Hauntings & Poltergeists

Hosted byDave Schrader

Hauntings & Poltergeists

About the show

Joining Dave Schrader (email) in the first half, paranormal researcher William J. Hall discussed the 1974 Bridgeport, Connecticut poltergeist case in which police, the national media, and a crowd of more than 2,000 onlookers, reported on strange goings-on at the home of Gerald and Laura Goodin. The unusual activity began when the Goodins and daughter Marcia returned home to find a television in Marcia's room off the shelf and on the bed, Hall explained. Gerald placed it back on the shelf, turned to leave the room, and the television fell back onto to the bed, he added. Another television fell and injured Laura's toe, the kitchen table lifted and flipped over, dishes began flying around, and recliners opened and closed on their own, Hall continued.

Hall played an audio recording of off-duty police officer and neighbor John Holsworth, who came to the aid of the Goodin family as the unexplainable events unfolded in their home. Holsworth told the family to stay on the porch, went inside, and witnessed the refrigerator and furniture moving, Hall disclosed, noting other officers were eventually called to the scene. One was hit by a cross from the wall and three more witnessed a chair holding Marcia float off the ground, he reported. According to Hall, four gauzy figures were seen by reporters, police officers, and seminary student Paul Eno, who claimed to have felt the substance of one of the entities. The activity seems to have been centered around Marcia and eventually settled down by January 1975, he said.

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During the latter half of the program, paranormal researcher and writer for the Independent in the U.K., Roger Clarke, detailed some of the most haunted tales of the last 500 years from his new book on the topic. Clarke, who was raised in a haunted house where bodies had been kept from a plane crash, said he sought to write a book on ghosts which skeptics could not easily sweep aside. He pointed out how ghost appearances are often unique incidents and the nature of hauntings is unpredictable. The Tower of London, for instance, is one of the most haunted places in the world but different ghosts are seen there almost every time, Clarke noted. He shared the 17th century story of the Drummer of Tedworth about a local landowner's house that was plagued at night by the sound of drums. He also expressed doubt about appearances of ghostly Roman soldiers that supposedly materialize only from the waist up.

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