Contents

FOREWORD

I. WHAT IS A POLTERGEIST?

II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

III. WHAT POLTERGEISTS DO

IV. THE HOME OF THE POLTERGEIST

V. THE DRUMMER POLTERGEIST

VI. MORE TALES FROM RAGLEY

VII. THE RINGCROFT POLTERGEIST

VIII. THE WESLEY POLTERGEIST

IX. ACADEMIC POLTERGEISTS

X. DR. JOHNSON, GOLDSMITH, AND THE COCK LANE GHOST

XI. THE HINTON AMPNER SKULL

XII. ‘ASTONISHING TRANSACTIONS AT STOCKWELL’

XIII. THE POLTERGEIST OF STAMFORD STREET

XIV. ‘RING OUT, WILD BELLS’

XV. THE WILLINGTON POLTERGEIST

XVI. THE ‘ELECTRIC HORROR’ OF BERKELEY SQUARE

XVII. THE MILL ON THE EDEN

XVIII. THE POLTERGEIST THAT STUMBLED

XIX. THE BALLECHIN HOUSE CONTROVERSY

XX. THE BATTERSEA POLTERGEIST

XXI. ‘POLTERGEIST MANOR’

XXII. POLTERGEIST MEDIUMS

XXIII. POLTERGEISTS THAT BITE

XXIV. DR. TILLYARD’S POLTERGEIST

XXV. BORLEY RECTORY: A CENTURY OF POLTERGEISTS

XXVI. POLTERGEIST-INFESTED RECTORIES

XXVII. POLTERGEIST INCENDIARIES

XXVIII. MY FRIENDS’ POLTERGEISTS

XXIX. THE EVIDENCE FOR THE POLTERGEIST

XXX. CAN WE EXPLAIN THE POLTERGEIST?

APPENDIX A

A QUESTION OF DATES, AND JOHN MOMPESSON’S FIRST-HAND EVIDENCE

APPENDIX B

BIBLIOGRAPHY: POLTERGEISTS IN PRINT