Enfield Miscellany (Part 8)

(See part 1 here for an explanation of what this series is about. Here are the other parts in the series: two, three, four, five, six, and seven. I'll make use of the tapes produced by Maurice Grosse and Guy Playfair. I'm using "MG" to reference a tape from Grosse's collection and "GP" to cite one from Playfair's: MG82B refers to tape 82B in Grosse's collection, GP96A refers to 96A in Playfair's, etc.)

Where The Poltergeist Operated

The large majority of events in the Enfield case occurred inside the Hodgsons' house. But the scope of events outside the house is often underestimated. There were frequent reports of phenomena at neighbors' houses, especially the Nottinghams' and Burcombes', but also on the property of other neighbors. See my earlier post here for some examples. That post mentions some paranormal events that occurred in Grosse's neighborhood in the relevant timeframe, events apparently connected to the Enfield case. Or think of the phenomena produced in a 1982 experiment involving Janet Hodgson at Birkbeck College. It seems that the poltergeist was able to operate at locations as geographically distant from the Hodgsons' house as Grosse's neighborhood and Birkbeck College. And while Janet was present in the latter context, none of the Hodgsons were present in the former. An especially striking example of phenomena occurring with all of the Hodgsons geographically distant was an apparition seen by John Burcombe. Go here for a portion of a documentary discussing the incident. Playfair mentions in his book on Enfield that the Hodgsons were about 50 miles away, on vacation, at the time (This House Is Haunted [United States: White Crow Books, 2011], 237). Presumably, none of the Hodgsons were nearby when the events of 2004 reported by Clare Bennett and her family occurred at the house. Even when one or more of the Hodgsons were home, the events that happened in or near the house were frequently far outside their reach, such as events on another floor of the house or the apports that fell from the sky above the house on May 30 of 1978. The geographical parameters of the poltergeist's activities went far beyond the Hodgsons and their house. Keep in mind that there was an estimated quadruple-digit number of events in the case, so that the phenomena that were more geographically distant could be a small minority, yet still involve a relatively large number. Events that were geographically distant from the house and/or the Hodgsons were reported from the earliest months of the case onward and continued for years.

The Rapid Succession Of Events

Near the beginning of a 2008 documentary on Enfield, Playfair refers to how "You just couldn't document everything in this case. I mean, things happening absolutely all the time." At a symposium of the Society for Psychical Research in 1978, he commented in response to one of his critics, "There have been times on this case when the things have been happening faster than we can write them down. You know, we're only human, you know. I mean, when you've got about four things happening in thirty seconds, what the hell are you supposed to do, you know? Will you tell me? Get up and tell me, you know? What do you do?" (MG83B, 35:28)

I want to cite an example I don't remember having seen anybody else mention publicly. On tape MG30A, John Burcombe discusses a visit he'd made to the Hodgsons' house on the evening of December 1, 1977 (5:37). As he was leaving the Hodgsons' house, he heard a knock on the front bay window. He went back into the house and asked what they wanted. They told him they hadn't knocked, but instead thought he was the one who had knocked on the window. So, he went back out the door. There was another knock on the window. He turned and saw Billy Hodgson looking out at him. He went back in the house, apparently not seeing Billy anywhere in the area, but he did see Janet lying on the couch in the living room, about 6 or 7 feet away from him. At that moment, Janet levitated up about 2 feet, "in a limp condition, not horizontal, but like something or somebody had been holding her", then was thrown across the room "at great speed" and hit the living room door, which then hit Burcombe and knocked him over. Burcombe's daughter, Denise, was present, standing behind him at the time, and confirmed what he reported. She adds that she was knocked back by the vibration caused by the throwing of Janet against the door, because the throwing "was so violent". Around the same time, Margaret was thrown out of her chair and onto the floor. My understanding is that Billy hadn't actually been knocking on the window just before Burcombe entered the house the second time. It seems that the poltergeist had produced a doppelganger of Billy on that occasion, as it had produced doppelgangers of other individuals in other contexts. So, it looks like the poltergeist produced knocking, a doppelganger, a levitation, and a couple of throwings (Janet and Margaret) in rapid succession. You can get some record of the general parameters of what happened during a sequence like that. Some people will see some portions of some events, and you can document some of the details. But there's only so much you can do when so many events occur in such a short a period of time. That's probably one of the reasons why the poltergeist behaved as it did. It knew nobody would be able to keep up with it.

Janet's Stomach Aches

I've occasionally discussed the premonitory headaches Peggy Hodgson experienced. Janet would sometimes report stomach aches she had around the time when paranormal events occurred (e.g., MG10B, 17:05; MG32B, 12:37; MG51B, 5:31). Though most of the comments about a stomach ache came from Janet, Margaret refers to having one just after a choking incident (with Janet being choked) at 43:19 on MG57A. So, it's not just that one person kept reporting stomach aches in coordination with paranormal events, but also that a second person reported the same kind of experience. These stomach aches may just be coincidental, but they happened often enough that I think they warrant mentioning. I'm not aware of any evidence that the stomach aches were premonitory or anything like that. And the evidence for their connection to paranormal events is much weaker than the evidence for a connection between paranormal events and Peggy's headaches. The stomach aches may be a part of how Janet's body (and Margaret's to a lesser extent) reacted to some of the poltergeist's activities.