In the footsteps of Lankester Merrin, Lol.

When i was 20 i joined the Ghost Club and trained to be a paranormal investigator, which was 42 years ago, i joined on 25th April 1977, and took my training seriously which was to look for all other reasons for paranormal activity before reasoning that it couldn't be explained, hence the title of this thread is in jest, but as my memory goes back to 1977, i had no idea what was going to follow in a few months in the Autumn of that year.
I still can't explain it.
The Ghost Club says it is the oldest paranormal organization in the World, perhaps they are, Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had been members, my membership in 1977 is below:-

So, are you going to share some of your experiences with us?

Looking forward to it.

a reply to: Astronomer62
At the time i lived in a suburb of London called Enfield, i studied my instruction in how to become a investigator and was a junior and part of a team that investigated a very frightening case, i thought it might interest if i wrote down some of my memories on this, i think you may guess what it was!
Below is an old passport showing that i did live in Enfield during this time, tomorrow i will start to tell a very strange real live event, i'm getting tired being in a nursing home for a while, so i will be back when i'm not in pain!

a reply to: Astronomer62

Looking forward to it!

a reply to: zosimov

Hi Zosimov and Sled 735,
Thank you for your reply, i'm feeling a little better so will continue with this thread, obviously as an investigator i was always looking for fraud or trickery, It wasn't easy joining the Ghost Club in 1977, in fact new members were by invitation, and scrutinized by senior members, it was very easy to get "Black Balled".

It must of been reading about a friend's obituary that focused my mind about events that happened over 40 years ago, and nearly dying with a broken spine, which tends to make you write about your life, for many years it wasn't something i wanted to remember, it still gives me the chills!
It was a few months ago i noticed Guy Lyon Playfair had died, i hadn't contacted him in years, but i was involved with him all those years ago. Although i was a junior paranormal investigator, i was more attached to Maurice Grosse, as we both lived in Enfield, he died in 2006, so it seems i'm the investigator left being an eye witness to strange events that started in autumn 1977in a council house, being 284 Green Street, Enfield, Middlesex, a suburb of London.

Both Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair were members of the Ghost Club and the Society of Psychical Research (SPR). I was only a member of the Ghost Club in 1977, the obituary is on link below:-
www.spr.ac.uk...

The Enfield Poltergeist is the most documented case of paranormal activity in the world, even a woman police officer,
Carolyn Heeps signed an affidavit explaining that she saw a chair move across the room which she checked for wires or fraud but she couldn't explain it.

It wasn't long before the media were camped outside the house, please read link below, i will write about my memories later:-
www.dailymail.co.uk...

a reply to: zosimov
I haven't much time today, but i can write a little, you could say i was lucky or unlucky, but the Enfield Haunting was my first case, i had some jurisdiction as i lived in Enfield.
The link below is a tape recording that i verify is 11 year old Janet Hodgson speaking in a very bassy male voice, that i still find disturbing:-
www.youtube.com...

a reply to: Astronomer62

Hey thanks so much for the interesting info!!!

Looking forward to listening to this (can't at the moment) and will definitely let you know what I think!

The Enfield Poltergeist story is fascinating. I believe it.

Looking forward to hearing your memories on this one.

a reply to: sled735
Hi Sled735 and Zosimov,
It must be remembered that i was just a side-kick regarding the investigations in Enfield, and never spent as much time with the haunted family as Guy Playfair or Maurice Grosse, Ed and Lorraine Warren were never involved except for half a day, however obviously i do have a lot of paranormal observations to share!

The "knocking" in the house were frequent and moved, but i could never find the source, there were raps on the ceiling, but i checked no one was upstairs, the raps could be on the outside wall to the semi-detached house, so i would rush outside but i would find no human trickery! Probably the raps on the floor were the most impressive, you could feel them through the floor boards near your feet, i have no idea how to explain this. I know that "Conjuring 2" in fiction showed a cellar but in truth the house never had a cellar, so this is very difficult to explain!

Next i will share my observations about Janet Hodgson regarding such a male bassy voice in trance when she was eleven/twelve.

I looked through my old collection of 'Unexplained' magazines & it seems there's a very small picture of you (from a newspaper) in one of the articles, haha. Looking forward to seeing this thread develop!

a reply to: Saturnschild
Hi Saturnschild,
I love your avatar picture, it takes me back to when i was a teenager and collected a magazine called Man, Myth, and Magic, your avatar picture was on the cover of the first mag, link below:-
upload.wikimedia.org...

It is from a London based occult surrealist painter, Austin Osman Spare.
The surrealist occult painter that really spooks me is H.R. Giger, link below:-
www.youtube.com...
I will continue my observations about Enfield in 1977 tomorrow.

a reply to: Astronomer62

I love Giger! Have you read about the haunted/cursed skull that was in his possession briefly? Interesting story (read it in a book of his I own).

I just want to thank you again for lending an interesting perspective to a great horror tale (Enfield).
And wishing you the best in your current situation (sorry to hear that you're in so much pain).
Hope this site serves as a good distraction.

originally posted by: Astronomer62
a reply to: Saturnschild
Hi Saturnschild,
I love your avatar picture, it takes me back to when i was a teenager and collected a magazine called Man, Myth, and Magic, your avatar picture was on the cover of the first mag

Thanks Astronomer62, I have a few issues of Man, Myth, & Magic (including the first one). Those & the Unexplained magazines really got me into the stranger corners of life when I was a kid. Spare's got some great artwork!

& as zosimov said, thanks for your perspective/memories of the Enfield case.

a reply to: Saturnschild

Hi Zosimov,
Thank you for your kind comments, Yes Giger was one of a kind!
Hi SaturnsChild,
Yes Spare had some good paintings, i think he was a member of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and was an associate of Aleister Crowley!
I have to be careful regarding my observations with Janet aged 11 who spoke in a gruff male bassy voice. Could it have been a hoax? When adult women are trained for a deep singing voice, it is possible, please listen to female Mongolian throat singers on link below, however i did learn as much as i could from Janet, there wasn't any singing training, my thoughts were for a child to shout and speak in a deep male voice, which she did for more than an hour at a time would have damaged a young girls throat, which surprisingly did not happen.
www.youtube.com...

The pressures on the investigating team and the family were huge during this period, Janet suffered badly in this period as newspapers were camped outside, The Daily Star had the headline "Possessed by the Devil" referring to Janet, and Maurice Grosse was labelled a paedophile in the media for his interest in Janet's paranormal skills, it was a crazy period of time in Green Street, Enfield.
I have to say, and i have to be honest, perhaps you feel that only being 21 when i was in the middle of all this, that i might have been impressionable, i don't feel i was, but is the reason for the title of this thread.
It was only a few years before that i saw "The Exorcist", and Lankester Merrin!
When Janet was speaking in a male voice i observed that the voice appeared to come from just behind, and above her head, i hunted for tape machines and speakers, but never found any equipment, indeed one of the experiments we did wouldn't be PC to do on a child now, but wasn't thought wrong in 1977.
We asked Janet to hold water in her mouth, we then taped up her mouth, she then talked in the male voice for approx. 20 minutes, where upon we took the tape off her mouth, and she spat the water back into into a glass, i have no explanation for this!
Janet when in a trance would swear a great deal, i was told to get out several times, on many of these occasions there were icy cold spots that happened in the room, i wish i had a rational explanation for all this but i don't!
Next i will write what i observed regarding moving objects!

I can't imagine the strain such events would take on everyone!

Thanks again for writing your story.

This is so interesting (as is the rest):

originally posted by: Astronomer62

When Janet was speaking in a male voice i observed that the voice appeared to come from just behind, and above her head

I did listen to your link and heard the voice you were referring to. Not what you'd expect to issue from a little girl at all.

Looking forward to hearing more, thanks Astronomer62!

a reply to: zosimov

The haunting lasted for approx. 18 months, Playfair and Grosse were there for most of this time, even over-night, i came in when needed. Janet spent some time in hospital even having electric shock treatment, but they never found anything physical wrong with her brain!
When i observed Janet, she sometimes spoke in the voice of a previous occupier of the house who had died called Bill Watkins, but i thought there were several personalities, one of which put the hairs up on my neck, i did feel that this was particularly malevolent! I have no idea if this was a case of split personality or something else!
But that's the good thing about a debating forum, we can hear the evidence and make up our own minds!

a reply to: Astronomer62

Hi Astronomer

I believe in demonic entities, and have had a friend who claimed she could see beings actually hanging on to people's backs. That and the term "monkey on one's back" to describe addiction makes me wonder if malevolent beings can latch on to people (yes it sounds way out there to me too, but I still have to wonder).

This is one reason your observation that the voices seemed to come from above/behind the girl is very interesting to me!

My own experience which makes me a believer:
Walking with a friend one night, a couple of years ago, I passed this "woman," waiting for the bus and leaning against a building just a bit off to the side, right out of the direct streetlight but still quite visible.
I casually glanced up at her and in the peripheral she did not seem to stand out-- maybe middle aged, dark hair in a ponytail, gray sweatshirt and jeans, but I caught a look at her face and my blood ran cold.

She was malevolently staring straight at me. What nearly stopped my heart was seeing that her eyes, the "whites" and all, were entirely black. A very dark and abysmal black.

I remember thinking that she was staring right into my soul.
I felt an otherworldy terror, sped up my steps without daring to turn back or say anything to my friend until a distance had passed, then I blurted out to my friend that I needed her to pray for us, for me, that there was something behind us.

She's been in the church all her life so she prayed without questioning or thinking the request too strange.

I dont' even remember if I dared turn around until we had rounded the corner for my house, but I can tell you the fright was unlike anything I'd had, lasted days. I told my husband what had happened and he drove the few blocks to see if that thing was still there, but nothing.

All that to say- I believe that something very evil could have gone down in that case you were a part of.

a reply to: zosimov
Hi Zosimov,
Your experience sounds very scary, but thankfully with no ill effects after. The reason i joined the Ghost Club was i lived in a very creepy house from 5 to 15 years old, i will tell of my experiences later after i have finished my observances about the Enfield Poltergeist, but when i was 14 i used a spirit board that made it worse, my house is long gone now as the area was re-developed, but it wasn't far from Green Street, being 372 Herford Road, Enfield. I'm afraid my club house was the cellar for my friends that were interested in the paranormal! I have put a picture of the house i grew up in below, it does look creepy, doesn't it?

originally posted by: Astronomer62
a reply to: zosimov
it does look creepy, doesn't it?

It does!