a sore throat and they were saying it was coming from a part of her throat that wouldn't normally be used when you were talking very strange and that's the clip I played earlier very creepy haunting voice
00:29:44
Speaker
So Morris Gross and Guy Lyon Playfair, members of the Society for Psychical Research or the s SPR, investigated the case. They spent months recording events and conducting interviews with the family. Morris pretty much moved in at one point and he was a very respectable guy. So Morris Gross, um if you've ever been um driving around and you've got the rotating advert billboards the rotating ones Morris Gross invented those weirdly Gross and Playfair captured audio of the strange voice and even photographs of Janet allegedly levitating above her bed now I've seen these photos um they're available here and it does look like Janet's jumping um some have claimed that Janet and her siblings may have faked parts of the haunting
00:30:40
Speaker
um So much so that at one point Janet did actually admit to fabricating a few events those she insisted that most of the disturbances were real and that I think is pivotal for me that they said yes we did do and they were caught out a couple of times on tape but at what point do you stop believing them?
00:31:03
Speaker
So during 1979, a couple of years later, um the activity slowly dissipated but the Hodgson family never fully recovered from the trauma. Janet later said that haunting never really ended but just quietened down over time. Janet is a very private person and she does come out for interviews every now and again but I can't imagine what she will have been through.
00:31:35
Speaker
The Infill and Poltergeist remains one of the most famous and controversial cases in paranormal history. Whilst skeptics continue to question the legitimacy of the events, a sheer volume of witnesses, recordings and evidence make it for me one of the the most fascinating cases I
00:31:57
Speaker
ah to I can't see how with all of the evidence and the fact that multiple people were there a lot of the time. How you can not say that that. That something definitely happened. Anyway, moving on to the Bell Witch. So this is going back a bit, 1817.
00:32:22
Speaker
um Imagine being tormented by an invisible entity so powerful that it leads to untimely death.
00:32:32
Speaker
This is what we're talking about. We love this. The bell witch haunting took place in Adams, Tennessee, over a period between 1817 and 1821. John Bell, the patriarch of the Bell family, was the primary target of the disturbances, which ranged from strange noises to physical assaults. It's one of the earliest and best documented cases of poltergeist-like activity in the US.
00:32:59
Speaker
and interestingly it's gone for the like the the head of the family the male head of the family the dad the patriot john so it all began in 1817 when john bale and his family started hearing strange noises around their farmhouse no it's a theme or any Scratching, knocking and chains dragging across the floor would disturb their nights. Soon the entity began physically attacking members of the family, particularly John and his daughter Betsy Bell. Betsy would often feel her hair being pulled or be slapped by an invisible force. Witnesses reported hearing loud disembodied voices taunting the family.
00:33:38
Speaker
Spirit began communicating through spoken word, identifying itself as Kate, the spirit of a woman who claimed to have been wronged by John Bell in some way.
00:33:50
Speaker
The story gained so much attention that General Andrew you Jackson, who would be future US President, visited the Belle farm with his men. They were reportedly spooked by the witch and left after one night. And he then said I would rather face the entire British army than to spend another night with the Belle witch.
00:34:10
Speaker
Word of the haunting spread drawing visitors from across the country who became to witness the phenomena. Many claimed to have first experienced strange occurrences and all the other types of events that happened as well.
00:34:29
Speaker
The haunting climaxed in 1820 when John Bell mysteriously fell ill. He began suffering from seizures and eventually died. The Bell witch reportedly took credit for his death saying, I fixed his medicine. John Bell's death certificate is one that reads murdered by a spirit. And it's one of the only death certificates, where a ghost is mentioned as the cause of death. The Bell Witch haunting left a laughing legacy, with some believing that the spirit is still active in the area. The haunting inspired books, documentaries and movies, including American Haunting. To this day, people still report strange happenings near the Bell's family Olds Farm.
00:35:19
Speaker
So the Rosenheim-Paltgeist case occurred in a small law office in the town of Rosenheim in Germany in 1967. What began as unexplained electrical disturbances quickly escalated into full-blown chaos.
00:35:34
Speaker
So the strange occurrences started with the office's phones, which would ring randomly, even when disconnected. Investigators later discovered that the phones registered hundreds of calls in the short span, but many of these calls hadn't been made by any of the office staff.
00:35:52
Speaker
Soon the lights in the office began to flicker uncontrollably. Electricians were called in but they couldn't find any fire in the wiring. Electrical equipment also malfunctioned and circuit breakers tripped for no apparent reason.
00:36:07
Speaker
Employees and witnesses reported seeing objects like files and furniture moved by themselves. One account describes a heavy filing cabinet moving several feet across the floor with no visible force pushing it.
00:36:21
Speaker
Dr Hans Bender, a respected German parapsychologist, was called to investigate. His team of scientists placed moratorium equipment throughout the office and captured unusual spikes in EMFs during the disturbances. They also witnessed objects moving without apparent cause.
00:36:43
Speaker
The phenomena seemed to center around one employee, 19-year-old secretary Anne-Marie Schneider. When she was present, the disturbances were more frequent. Some theorized that her presence and potentially her emotional state was causing the polarized activity in line with the theory of recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis.
00:37:07
Speaker
The activity continued for several weeks before finally tapering off. However, the case drew significant media attention and the Rosenheim polkais became one of the most well-known and controversial paranormal events in Europe. Critics claimed the disturbances were caused by faulty wiring or deliberate hoses by the employees. However, the volume of witnesses, including law enforcement officers and technicians, make it difficult to dismiss the case entirely.
00:37:34
Speaker
The case remains a fascinating and puzzling one. Whether caused by electrical faults or a hoax, some unknown paranormal force is left a lasting mark on the field of paranormal research.
00:37:51
Speaker
So the idea that the human mind may play a role in the manifestation of podcast activities are very, that fascinates me and both paranormal researchers and psychologists alike for decades. It hinges on the concept of psychokinesis, particularly RSPK, as I mentioned, recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis, which suggests that individuals often unconsciously can exert physical force on the surroundings so through sheer mental energy.
00:38:22
Speaker
The Psychokinesis theory huggies that part of Guy's phenomena are not caused by external spirits or entities but rather by an individual's mind projecting internal emotional turmoil outward. Now I get that. The idea that during moments of extreme stress or distress The brain can unconsciously release energy that affects the physical environment leading to objects moving, lights flickering, etc. Like somebody who just with this oh massive ah internal rage um of emotions just
00:39:02
Speaker
Oh, in the outwards, if that's if that's a way of saying it. So in many documented cases of polkais activity, there seems to be a common thread. The presence of an individual, often young, pubescent female who's at the center of the disturbances, the person referred to as the agent is believed to be the source of the psychokinetic energy.
00:39:26
Speaker
Adolescence, particularly in females, is a time of intense emotional and psychological change. Hormonal fluctuations during puberty can lead to heightened emotional states, stress, anger, frustration or fear that may serve as a kind of fuel for these manifestations.
00:39:45
Speaker
William Rolle, one of the foremost researchers on RSPK, believed that hit this emotional turmoil could be the catalyst for polgeist phenomena. The energy that accompanies these emotions might be expressed externally through psychokinesis rather than being processed internally.
00:40:03
Speaker
Adolescence, particularly girls, often face significant social pressure and emotional conflict during puberty. This can range from family dynamics to school stress, bullying or identity struggles. These psychological stressors could serve as a trigger, causing the subconscious desire to act out or release pent-up frustration in ways that defy typical behaviour.
00:40:29
Speaker
In some ways, Polkaist activity could be viewed as an extreme form of emotional expression, a way for the individual to scream, like I said, or make their emotional turmoil known without consciously understanding it. Disturbances may reflect repressed feelings or conflicts that are too overwhelming to express verbally.
00:40:52
Speaker
Now you need to watch Carrie or a film like that whereby this girl goes for a lot of stress and her manifestation of anger leads to ah intense paranormal and supernatural um events happening like people dying and injuries and blood and fire and whilst that's extreme that gives a media of how it how it all manifests it in a way that you can understand. Some paranormal researchers believe that young girls, particularly those undergoing puberty, are more sensitive to paranormal forces or energies, making them more likely to experience or even attract poltergeist activity. The heightened sensitivity during adolescence might make them more receptive to unknown forces amplifying the activity.
00:41:53
Speaker
In these cases, the agent might not be causing the phenomena, but could be acting as a conduit or focal point for external paranormal energy to manifest more intensely. This theory walks the line between psychological explanations and supernatural influences.
00:42:14
Speaker
From a purely psychological perspective though, some suggest that prepubescent girls may be more prone to experiencing poltergeist phenomena due to their brain's developmental state. Puberty is a period of rapid cognitive and emotional growth, and some psychologists speculate that the brain may misinterpret or create paranormal phenomena as a way to process overwhelming changes.
00:42:41
Speaker
This theory posits that poltergeists may be hallucinations or mental projections, but they feel very real to the individuals involved. The Jungian interpretation could suggest that poltergeist activities and manifestation of the unconscious mind trying to resolve inner conflicts. The chaos of the pottergeist could symbolise internal struggles or repressed desires projecting them into a physical world in the manner the conscious mind can perceive.
00:43:15
Speaker
One popular hypothesis is that particles activity as a kind of pressure valve for intense pent up emotions. Instead of internalizing all the stress and tension that comes with adolescence, some individuals may unconsciously release this energy outward in the form of disturbances. The moving objects, strange noises and other phenomena might serve as an unconscious cry for help or attention.
00:43:42
Speaker
In this way the poltergeist could be seen as a symbolic representation of the individual's emotional state. It's chaotic, unpredictable and out of control, much like the emotions of a pubescent individual and what they might be experiencing.
00:43:57
Speaker
In cases like the Enfield Polkais, the disturbances began around the time of the family crisis, adding weight to the idea that Polkais might represent a form of emotional outbursts or release. Another aspect of the psychokinesis theory is the idea that the mind, particularly in emotionally charged individuals, can unconsciously manipulate physical matter. The mind's ability to influence the external world is still considered fringe science.
00:44:27
Speaker
But some researchers suggest that in emotional states, certain people can exert control over the environment without realising it. Adolescence, with its intense hormonal changes and emotional instability, may amplify this ability, causing individuals to inadvertently create poor guys like activity.
00:44:48
Speaker
The theory suggests that when a young person experiences deep internal conflict, the mind may respond by projecting this conflict onto the physical world, creating the disturbances commonly associated with poltergeist cases.
00:45:02
Speaker
Concreteics argue though that attributing poltergeist activity to psychokinesis lacks scientific backing, given that no concrete evidence supports the existence of this phenomenon in controlled environments. Skeptics often explain poltergeist activity as a result of trickery, psychological delusion or environmental factors like faulty wiring,
00:45:23
Speaker
wind drafts or other mundane causes. Some psychologists also argue that adolescents in these cases might be acting out, fabricating the disturbances as a way to cope with emotional challenges. They suggest that many of these young girls may be using a polkaist as a way to gain attention or express feelings of powerness powerlessness in their lives. Janet Hodson in the Enfield Polkaist The theory was that she got so connected to Morris Gross, who, as I mentioned, came to essentially live with the family for months at a time, that she didn't want him to go. She saw a new father figure in her life and she wanted to hold on to it. So by creating these manifestations, however she did them, whether she faked them or she projected them,
00:46:14
Speaker
that she was able to keep this father figure there this this older guy who cared for the family grew to to care for for the Hodgson's because of the extreme things they were going through if you check on Apple TV there's like a I think it's a four-parter about the Enfield podcast oh my god it's amazing it's all the the the were recordings and voice recordings but sort of act as mime in it, so everything you hear actually happened. It's phenomenal. So whether poltergeist activity is caused by external forces, subconscious psychokinetic energy or psychological stress, the pattern of pubescent females being at the centre of many of these disturbing cases is hard to ignore. Theories abound from paranormal explanations to purely psychological ones.
00:47:08
Speaker
But the enduring question is whether the mind is powerful enough to manipulate the physical world or whether bolt guides are simply a reflection of the chaos within. This idea of the mind creating a phenomena, particularly the emotionally charged pubescent individuals, taps into a broader conversation about the relationship between the human psyche and the unexplained. Personally,
00:47:33
Speaker
I feel that the pubescent the girl or the child or the adolescent or the the centre, the person at the centre of the activity is a conduit for ah psychological and then physical manifestation of something but the fact that it ramps up in um an orderly fashion which is weird considering the chaotic nature of the phenomena
00:48:06
Speaker
ah Starting on the wrapping, then moving objects, physical appearances and disappearances of objects, physical harm, attacks, voices, sounds. It ramps up and then just drops off. It's very strange that it creates this this environment of fear and almost feeds on that fear until it's at such a point that it's emotionally drained the family that it almost extinguishes itself and then moves on to the next family. So I don't know whether it's it's an individual entity that goes around doing all this or
00:48:48
Speaker
the emotional stress or whatever that that ignites essentially a touch paper for this firework that explodes onto the family scene and creates such an intense and rational fear of the unknown because like I mentioned right at the start you can see a solid object and be scared of it but to not be able to see this object or this entity and it consume your life so much that fear is what drives an increase in the manifestations.
00:49:41
Speaker
I don't know what what it is and I think it could be that initial manifestation of the distress and distress of the ah person but then it becomes a fear-feeding entity of its own.
00:49:57
Speaker
um I'd be interested interested in everybody's thoughts but I love polgeist cases. I love the fact that it's so unknown yet so investigated and documented.
00:50:20
Speaker
And I think it hits me right in the root of my child primal fear of this unknown entity attacking you. And you can't see it. You can't feel it apart from cold spots. You can't.
00:50:38
Speaker
you can't protect yourself from something you cannot see or establish where it's come from what it's going to do except that you know it's probably going to get worse before it gets any better and psychologically that must create some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder that you live with you for the rest of your life and you how you get through that I don't know But anyway, thanks for listening