The Enfield Poltergiest - real or not?

Hello everyone!
I took a little break there, no horror movies, just a lot of Bob's Burgers and New Girl. Also a whole lot of Star Wars ya'll, but that's not surprising (we're just over a month away and I don't even give a shit about Christmas - just give me some of that force awakens).

Anyway, I'm back. And I'm watching The Enfield Haunting. And oh boy, this show is wonderful.

But let's delve into the history of the famous case first:

Back in 1977 a small family in Brimsdown, Enfield, England began to experience a haunting. The family consisted of single mother Peggy Hodgson, her two daughters - Margaret and Janet, and her two boys Johnny and Billy. In August of 1977, Peggy called the police after her children claimed furniture was moving on its own and there were knocking sounds coming from the walls.
When the police arrived, a constable saw a chair slide across the floor but could not say whether it moved by itself or was pushed.

The family was visited by some members of the Society of Psychical Research including Maurice Grosse who was an inventor and Guy Lyon Playfair, a writer. Both men believed the haunting to be a genuine poltergeist. Interestingly enough, two professors of psychology claimed the young girls had faked the incidents and some members of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry believed it was all a hoax.

This bizarre story attracted a lot of attention especially from British Newspapers like the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror and has been turned into books, documentaries and inspired horror films.

Aside from the knocking sounds and the moving furniture, there were also claims of demonic voices, rocks and toys being thrown and the children levitating. Maurice Gross and Guy Lyon Playfair also reported whistling and barking noises coming from Janet. Playfair wrote a book about this whole haunting titled This House is Haunted: The True Story of a Poltergeist and in it he doubted some of the events, thinking perhaps the children were exaggerating or playing tricks. This was proved when Janet was caught on tape (a video camera had been set up in the house) bending spoons and banging a broom handle against the ceiling. Both men do believe that even though the children played tricks, parts of the haunting were genuine.

Obviously this was all a long time ago but it's a case as old as time, and something that still happens today - was it truly a haunting? Do poltergeists exist? And when children are involved, how much faith should we put in their stories?

There's some great documentaries on this case which I encourage you all to watch and to form your own opinion on. Let me know where you stand!

In May of this year we were given the mini series; The Enfield Haunting, directed by Kristoffer Nyholm (The Killing) which comes in three parts. The series is based on Playfair's book. Matthew Macfadyen (Ripper Street) plays Playfair and Timothy Spall (Harry Potter) plays Maurice Grosse.

I've just finished episode one and it was absolutely stunning! Timothy Spall remains an incredibly talented actor, playing Grosse with emotion and charm. Grosse's daughter passed away a year before these events and Grosse and his wife are clearly still struggling with the grief. When Grosse receives the call to investigate the Hodgson family his wife practically shoves him out the door.

The Hodgson family are so real and adorable, Janet is the lead in this story and is an absolute spit fire. I'm obsessed with her. Grosse begins to experience the haunting and becomes a solid believer when he sees a teapot go flying off the kitchen counter. Him and Janet bond very quickly and the two of them become extremely fond of one another.

When Playfair arrives unexpectedly he throws off the dynamic - a non-believer, he is there simply to prove this is all set up by the kids. But at the end of episode one, he is forced into believing.

Episode one is flawlessly put together with some very subtle scares. It treats the haunting realistically and spends a perfect amount of time showing us the every day side of these poor kids as they deal with the fact that not only is their house haunted, it's now filled with gawking strangers looking to prove or disprove the poltergeist.

I'm going to delve into episode two right now and I suggest ya'll get binge watching with this show because it is amazing so far!

In other haunting news - me and Mitch know for sure our house is haunted. I've known since the first night we moved in but Mitch is finally a believer. We used a spirit box and got some very interesting voices come through. Most notably, when we stepped into Mitch's office where he brews his beer the box instantly said "beer", and when we were up on the landing the voice said "basket" right when Mitch was waving the box over our wicker basket. Spooky shit ya'll. Spooky shit. I'm thrilled, Mitch is terrified.

'Till next time....

Stay spooky!