Poltergeist
The name given to the supposed supernatural causes of outbreaks of rappings, inexplicable noises, and similar disturbances, which from time to time have mystified men of science as well as the general public. The term poltergeist (i.e., Polter Geist, rattling ghost) is sufficiently indicative of the character of these beings, whose manifestations are, at the best, puerile and purposeless tricks, and not infrequently display an openly mischievous and destructive tendency. The poltergeist is by no means indigenous to any one country, nor has he confined his attentions to any particular period. Lang mentions several cases belonging Poltergeist to the Middle Ages, and one at least which dates so far back as 856 B.C. In both savage and civilised countries this peculiar form of haunting is well known, and it is a curious fact that the phenomena are almost identical in every case. The disturbances are always observed to be particularly active in the neighbourhood of one person, generally a child or a young woman, and preferably an epileptic or hysterical subject. According to the theory advanced by spiritualists, this centre of the disturbances is a natural medium, through whom the spirits desire to communicate with the world of living beings. In earlier times such a person was regarded as a witch, or the victim of a witch, whichever supposition was best fitted to the circumstances. The poltergeist is represented as a development from witchcraft, and the direct forerunner of modern spiritualism, and is, in fact, a link between the two.
Turning our attention first to some of the earlier records, we may consider briefly the case of the Drummer of Tedworth (1661), and the Epworth Case (1716). In both of these instances the manifestations witnessed were of the usual order. The spirits, if spirits they were, sought to attract attention by familiar childish tricks, and communicated by means of the same cumbrous process of knocking. The circumstances of the first-named instance are as follow: In 1661 a vagrant drummer was, at the instance of Mr. Mompesson of Tedworth, taken before a Justice of the Peace, and deprived of his drum, which instrument finally found a resting-place in the house of Mr. Mompesson, during that gentleman's absence from home. Immediately violent disturbances broke out in the house. Loud knockings and thumpings were heard, and the beating of an invisible drum. Articles flew recklessly about the rooms, and the bedsteads (particularly those in which the younger children lay) were violently shaken. After a time the drummer was transported, when the manifestations abruptly ceased, but a recurrence of the outbreak synchronised with his return. Contemporary opinion put the case down to witchcraft on the part of the drummer, but Mr. Podmore and other moderns incline to the belief that the "two little modest girls in the bed" had more than a little to do with the mysterious knockings and scratchings of the poltergeist. In the famous Epworth Case, where the phenomena is well attested by the whole Wesley family, and described in numerous contemporary letters, the disturbances comprised all the ordinary manifestations of levitations, loud and terrifying noises, and rappings, together with apparitions of rabbits, badgers, and so on. Podmore is of the opinion that one of the daughters, Hetty, was in some way implicated in the affair. She alone did not give an account of the manifestations, though she had promised to do so. The poltergeist showed a decided partiality for her company-a circumstance which, though not unobserved, does not seem to have held any special significance for her family. A more recent case in which a charge of witchcraft is involved, is the Cideville case, described by Mr. Lang in his Cock Lane and Common Sense, under the heading, "A Modern Trial for Witchcraft."
In 1849 the Curé of Cideville, Seine Inférieure, was summoned to court by a shepherd named Thorel, who alleged that the Curé had denounced him for sorcery. In his defence the Curé stated that Thorel himself had confessed to having produced by means of sorcery certain mysterious manifestations which had disturbed the inmates of the Abbey. During the trial it transpired that the Curé, when visiting a sick parishioner, had driven from the bedside a man of notorious character, with an evil reputation for sorcery, who was about to treat the patient. The sorcerer retired, vowing vengeance on the Curé, and was shortly afterwards sent to prison. Later when two little boys, pupils of the Curé, were at an auction, they were approached by Thorel, who was known as a disciple of the sorcerer. He placed his hand on the head of one of the children, and muttered some strange words. When the boys returned to the Abbey the poltergeist performances commenced. Violent blows on the walls seemed about to demolish them, one of the children complained that he was followed by a man's shadow, and other witnesses declared that they had seen a grey hand and wreaths of smoke. Some of those who visited the Abbey were able to hold a conversation with the spirits by means of knocking. It was agreed that sharp-pointed irons should be driven into the walls, and on this being done, smoke and flames were seen to issue from the incisions. At last Thorel sought the Curé and confessed that the disturbances were the work of his master, the sorcerer. The plaintiff was non-suited, and the judge, in summing up, said that the cause of the extraordinary facts" of this case "remained unknown." In February, 1851, the boys were removed from the Abbey, and the disturbances ceased. 66 66
Of those instances where a spiritualistic explanation has been offered perhaps the most outstanding is the case of the Cock Lane Ghost, almost too well-known to call for recapitulation. In 1761-2 raps and scratches were heard in a house in Cock Lane, generally occurring near the bed of the little daughter of the house, Elizabeth Parsons. Very soon the manifestations became so pronounced that people from all parts of the city were crowding to witness them. A code of raps was agreed upon, through which it was ascertained that the spirit was that of a lady named
Fanny," who declared that she had been poisoned by her deceased sister's husband, with whom she had lodged in the Cock Lane house some two years previously, and expressed a wish that he might be hanged. It is, indeed, quite a common thing for the poltergeist to reveal a crime, real or imaginary-and more often the latter, which is entirely in keeping with the character of the spirit. In the Cock Lane affair the manifestations followed the girl when she was removed to another house, and she trembled strongly, even in her sleep, on the approach of the ghost. The case which presents the most formidably array of evidence, however, is that of the Joller family in Switzerland. In 1860-2 serious disturbances broke out in Stans, in the home of M. Joller, a prominent lawyer, and a man of excellent character. Knocks were first heard by a servantmaid, who also averred that she was haunted by strange grey shapes, and the sound of sobbing. In the autumn of 1861, she was dismissed and another maid engaged. For a time there was peace, but in the summer of 1862 they commenced with redoubled vigour. The wife and seven children of M. Joller heard and saw many terrifying sights and sounds, but M. Joller himself remained sceptical. At length, however, even he was convinced that neither trickery nor imagination would suffice as an explanation of the phenomena. Meanwhile the manifestations became more and more outrageous, and continued in full view of the thousands of persons who were attracted by curiosity to the house, including the Land-Captain Zelger, the Director of Police Jaun, the President of the Court of Justice, and other prominent people, some of whom suggested that a commission be appointed to examine the house thoroughly. Three of the heads of police were deputed to conduct the enquiry. They demanded the withdrawal of M. Joller and his family, and remained in the house for six days without witnessing anything abnormal, and drew up a report to this effect. Directly the Joller family entered the house the interruptions were renewed. M. Joller became the butt of ridicule to all, even his political and personal friends, and was finally compelled to quit his ancestral home. This is undoubtedly one of the most striking cases of poltergeist haunting on record. Here, as Polynesia in almost every instance, there are children evidently and intimately bound up with the manifestations. It is his choice of a medium which has directed most suspicion to the poltergeist, and it on this that Mr. Podmore bases his assumption that all poltergeist visitations are traceable to the cunning tricks of " naughty little girls." He suggests that with the "medium" under careful control it is more than probable that the poltergeist will turn shy, and refuse to perform his traditional functions! There is much to be said for this theory. The medium of the spiritualistic séance is frequently credited with the loftiest utterances, and the production of literary, musical, and artistic compositions. The poltergeist indulges in such futilities as the breaking of crockery, the throwing about of furniture, and the materialization of coal and carrots in the drawingroom. Why, if they are mature spirits, as they purport to be, should they practise such feats of mystification as would seem to be impelled either by the foolish vanity of a child, or the cunning impulses of a deranged mind? Then there is often a curious hesitancy on the part of the medium, as in the case of Hetty Wesley, a trembling on the approach of the phenomena, and a tendency to such physical disturbances as epileptic and other fits. And sometimes the poltergeist confesses, as did the maid-servant Ann at Stockwell, to having manipulated the disturbing occurrences with the aid of wires and horsehair. But in such a case as that of the Joller family, the theory of naughty little girls is childishly inadequate. It is all but impossible to believe that children could produce the manifestations in full view of hundreds of people. It is still more difficult to understand how children and ignorant persons, with presumably no knowledge of previous instances, could fix upon exactly the same phenomena which has been produced by the poltergeists of every age and clime. And in the Joller case, there is the evidence of many spectators that the most violent disturbances were witnessed when the whole family were assembled outside the house and thus not in a position to assist the manifestations, which included the throwing open of all windows, doors, cupboards and drawers, the materialization of the "thin grey cloud," noises and apparitions. In short, it must be admitted that there is an element of mystery which calls for elucidation, and which the most scientific and critical minds have hitherto failed to make clear. دو 66