(by courtesy of Prof. H. Bender and Elek Science)"
from Poltergeists by Alan Gauld and A. D. Cornell
As those who've read Testament (1997) are aware, I traveled to Centrahoma, Oklahoma in August 1995 after learning about a contemporary case of "America’s Talking Poltergeist." In the small rural town, I witnessed an array of strange phenomena that included hearing two distinctly different utterances — the laughter of a little boy and a deep masculine groan. Both were heard while I was driving a car with only one other (visible) passenger, a young woman.
I had previously researched similar cases during the first half of the 1990s. To fully understand what I found compelling about these cases, one would have to read the nonfiction books having provided the eyewitness testimonials: in particular M. V. Ingram's An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch (1894), The Haunting of Cashen's Gap (1936) by Harry Price and R. S. Lambert, and The Miraculous Case of Mary Jobson (Second Edition 1841) by W. Reid Clanny, M.D. Several months after returning home to Los Angeles from Oklahoma, I received a letter from Maxine Mc Wethy and it seemed oddly appropriate that her return address showed her post office box was number 13.
The most recent book I've read presenting circumstances that would've fulfilled my criteria for a 'Talking Poltergeist' case in the early '90s was This House Is Haunted: An Investigation of the Enfield Poltergeist (1980) by Guy Lyon Playfair. I had purchased a copy of the book prior to my Oklahoma trip yet didn't realize how prominent was the 'talking' aspect of the case at the time. Excerpts of Maurice Grosse's Enfield audio recordings may now be heard at http://www.zurichmansion.org/ghosts/enfield.htm. Thirteen audio clips are available along with video clips of Grosse being interviewed.
Ten years before the Oklahoma trip, I remember watching the episode of the PBS series "Arthur C. Clarke’s World of Strange Powers" entitled "Things That Go Bump In The Night". One case that was profiled had occurred at lawyer Sigmund Adam's office in Rosenheim, Southern Germany during the winter of 1967. Eyewitnesses were shown in taped interviews. The incident I found most memorable were the hundreds of telephone calls made to the number of the 'Speaking Clock' (current time information) without anybody in the office having dialed the number.
A chapter of the nonfiction book The Unexplained: Great Hauntings (1984) is about the Rosenheim case. The chapter's authors Colin Godman and Lindsay St. Claire in 1975 traveled with a camera team to make a BBC television documentary about the case. I presume this footage was featured in "Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers." Here is an excerpt from the chapter.
On 20 October 1967, the office lights suddenly went out with a bang. Herr Bauer, an electrician from Stern's, a local firm, was called in to repair them. He examined the lights and found that each fluorescent tube had been turned 90° in its socket and disconnected. He had finished replacing the tubes and put away his ladder when there was another bang. The tubes had twisted and disconnected themselves again. He was even more puzzled when the office staff told him that the automatic fuses in the office ejected themselves for no apparent reason, sometimes on all four circuits at once. Bauer began a full investigation of the office wiring and equipment, all of which he found in excellent order. He confessed to Adam: "I was faced with a puzzle and called it 'witchcraft.'"
The Elektrizitätswerk (German electricity board) was asked to take over the investigation. Auxiliary Works Manager Paul Brunner found inexplicable voltage deflections occurred in the office and was quoted: "It became necessary to postulate the existence of a power hitherto unknown to technology, of which neither the nature nor strength nor direction could be defined. It is an energy quite beyond our comprehension."
Physicists Dr.Karger and Dr. Zicha monitored experiments in the office and reached a comparable hypothesis.
While measuring sound levels, they noticed that, although no sound was heard, their monitor showed a huge deflection, so they concluded that there must have been direct pressure on the crystal in the microphone. They speculated that a similar invisible force could be acting on the pen of the Unireg [electrical instrument showing voltage fluctuations] itself, causing the unnatural loops directly, independently of the electrical current. They speculated further: the same force could be acting on the tiny springs inside the telephone, bypassing the dial. It was active only for short periods, its nature was complex and it was not electrodynamic. Known physics could not explain it.
Karger and Zicha also felt that the telephone anomalies suggested that an intelligent force was at work, because it had 'chosen' to focus its attention on the speaking clock.
The entrance to Herr Adam's office was at Königstrasse 13 in Rosenheim.
Seven previous blog posts are about my research of 'talking poltergeist' cases during the 1990s. (Update: also see "List of 'Talking Poltergeist' Accounts".)
10-16-10 Update: I have decided to take a hiatus from blogging to concentrate on working on my new book. It will likely be a two-volume work although I haven't yet found an appropriate publisher. For the time being, I suggest reading previous posts.
That's pretty spooky. Thanks for sharing, Mark.
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