Poltergeists and Things That Go Bump

Hollywood and fiction have long depicted poltergeists as spirits that disturb households, sometimes cause physical harm and generally disrupt the human experience in unpleasant ways.

The word itself - poltergeist – comes from the German root “poltern” or to bump or knock. Knocking or rumbling spirit. Since humankind’s ability to record occurrences in history, there have been reports of poltergeist activities around the globe. Things like obnoxious odors, bells, whistles, scratching sounds, scratches on the skin and enacted rapes.

Many paranormalists believe that poltergeists attach themselves to a person, disrupting the environment around that person and attacking those close to him/her. Often poltergeist activity will present when there is an emotionally disturbed teen. Puberty through to young adulthood are especially vulnerable years for this type of “haunting” because the victim is also vulnerable, with unfocused mind and imbalance.

Many parapsychologists classify poltergeist activity as a type of psychokinesis. A term heard in relation to this classification is RSPK or recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis.

Still others believe that the whole phenomenon is a hoax, put about by those it is supposed to effect. Poltergeist activity could conceivably be some of the easiest haunted activity to fake and many believe that fakery is the rule of the day in cases suggesting paranormal activity of this type.

From Wikipedia -
”William Roll, Hans Bender, and Harry Price are perhaps three of the most famous poltergeist investigators in the annals of parapsychology. Harry Price investigated Borley Rectory which is often called "the most haunted house in England."

Famous instances of poltergeist activity -

            The "Wizard", Livingston, W. Virginia (1797).
            The Bell Witch (1817).
            The Haunting of The Fox sisters (1848)
            The Borley Rectory phenomena (1929).
            The Black Monk of Pontefract
            The Enfield Poltergeist (1977).