Enfield Poltergeist

The Enfield Poltergeist is the name given to the claims of poltergeist activity at a council house in Brimsdown, Enfield, England from 1977 to 1979 involving two sisters, ages 11 and 13. Some members of the Society for Psychical Research such as inventor Maurice Grosse and writer Guy Lyon Playfair believed the haunting to be genuine, while others such as professors of psychology Anita Gregory and John Beloff were "unconvinced" and found evidence the girls had faked incidents for the benefit of reporters. Members of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry including stage magicians such as Milbourne Christopher, Joe Nickell, and Bob Couttie investigated the incidents and criticised paranormal investigators for being overly credulous, identifying various features of the case as being indicative of a hoax.

The story attracted considerable press coverage in British newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, and has been the subject of books, featured in television documentaries, and dramatized in horror films.

In August 1977, single parent Peggy Hodgson called police to her rented home in Enfield after two of her four children claimed that furniture was moving and knocking sounds were heard on walls. The children included Margaret, age 14, Janet, age 11, Johnny, age 10 and Billy, age 7. A police constable said that she saw a chair slide on the floor and "was convinced that nobody there had touched it", and later claims included allegedly demonic voices, loud noises, thrown rocks and toys, overturned chairs, and children levitating. Reports of further incidents in the house attracted considerable press attention and the story was covered in British newspapers such as the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, until reports came to an end in 1979. On Halloween 2011, BBC News featured comments from a radio interview with photographer Graham Morris, who claimed that many of the events were genuine.

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