Contents:

What is Poltergeist?

Latest Research

Difference Between Poltergeist and Hauntings

The Focus Person's Psychological-Neurological State

Geophysical Influences

Vortex Field

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What is Poltergeist?

Poltergeist is a German term meaning "rumbling ghost" or "noisy spirit". In the past it was widely believed that a spirit was responsible for an outbreak of anomalous phenomena in and around a house. Physical disturbances could be manifold. What characterizes poltergeist are mostly strange manifestations without apparent cause. Manifestations that can defy classical physics.

Poltergeist can appear in a house, but they also happen in shops, schools or any other building.

The manifestations can be many:

• Objects (for example stones, coins, cans, potatoes, onions, pieces of steel, nuts and bolts, nails, tools, flowers):

• Inexplicable movement of small and large objects. Stones are common. Their trajectories can be very unusual. The trajectories often are with non-ballistic trajectories, changing speed and direction (even 90°), floating. The objects can avoid hitting people, even when one tries to catch them. If they hit people they hardly touch them. They can land hard but also softly. They can move very slowly, but also suddenly accelerate.

• Objects appearing and/or disappearing, from one room to another, or from inside a house to outside the house. Sometimes called materializations or dematerializations. It is actually a teleportation phenomenon. Objects shift to a higher state of vibration and can thus move through solid walls.

• These objects has been seen to form in midair, near the ceiling or walls, and then fall straight down or fly through the room. Fragile objects do not break when they should.

• Stones can hit only one person or a couple of people, but not others.

• Stone bombardment is common, sometimes outside the house, sometimes inside the house. These stones are usually from around the house or nearby.

• The materialized objects are usually warm to hot, but not always.

• In one case, stones were seen to appear in mid-air, floating down and passing through the table to land on the floor below. This would suggest that the stones were visible but still in a higher state of matter to be able to pass through solid objects.

• Objects being in an enclosed space can also appear outside of it, such as an ink bottle that was inside a closed aluminum container, and eggs that were in a closed cupboard.

• Liquids:

• Since solid objects teleport from one location to another, it is not surprising that liquids can also dematerialize at one place and materialize inside a home. Thus we find the appearance of sudden as water puddles in a room on the flow, carpets or even on beds, also heavy condensation on the walls or furniture. The same can also happen just outside the house in absence of rain and high humidity.
• In some cases a room was showered with rain, or water jets come out of the walls; while examination showed that the ceiling or walls were otherwise completely dry, with no plumbing underneath.
• Other liquids can also appear such as milk, coffee and wine.

• Air:

• In the same manner, teleportation of air, resulting in the appearance of odors, foul, pungent or nice smelling.

• Fire:

• Unexplained fires. Even nonflammable objects burn. For as much as could be examined afterwards, the fires start from inside the objects. That would suggest that an immense heating of the objects took place, maybe by very localized microwaves. Although the fire can spread, as ordinary fires do, and burn down the entire house, a bedspread burned without harming the bedclothes beneath. In these cases the heating or fire only happens inside a very localized area.
• One wonders if the so-called Spontaneous Human Combustions are the result of the same heating and fire effects of localized microwave fields. In these cases, the chair, sofa or bed the person was sitting/lying in was untouched. Sometimes the feet are left unburned, showing the boundary of that localized field.

• Sounds:

• Hearing sounds or voices (that others might not hear).

• The sound of thumping, knocking, foot-steps, explosions, doors closing, moving furniture, or human voices of all kinds.

• Sound recordings show that the raps do not have the rapid initial rise that occurs when something is struck manually. The sound signal seems to emanate from within the wood of the table or walls, like a vibration that builds in strength. Sometimes particular noises are heard in an adjacent room that cannot be accounted for by what is present in that room.

• Movements:

• Doors open or close by themselves, also from cupboards. Locks and keys turn by themselves.

• Large pieces of furniture are moved, without scraped on the floor, suggesting that they were levitated when moved sideways.

• Although rare, a person levitates.

• The whole house can experience a tremor or shaking violently.

• Levitation of a bed, even with people on it. The bed can also experience shaking.

• Bedding thrown of the bed is common.

• A drop in temperature, experienced as sudden coldness, or a cold breeze of air. This can be the prelude to other manifestations.
• Disturbances in water supply and electricity (lights flickering). Electric disturbances are common. Appliances malfunction temporarily, or are running without being connected to electric socket. This is due to the appearance of strong electric fields. Doorbells ring, telephones ring. Lights turning on and off. Televisions do the same, sometimes switching channels.
• Cloths are thorn.
• Disorder of household objects.
• Sudden drop or raise in temperature,
• People seeing shadows.
• Apparitions are uncommon, and they do not always take on a human shape. They can be animal figures, demonic figures, amorphous shapes, shadowy and mist-like. Sometimes hands appear.
• Strobe-like flashing lights and light orbs are rare too.
• In some cases people communicated with the 'ghost' by means of knock (yes and no answers). Questions can be asked mentally, and the answers will come too. For as much as could be checked, the answers are not always correct.
• Communication can be blocked by a the presence of a specific person.
• Written messages can appear on walls; and they sometimes disappear afterwards. The messages are usually threatening of scaring. In one case messages arrived on a cellphone, even when the battery was removed.

Latest Research

Poltergeist cases are actually rare, and they are not easy to investigate. Different researchers have come to a variety of conclusion, based on the cases they investigated. The latest research have moved a way from the presence of a mischievous spirit, and have embraced the theory that the phenomena are the result of emotional (or psychic) energy, likely of magnetic nature transduced to kinetic energy (to move objects), released by a focus person. Most researchers are now convinced that the incidents are due to psychokinesis by the living people who are at the center of the turmoil. Although this vision is at present widely held, it is not a new one. In 1911 William Barrett, a physicist and one of the founding members of the Society for Psychical research was the first one to suggest that the poltergeist phenomena tended to focus around a certain person.

Researchers have started to use the term RSPK (= Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis). The term was coined by paranormal researchers J. Gaither Pratt and William Roll.

Recurrent: the phenomena repeat themselves

Spontaneous: they are not the result of conscious intent, and are unpredictable

Psychokinesis: the power to move something by the use of psychic powers

Difference Between Poltergeist and Hauntings

When the phenomena are focused on a location, with no one around, then we speak of a haunting. Haunted places also know electrical disturbances and strange noises, but their occurrences are more spread out over time. These particular phenomena might be caused by the appearance of electro-magnetic and other geophysical fields. With poltergeist, a focus person is necessary to produce the other phenomena.

However the difference between poltergeist and hauntings is not always that clear. The phenomena of a location-bound haunting can be activated by a visiting, or moving-in, person. It is important to understand that despite the great progress researchers have made, there are still many issues unresolved.

In poltergeist the person-bound cases are active for at least a period of several consecutive days, and sometimes several months (a few cases a couple of years), whereas in the case of non-person-bound hauntings the phenomena occur very sporadically and sometimes no abnormalities are reported for many years.

The Focus Person's Psychological-Neurological State

Psychology

In most cases there is clear evidence that the phenomena in poltergeist are centered around one particular person. In contrast with earlier beliefs that poltergeist happens more with young girls, modern research has shown that gender does not play a role. There is an equal balance between males and females.

The phenomena with poltergeist do not seem to be meaningful, although it can display apparent intelligent behavior, as in responding with knocks on questions, or reacting based on the actions of an observer.

In about half of the cases the phenomena are clearly directed against certain people.

Interesting to note is also that the phenomena often occur when the focus person is awake, and rarely when he is asleep, or assumed to be asleep. Continuous observation of the focus person is not always possible.

Although the focus person is often a child or teenager, there are also cases where it is an adult person, and even an older person. In all cases, these people have severe emotional problems, often due a trauma, and the entire family can be involved. For example, mother-child relationship can be under severe stress. Problematic can also be the entire social situation. Since the affected persons themselves are often not aware of the problem and they themselves would never establish a connection between the persons involved and the unusual events, they often associate the events with the presence of a spirit. Religious ceremonies, exorcisms, or magic rituals are only successful in very few cases, likely due to the fact that they are usually held when the phenomena are already waning.

Studies on the personality of the focus person have repeatedly given indications of unresolved conflict situations as well as anxiety and neurotic states. It is also stated that in general, poltergeist incidents seem to be symptoms of pathological interpersonal relations more than of pathological individual personalities. Perhaps the poltergeist person is an individual who is unusually sensitive to interpersonal stress or a person in whose life such stress has been unusually severe. The poltergeist phenomena are then directed to the person(s) that are the cause of the focus person's anger.

The poltergeist then manifests itself in an uninhibited destructive rage, in a sinister character, but also, for example, through obscene insinuations. This led to the hypothesis that poltergeist is an acting out of an immature part of a person's personality in a subconscious way, without the person being aware of it. In this way, the poltergeist often seems to take over the role of the naughty little girl/boy. The poltergeist does everything that a well-behaved child is not allowed to do or that is even taboo. Even when communication with poltergeist is attempted by, for example, an established code of knocking sounds, the responses are at the level of the focus person.

Poltergeist can be considered to be subconsciously directed psychokinetic outbursts of the inner emotional turmoil of the focus person.

It has also been noted that the phenomena also happen when the focus person likes the increased attention. While the focus person lacks the attention of family members, when visitors or researchers arrive, the child often likes the new attention, and then phenomena start to happen.

Neurology

The question is if some of the psychological problems of the focus person are the result of neurological problems, or vice versa.

When the health of focus people were examined, researchers found that some of them were prone to seizures or dissociative states. Symptoms included sudden muscle contractions, convulsions, fainting spells and trances, all symptoms of epilepsy. Epilepsy can have its origin in the temporal lobe, which is sensitive to external electric stimulation. More about this in the next section.

Geophysical Influences

Pathological situations are not that uncommon in people or families. So, there is still the unresolved question why poltergeist cases are so rare. There must be another trigger. There is probably an additional factor required, such as an inherent psychic ability of the focus person, but more likely earth-generated electro-magnetic fields.

It has been proposed that the additional factor in poltergeist phenomena are transient geophysical fields that involve electro-magnetic components. These fields would be generated by changing tectonic stresses within the earth's crust. They would appear as brief, very localized manifestations of this strain. Such fields with a small area (max. 1 cm²) would only last for seconds, while larger areas (1 m²) would last longer.

Transient geophysical fields dominated by electromagnetic features could be the cause of electrical disturbances, current surges, and disturbances in radio reception. Researchers in poltergeist cases have reported disruptions in their electronic equipment. In one case deflections in electrical current as high as 50 amps was registered.

If the intensity of those fields is high enough, they could be the reason for body burns, welts, lacerations, suggestive of intense microwave exposure. The high intensity could also be the cause for known cases of recurrent telephone rings, or repeated dialing of a particular number, due repeated current induction in electrical conductors.

The same for light bulb failures and malfunction of household appliances. Dielectric materials could be displaced, such as glass, crockery and plastic, what is common in poltergeist cases.

Since the human body is an organic semi-conductor, it has also been suggested that the transient geophysical fields induce current induction within biological tissue, especially in the electrical unstable temporal lobe of the brain. We know that (surgically) electric stimulation of the temporal lobe causes experiences similar to poltergeist phenomena and at hauntings: strong smells, loud noises (especially heavy footsteps), odd visceral sensations, de-personalization, dreamy scenes, and visual, vivid scenes. It is interesting to note here that these particular phenomena also happen with sightings of bigfoot and other cryptics and ghost forms in the woods.

With poltergeist, one person can hear loud noises, while another person nearby can hear nothing. This suggests that hearing noises are hallucinatory, that is, produced by the brain due to stimulation by external electric fields. This could also be the explanation for seeing apparitions.

The question remains if the temporal lobe experiences are the result of repeated exposure to the transient geophysical fields, or that are people who display temporal lobe lability, or instability, more sensitive to the fields.

The problem is that detection of electrical or magnetic fields is still lacking in poltergeist cases.

Interesting too is that as survey of the Earth's magnetic fields showed that poltergeist tend to coincide with increases with geomagnetic activity.

If you want to get more insight in the kind of transient and very localized geophysical fields that are responsible for anomalous physical phenomena, read my article of Tornado Anomalies. With tornadoes we find the same kind of anomalous as with poltergeist. They happen when temporary local fields are formed within which physical forces are transmuted one into another.

These particular fields can be interacted with by certain people, usually with psychic abilities. In poltergeist cases this happens on a subconscious level. Although the transient, localized geophysical fields are responsible for electromagnetic and even gravitational (levitation) interaction with many elements and objects of a house, other effects are the result of thus subconscious interaction.

Since these fields are temporal, it explains why poltergeist phenomena suddenly appear, last for a while, and then suddenly disappear.

Vortex Field

It is still unexplained how the often massive physical effects observed in poltergeist cases occur. Chair, table and even heavy cabinets are moved. It has been observed that these phenomena become much less frequent with increasing distance from the focus person. However, objects farther away from the focus person moved over greater distances. It is assumed that the psychic field of the focus person field can rotate around the person like a vortex, with the consequence of a greater rotation speed at greater distance from the center of the field.

Resources:

Wanted: The Poltergeist1 Description and discussion of a collection of 54 RSPK reports of the years 1947–1986, kept at the Freiburg Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, by Monika Huesmann and Friederike Schriever.

Geophysical Variables and Behavior: XXII. The Tectonogenic Strain Continuum of Unusual Events, by Michael Persinger.

Poltergeist, phenomena a primer on parapsychological research and perspectives, by Brian Williams and Annalisa Ventola.

A Detailed Phenomenology of Poltergeist Events, by Eric Dullin.