CHAPTER I What is a Poltergeist?
1 Vol. II, p. 176. Cited by the O.E.D.
2 Article,’ “Death-Deeds”—a Bi-Located Story’. Vol. XVIII, 1907, pp. 376–390.
3 Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, London, 1901, 5th Edition, Vol. II, p. 636.
4 Paracelsus, London, 1878, pp. 72, 79.
5 Op. cit.
6 The Times, Feb. 16, Mar. 6, 1855. See also the Illustrated London News, Feb. 24—March 17, 1855, for full account and sketches of foot-tracks.
7 See Chapter XXV.
8 For July 25, 1941.
9 Poltergeists, London, 1940, p. 54.
CHAPTER II Historical Background
1 Marred by the absence of any index.
2 Bulletin I, International Institute for Psychical Research.
3 See also Porphyry, the Philosopher, to his wife, Marcella, London, 1896.
4 First English Edition, Teutonic Mythology, London, 1879–88.
5 Cited by Lang.
6 From the Greek thorubis, a confused noise.
7 A relic of the Curé d’Ars was used at Borley by Mr. Foyster, who ‘magically’ opened locked doors by its means.
8 Cock Lane, p. 30.
9 ‘Census of Poltergeists. In Quest of the Racketing Spirit’, Feb. 29, 1936.
10 Op. cit., pp. 110–113.
11 In a quarto Black Letter tract, Paris, 1528.
12 Op. cit., p. 168.
13 Article ‘Poltergeist’, in the Encyclo. Brit., Eleventh Edition, Cambridge, 1911, Vol. 22, p. 14.
14A line-for-line reprint was issued at Oxford, 1929.
15 Not insects. From the Middle English bugge, from bwg, a spectre. Cf. bugaboo, boggart, bugbear, bogie, bogle, and the West Country bugan (the Devil).—H.P.
16 The Rev. Samuel Wesley complained that he was pushed three times by the Epworth Poltergeist. (See Chapter VIII.)
17 Cock Lane, p. 135.
18 Op. cit., p. 122.
19 Saducismus Triumphatus, London, 1681, Part II, pp. 168–190.
20 i.e., garret.—H.P.
21 A four-peck (dry) measure.—H.P.
22 A scoop for lifting corn.—H.P.
23 A Relation of the Diabolical Practices of above Twenty Wizards and Witches…. London, 1697. And A True Narrative of the Sufferings, and Relief of a Young Girl…. Paisley, 1698.
24 Ency. Brit., Cambridge, 1911, Eleventh Edn., Vol. 20, p. 520 (article ‘Paisley’).
25 i.e., timorous.—H.P.
26 i.e., John Aubrey’s Miscellanies, London, 1696.—H.P.
27 Op. cit.
CHAPTER III What Poltergeists Do
1 Proc., S.P.R., Vol. VII, 1891–92.
2 See Chapter XXII.
3 Charles Fort, in his books, records many instances of ‘slow-moving’ objects, stones, hailstones, etc. that fall from the sky.
4 Most Haunted House in England, by Harry Price, London, 1940, p. 98.
5 Op. cit., p. 39.
6 See Proc. of the S.P.R., 1910, Vol. XXV, pp. 380–90.
7 Charles Fort points out in one of his books (Lo!) that during the strange showers of frogs, fish, and other living things that fall from the sky, the animals are very seldom injured.
8 See The Haunting of Cashen’s Gap, by Harry Price and R. S. Lambert, London, 1936.
9 For a full, illustrated account of this case, see The Times, London, from November 24, to December 5, 1934. The Manchester Guardian and other national journals can also be consulted. For a summary of the case, with comments, see article by Nandor Fodor in Bulletin I, International Institute for Psychical Research, London [1935].
10 See Chapter XVII.
11 London [1935].
12 See his Personal Experiences in Spiritualism, London [1913], pp. 95–124.
13 Lulu Hurst Writes her Autobiography, Rome, Georgia [1897].
14 The Little Georgia Magnet, London, n.d.
15 See Arago’s account in the Journal des Débats, Paris, February, 1846; and Dr. Tanchou’s Enquête sur l’ Authenticité des Phéomèes Éectriques d’ Angélique Cottin, Paris, 1846.
16 In 1872, in a house at Baden-Baden, strange pictures were found etched on the windows.
17 A Faithful Record of the Miraculous Case of Mary Jobson, Monkwearmouth, 1841.
CHAPTER IV The Home of the Poltergeist
1 For Jan. 1, 1943 (article ‘Gremlins’).
2 New York Herald Tribune, Nov. 18, 1942.
3 For account of the finding of the Mary Celeste, see The Times, Feb. 14, 1873.
4 See The Times, Nov. 6, 1840.
5 See A True and Perfect Account of a Strange and Dreadful Apparition which lately Infested and Sunk a Ship bound for New-Castle [by John Pye], London, 1672.
6 Weekly Dispatch, August 18, 1907.
7 See this journal for Sept. 6, 1886.
8 Compare the ‘Haunted Rest-House’, Chap. V, Ju-Ju and Justice in Nigeria, by Frank Hives, London, 1930.
9 I have told of this experience in greater detail in my Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter, London, 1936, pp. 71–74.
10 See Der Spuk von Gross-Erlach, by Johann Illig, Leipzig, 1916.
11 T. Fisher Unwin.
12 A devotion consisting of a prayer said on nine successive days, asking for some special blessing.
13 At Epworth, a noise was ‘like the winding up of a jack’; at Aspatria, the sound was as if an alarm clock was being wound. And all were heard by parsons.
14 These, too, were French—a strange and interesting coincidence.
15 In 1800 Mrs. Radcliffe (1764–1823) was at the zenith of her fame. Her novel, The Italian, appeared in 1797—the last work to be published during her lifetime.
16 Reproduced, with other cases, by Sacheverell Sitwell in his Poltergeists, London, 1940.
17 But see Appendix A.
CHAPTER V The Drummer Poltergeist
1 Joseph Glanvill, Columbia University Press, N.Y., 1900.
2 J. H. Shorthouse, in John Inglesant (1880: Chap. XV), tells us something of Ragley and its psychic ‘marvels’.
3 More correctly, North Tidworth, on the Wiltshire-Hampshire border, two miles south-west of Ludgershall. It is in Wilts. South Tidworth, nearby, is in Hants. The Rev. J. P. Thompson, M.A., Rector of South Tidworth, tells me that the change from Tedworth’ to Tidworth’ was due to a War Office misprint.
4 Actually, the first official reference to the case appeared in the Mercurius Publicus for April, 1663. This contains an abstract of the sworn deposition of Mr. Mompesson. There is also a printed ballad about the case that appeared in 1662 (Anthony Wood’s collection in the Bodleian Library). Pepys mentions ‘books’ about the affair in his Diary for June, 1663. For Mompesson’s deposition and a reprint of the ballad, see Appendix A.
5 Andrew Lang (‘Poltergeist’, Encyclo. Britann., Cambridge, 1911, Eleventh Edn., Vol. 22, p. 17) says that Glanvill is mistaken in his dates, and that the disturbances occurred between Mar. 1662 and April 1663. See Appendix A.—H.P.
6 According to the Beauties of England and Wales (London, 1814, Vol. XV, pp. 396–7), Mompesson lived at the Manor House, North Tedworth, which is still standing. In Mompesson’s time it was ‘surrounded with a large park’. Monuments to the Mompesson family can still be seen in the churchyard of Holy Trinity.—H.P.
7 i.e., an attic—H.P.
8 Compare a similar auditory impression in the Wesley and Willington cases.—H.P.
9 i.e. January, 1663. (See Appendix A.)—H.P.
10 A stick or staff used to smooth a feather bed or to spread the coverlet; also a bar at the side to keep the bedclothes in place.—H.P.
11 i.e. Mompesson’s mother.—H.P.
12 This is a test often made today.—H.P.
13 This letter, dated Decr. 6, 1663, addressed to the Rev. Dr. William Creed, Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford, is published for the first time in the present volume. (See Appendix A.).—H.P.
14 Lord Falmouth and Lord Chesterfield.—H.P.
15 Was Glanvill thinking of the merry meetings at Ragley?—H.P.
16 For Mompesson’s sworn deposition, see Appendix A.—H.P.
17 I have one of the two known original copies of this Elizabethan Act. A full account of it and of the laws—ancient and modern—as applied to mediums can be found in my Fifty Years of Psychical Research (1939), pp. 213–34, and Appendix C.
18 The subsequent history of William Drury is not known. As an itinerant drummer and ne’er-do-well, he roamed the country and doubtless seldom visited his home at Uffcott, near Broad Hinton, N. Wilts. It is pretty certain that he again fell into the hands of the police and possibly a second attempt to transport him was successful.
CHAPTER VI More Tales from Ragley
1A ‘strike’ is an instrument with a straight edge for levelling a measure of grain.
2 A clog supported on an iron ring.
3 Blankets.—H.P.
4 A kind of fungus; a puff-ball.—H.P.
5 Soper Lane, now Queen St., was in Cheapside. Many of its residents were wealthy merchants who dealt in drugs and spices.—H.P.
6 Apparently Paschal père was a druggist, in that street of druggists.—H.P.
7 The top covering of a bed.—H.P.
8 Compare Goldsmith’s account of the bedroom séance in the Cock Lane affair, Chapter X.
CHAPTER VII The Ringcroft Poltergeist
1 i.e., a garret.
2A remarkable case of stone-throwing was recorded in The Times for April 27, 1872: ‘From 4 o’clock, Thursday afternoon, until 11.30 in the evening, the houses, 56 and 58 Reverdy Road, Bermondsey, were assailed with stones and other missiles coming from an unseen quarter. Two children were injured, every window broken, and several articles of furniture were destroyed. Although there was a strong body of policemen scattered in the neighbourhood, they could not trace the direction whence the stones were thrown.’ The Times (Sept. 16, 1841) also records that ‘in the home of Mrs. Charton, at Sutton Courthouse, Sutton Lane, Chiswick, windows had been broken “by some unseen agent”. Every attempt to detect the perpetrator failed. The mansion was detached and surrounded by high walls. No other building was near it. The police were called. Two constables, assisted by members of the household, guarded the house, but the windows continued to be broken “both in front and behind the house.” ‘—H.P.
3 This disturbance at prayers is paralleled in the Wesley case, Chapter VIII.
CHAPTER VIII The Wesley Poltergeist
1 John was the first child born to Mrs. Wesley when her husband returned to her after an estrangement—that lasted many months—due to political differences. John was aged thirteen and a half years when the disturbances began.
2 John Wesley founded the Arminian Magazine in January, 1778. It was the earliest religious journal jn these isles.
3 In the year of John Wesley’s death.
4 Original Letters by the Rev. John Wesley and his Friends, Illustrating His Early History, with other curious Papers, Communicated by the late Rev. S. Badcock, Birmingham, 1791, pp. 118–166.
5 pp. XI-XV.
6 Mrs. Samuel Wesley was a violent Jacobite.—H.P.
7 Philip Breslau, a famous British conjurer who flourished at the end of the eighteenth century. I have several of his books.—H.P.
8 Priestley was writing more than seventy years after the disturbances.—H.P.
9 Rector of Haxey, a nearby village.—H.P.
10 i.e., John Wesley, who was at school during the Epworth disturbances. He entered Charterhouse at the early age often and a half years.—H.P.
11 i.e., Haxey.—H.P.
12 i.e., John Wesley,—H.P.
13 i.e., John Wesley.—H.P.
14 Copied, Verbatim et literatim, direct from the three original issues of the Arminian Magazine for Octr., Novr., and Deer., 1784. (Vol. VII, pp. 548–50, 606–08, 654–56.) The published copies of the ‘Account’ that I have consulted, are textually inaccurate.—H.P.
15 John Wesley was then aged 17.—H.P.
16 This is probably a misprint in the original text for ‘Kezzy’ (i.e., Keziah), the youngest girl of the family.—H.P.
17 Compare a similar auditory impression in the Willington Mill and Tedworth cases.—H.P.
18 Another Poltergeist case was reported from Epworth in 1905. In a house there, were heard strange sounds, ‘lights’, etc. See Liverpool Echo, Jan. 25, 1905.—H.P.
19 Modern Spiritualism, London, 1902, Vol. I, p. 32.
20 pp. Ill and IV.
21 Op. cit.
22 W. Tyerman, in his Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley (London, 1880, Fifth Edition, Vol. 1, p. 22) says that ‘Wesley was a firm believer in ghosts and apparitions’, his belief and interest dating from the time of the Epworth disturbances.
23 Miss Beatrice Pepper, of 1, Bentinck Street, Greenock, sends me a curious story of a Poltergeist that she thinks may be connected in some way with John Wesley. She says (May 17, 1944): ‘Many years ago … I was staying with my aunt at [giving the full name and address of the house]. She occupied one quarter of the mansion, which had been divided into four—her portion containing the old hall and staircase. John Wesley was at one time reputed to have stayed in this house. One night I was awakened by a terrific noise as if all the furniture in the hall and dining-room was being moved. The hall floor being mosaic, the furniture simply scraped over it. The running about and noise continued for some time as if fighting was in progress. Finally, the noise ended abruptly with the sound of a man running up the staircase to within a few steps of the top, and shouting five words. What the words were I cannot tell, as I was too petrified with fright, my door being at the head of the stairs. Next morning, my cousin, several years younger than myself, independently repeated the same story to my aunt.’ Miss Pepper, though on a holiday, cut short her visit because of the incident. She concludes her letter by stating that her aunt had to vacate the house on account of the disturbances, about which the other tenants also complained. Her young cousin seemed particularly troubled by the ‘ghost’.
CHAPTER IX Academic Poltergeists
1 British Journal of Psychical Research, London, March—Apl., 1929.
2 Compare this ‘stumping’ effect with ‘The Poltergeist that Stumbled’.—H.P.
3 The hiatus that follows is due to the illegibility of the original MS.—H.P.
CHAPTER X Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, and the Cock Lane Ghost
1 It is entitled: The Mystery Revealed: Containing a Series of Transactions and Authentic Testimonials; Respecting the supposed Cock Lane Ghost London, 1742 (recte 1762). A copy sold for £900 at the Jerome Kern sale in New York a few years ago. It was published by Bristow, in St. Paul’s Churchyard.
2 Report on Spiritualism of the Committee of the London Dialectical Society. … London, 1871, pp. 200 ff.
CHAPTER XI The Hinton Ampner Skull
1 May 27, 1797.
2 Sir Walter Scott mentions the case in Letters on Demonology, London, 1830, pp. 359–361.
3 Life and Letters of Richard H. Barham, London, 1870.
4 For Nov. and Dec. 1872. (Vol. IX, pp. 547–559 and pp. 666–678.)
5 See the S.P.R. Journal, Vol. VI, 1893–94, pp. 52–74.
6 Poltergeists, London, 1940.
7 Compare a similar phenomenon in the ‘Mill on the Eden.’—H.P.
8A common phenomenon in Poltergeist cases.—H.P.
9 Which stands in a park of 66 acres on an eminence near the Church, with lovely views of the surrounding country.
10 Since this was written, I have found a letter from Mr. C. J. P. Cave, M.A., J.P., F.S.A., of Stoner Hill, Petersfield, who informs me (October 14, 1941) that ‘in the new house some curious noises used to be heard that have never been explained. They were usually heard just before dawn’. The new house was built fifty yards from the old site.
CHAPTER XII ‘Astonishing Transactions at Stockwell’
1 i.e., a box bearing a pattern of small squares; or one in which were kept forty playing-cards used in a game called Quadrille.—H.P.
2 There has been a sequel to this case since I wrote the above. In the Evening Standard (December 18, 1943), it is stated that the police took Geneviève back to the house near Poitiers, ‘to see what would happen’. Immediately, a coffee-mill was thrown at a gendarme, and another policeman was hit by a heavy box. The police then made the girl sit down at a table and write. While she was thus occupied, a lampshade was thrown at their heads. As they could not solve the mystery, Geneviève was taken to an asylum. That is exactly what happened to Eleonore Zugun in her own village. (See Chapter XXII.)
3 As this book goes to press, I have received from Mr. R. S. Lambert a full account of the Hilchie case in a series of cuttings from the Toronto Daily Star, beginning January 8, 1944. The phenomena lasted for several weeks.
CHAPTER XIII The Poltergeist of Stamford Street
1 Who started what is now the Gas Light and Coke Company.
2 London, 1872–78, Vol. VI, p. 382.
3 The Central Bank of London, Ltd., established 1863. In 1891 it amalgamated with the Birmingham and Midland Bank, Ltd., under the title of the London and Midland Bank, Ltd., now the Midland Bank, Ltd.—H.P.
CHAPTER XIV ‘Ring Out, Wild Bells’
1 A Manual of Cheirosophy, London, 1885.1 possess the original holograph MS.
2 See Search for Truth, London, 1942, pp. 97–132.
3 According to Kelly’s Directory of Suffolk, 1929, Bealings House is a ‘Georgian mansion of brick, surrounded by park-like grounds’. The west window of St. Mary’s Church is dedicated to Charlotte, Lady Hatherley, who was the only daughter of Major Moor. She died in 1878 and is buried in the churchyard. Major Moor’s son, the Rev. Ed. James Moor, was Rector of Great Bealings from 1844 to 1886.
4 Bealings Bells. An Account of the Mysterious Ringing of Bells at Great Bealings, Suffolk, Woodbridge, 1841. The book is rare.
5 Most Haunted House in England, p. 97.
6 Now in my garden at Pulborough. I am waiting for it to ring—paranormally.
7 Journal, S.P.R., Vol. III, pp. 249–52, 322–32.
8 Journal, S.P.R., Vol. X (1895–96), pp. 43–7.
9 Daily Mirror, February 13, 1905.
10 Daily Mail, December 24, 1909.
11 Op. cit., pp. 123, 214–15,
12 See my Rudi Schneider (London, 1930); Stella C. (London, 1925), etc.
CHAPTER XV The Willington Poltergeist
1 In the S.P.R. Journal, Vol. V, 1891–92, pp. 331–352.
2 Compare this with my experience of the footsteps on the gravel path that surrounded the cottage at Horley. (See Chapter III).—H.P.
3 Compare this figure at the window with what Miss Rosemary Williams saw at Borley (Chapter XXV).—H.P.
4 The Epworth Poltergeist made a noise ‘like the winding up of a jack’.—H.P.
5 Compare this phenomenon with the ‘immense weight seemed to fall through the ceiling to the floor’ heard by Captain Jervis in the Hinton Ampner case, Chapter XI.—H.P.
6 Compare the ‘Bo, Bo, Kick, Cuck., heard in the Ringcroft disturbances, Chapter VII.—H.P.
7 Compare this effect with the ‘happering of peas upon boards,’ mentioned by Mr. Mompesson in his letter. (See Appendix A.)—H.P.
8 Is it possible that Poltergeists sometimes appear in the likeness of those young children whom they use as a point d’ appui for their manifestations?—H.P.
9 Compare this phenomenon with a similar one recorded by Mrs. Mara Mack in her old home (Chapter XXVIII).—H.P.
10 With the departure of the young Procter children, it is possible that the Poltergeists could no longer produce the same effects, with the older ‘material’.—H.P.
11 By M. A. Richardson, London, 1843, Vol. I.
CHAPTER XVI The ‘Electric Horror’ of Berkeley Square
1 The Grey Ghost Book, London, 1912, pp. 49–50.
2 Nov. 16, 1872.
3 Op. cit., p. 16.
4 Op. cit., p. 17.
5 Notes and Queries, Nov. 20, 1880.
6 Nov. 27, 1880.
7 Dec. 11, 1880.
8 Dec. 25, 1880.
9 A frame bearing the escutcheon of a dead person.—H.P.
10 Dec. 25, 1880.
11 Jan. 15, 1881.
12 Feb. 19, 1881.
13 In Blackwood’s for Aug., 1859, afterwards published in book form.
14 Charles G. Harper, in Haunted Houses (London, 1907) remarks: ‘The famous “haunted house in Berkeley Square” was long one of those things that no country cousin coming up from the provinces to London on sight-seeing bent, ever willingly missed’.
CHAPTER XVII The Mill on the Eden
1 London, 1942.
2 I doubt if he heard this term used in 1887.
3 In the Borley case, people were injured.
41 am writing this in May, 1943. •
CHAPTER XVIII The Poltergeist that Stumbled
1 At the Amersham Hall, Lewisham, on Friday, December 2, 1898. For description, see South London Press, December 10, 1898.
CHAPTER XIX The Ballechin House Controversy
1 See The Times for June 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 1897. The references are headed ‘On the Trail of a Ghost’.
2 For June 21, 1897.
3 London, 1899. My copy formerly belonged to Lord Halsbury. A revised edition appeared in 1900.
4 There was also a haunted ‘Blue Room’ at Willington Mill, one at Tackley, Oxon., and another in Calvados Castle. And in a famous Blue Room at Dunedin, New Zealand, the Poltergeist-medium, Pearl Judd, performed her ‘miracles’. See The Blue Room, by Clive Chapman, Dunedin, 1927. On Dec. 22, 1944, the B.B.C. broadcast a ghost-story, The Fiddler (by Richard Hearne), in which all the murders were committed in the ‘Blue Room’.
CHAPTER XX The Battersea Poltergeist
1 It is often alleged that objects displaced by Poltergeists acquire extra weight.—H.P.
2 But see Mr. F. Robinson’s view, Chapter XX.
3 Two Worlds, March 14th, 1941.
CHAPTER XXI ‘Poltergeist Manor
1 All the details I am quoting concerning this case are taken from the signed statements of witnesses, who are prepared to swear on oath that they are true.
2 It will be remembered that in the Drummer of Tedworth case, a bedstaff was hurled at the local minister after he had said prayers in Mompesson’s house.
3 In the American Weekly for July 12, 1942, is a long account, with many illustrations, of alleged happenings at the Fifeshire manor. The article, ‘No Rest in the Mansion’, does not reveal the exact location of the house.
CHAPTER XXII Poltergeist Mediums
1 ‘Evoe’, in Punch (Jan. 27, 1926), had some amusing verses about this.
2 Frederica Hauffe, the ‘Seeress of Prevorst’, when in the ‘magnetic sleep’, could rap at a distance. See Die Seherin von Prevorst, by Justinus Kerner, Stuttgart, 1832.
3 For the early history of Eleonore, and account of the phenomena, see Der Spuk von Talpa, by Countess Wassilko, Munich, 1926.
4 An identical phenomenon heralded the outbreak of hostilities in the ‘Mill on the Eden’, Chapter XVII.
5 Curiously, I had an appointment in Berlin with Grunewald, who was going to write a preface to a German edition of one of my books. I called at his flat early in July, 1925, and because I could get no answer, hammered at his door. I little knew that his body lay a few inches from me, on the other side of the door.
6 See her ‘Early History and Phenomena of Eleonore Zugun’, British Journal of Psychical Research, Jan.-Feb., 1927.
7 Psychische Studien, Munich, July, 1925.
8 Leaves from a Psychisfs Case-Book, by Harry Price, London, 1933.
9 Daily News, Oct. 2, 1926.
10 For a full account, with illustrations and plans, see Proceedings of the Nat. Lab. Of Psy. Research, Vol. I, Part 1, London, Jan. 1927.
CHAPTER XXIII Poltergeists that Bite
1 In the Blätter aus Prevorst, Vol. V, pp. 171 ff., is an account of a Poltergeist in the house of Prof. Schupart, whose wife was ‘bitten, pinched, and knocked down’ by the entity.
2 Morning Post, October 4, 1926.
3 Daily News, October 5, 1926.
4 Daily News, October 6, 1926.
5 In the Phelps Poltergeist case (1851–52) one of the girls concerned was pinched paranormally.
6 The famous French psychologist.—H.P.
7 Morning Post, October 20, 1926.
8 See Dr. Warlomont’s Rapport médical sur la Stigmatisée, 1875; E. Lefébure’s Louise Lateau—A Medical Study (trans.); Macmillan’s Magazine, Vol. XXIII, 1871, pp. 488 ff; Dublin Review, 1871, p. 170.
9 Proceedings, S.P.R., Vol. XXXII, 1922.
10 Three cases. Dr. Biggs of Lima. Journal, S.P.R., Vol. Ill, page 100.
11 Dr. R. von Krafft-Ebing, An Experimental Study in Hypnosis, London, 1889.
12 See l’ Automatisme Psychologique, Paris, 1889, p. 166.
13 Revue de l’ Hypnotisme, Paris, June, 1890.
CHAPTER XXIV Dr. Tillyard’s Poltergeist
1 Dr. Tillyard was killed on Jan. 13, 1937. The manner of his death was exactly foretold on July 7, 1928, by Mile Jeanne Laplace, and published at the time. See my Search for Truth, London, 1942, pp. 156–57.
2A narrow chamber separating the laboratory and séance room, which trapped the light when a person passed from one room to the other.—H. P.
3 For an interesting monograph on the psychological change that takes place at puberty, see Printemps Sexuels. L’ Épopde au Fauborg, by Alfred Machard, Paris, 1928. (With ten coloured drawings by Jean Auscher.) For further studies of pubescency and adolescency, see Schoolgirl, by Carmen Barnes, London, 1930; A Young Girl’s Diary (Prefaced with a letter by Sigmund Freud), London, [1919]; Magia Sexualis, by P. B. Randolph, Paris, 1931; La Vie Mentale de VAdolescent et ses Anomalies, by Auguste Lemaitre, Saint-Blaise, 1910, and Fifteen. A Diary of the Teens, by a Boy, London, n.d.
CHAPTER XXV Borley Rectory: A Century of Poltergeists
1 The Most Haunted House in England: Ten Years’ Investigation of Borley Rectory, London, 1940.
2 A landed proprietor in holy orders.
3 Since the above was written, the Rectory has again changed hands.
4 See Mr. C. J. P. Cave’s ‘dictionary’ phenomenon, Chapter XXVIII.—H. P.
5 Pentlow, five miles N.W. of Sudbury.—H.P.
6 Daily Mirror, June 14, 1929. For Mr. Wall’s personal experiences during this period, see the Daily Mirror for June 10, 1929, and following issues.
7 In another Poltergeist case, that of the haunted castle at Calvados, Normandy, in 1875, a shower of Roman Catholic medals fell on the owner’s wife.
8 This ‘erection’ is a little reminiscent of the clothes tableaux witnessed in the Phelps case (1850–51).—H.P.
9 This ring, or one like it, suddenly appeared in the Blue Room on the last day of my tenancy of the Rectory. (See Chapter XXV)—H.P.
10 Compare this phenomenon with the written messages received in the Battersea case (Chapter XX).—H.P.
11 Mr. Foyster, in order to enter the room, applied to the door a relic of the Curé d’Ars. It was at once ‘magically’ unlocked.—H.P.
12 Op. cit.
13 I am particularly interested in this bell as Capt. Gregson gave it to me as a souvenir after the Rectory fire. It hangs in my garden in Sussex and I am still waiting for it to ring paranormally!—H.P.
14 For May 25, 1937.
15 Op. cit.
16 Epworth Parsonage, home of the Wesleys, was also destroyed by fire, before the Poltergeist disturbances there.
17 Glanvill (Saducismus Triumphatus, 1681, Part n, p. 243), relates a similar incident.
18 In the Phelps case (1850–51) scribbled messages appeared spontaneously on the walls.
19 In the Worksop Poltergeist case (Proc, S.P.R., Vol. XII, pp. 45–58) in 1883, a clock that had not struck for eighteen months, suddenly chimed. It then leapt over a bed and fell to the floor.
20 As the wall-writings (see Chapter XXV) directed us to do.
21 Since the above was written, I was lecturing at Oxford University where I was told that, some time previously, a Mass had been said for the ‘nun’ in one of the Oxford Roman Catholic churches.
22 Probably a corruption of the Suffolk word ‘scratch-fagot’, an opprobrious term for an old hag or witch.
CHAPTER XXVI Poltergeist-Infested Rectories
1 Longmans, London, 1939, pp. 299–302.
2 Compare Mrs. Hewins’s experience, above.
3 Compare Mrs. Foyster’s experiences at Borley.—H.P.
5 Apparitions and Haunted Houses, London, 1939 (Case 10).
6 This case was originally published many years ago.
7 Op. cit. (Case 78.)
8 Year Book of Facts, London, 1851, p. 270.
9 Published at Swansea. (Cited by Charles Fort.)
10 Frank, Bishop of Zanzibar, London, 1926.
11 See Yorkshire Observer, April 2 and 7, 1913.
12 See C. G. Harper’s Haunted Houses, London, 1927 (3rd Ed). pp. 148–9.
13 Charles Kingsley, his Letters and Memories of his Life, London, 1877.
14 For December 24, 1904.
15 See Historic Poltergeists by Hereward Carrington, New York, pp. 8–12.
16 See Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World, by R. D. Owen, London, 1875.
17 See the London Magazine for 1760, and European Magazine, Sept., 1815.
18 Third Series, Vol. XII, Nov. 9, 1867, p. 371.
19 For original sources, see Transatlantic Sketches, by Sir J. E. Alexander, London, 1833, Vol. I, p. 161; History of Barbados, by Sir R. H. Schomburgk, London, 1848, pp. 220–21; and Memoirs and Correspondence of Field-Marshal Viscount Combermere, by Mary, Viscountess Combermere and Capt. W. W. Knollys, London, 1866, Vol. I, pp. 385–393. A very full detailed account. But perhaps the best account of all, and one easily available, is the story printed in Sir Algernon Aspinalfs The Pocket Guide to the West Indies (London, 1927, pp. 99–105; first edition, 1907). It is by the Hon. Forster M. Alleyne, from an authentic manuscript by the Hon. Nathan Lucas, Member of the Legislative Council, who was present at the opening of the vault. There are illustrations, one of which shows that the roof of the vault is arched. Comdr. Rupert T. Gould informs me that Sir Algernon Aspinall has reported to him that unexplained displacements of coffins in another vault at Barbados have occurred recently.
20 London, 1861, p. 186.
21 Cited by Charles Fort.
22 Both coffins and figures are pictured in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. XII, p. 460.
CHAPTER XXVII Poltergeist Incendiaries
1 A New Confutation of Sadducism … op. cit.
2 Sul Fenomeno di Pirano, Roma, 1934.
3 For May 20, 1878.
4 See Annual Register, London, 1820, p. 13. (Cited by Charles Fort).
5 Books of Charles Fort, New York, 1941. pp. 662–65.
6 Lloyd’s Weekly News, February 5, 1905.
7 See ‘The Poltergeist that Stumbled’, Chapter XVIII.
8 Wild Talents, New York, 1932.
9 For Aug. 21, 1856.
10 In the New York World for August 8, 1887, is an account of Poltergeist incendiaries in the home of Reginald C. Hoyt cf Woodstock, N.B. More than forty fires broke out in a few hours. Curtains, quilts, clothes, etc. were destroyed. A young girl was in the household.
11 For Dec. 19, 1891.
12 Wild Talents, op. cit.
13 Lloyd’s Weekly News, July 30, 1911.
14 Peterborough Advertiser, Jan. 10, 1892.
15 English Mechanic, Vol. 90, p. 140.
16 See Daily Mail, July 23, 1925.
17 September 30, 1920.
18 Wild Talents, op. cit.
19 Daily News, Sept. 16, 1921.
20 The Hornsey Journal and North Middlesex Chronicle for this period.
21 Compare these incidents with the coal phenomenena recorded by Mrs. Mara Mack, Chapter XXVIII.
22 The Books of Charles Fort, New York, 1941, pp. 947–8.
23 See Annals of Electricity, Vol. VI, p. 499.
24 The Times, London, July 5, 1842.
25 Daily Express, June 12, 1919. What did not come down was a horse and barn that a tornado sucked upwards at Wisconsin on May 23, 1878. Not a trace of either horse or barn was ever seen again. (Monthly Weather Review, Washington, D.C., May, 1878.)
26 Blyth News, February 28, 1905.
27 For December 17, 1904.
28 Daily Mail, Dec. 4, 1904; Hull Daily Mail, Jan. 6, 1905.
29 Vol. X, p. 100.
30 See the Blyth News (period Mar. 23 to April 10, 1908).
31 For Nov. 29, 1943.
32 See The Book of the Damned (1919); New Lands (1923); Lo! (1931); and Wild Talents (1932). All published in New York, and subsequently issued as an omnibus volume under the title, The Books of Charles Fort, New York, 1941.
33 A striking example of kitchen phenomena recently appeared in the Delhi Press. Reporting a Poltergeist case, the Hindustan Times (Jan. 15, 1944) says: ‘Strange happenings have been taking place in the village of Hasanpur, in Muslim homes especially, for a long time past. It is often noticed by villagers that breads in the process of being cooked over ovens fly in the air and disappear, and that earthen pots containing milk also fly with their contents and are dropped empty and undamaged. Fire accidents are also sometimes noticed, but the moment people rush to extinguish them, they find that there is no fire.’
CHAPTER XXVIII My Friends Poltergeists
1 It is curious that so many haunted houses contain ‘Blue Rooms’. The reader will call to mind those of Borley, Ballechin, Willington Mill, Tackley, etc.
2 Compare this phenomenon with a similar one recorded by Mr. Procter in the Willington Mill case (Chapter XVI).
3 This is an old theory, but I would go a long way to witness the ringing of a row of bells by ‘atmospheric effects’.—H.P.
4 It is strange how fond Poltergeists are of giving triple blows or knocks. At Willington Mill, Epworth, etc., the knocks were usually three in quick succession.—H.P.
5 The initials ‘M.H.’ represent Mrs. Mack herself, ‘L.H.’ and ‘Mrs. L.H.’ being her father and mother respectively.—H.P.
6 In a further letter, Mrs. Mack said the coal had disintegrated into powder, and that it was hardly worth sending. I agreed.—H.P.
7 This identical phenomenon was witnessed by a Borley observer.—H.P.
8 Compare this experience with that of Mrs. Mack and her mother.—H.P.
9 Compare this with the ‘heavenly music’ heard by Sir Y. and Lady Z. (‘Poltergeist-Infested Rectories’.)—H. P.
10 Mr. Cooper experienced the same phenomenon at Borley. (See Chapter XXV.)
11 One of the strangest phenomena was surely that which occurred in Worcester, England on May 28, 1881. On that day many tons of periwinkles, small crabs, and hermit crabs were found deposited in the streets of Worcester after a violent thunderstorm. They were quite fresh and the fall was confined to the Cromer Gardens Road area and the contiguous fields and gardens. In the Worcester Evening Post for June 9, 1881, it was stated that ten sacks of periwinkles were picked up and sold in the local markets. A man named Maund collected in his own garden as many winkles as would fill two sacks. As Worcester is many miles from the sea, where did the winkles come from? (Extract from my letter to The Times, July 1, 1939.)
12A reference to the fact that in our Borley experiments, we used to ring objects with circles drawn with chalk, as a control, to tell us whether they had moved paranormally.
13 Adelaide, a child of about the same age, at Borley Rectory, saw a ‘nasty thing’ that gave her a bruise under the eye. Mrs. Foyster saw a monstrosity ‘that touched her with an iron touch’.
14 This particular sound is a very common phenomenon in Poltergeist cases.—H.P.
15 Search for Truth.—H.P.
16A large safety-pin.—H.P.
17 As was the case with Eleonore Zugun.
CHAPTER XXIX The Evidence for the Poltergeist
1 Nature and Thought, London, 1882, p. 133.
2 Encyclo. Brit., op. cit., p. 16.
3 In January, 1849, a rain of stones showered down on a house near the Panthéon, Paris. No explanation. (Recorded by Prof. Alfred Russel Wallace in On Miracles and Modern Spiritualism. London, 1896, p. 284.)
4 Op. cit.
5 As I am correcting the proofs of this book, Mr. A. J. B. Robertson, M. A., writes to say that since my monograph (op. cit.) on Borley was published, about sixty scientists, graduates, and undergraduates from Cambridge University have visited Borley on twenty-five nights, and that ‘a number of curious happenings have been noted, especially of auditory events, such as reiterated noises…. ‘During the period of their investigations, the Rectory was, of course, in ruins.
6 She soaked her clothes with paraffin and set fire to herself.
7 ‘An Indian Poltergeist’, by Harry Price and H. Kohn, Vol. XXIV, 1930, pp. 122–130, 180–186, 221–232.
8A roof composed of large, dried, flat, overlapping leaves.
9 Journal of the S.P.R., 1903, Vol. XII, pp. 260–66.
10 Op. cit., p. 16.
11 Cock Lane, pp. 45–46.
12 Op. cit.
13 Cited by Lang.
CHAPTER XXX Can We Explain the Poltergeist?
1 Modern Spiritualism, Vol. I, p. 17.
2 See Complete Works of Antoinette Bourignon, Amsterdam, 1686, Vol. II, p. 200. In a girls’ school at Derby, in 1905, forty-five girls, during a period of five days, became ‘possessed’, screamed, laughed, cried, and dropped to the floor unconscious. The girls were exceedingly weak, and had to be carried home.’ A clear case of contagious hysteria. (See the Derby Mercury for May 15, 1905, and following issues.)
3 Saducismus Triumphatus, London, 1681, Part 2, pp. 313–4.
4 ‘Psychical Research in Vienna’, Journal of the Am. S.P.R., New York, 1925, Vol. XIX, pp. 693 and 705.
5 Printed in The British Journal of Psychical Research, London, March-April, 1926, Vol. I, pp. 165–181.
6 On the E at Delphi, On the Pythian Responses, and On the Sanctuaries Where Oracles have Ceased.
7 Born March 28, 1860. Died at Brockton, Mass., November 8, 1912.
8 The Haunted House … The Great Amherst Mystery, op. cit.
9 The Story of Psychic Science, London, 1930, p. 146.
10 Poltergeists, op. cit., p. 83.
11 See the Sunderland case in this connection.—H.P.
12 His essay will be published in the forthcoming Borley book.
13 Normal temperature and pressure: i.e. 0° Centigrade and 760 mm. of mercury.—H.P.
14 See my ‘Some Account of the Thermal Variations as Recorded During the Trance of Stella C.’ Journal of the Am. S.P.R., Novr., 1927, pp. 635–41. (With many graphs.)
15 Reproduced in my article in The Listener, March 18, 1936.
16 For full account see the Daily Telegraph, January 17, 1944.
17I, too, was being playful.—H.P.
18 Essai sur l’ Humanité Postume … Paris, 1883. English translation, Posthumous Humanity: A Study of Phantoms, London, 1887.
19 The Books of Charles Fort, op, cit., pp. 571–2, 983.
20 Encyclo. Brit., op. cit., p. 16.
21 Campbell, Witchcraft and Second Sight in the Scottish Highlands, 1902, pp. 144–147.
22 A remarkable story of a ‘Poltergeist’ was recorded in The Times (Aug. 30 to Sept. 13, 1919). The disturbances occurred at the Rectory of Swanton Novers, near Melton Constable. Spontaneous outbreaks of fires; petrol, paraffin, methylated spirits, sandal-wood oil and water pouring from the ceilings; floorboards torn up and ceilings torn down, etc. The manifestations lasted for days. Finally, a passing conjurer was called in and in an hour or so had solved the ‘mystery’. He set a trap and the 15-year-old maidservant fell into it. She confessed to hoaxing the family. But the story does not end there. Nevil Maskelyne, the famous illusionist, also visited the rectory and saw ‘barrels of oil’ pouring through the ceiling. He could not explain the mystery. Then the girl denied that she had confessed, or that she had tricked. The rector also denied (The Times, Sept. 13) that she had confessed. For other accounts of this case, see the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, the Daily News, etc., for this period, and the Norfolk News for Novr. 8, 1919. Two photographs of oil pouring through the ceiling were published (Sept. 3) by the Daily Mail. Fort (Books of Charles Fort, op. cit., pp. 577–81) discusses the affair at length. The psychological aspect of the case is as important as the phenomena.
23 Charles Fort (Wild Talents, op. cit.) makes the ‘outrageous’ suggestion that the strange paranormal powers possessed by some people, which he calls ‘wild talents’, may one day be put to good—or bad—uses. For example, in time of war: ‘A squad of Poltergeist girls—and they pick a fleet out of the sea, or out of the sky…. Girls at the front—and they are discussing their usual not very profound subjects. The alarm—the enemy is advancing. Command to the Poltergeist girls to concentrate—and under their chairs they stick their wads of chewing gum. A regiment bursts into flames, and the soldiers are torches. Horses snort smoke from the combustion of their entrails. Reinforcements are smashed under cliffs that are teleported from the Rocky Mountains. The snatch of Niagara Falls—it pours upon the battlefield. The little Poltergeist girls reach for their wads of chewing gum.’
APPENDIX A A Question of Dates, and John Mompesson’s First-Hand Evidence
1 From their Proceedings, Vol. xvii, pp. 305–16, London, 1901–02, in the article, The Poltergeist, Historically Considered
2 William Drury lived at what is now known as Uffcott, but perhaps originally Usscott, owing to the modern confusion between the ancient long ‘s’ and its similarity to the ‘f’. It is a hamlet in the parish of Broad Hinton, N. Wilts. The name Drury can still be found among the local inhabitants. There are memorials to the Glanvill family in the church of St. Peter-ad-Vincula, Broad Hinton.—H.P.
3 But see Mompesson’s letter, pp. 394–98.—H.P.
4 By Abraham Miles. (See article by Dr. H. H. E. Craster, Bodley’s Librarian, in the Bodleian Quarterly Record, Oxford, April 25, 1924, Vol. IV, No. 41.)—H.P.
5 Wood marked his copy ‘mense February 1662’ (i.e. 1662–3), the date when he acquired it.—H.P.
6 ‘He’ is Mompesson.—H.P.
7 Mentioned by Glanvill and in Mompesson’s letter.—H.P.
8 Incidents mentioned by Glanvill and Mompesson.—H.P.
9 Incident mentioned by both Glanvill and Mompesson.—H.P.
10 Mentioned by Glanvill.—H.P.
11 Incidents mentioned by both Glanvill and Mompesson.—H.P.
12 Mentioned by Glanvill.—H.P.
13 There are three known copies. See Dr. Craster’s remarks at end of Appendix A.
14 Glanvill, in his account (see Chapter V) says: ‘The same particulars he writ also to Dr. Creed.’
15 A West Country term for ‘pattering’ or ‘crackling’.—H.P.
16 i.e. attic—H.P.
17 The differences are very slight.—H.P.
18 I have reproduced some extracts from this journal in Plate in Chapter V.—H.P.