The Enfield Poltergeist Case

• The Enfield Poltergeist Case •

Summary of the Events: A rented out council houseflat in Enfield, North London lived the family of Peggy Hodgson, a single parent with four children.

During their time here strange phenomenon supposedly occurred which were specifically focused on Peggy Hodgson’s daughter (Janet) of 11 years of age during August 1977 (at a point where it made headlines) and September 1978, with an added outburst in August 1980.

The strange activity surrounding this case started simply by Janet and her sister called Margaret (aged 12) complaining that their beds were “jolting up and down and going all funny.” But oddly after their mother investigated and came into the room it all seemed to suddenly stop every time.

Soon though things started to get worse after hearing knocks on the wall’s, shuffling noises and even a Chester draws apparently flew across the bedroom time and time again prompting Peggy to take her kids out of the house and into a nearby neighbors.

The police were then called as she feared an intruder at first and after searching the house there was no signs of a break in or any intruder at all but more bizarrely the knocking on the walls continued as well as intensified and also children’s toys were said to have been thrown and then too hot to touch upon investigation.

A present police officer also witnessed a chair seemingly moving all by itself and then later signed an Affidavit confirming this.

In utter desperation, Mrs. Harper then turned to the press and the case was then reported in the national newspapers. One of the reporters suggested to Mrs. Harper that she should call in the SPR (Society for Psychical Research). One of their members, Maurice Grosse, who lived in North London went to the house and started his investigations only a week after the disturbing events had all begun.

Although the evidence gathered during the investigations on behalf of the SPR was inconclusive, Maurice Grosse became convinced that the Enfield Poltergeist was a genuine case of poltergeist activity and remained firm in his convictions until his death at the age of ninety in October 2006.


Evidence: During the SPR’s time there they had set up 2 automatic cameras in the room (presumably because they wanted to be completely out of the way), which were controlled by a button outside the room, so if anything at all was heard from inside the bedroom then they could start the cameras going. The cameras were set to flash at half second intervals


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/038bfee4f8ad.jpg[/atsimg]


In the first shot here (Above) the pillow is going towards the camera which is at the front of the room. Apparently the pillow was 100% on the bed by the side of Margaret.

In the next photo the pillow has doubled up and is going in the complete opposite direction.


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In the third photo the pillow has again reversed its direction.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/91fb54020879.jpg[/atsimg]


And finally in the last photo the pillow is now on the floor. So in fact the pillow is doing a zigzag motion and we know that physically that is not possible.


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Strangely enough in the next sequence of photographs they show even though the windows are apparently all shut and there is no draft coming into the room the blinds are waving about which is something that the children reported before the investigations even began.


So here in the first photo we see the bed covers flying up the wall

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4aac49e134ed.jpg[/atsimg]

The next photo shows the bed clothes have dropped down and the curtain is still moving because in the first photo the curtain is convexed and in the second it is concave.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4aac49e134ed.jpg[/atsimg]


Janet is still lying there and has not moved. In the last photo the curtains have twisted around and the bed clothes have also twisted as to appear to meet each other.


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[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/
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Next is a sequence of photographs of the alleged famous levitation of Janet as they seemingly catch here quite literally flying through the air in the first picture.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a63cb41d4393.jpg[/atsimg]

Have a look at Margaret in the second picture below lying on the bed, a very strange thing for young girls to be doing at 3:00 o'clock in the morning.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/a63cb41d4393.jpg[/atsimg]

There's Janet flying through the air and Margaret is lying there with one foot up the wall and one hand up in the air ... You must admit a bit peculiar ... even if Janet has just jumped.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/085cad58338a.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1843d5b65fb6.jpg[/atsimg]

But let's look at the next picture which shows a similar thing happening but this time the mother is in the room.

When the mother has been questioned, specifically asked in this case "what was happening at that time?"

She replied that: ... Janet was lying in bed and I was talking to Janet.

She was then asked... "Then what happened?"

She replied: ... I don't know but Janet was suddenly flying through the air

"let's get this straight", "you were talking to Janet", "and what did she do?" "Get out from the covers", "go to the top of the bed and jump?"

She then replied: ... NO!, I was talking to Janet and suddenly Janet was flying through the air ...

"I said, Are you sure?"

She replied: ... Absolutely positive...

"So how did Janet get into that position if she lying down and talking to her mother?"

She replied: This just did not happen once, twice or three times but just kept happening and usually in the middle of the night.

Here is the last picture is a close up of Janet in the air.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/b2d79f2c4fb3.jpg[/atsimg]

... so bad that one time we even thought she would kill herself. She used to rush over and smash her head on the wall. It was a dreadful thing to see. She used to swear and curse ... she was so strong that one time she picked up the social worker that was lying on the bed trying to calm her and through her straight off the bed.

This social worker was an ex-policeman and was not a very small woman I assure you ... incredible. Well one night when she was in a very bad state, we called a doctor who came and gave her a 10 milligram injection of Valium to quiet her down which was too much for a child and she went out like a light.

Then the rest of the children went to bed and we all went downstairs ... 40 minutes later there was a terrible crash and enormous explosion ... I thought the top of the house came down ... we rushed up the stairs into the bedroom ... No Janet ... She had disappeared from the bed ... then we looked around and we saw Janet on top of this chest of drawers ... there was a radio there and the chest of drawers and she was on top ... she had been thrown apparently 14 feet across the room and she was either in deep sleep or unconscious ... I examined her eyes ... That happened 3 times that night.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/805e0a33fb17.jpg[/atsimg]

Also here is a 5 minute documentary called Interview with a poltergeist about this case that some may find fascinating.



Hoax?!?!: Sadly this being one of the biggest cases in the UK it has been overshadowed by shouts of Hoax by various people.

Even sadder still the Hodgson family themselves specifically Janet herself claims that Some, Remember NOT ALL but some of the activity was faked by her.

Not everyone was as willing to believe this was an entirely paranormal activity as Grosse and Playfair seemed to. Other researchers were convinced that all the activity stemmed from Janet's trickery, they claimed they were excluded from the children's bedroom when the phenomena was said to have occurred. During her visit Anita Gregory from the Society for Psychical Research caught Janet cheating - a video camera had been set up in a room next door to Janet's that recorded her bending spoons and bouncing up and down on her bed.

Janet admits to having done this claiming "she wanted to see if the investigators would catch her - they always did". Gregory also claims that Janet's uncle, John Burcombe, had told her that he believed that Janet had taught herself to talk in a deep voice and she had always been a mischievous child, who enjoyed misleading strangers. Janet was also athletic which would help her jump from her bed to the floor when she claimed she was being thrown by the "entity".

It is believed that this case began with genuine phenomena, but soon turned to trickery. The media demanded paranormal activity and Janet and Rose, were not going to allow them to go away disappointed and reveled in the attention.

But this case still remains to be one of the biggest and still the most peculiar.

Pease share your thoughts on this intriguing case….


Links used when making this thread.....
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[edit on 30-3-2010 by Rising Against]

I have known about this case since when I was little. I remember reading about it and hearing knocking sounds throughout the night which totally scared me. I have also seen the photographs before but never like this. It does give it a bit of a different perspective. I am still undecided on the whole thing but leaning towards trickery/hoax. However, the photographs are baffling me somewhat.

Edited to add that I cannot view the youtube video due to me being outside the UK.

[edit on 30/3/10 by Lebowski achiever]

I found this youtube link that is viewable

www.youtube.com...

[edit on 30/3/10 by Lebowski achiever]

reply to post by Lebowski achiever


I'm in pretty much the same position really....

They have proven at least some of it to be a Hoax since Janet even admitted it herself, but she claims she did some of it to deliberately see if she would be caught out, but then again other parts of this investigation seem totally baffling.

...It's such a great paranormal case IMO.

A very interesting case.


Its a shame that there were some shenanigans going on as well, it just tarnishes the credibility of the girls, but I guess thats what kids do.

I dont know if I'd classify that as a poltergeist, which means "noisy spirit." Usually poltergeist activity is said to be caused by one of the living people in the house. What I heard on that video you provided sounded straight out of the exorcist.

If you remember in that movie, (the exorcist) they even had to tie her down to the bed, because she was levitating and acting crazy, pushing people around. Sounds similar.

If she was flung out of her bed, then the bed covers would be all over the place. Unless she was dragged out in some other way, or crawled out herself.

Just my 2 penneth.

But, I will say, how many people are supposed to be in the bed on the right? Sometimes there's 1 and sometimes it's 2. Maybe it's just my eyes, but it looks like an arm, not a leg up the wall.

[edit on 30/3/2010 by Acidtastic]

I still don't know what to make of it

Have the book down in the basement somewhere ... Guy Playfair ?

Have read it a few times over the years and seen it mentioned in other books and watched the documentaries

When I first read it, years ago, I pretty much accepted it as unvarnished fact, because in those days I believed books could/would only tell the truth

The place was filled with reporters and researchers, yet rumours of fraud clung to the case

Nowadays, I'm undecided and I guess I give it '25/75' rating, i.e., 75%
'something to it' and 25% 'artistic licence/publishers tarted it up/kids faked some of it '

Sceptics have claimed that the mother wanted the council to provide her a different house, so the paranormal element was used to force the council's hand in that respect

Sceptics have also claimed the eldest daughter (Janet ?) enjoyed the attention and faked some of it


But then we have the witnesses who claimed to see one of the daughters (Janet again ?) float out of the second-floor window and across thin air, almost to the neighbouring house, after which she floated home again

Can such testimony be trusted ? I don't know. People say what's expected of them sometimes. Others enjoy attention

The things that's always stayed with me is the chair. It was claimed to have been given to the children's mother and from memory was said to have 'housed' the spirit of the old man who was said to be responsible for much of what transpired

To be remembered is that this took place in the 70's or thereabouts and at the same time, Uri Geller and Matthew Manning were attracting huge crowds. It was a 'paranormally-type' era with the Bloxham Tapes and several men in the UK claiming to be able to uncover past-lives in virtually everyone

The paranormal was big money, back then. Publishers and movie and tv-producers couldn't produce enough to satisfy demand. It was an era which produced hundreds of best-sellers (I still have most of them)

So, in hindsight, it's easy to regard the Enfield case as more grist for the mill

On the other hand, there have been (and still are, occasionally) apparently authenticated cases of councils relocating families of problematic (haunted) houses after clergy-conducted exorcisms have failed and/or worsened the problem

It would be interesting to see interviews with the Enfield family members of today. Would they still claim the events occurred as reported ? Or would they embarassedly shrug it off as 'mainly hoaxed' ? Or ... would they split into opposing camps, as other temporarily-famous families have ? (I'm thinking now of the two girls whose father swore were the reincarnations of two previous daughters who'd died in an accident. The father swore the two later-born girls had recognised his dead daughter's toys by name as soon as they saw them and had recognised the house he and his wife had lived in with his deceased daughters, etc. His wife was reportedly reluctant to confirm his claims. The two later-born girls, according to their father, bore birthmarks common to the girls who'd died in the accident. When adults, one of the daughters refused to participate when the media attempted a follow-up report. Same sort of situation arose with the two elderly women who'd featured in the Cottingly Fairies headlines when they were young girls. One insisted the fairies had been real, while the other woman claimed it had all been a hoax. Same sort of situation arose with the Fox Sisters of 'spirit rapping' fame as they grew older, I seem to remember)

With most of these cases, you'd need to be there yourself, I think, before you could confidently state the situation was genuine. That's the problem which has always faced investigators and reporters

They may well be genuine. But at the same time, a sceptic would claim ... and how would you dismiss such claims .... that all the phenomena could be faked. And it could. Janet (shown in the photos in the OP) could have jumped from the bed. The grimaces on her own and her sister's face may be simply kids acting a part. Similarly their mother, etc.

Fishing line and fans could have been used to blow the curtains and tug the pillow, etc.

By the same token, it could be claimed that no mere photo or film could adequately portray what genuinely occurred

That's the way it is with the paranormal --it always seems to win, despite the very best intentions quite often, of all concerned

Interesting case though ... one of the classics and very well documented by Playfair, who afterwards went to research even more extraordinary paranormal events in South America, I think

S & F for reviving interest in the Enfield case, which I'm sure will fascinate many

reply to post by Acidtastic

But, I will say, how many people are supposed to be in the bed on the right? Sometimes there's 1 and sometimes it's 2.

I think Janet (the agent in this case) and he sister Margaret share a room but he is two brothers as well called Billy (aged 7) and Johnny (age 10) so it could have been any one of those.

reply to post by WhiteDevil013

I dont know if I'd classify that as a poltergeist, which means "noisy spirit." Usually poltergeist activity is said to be caused by one of the living people in the house. What I heard on that video you provided sounded straight out of the exorcist.

Well this case is being treated as poltergeist because of the typical activity of poltergeists, such as things being throw, furniture moving etc.

A photographer was even hit on the forehead at one point when investigating.

Also a police officer even signed an affidic confirming s/he saw a chair moving all on its own.

but thank you for your replies and this is certainly an interesting and at times baffling case indeed.

[edit on 30-3-2010 by Rising Against]

I've always thought it was a hoax. If you simply take into account the real evidence, your photos for example, I find nothing even remotely paranormal. But we don't know the delay on the camera, so how long after it detected sound or motion before the picture was snapped. The girls could have inadvertently kicked the pillow off, or more likely they were involved in the hoax. Maybe because they were terrified of their mentally disturbed sister. The other picture, shes obviously jumping. The curtains, most likely a hand under the covers reached up and quickly pulled them out.

And the fact the girl was caught hoaxing makes it worse.

If you watch the documentary you cant help but believe, something weird happened in that house. It's a great documentary and leaves you with many questions. I dont believe in Poltergeists, but some funny goings on were taking place in that house.

dbl post

[edit on 30-3-2010 by woodwardjnr]

But we don't know the delay on the camera, so how long after it detected sound or motion before the picture was snapped.

....During the SPR’s time there they had set up 2 automatic cameras in the room (presumably because they wanted to be completely out of the way), which were controlled by a button outside the room, so if anything at all was heard from inside the bedroom then they could start the cameras going. The cameras were set to flash at half second intervals.

(from the opening post)


Also I do agree with you in all honesty, the pictures could have been fake easily, if it was a video camera, so in other words a constant stream of what was happening in the room then it would be completely different.

Sadly that's not the case here and pictures is all we have it seems so we have to go on then I’m afraid.

Also yes she could have easily jumped from the bed, in fact from the pictures that's what it looks like in all honesty, but the mother claims (and I agree this is not evidence) that she was NOT jumping, also the part where they heard a massive crash and then they found Janet supposedly unconscious on the drawers is fairly interesting but sadly we only have pictures of after it happened.

and yes the FACT that Janet was caught cheating at one point does dent the credibility of the entire case but it still remains an interesting case where opinion wise I’m in the middle still.

I must say that after watching the documentary I am swayed more towards something inexplicable that happened there.

There were a lot of credible witnesses that were there at the time that maintain, to this day, that what they have witnessed was inexplicable. The documentary is very well put together and gives skeptics, witnesses and the actual family time to explain what, in their mind, happened.

Thanks OP!


[edit on 30/3/10 by Lebowski achiever]

I originally saw this on Para-Tube, pretty amazing stuff if it is real. Here are the links for the video series.

Now I am not sure if this exact video was posted or not because I am on a work computer and cannot go to most media sites.
www.para-tube.com...
www.para-tube.com...
www.para-tube.com...
www.para-tube.com...
www.para-tube.com...
www.para-tube.com...
www.para-tube.com...

a classic case,i remember this too. yeah i think i would agree this
may of started out as being real poltergeist activity but a little
added trickery so as not to let the production team down.

i too had not seen those pictures in that set,great find
you deserve a star for that find.



[edit on 30/3/2010 by stealthyaroura]

Good subject matter and excellent presentation, as usual RA.

The story itself is fascinating, however the photographs do more to harm credibility than provide support in my opinion. Shame there wasn't a video camera in the room instead of still shots.

Nonetheless, the history and personal accounts add much to support at least some validity.

reply to post by ladyinwaiting

The story itself is fascinating, however the photographs do more to harm credibility than provide support in my opinion. Shame there wasn't a video camera in the room instead of still shots.

I agree to a degree here.

....Personally I think the pictures are better than nothing and take for example when the covers were pulled off of Janet for example, I don't see how that could have happened as well as the curtains moving (very importantly) at the same time all the while the pictures show Janet has barely moved at all.

As the pictures as far as I know came about very very quick indeed, she couldn't have really thrown it off and then moved the curtains manually it seems.

Then again for full credibility in anything paranormal IMO anyway a constant stream of footage is a MUST as catching the beginning of something and also the end is extremely important.

Much like the only way to properly catch poltergeist activity when something has been thrown for example you must capture the beginning and the end otherwise it can't really be 100% proof of anything because there is always that chance that something has been faked sadly.

Seems everything is hoaxed now a days or it just too good to be true.

Thanks for the replies so far.

reply to post by Rising Against


I would say if there's any proof that any of it is made up its best to throw the whole case out especially when the photos don't definitively prove any paranormal activity (though they are weird).

The only way to get to the truth of the paranormal is to cut out the hoaxes and unfortunately the deeper I look the more skeptical I get and the harder it is to find any case that sounds legitimate or any piece of evidence that can't be explained as natural... and that's the thing I've experienced the paranormal, I have every reason to believe, experiencing it is only enough to spur the curiosity... unfortunately once most people become curious believers they throw skepticism right out the door.

If the girl in terror (janet) is NOT in a mental institution or become
"self enlightned" in STO this is a fake and clearly a cry for attention
for a poor family.

Just my opinion. People in touch with "the others" either grow or
crumble. If not, then it never existed.

reply to post by RobertPaulsim

If the girl in terror (janet) is NOT in a mental institution or become "self enlightned" in STO this is a fake and clearly a cry for attention for a poor family.

Just my opinion. People in touch with "the others" either grow or crumble. If not, then it never existed.

Please do forgive me here but i'm not entirely sure what you mean.

Are you saying that since she (Janet) is not in a mental instituton or reached a stage of self enlightenment then then this case must be all fake??

If i am right in what i am saying here then i have to say i really do disagree.

ty




[edit on 31-3-2010 by Rising Against]

reply to post by Rising Against


I am the type that wants to believe stories like this. I really do believe in the paranormal. Then disappointment sets in when it is de-bunked or person admits to a hoax. If it was a hoax I feel sad for the children, horrible for their mother to do that to them.