Harry
Price, the British journalist-psychical
researcher, devoted much of his life
to an examination of the poltergeist
phenomenon. His Poltergeist over
England (1945) is a classic study
of the wide range of poltergeist activity,
and many of his articles have served
as references for other writers in
the field of paranormal inquiry, including
myself (Strange Guests, Anomalist
Books, (2006).
As might be expected, Price received
accounts of poltergeist activity from
all over the world, and it appears
that he was in the process of writing
a much larger work on the poltergeist
at the time of his death on April
24, 1948. Price's letters and notes
regarding this particular phenomenon
went to the well-known British clairvoyant,
John Pendragon, who had assisted in
the research at Borley Rectory (once
called the most haunted house in England)
and who would later serve as the subject
of one of my books (Pendragon,
1968). When Pendragon passed on in
January, 1970, I learned that he had
made me his heir and that his solicitors
had bundled up stacks of Harry Price’s
research papers and posted them to
me.
I felt incredibly honored by such
an inheritance, for the “ghost
hunter” heroes of my early days
of research were Hereward Carrington,
Dr. Nandor Fodor, Sir William Crookes,
William James, Sir Oliver Lodge, Fredric
W.H. Myers, and Harry Price.
For those serious investigators of
our plastic reality, I am pleased
to share herewith selections from
the dozens of letters Harry Price
received in regard to his inquiries
regarding psychokinetic and haunting
manifestations:
From Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, British
Malaya {Malaysia}:
Some European girls whom we know rang
us up one evening to say that peculiar
things were happening in their house--knives
and spoons wouldn't stay on the table;
potatoes and onions kept leaping out
of their box; wooden clogs were thrown
at people. We all went down to investigate
that evening, and after a number of
days, we are all entirely convinced
that there is no hoax, but that this
is a genuine poltergeist case.
I have myself seen with my own eyes.
and am prepared to swear on any oath,
that the following occurred: 1.) A
round Stone about an inch in diameter
dropped from a completely bare ceiling;
2.) a piece of glazed tile fell out
of a tiled roof; 3.) a knife flew
past my face when I was the only person
in the room; 4.) several potatoes
and onions leapt out of a wooden box
and rolled across the floor.
The medium, or whatever you wish
to call it, of all the manifestations
seems to be the Malay maid, as she
is always around when these things
happen. She has only recently been
engaged, and before she came, nothing
was reported. All the skeptical policemen
who have investigated, and myself,
are quite convinced that this is not
a put-up job. I have so often read
of these things that it is fascinating
to have first-hand acquaintance with
them, and to be convinced, as I am,
that such things do happen by some
agency or power that one cannot at
present explain.
Withdrawal route taken
by the Carrier Platoon - 8th Battalion
Worcestershire Regiment
From a major in the British Army
who during April, 1940, had been billeted
in a small farm about five miles west
of Orchies, near Douai, France:
One evening during the last week
of April--I am unable to remember
the exact date--I was Duty Officer
and, as was the custom, I visited
the posts along the France-Belgian
frontier. Shortly after midnight I
arrived back at the farm. It was a
very bright moonlight night, and as
I had walked back I had noticed the
complete absence of any wind or noise.
I undressed ... opened the windows
and shutters (along the narrow windowsill
were my shaving and washing kit),
then I put out the oil lamp and got
into bed.
Within a very few minutes I suddenly
heard a sound that appeared to be
human hands fumbling along the outside
wall of the farm toward my window,
but no sound of footsteps, although
the road was cobbled.
Nearer and nearer came the sound.
I lay back watching the window, not
knowing what to expect. Then the sound
stopped and slowly a dark shape, the
head and shoulders of a very small
but broad human being, appeared over
the windowsill, silhouetted against
the bright moonlight background. No
features were visible and not a sound
could be heard.
By now I had decided that the only
action to be taken was to attack.
As I moved to leap out of bed, the
form disappeared. Then with a crash,
the windows and shutters closed, throwing
my washing utensils onto the floor.
I threw myself out of bed and with
all my strength threw open the windows
and shutters and brought my fists
down against the outside of the house.
They hit nothing but the wall.
Within a matter of seconds I was
outside the front door accompanied
by the dogs. As I looked around, I
felt the dogs close up to my legs.
They were whimpering and hugging my
feet. They were as scared as I was.
I was the only witness to this occurrence,
but there are three things which I
feel need some explanation: 1.) Why
did I not hear footsteps on the cobbles--if
it was a human being? 2.) What force
could close the shutters? 3.) What
scared the dogs'
In my own mind I know that this form
was not human, but I can give no explanation
to what it was.
The major also presented Harry
Price with a second account, that
of a drinking glass which had appeared
out of nowhere to explode over a table
on which he and other officers were
studying a map.
No one was injured, although we were
all somewhat surprised. On investigation,
the following facts were found :
1.) Fragments of the glass were scattered
not only all over the table but also
all over the floor directly under
the table. 2.) The only fragment of
any size was from the base of a glass
which was not the type of glass that
we had on the sideboard. How did the
fragments get under the table? Where
did the glass come from?
****** From a woman in Stalbridge, Dorset,
England, who had been beset by ghostly
phenomena since, as a child of eleven,
she would awaken to become aware of
a small child lying beside her:
Early in February, 1940, I awoke
to the sounds of the most terrific
bangs on my bedroom door. I called
out, "Who is there?" A short
silence, then another set of dreadful
bangs. I quite thought the door would
give way.
I opened it expecting to face a burly
ruffian. Instead, all was calm and
serene, and not a soul to be seen.
I am not particularly nervous, but
that did upset me, and in fact, made
me ill. For some time afterward I
slept downstairs, but eventually returned
to my old quarters ....
One day last year, five of my windowpanes
were badly cracked at about the same
time, with nothing whatever to account
for it.
On another occasion, I took a ring
off my finger whilst in the kitchen,
dropped it, heard it run over the
linoleum, and after giving a spin,
come to rest behind the door. But
when I went to pick it up, I could
not find it. Many weeks later, on
going to my dresser cupboard to get
a tall tin from an inner corner of
the lower part, I found my ring reposing
behind it.
That cupboard was closed when I dropped
the ring. Even if it had been open,
there is a deep ledge along the bottom
of it which the ring would have had
to jump over and then get into that
far corner behind the big tin, which
nearly reached the shelf above it.
And even now I can distinctly recollect
hearing the ring roll across the floor
and give a spin before coming to rest
behind the door.
From Worcester, England, the recollections
of a woman who had lived with an aunt
and her family while they were under
siege by a poltergeist::
When I was about thirteen the whole
household became disturbed as a result
of extraordinary rappings on the windows
of the house. Queer noises, shufflings,
etc. were the terror of my young life.
The rappings on the windows and showers
of stones apparently hurled in handsful
from without never seemed to have
been connected by the family with
myself. The young daughter of the
house seemed to be favoured by these
attentions, as they usually happened
in a room where she was present and
usually when she was alone.
We all heard the rappings; indeed,
they were so violent one could not
have failed to hear them, even though
one might not actually be in the particular
room where the demonstration was taking
place.
For many years I did not experience
anything of the same character, until,
in 1913, I went to live in a large
house near the Station in Mayfield,
Sussex. There we were worried by sounds
like deep breathing under door frames,
doors constantly being slammed, a
barking dog we could never trace,
and sounds suggesting the upheaval
of large pieces of furniture in the
attics, which were devoid of any furniture.
The letters go on, stacks of them,
from men and women in all walks of
life. There is an extremely long report
from MacKinlay Kantor, who would one
day win a Pulitzer Prize in literatute,
telling of a baffling poltergeist
case in his home town of Webster City,
Iowa.
Among the letters are theories from
learned individuals suggesting various
approaches to a more complete understanding
of the poltergeist phenomenon.
One of the questions that I am most
interested in answering is whether
these breaches of our physical laws
can be accomplished through mental
effort --either conscious or unconscious--or
if the physical organism is no more
active in its participation in the
process than are the chunks of ice,
stones, and crockery that appear to
drop from the sky.
The temptation is to personify the
poltergeist force and to endow it
with attributes of intelligence. Traditionally,
the poltergeist was thought to be
a rather nasty, disembodied spirit.
The word itself is German for "noisy
ghost,” “throwing ghost.”
But it seems that the poltergeist
is most often “born” when
some aspect of the human personality
is being denied more accepted avenues
of expression.
The raw energy of the sex changes
that occur during puberty and the
sexual adjustments of the marital
state have often been identified as
having somehow provided the impetus
for the peculiar psychokinetic discharge
responsible for poltergeist activity.
Many "psi" researchers have
observed that more often a girl than
a boy is at the center of poltergeistic
disturbances, and that the sexual
change of puberty is associated with
either the beginning or the termination
of the phenomena.
Since all these letters to Harry
Price are circa 1947, I found it interesting
that a young doctor from London would
boldly present an explanation for
the poltergeist that included its
interaction with the "psycho-physiological
phenomena of sex": “It
is, of course, exceedingly difficult
to make experiments on these things,
as human material is not exactly forthcoming;
but so far, I am satisfied scientifically
on at least one important point, which
is, of course, common knowledge, namely
that in the orgasm, both of male and
female, very large amounts of energy
are used; and this, I think, has a
significant bearing on the subject
of poltergeist mediums.
“The difference between the
boy and the girl at puberty is that
the boy actually has ‘wet dreams,’
or else masturbates himself, thereby
using up his sexual energy, if I may
so term it; but the normal girl does
not have intercourse, or orgasms in
any form, so that the sexual energy
is latent, though present, and this
latent sexual energy ... (is) ...
large enough even (if all used at
once) to move heavy objects, which
the ordinary somatic physical strength
of one man could not do.”
This frustrated desire to more fully
express one's self, combined with
the chemical changes taking place
in marital or sexual adjustment, then
may literally explode into violent,
unrestrained psychokinetic activity.
It may be startling to consider the
mind capable of bursting free of its
three-dimensional bonds and utilizing
specialized talents that know virtually
no limits. The poltergeist seems to
offer measurable proof of the mind's
limitless creative capacity, but the
tragedy is that the poltergeist phenomena
represent a perverted, uncontrolled
aspect of this ability.
The perverse talents of the poltergeist
range from the tossing of pebbles
to the manufacturing of disagreeable
odors. Poltergeists throw things,
break windows, and can even cause
fires. But, as one investigator commented,
"The phenomena are exactly such
as would occur to the mind of a child
or an ignorant person."
If the poltergeist is provided with
enough psychic energy to develop a
voice or the ability to communicate
by raps or automatic writing, its
communications are usually nonsensical,
ribald, or downright obscene.
Author Sacherverell Sitwell observed
that the poltergeist appeared always
to direct its power toward "the
secret or concealed weaknesses of
the spirit ... the obscene or erotic
recesses of the soul. The mysteries
of puberty, that trance or dozing
of the psyche before it awakes into
adult life, is a favorite playground
for the poltergeist."
Why the baser elements of the human
subconscious should find their expression
in the poltergeist has been a matter
of great speculation among psi researchers.
Why shouldn't our noblest instincts
be projected too? Physical violence
is often directed toward the unconscious
energy center of the phenomena, and
a parent, a spouse, or a sibling may
come in for his or her share of the
abuse as well.
Because of the poltergeist's general
low-level activities, the unconscious
energy center, as well as his or her
family, will generally declare the
manifestations to be the work of some
demonic, external agent. On the other
hand, the question of external intelligence
somehow interacting with the unconscious
agent of poltergeist activity is difficult
to resolve. Many percipients of poltergeist
phenomena have reported seeing grotesque,
gargoylelike entities that they felt
were in some way associated with the
haunting. Whether these beings are
externalized projections of the agent's
unconscious may be debated extensively--and,
at present, inconclusively.
It may be well within the creative
power of the human psyche to materialize
other voices, other personalities,
and junior psyches. (Isn't this what
novelists and playwrights do quite
"normally"?) If a poltergeist
can manifest voices and forms, as
well as pebble-throwing and crockery-smashing,
then we are still talking about the
human mind shaping a lively piece
of our plastic reality. But if a poltergeist
is an entity possessing an intelligence
independent of the agent, then the
noisy ghost is indeed "feeding"
upon its medium's psychic and sexual
energies and using a human agency
to implement whatever purpose it may
have.
About Brad Steiger
Steiger was born on 19 February 1936
in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to a mother and
father who were farmers. He claims
to have lived "in a haunted house
with thumps, bumps, doors opening
and closing, and men and women walking
around all night in period costume.
Steiger claims to have written his
first book when he was seven years
old, and has published 162 books with
over 17 million copies in print, including
the biography of Rudolf Valentino,
later made into a feature film by
British director Ken Russell. From
1970-1973 Steiger wrote a weekly newspaper
column, The Strange World Of Brad
Steiger. He has authored over 2000
newspaper columns.
Brad Steiger Official
Web Site Visit It Here Now: "www.bradandsherry.com"
Personal life and
beliefs
Steiger is married to Sherry Hansen
Steiger, a former model. He is a former
high school teacher, and college instructor.
He began writing when he was a school
teacher in his native Iowa when he
had writings published in Fate Magazine
and other publications. Throughout
the 1960s Steiger co-wrote 22 books
with other writers.
Steiger claims to be politically independent,
and cynical of politics. He lists
his political heroes, however, as
Jonathan Swift, Benjamin Franklin,
and Thomas Jefferson. When asked about
individuals he admired, Steiger listed
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Johann Wolfgang
von Goethe, Mark Twain, William Shakespeare,
Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene, William
James, Fredric W.H. Myers, Rudolf
Steiner, Sir William Crookes, and
Mario Lanza as those he would have
liked to have met.
In an online interview with Dan Schneider,
Steiger claimed to be an 'Emersonian
transcendentalist,' and summed up
his philosophy this way:
I believe humankind is part of a
larger community of intelligences,
a complex hierarchy of powers and
principalities, a potentially rich
kingdom of interrelated species, both
physical and nonphysical. I believe
that humankind’s one truly essential
factor is its spirituality. The artificial
concepts to which we have given the
designation of sciences are no truer
than dreams, visions, and inspirations.
The quest for absolute proof or objective
truth may always be meaningless and
unattainable when it seeks to define
and limit our Soul, which I believe
is eternal, evolving higher, seeking
to return to the Source from whence
it came. I believe that technology
plays a far smaller role in the lives
of nations than the spirit, for the
essence of humankind is its intellect
and its Soul. Machines, associations,
political parties, and trade balances
are but transitory realities that
must ultimately wither, decay, and
come to nothing. The only lasting
truths are Soul, imagination, and
inspiration.
Steiger and his wife are also animal
lovers and believers in animal rights.
Steiger claims, "We are appalled
by any mistreatment of animals—chemical
testing, dogfights, rooster fights,
bull fights. We must learn to respect
all living things if we are to survive
with dignity as a species. I doubt
if I could live for any length of
time without a dog. Fortunately, my
wife and children feel the same. We
are all dog owners. Dogs are our connection
with nature and the Earth Mother.
"You say You Don't You Believe
In Real Ghosts And Haunting's?"
When visiting Kentucky Take the Haunts
of Owensboro Ghost Tour, and you just
might change your mind!
PRSNE do not charge for conducting
an investigation. They will ask for
travel reimbursement, which can include
gas, airline tickets, phone and tolls.
They generally travel by car whenever
possible to keep the costs to a minimum.
Due to the reality that there are
always those who can not financially
reimburse this amount, the fee will
vary on case by case basis. If you
would like more information please
feel free to call 1-203-375-6083
