Contagious and Reactionary Poltergeists

Ok, as you may have gathered this is one area that I find incredible.
Just what causes a Poltergeist?
Are they contagious?

In northern France, a poltergeist that plagued an elderly lady and her grandson would perform to order – crowing like a cockerel, barking like a dog, and singing in a gruff voice. People who visited the house reported similar incidents in their homes afterwards……

In the Pontefract case, someone remarked that poltergeists liked to slash photographs (where on earth did he get that idea?) and soon afterwards a wedding photo was found slashed in half, as if with a sharp knife. Another visitor commented that he was surprised that the antique Grandmother Clock was still intact. Sure enough, it was hurled down the stairs that very night. A visiting aunt declared that is was evil, and on Easter Sunday, up-side-down crosses were sprayed in gold paint on every door downstairs.
The idea that the ghost of a monk could be responsible had been mentioned to the family as the cause of the haunting, and then came the appearance of the black shadowy monk in the cowled robes. What would have happened if they had been told it was a child? A woman? A demon?

The Enfield poltergeist was adept at causing mysterious fires………fires which began to erupt at the homes of the investigators. Neighbours of the Harper family reported strange goings-on. One poured himself a drink, turned away for a second – and found the glass empty. Another felt a hand touching him. Maurice Grosses’ car engine behaved very strangely – and the ‘voice’ knew all about it. Mrs Harper acquired an uncanny knack of knowing what would happen next. “That’ll fall over now”, she would say – and the object would obligingly fall to the floor or shoot across the room.

The Welsh poltergeist, Pete (as mentioned by Algie in another thread) was also responsive and contagious.
When asked for money, £5 notes appeared. When thrown stones, the stones were thrown back. When Pat said she’d like a Roll Royce, a key ring with the Rolls Royce logo fell at her feet almost immediately. The plot followed Pat and John home and created havoc by throwing fruit around. It then moved in with Gerry and Fred.

So, do Poltergeists ‘latch on’ to some people?
Do you have to believe in the phenomena for it to follow you home?
Are the witnesses (victims?) actually causing the events?
Mrs Pritchard was a very house-proud woman. The Polt used to smear jam and toilet paper around the house in the early hours and she would get out of bed and clear it up. Perhaps if she had left it until the morning, this phenomena would cease?

Any thoughts or ideas or even stories of your own would be greatly appreciated!

Hammy x x x

Hmm, I hesitate to guess at the source of poltergeist, Hams, because I still have the stampy marks on my head from previous debates.

However, the response definitely shows an active intellect on behalf of the force. So does that mean it's a willing, child-like entity, desperate to show off, looking for a direction to it's next trick? I tend to pick this as my own favoured explanation. Although, it's just as likely that the subconscious of someone present is fuelling a mindless energy, I suppose.

The case where items appeared to order was a fascinating one. Where did it get the items from? Is there an ethereal Arthur Daley's lock-up, somewhere?

As I have stated time and time again Cuffy ~ poltergiests are fuelled by peoples' fear and by their willingness to 'communicate' with 'it'. It is some kind of RSPK and somehow - I have no clue how - but somehow it seems to be able to predict thoughts or actions. It has been noticed in many many cases that those who choose to belive that it is paranormal in origin have the most luck communticating or witnessing the phenomena.......I think this fact speaks volumes......

And the dodgy Polt gear?
Fell off the back of some spirit lorry?



Hammy x x x

*peers over edge of toybox*

Didnt the children in the Enfield case confess to 'faking' it??

2 things give me cause for thought here....

1. slashed pics, demolished clocks and upside down crosses etc could simply be caused by someone subconsciously carrying out the 'suggestions' implanted by those who made the remark...

2. As for £5 notes and keyrings appearing almost immediately. What time period was this, what technology was available to capture this phenomena. I know if things appeared suddenly at my feet I'd try to capture the next one on some sort of media, either film or video.

As happens in most claims surrounding the 'paranormal' I would venture to say there are lots of stories to be told, but none with any sort of proof to back them up.

Teddy.

*lifts lid of toybox and peers in*

ahhh - there you are Teddy!

Well, the children in the Enfield case admitted to throwing things at a female radio journalist - nothing else!

And yes - as I say in my thread - I believe the suggestions are carried out subconciously by the people involved in these cases.
The apports and gifts from Poltergiests have been recorded for years. Even in the infamous Bell Witch case - when Betsy asked for fruit, a whole basket of exotic fruits landed at her feet.
The Cardiff case took place in the late 1980's. It was investigated by lots of groups but they never found any evidence of trickery. I believe that the people involved enjoyed having the Polt so much (they even named it 'Pete'), that they were giving it energy and thus creating a cycle............if you get what I mean....not a cycle like a bike, a cycle of events!

*squidges Teddy and puts him on top of toybox*

Hammy x x x

Hmmm... Contagious poltergiests... Well that's a tricky one that, the only one I knew of was the Pete case, and Cuffy the place it started was pretty close to an Arfur Daley lock up (from what I've heard/read as it's no longer there )

So, do Poltergeists ‘latch on’ to some people? Well seems like it, often cases are centred around one particular person, often a teenager, so is it some form of conscious or sub-conscious form of attention seeking (or a cry for help even)?

Do you have to believe in the phenomena for it to follow you home? Good one, never really thought about it. I'm sure I've heard of a few cases where people haven't believed and this has happened to them.

Are the witnesses (victims?) actually causing the events? Maybe it's attention seeking - I could certainly imagine that being the case with some teenager related cases. Could also be that in some way they're contributing to it, by reacting in a certain way they just end-up in a loop (like the Mrs Pritchard thing). There's the conscious/sub-conscious thing as well, so some may be 'faking it' and others are actaully causing it without knowing. Wonder if Mrs Pritchard sleep walked...?

Lots of questions and not many answers, so plenty of stuff to have a think about then.