Manchester Haunted

Quiet possibly the most famous haunted house story ever and one that is clouded in such hype and speculation it is hard to find any discernable truth.

It involves an all American family The Lutz’s buying there dream home at a seemingly cheep price and getting a lot more than they bargained for.

Sometime earlier a man called Ronald DeFeo gunned down his entire family within the house. He claimed that voices told him to do it and some people believe him to have been possessed. Obviously no one can prove this but what is known is that Ronald DeFeo was dabbling in drugs at the time. Interesting things to note however, when the police entered the house to find the bodies they where all lied down in the same positions in all the rooms and the type of weapon used was a shotgun that to coin a phrase is loud enough to wake the dead. So how come nobody woke up as he walked into the separate rooms killing his family? And why where they all in the same position? The autopsy showed that no drugs where used on the family so unfortunately the only man who could give us those answers is Ronald DeFeo and too be honest with you he doesn‘t seem the kind of person I would want to sit down for an evening meal with. Now a lot of people do believe that he was under the influence of a paranormal force that wanted them out of the house. The houses is reportedly built on an ancient Indian burial site. Seems cliché now but that is where the story originally came from.

From the first night the family said they felt very strange and personalities changed, according to the book wrote about the haunting the Lutz’s beat there children with a belt and also the children became a lot more aggressive and disobedient. Is this down to the house or the stress of moving and starting a new life?

According to Anson, the phenomena then turned physical. Kathy was victimized by unseen touches, which had sometimes forced her to pass out. On the other hand, George would sit hours by the fireplace because he suffered from constant chills. In addition, he would wake up nightly at 3:15 a.m., reasoning that there was a connection between that hour and the hour the DeFeos were killed. In reality, the time of the deaths was never determined by the medical examiner.

As the month progressed, apparently the situation worsened again for the family. Anson reported that George awoke one night to witness his wife transform into a 90 year old hag. The next night, she began levitating off the bed, forcing her husband to grab her before she floated away.

After failing to get the priest to return, the family took matters into their own hands. Armed with a crucifix, they walked throughout the house reciting the Lord's Prayer. A chorus of voices erupted in response, asking them, "Will you stop?"

The most incredible part of Anson's story was his claim that the daughter had befriended an invisible, red-eyed pig named Jodie. "Jodie could not be seen by anyone unless it wanted to. At times it was a little bigger than a teddy bear and other times bigger than the house," George Lutz explained in October 1979 on the TV show "In Search Of," which he served as a consultant and participant for the show.

One night while coming back from the boathouse, Anson had George Lutz witnessing Jodie standing behind his stepdaughter in her bedroom. Kathy Lutz's introduction to her daughter's friend was just as disturbing. On a separate evening, she was startled to see two red eyes peering in through the darkness from the window. Although Anson's version was dramatic, Hollywood's adaptation was simply unbelievable.

The book reported that the malevolent forces caused significant property damage to the house, such as the front door being ripped off its hinges, windows being smashed, banisters being torn from their fittings, damage to the garage door, and water damage from hurricane force winds, which local meteorological stations had no record of.

After 28 days the family could take no more and left there house and all there belongings behind.

Consequently to this Jay Anson wrote a book on these events which sold more than 3 million copys and the film that was made after that is still one of the highest grossing indepedant films to be made.

The family stuck to there word through all the critisisms that followed untill there deaths.

Although George Lutz proclaimed his story to be true, William Weber argued the story and Anson's book were not. In the September 17, 1979 issue of People magazine, Weber charged, “I know this book’s a hoax. We created this horror story over many bottles of wine.”

So was it a massive hoax or truth? I personally think that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I have seen many documentaries on the subject and know that a lot of things can be explained. A floor board in the house actually opens a window when stepped on. The family that live in the house now say that they have a great life in there and it isn’t haunted at all? What ever happened in the house we will never know but I will leave you with this.

A group was investigating the house and left a camera taking photographs in one part of the house. One of those pictures shows what looks like a small boy staring at the camera. There was no children present so perhaps the house may one day have more to say…..

Borley Rectory has been labelled many things, most prominent “the most haunted house in England” and has had many books wrote about its haunting. Most famously by Harry Price one of the most famous psychical researches of his time.

Built on the site of a monastery which was used by the Benedictine Monks and then owned by the Waldergrave family who occupied it for 3 centuries. In the late 1800’s the reverend Harry Bull, a descendent of The Walgraves’s built a new Rectory on the site of the old monastery and this is when things of a more paranormal kind started to happen.

The spirit of a nun was known to wonder the grounds, sometimes peering through the window while people sat down for there dinner only to disappear shortly afterwards. Legend has it that the nun fell in love with a monk (as they do?????) They tried to elope and was caught in the get away carriage. The monk was hung and the nun apparently walled in a section of the rectory still alive. Reports also note that a horse of a horse has been seen which would have been taking them to safety which begs the question was the horse slaughtered to?

As well as this the spirit of the reverend Harry Bull is known to haunt the rectory. He would be seen in the grey jacket of which he was buried in.

In the late 1920s, the house fell under the ownership of reverend Lionel Foyster and his wife who both reported poltergeist-like paranormal activity. Supposedly, spirit locked the wife in the bedroom, and other times threw her out of the bed in the middle of the night. There were also pebbles thrown at the windows, and mysterious writing which would appear on walls.

The affor-mentioned psychical researcher Harry Price investigated Borley Rectory in 1929 and again in 1937. He experienced a lot of the activity that was reported including the blue nun.

Unfortunately, Borley Rectory burned down in 1939, taking its secrets with it. In 1945, human remains rumoured to be those of the nun were found on the site, and were given a proper burial.

Many people still visit the site today in hope that they may too experience something paranormal and I for one would relish the opportunity to visit the grounds.

Famous picture taken apparently showing

a floating brick. What do you think?

The Enfield Poltergeist has fascinated me for years. Not just for the alleged activity the family in question experienced but by the way it was investigated and how the story captivated the country and personally I am fascinated by the location. Enfield is a busy suburb of London and that to me is a scary prospect. The mere thought that this could be your neighbour or the house across the road, not a massive spooky castle but a house in a town. That’s what made the Exorcist scary to me as it was a house in the middle of a town and all that was happening. Anyway back to the story in mention.

It all happened as the title says in Enfield which is in north London in an everyday council house rented by Peggy Hogson who was a lone parent to 4 children. The events started in August 1977 when 2 of the children Janet and Pete was complaining about there beds moving at night. When their mother came into investigate however the beds was still so she put it down to the kids messing around.

The next night, however, Peggy was once again called by the children to investigate a shuffling noise they heard in their room. When the sound was described as sounding like a chair was moving across the floor, Peggy removed the chair to stop the complaints. However, when she turned off the light to leave, she also heard the sound. It stopped when she turned the light on, but when the room was dark again, she heard it again. Things rapidly escalated from there, with Peggy there to witness it for herself. There were four loud knocks on the wall, and a chest of drawers moved by itself. Moving the chest back against the wall proved fruitless, as it moved away again on it's own when Peggy turned away. A second attempt to move it proved impossible, and Peggy finally lost her composure. Terrified, she ordered her children out of bed, and they ran to a neighbours’ home for help.

The neighbours went round to investigate and heard the loud knocks themselves and after searching the property found nothing that could be causing it. They then phoned the police who also heard the banging’s and one police officer also reported seeing a chair move across the floor on its own.

The events continued and escalated. There were numerous witnesses to the phenomena of objects flying through the air, knockings on the walls, etc. A local vicar, the police, a local medium, reporters from the Daily Mirror numbered among the witnesses. Finally, the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) contacted Maurice Grosse, one of their members, to look into the case. He stayed at the Harper home for several days before experiencing any activity, which began with a chair in one of the children's' bedrooms being thrown across the room. One of the children were asleep in the room at the time. The chair was returned to where it belonged, and when it happened again an hour later, a photographer who was also staying in the house, captured it on film.

The case made front page news in the Daily Mail and was also featured on a radio station which run for a special 2 hour program of which Peggy and Gross participated in it.

For the next 2 years the activity kept on happening Knockings on walls and floors happened on an almost daily basis, furniture moved of it's own accord across the floor, and threw itself down the stairs; objects would fly across rooms and bed sheets and blankets would get pulled off the beds; there were unexplained puddles of water appearing on the floor, and the children made claims that they were being pulled out of bed, thrown across the room, and more. The children's mother, Peggy witnessed many of these events, and backed up her children's' claims.

Most of the activity seemed to centre around one child in particular. 11 year old Janet. She would be seen being thrown about the room, the curtains would try to wrap themselves around her neck, threatening to strangle her. Janet also began speaking in a very rough male voice, claiming to be, among others, someone named Bill who had died in the house. This was verified later that it had indeed, happened, but at time time Janet was manifesting this, no one in the family was aware that this had actually happened.

Janet was examined by psychiatrists and doctors and could determine where this voice was coming from but couldn’t understand how she wasn’t damaging her vocal chords by talking like this for hours on end. The doctors tried to find if there was any physical or mental problems with Janet but none where found but one strange thing worth noting that when Janet wasn’t in the house the activity stopped.

Suspicion centred on Janet. Hidden cameras were set up, which recorded her bending spoons with her hands and trying to bend an iron bar. Other researchers from the SPR came to investigate, but when they came into Janet's room to observe, they were made to stand facing away from the children, only to be hit with objects while the children giggled. The investigators felt that the children were producing the 'voices' themselves, and trying to hide it by burying their faces in sheets, etc, to disguise what they were doing. One researcher, Anita Gregory claimed that the children's uncle had told her he believed Janet had taught herself to talk in a deep voice, and that she had always been very athletic and mischievous, delighting in tricking strangers. He apparently believed that Janet was the cause of the phenomena.

The activity stopped after 2 years. So the question remains was this a genuine poltergeist or a hoax created by the children? I personally believe as is with these famous stories the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I believe that at first they had some unexplained things happen which had been reported by the police let alone anybody else and I do think that Janet was the centre of it but as the activity stopped kids will be kids so they acted on it.

Real or not the Enfield Poltergeist remains a fascinating and intriguing case.

The Bell Witch is a fascinating case for many reasons and one that has enjoured and captivated peoples minds for nearly 200 years, spawned (as is always the case) a major motion picture entitled An American Haunting.

The ghost became so famous that even General Andrew Jackson decided to visit. He too experienced the antics of the witch and his carriage wheels refused to turn until the witch decided to let them.

John Bell fell victim to bouts of strange illness, for which Kate claimed responsibility. He often suffered frequent facial seizures, often rendering him speechless. While the Bell family blamed John's affliction on the witch, modern analysis of his symptoms indicates that he may have have possibly suffered from Bells Palsy a paralysis of the facial muscles.

While he was sick in bed, the spirit cursed and prodded him, never allowing him to rest. One day, he went to bed and never recovered. He was found senseless in his bed one morning and a strange bottle was found nearby. Bell's breath smelled of the black liquid in the bottle, so a drop of it was placed on the tongue of a cat and the animal dropped dead. John Bell soon followed suit and Kate screamed in triumph. She even made her presence known at his funeral, laughing, cursing and singing as the poor man was buried.
Kate didn't vanish immediately after the death of her proclaimed enemy, though. She stayed around, threatening Betsy Bell to not marry the man that she truly loved, Joshua Gardner. The witch would never say why, but she did allow the girl to later marry the local schoolteacher, Richard Powell. Kate soon left the family but promised to return in seven years. She did come back and plagued the family again for two weeks. She soon departed but many believe that she may not have gone far.

Pat Fitzhugh's retelling of the Bell Witch legend concludes with a statement to the effect that many people believe that the spirit returned in 1935, took up residence on the former Bell property, and remains there to the present day. He notes "the faint sounds of people talking and children playing can sometimes be heard in the area" and asserts that it is "very difficult to take a good picture there."

So was the Bell Witch the spirit of a once living person or perhaps an entity conjured up by a living persons anguish and hatred we shall never know. The fim mentioned earlier 'An American Haunting' takes the side of abuse insinuating that John Bell was abusing Elizabeth and she created the goings on. I'm not sure about that, infact I'm notsure about Hollywood most of the time but The Bell Witch case will always be one of America's most famous cases.