The Enfield ‘Poltergeist’: a sceptic speaks

New series The Enfield Haunting begins on Sunday night, and is based on supposed poltergeist activity. But what does science say about such phenomena?

A couple of years ago I was asked to appear on ITV's This Morning to discuss the Enfield 'poltergeist'. It's not an unusual request per se: as editor of The Skeptic I get to be the freethinker-du-jour in various media from time to time.

But there were two things that made this one odd. The first was that the focus of the famous 1977-79 'poltergeist' case - Janet Hodgson - was making a rare public appearance. (She has appeared in a documentary or two and had been filmed heavily in shadow for Jane Goldman Investigates but doesn't make a habit of it.

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