SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to Terrible Tuesome Tuesday, where two sisters tell you a haunted story and every tale comes with a side of family drama. I'm Ashley. I'm Simone, and today's episode is the Enfield Poltergeist. Hopefully you're still listening. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

People are still listening.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

That is something a wheel would say. Alright, let's get into it. This one is a story about a poltergeist in England. And uh gets a little weird, gets a little funny, and there's some British humor. Oh, I love British humor. I wrote a joke just for you. 284 Green Street in Enfield, London was a three-bedroom council home located in an industrial complex in the neighborhood of Brimsdown. For all us Americans, a council home is a government assisted housing, and in the 1970s, these houses were not exactly a luxury. Though the neighborhood was located in an industrial area, it was described as peaceful and quaint, spotted with front gardens and well-lit alleyways between groups of houses. England still recovering from World War II was going through economic struggles. It was a target for strategic IRA bombings. I actually read a book about it, uh, about the IRA, and it was really good. Uh and it talked about this. Anyway, social structure of England shifted dramatically in the 70s, bringing us immigrants from all over the world and giving us things we couldn't live without, like punk music. Alright, no effects. And no no effects.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Aren't they a punk band?

SPEAKER_01 1:54

Uh I guess.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Okay. I was thinking like sex pistols.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

Oh. And David Bowie. Oh. Before we start, I have to say I have no idea what these people's names are. Multiple sources say the mom's name is Peggy, others say it's Margaret. Some switch the names of the kids, and these following names are my best guess as far as what I can tell from my reading. So just bear that in mind. Uh if you read on this topic on your own. Being recently divorced, 47-year-old Peggy Hodgson lived at 284 Green Street with her four children. Margaret was 13. Uh Margaret was very smart, but very reserved and shy. Janet, who's the star of the show, was 11. She was vibrant and social and she loved gymnastics. Johnny was 10. Uh, he's not really in this story. He was away at boarding school and only home on weekends and holidays. And then you How come only one of them went to boarding school? Because we're gonna get into it. But like a social worker or sent him to a psychologist or the other way around, I can't remember. And one of them we'll get into it when we get into it. For fuck's sake. Alright. Fucking ass. Sorry. And then there was Billy, who was seven. Uh he was just a normal kid with a speech delay. Although the family was financially strugging struggling and and had just been split apart from their father, they were seemingly a happy family. The children were all well behaved and stayed out of trouble, and Pegley Peggy mainly focused on working and being there for her kids. One night, in the summer of 1977, though, their lives would drastically change again when Peggy went into her kids' shared room to tell them to be quiet and go to sleep. Janet and Johnny claimed the night before that their beds were shaking, and now they were saying they could hear shuffling on the floor. Janet claimed it was coming from the chair in their room, so Peggy removed it. When Peggy came back upstairs to tell him to go the fuck to sleep, she turned the light off, and then she heard it. The shuffling. Oh, she heard it herself. Yeah. She turned the light back on to find the room in complete order and the children in their beds. Turned the light off again, shuffling came back. Like shuffling like on the floor? Yeah, like slippers. Okay. She was standing in front of her kids, uh, so she knew it wasn't them. Then they heard four loud knocks coming from the wall they shared with the neighbors. By the way, the English apparently call this a party wall. Okay. And that is what my bedroom wall will now be referred to as.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Well, you don't have anything that butts up against another. I guess you have the living room.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Yeah, but it's a party wall if you get my drift. My bedroom wall. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

That doesn't even make sense because really it's your closet wall that butts up against the living room, but anyway.

SPEAKER_01 4:47

Just how of a wall that shares with another home. Doesn't have to be the closet.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Oh, with another home. Yeah. Then you don't have a party wall at all. No shit. I was making a joke about having sex in my bedroom.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Anyway. Stress me the fuck out. The neighbors on the other side of the wall, they were called the Nottinghams. They were having people over that night, but they never knocked on the wall before. So Peggy was like, okay, that was weird, but Oh, I would totally be like, oh, the neighbors are inviting us over. Oh, we used to knock on our neighbor's wall to get a bag of weed.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

Okay, yeah. See, I would totally be like, oh, they want us to come party with them.

SPEAKER_01 5:30

Oh yeah. Uh we used to we had a special, we had a knock for if you just wanted to come hang out, and then we had a knock for Oh, that's convenient. You got you got a sack. Peggy was like, that's weird, but it's fine. I'm sure there's something to explain it. But that's always what people think before some fucked up shit happens. And that fucked up shit was a dresser just inside the doorway, started scooting across the floor. What the fuck? Away from the wall and toward the door like it was trying to block it. Oh my god. Yeah. The three hodshits were like, what the fuck? And Peggy moved the dresser back. It was 18 inches inches away from where it started. Holy cow. Yeah. Then it moved again on its same track to block the doorway. Peggy tried to push it back because fuck you. Uh it wouldn't move. And it was a f it was as if as if someone or something was pushing back on it.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 6:28

Peggy was like.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

So it's like trying to separate her from her kids.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

That's what it feels like. Or like trying to block them all in the room. She was like, yeah, fuck this. Um and had all the children take their blankets and pillows downstairs to the living room. Uh my youngest would haunt this polter poltergeist before it ever had a chance to re Kavok, so I wouldn't worry about it. Uh I would never know if we had a poltergeist. That's true. Because he is one. Like things randomly flying through the air, random noises, things moved, things missing. I would never fucking the things flying through the air is totally legit. Yeah, I would never know. Peggy's brother John, uh, and his family lived a couple doors down, but he worked nights at the hospital and she figured he wouldn't be home, so she went to the next door neighbor's house, the Nottinghams. Vic and Peggy next door. That's what the kids called her, since her their mom's name was also Peggy. Um, listened to the tale of the shuffling knocking and the naughty dresser. So them and their 20-year-old son Gary went over to check it out to see if there was something creeping. So they weren't knocking? No. Okay. They checked all around the inside and outside and didn't find anything that could cause the knocking or shuffling sounds, and while standing inside, they all heard four loud knocks again. It sounded like they were coming from outside, so Vic went to go check, uh, but there was nothing there. I think we have bigger problems here. Uh, like the giant dresser trying to trap you in a room. Yeah, for sure. It's not a burglar. Right. That's pretty safe to say. The knocks continued and seemed to be following Vic around the house. Gary felt the wall and said he could feel the knocks vibrating the wood. Oh my god. Yeah. Peggy didn't have a phone, so Peggy next door went home and called the police. Which I can understand. Some weird shit's happening, and it sounds like someone is trying to get in your house. Yeah. Uh maybe their police department will figure it out. I'm pretty sure ours wouldn't. No, I don't.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

I don't I don't think so. I don't even think they show up. No.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

When the constables arrived, Peggy was straight up about it, and she was like, shit's haunted. And told them about the knocks in the dresser. Obviously, the constables were skeptical. Uh Vic turned off the lights and then knocks started again. Um four loud knocks on one wall and then four loud knocks on a different wall. Because of the street lights outside, everyone could see each other, so they knew it wasn't someone in the room doing it. Okay. They turned the lights back on and the police started to search the house. Uh when one of them was in the living room and Johnny suddenly pointed to one of the chairs, it was wobbling and then slid toward the kitchen, which was about three to four feet. Oh my god. The police said that because no one was breaking the law, they couldn't really do anything. Well, what are they supposed to do? Right. Uh, but they would keep an eye on the house and they dipped. Um, I don't blame them. There's I mean Sorry, I can't really arrest like something in the walls. Right. The Hodgsons didn't get much reprieve since the activity started first thing in the morning the next day. Someone or something was shooting marbles and blocks across the living room. Toys would blast across the room, hit the wall, and fall straight down to the floor, like without rolling. Peggy went and got the neighbors again, and Peggy next door called her dad, Mr. Richardson. While Richardson was in the kitchen, two marbles shot past him and hit the bathroom door. When he picked them up, they were hot. And marbles and blocks continued to fly across the room for the next two days. Peggy next door offered to call someone in the media to see if they knew anyone who could help, which is weird, but it was the 70s, and ghost investigation shows didn't exist yet, so I guess call the media.

SPEAKER_00 10:23

I think that's kind of like what they usually did in the 70s, was like, we have to get this story out to the media for some reason.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

I don't think I would want to do that, but well, I think maybe they're looking for people with answers. Yeah. So if they put the story out, then maybe someone will help them. She called the Daily Mirror, which had an internal unwritten law that they did not do ghost stories. Oh. I want to know the backstory. I have to know that too. The new kid who took the call from Peggy next door didn't hear this unwritten law. Because if it isn't written down, it doesn't exist. That's true. If you want to stay away from a certain topic in the media, then no ghost stories should be part of the onboarding. For sure. So uh this kid sent a reporter to the house, Douglas Bence, and a photographer.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Okay, but wait, so Douglas didn't know about this law either. That's a good fucking point. Yeah. Okay, go on.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Man. Uh, and a photographer, Graham Morris. While Bence and Morris were there, nothing happened, but they were still interested, so they said they would come back another time. After they left, the toy blocks started flying again. Richardson ran out in the street to call them back in. He Morris grabbed a camera uh and went back in the house and was standing by the kitchen door when Morris saw something coming at him and was hit in the over the right eye. Uh the block that hit him hit him so hard it left a bruise. Jesus. The men went back to the Daily Mirror and told senior reporter George Fallos about their experience. Fallos was interested and went to the house that Monday. What I you guys really aren't. Is it a law? Is it a rule? Right? Because it seems like, what are you doing here? I mean, maybe you guys were too interested in it. And so they were like, no more ghost stories, no one wants to hear me. That's the case.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Maybe they're like, no, we can't have ghost stories because the next thing you know, every goddamn photographer and staff reporter that we have is gonna be at that house and nothing else is gonna get covered. I mean, I'll be back.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Maybe that's why I would be I would be like, I'll go.

SPEAKER_00 12:34

I would be like, I'll be the designated ghost reporter.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, which if that was the case, that's what they should have done. Yeah. Or take turns or something. So he Phallos found a frantic and sleep-deprived family outside when he got there. Peggy described the activity that had been happening, and he told her that he believed the energy to be a poltergeist. He explained that poltergeists are actually very common and usually benevolent. I I wouldn't say benevolent, but I wouldn't say that either.

SPEAKER_00 13:08

Um they're throwing things.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Yeah, and like moving shit and like throwing people out of chairs.

SPEAKER_00 13:14

Yeah. That's not a nice spirit.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

Yeah. I would at least say it's annoying. At the very least. Yeah. He noticed Margaret was around the age of puberty, which can attract poltergeist.

SPEAKER_00 13:27

But she's the 11-year-old, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:29

She's 13. Oh, okay. Just like a man to blame a woman's period for moving furniture and flying marbles, but they are usually the source of poltergeist. I know, but can we blame it on something?

SPEAKER_00 13:42

I don't even actually know if it's like 13-year-olds, but I think it's like mostly women that are responsible for poltergeist. I think so too.

SPEAKER_01 13:52

Fallos told Peggy that he wanted to call in some experts from the Society of Cyclical Research, or SPR. SPR is a highly recognized group of paranormal researchers dating back to 1882, and has had many distinguished members from Nobel laureates, scientists, and a prime minister. Oh dang. Yeah. This is a legit group. Yes. If you want to seem legit, people who win Nobel Prizes should be in your group. Oh, for sure. Uh, by the time Phallos had called to ask researchers to come to Enfield, the members had been dropping like flies due to skeptics. The members felt that they had become a debating club rather than an eminent researching society. So there were little members willing to drop everything to go to a house and find a poltergeist.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Well then why are you in this group? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Except there was one be dedicated. I mean a pol a poltergeist is a pretty big deal. Well do you see that every day? Yeah, no shit. Uh there was one new member of the SPR who had been bothering the secretary to get him a new case, uh, particularly in North London, since that is where he lived. And that's exactly what she did. Maurice Gross was a paranormal investigator who attended Regent State Polytechnic in London. He became interested in the paranormal after his daughter Janet was killed in a motorcycle accident. Her death was precipitated by or and followed by unexplainable coincidences that Maurice was unable to let go of. For instance, the day of the crash, the driver was instantly killed, but Janet, who was the passenger, was alive and rushed to the hospital. And at the same time, Maurice and his wife were on vacation, and by the time they got to the hospital, Janet was in a coma that she sadly would never wake up from. Maurice noted her head was wrapped in bandages. He thought this was odd because the day before was Janet B Janet's brother's birthday. He had received a card from Janet that depicted a girl with her head covered in bandages that this is really weird. That read, I was going to send you a bottle of toilet water for your birthday, but the lid fell on my head. London was in a drought.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Okay, that like this is the weirdest screening card I've ever heard of in my life. And why the hell is your head in the toilet?

SPEAKER_01 16:16

That's a good question. Maurice thought this was odd that the card the girl on the card looked exactly like Janet, and they both had their heads wrapped up in bandages. Um and the card was sent the day before her accident. The day of the accident, Maurice was asked to sit in mourning with a group of men at a Jersey synagogue for a day called Tishabiaf or the Ninth of Av. Uh, which is a Jewish day to commemorate five catastrophic events in Jewish history. That means the day of Janet's accident, Maurice was sitting in mourning. Because of that ninth of Av? Yeah. So he was asked to sit in mourning with a group of men at a synagogue. Oh, how weird. Because it commemorates five catastrophic events in Jewish history. So they sit you sit in mourning of it. So the day that she got an accident, he was sitting in mouth. Oh wow. After her death, Maurice waited for a sign from Janet to tell him that wherever she was at, she was okay. Uh again, England was in a drought, so it hadn't rained for weeks, and so he asked Janet to send him a sign by making it rain on the day of her funeral. Maurice woke up the day of her funeral and looked out his bathroom window to find that the roof of his kitchen, which jutted out into the garden and was directly below Janet's bedroom, was soaking wet. Oh dang. There wasn't a spot of water outside anywhere else, like anywhere on the house, on the ground, just on the roof of the kitchen below her bedroom. Uh all in all, there were nine separate events that Maurice thought was the universe telling him that Janet's soul was alive somewhere. Um, and he connected with SPR to talk about these events, and soon after applied to be a member. Within an hour of Phallos calling SPR, Maurice was at the Hodgson's house ready to investigate. It was three days before Maurice would witness anything. On Thursday, September 8th at 1.15 in the morning, Maurice and two men from the Daily Mirror, Bence and David Thorpe, were stationed on the landing between all three bedrooms upstairs. Suddenly they heard a loud crash in Janet's room. Uh Johnny had gone back to boarding school, so Janet was the only one in there. Okay. She was woken up by the sound and started to cry because she was obviously scared. And when they went in there, they saw the chair in her room had jumped about four feet and was overturned on the floor. Okay. Nobody saw it happen. Uh so they were like, meh. An hour later, David Thorpe, the photographer, was in Janet's room and it happened again. So David actually witnessed it. Maurice was convinced this was a case of a poltergeist, and the next day at an SPR meeting, he asked if anyone wanted to help him. Only one person volunteered. It's actually the author of the book uh about the unfailed poltergeist, Guy Lion Playfair. He told Maurice to contact him if he quote unquote got really stuck. Maurice thanked him and immediately returned back to the hospital.

SPEAKER_00 19:29

I mean, honestly, it's like a pol is a poltergeist like the unpopular is it the least interesting?

SPEAKER_01 19:36

I could kind of say that because a poltergeist isn't a person, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

In my belief system, a poltergeist is a mishmash of energies, and the energies are like that's what's throwing pots and pans around. It's not a spirit, it's not like someone from the past, it's just pure energy.

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Yeah. I I think that was my understanding. So maybe poltergeists are like the roly backpacks.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

That's so rude to say. Ghost world. Maybe though. Okay. They have no backstory. I don't know. They've just kind of come out of nowhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:19

You just hear 'em coming from down the hall.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

I mean that's a possibility. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:26

Uh when Maurice arrived back at Enfield, he would immediately begin experiencing activity. Uh he never thought that he would see this shit firsthand. A marble was thrown at him, seemingly out of nowhere, and the chimes on the wall started swinging and making noise, even though there was no wind or draft. He checked to see if ringing the doorbell would make them move. Would make what move? The chimes.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Okay. Do you know what a doorbell looked like back then? Do you remember when we first moved into the house that we grew up in? Do you remember the doorbell from that place?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

No.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

Okay, so it was like a giant, like, I don't know, six inch by six-inch box that literally had bells in it that would like be hit. So like I can see maybe like if the wind chimes were like directly next to it and the the doorbell hit hard, maybe they would move, but I don't think that they would move enough to cause any noise. Okay. But that's an outlandish theory, no matter where you go.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

It makes more sense than what I was thinking, though, which is the modern day doorbell. And I was like, bitch, that's not what happened. Um, but also if the doorbell didn't ring when they started moving the first time.

SPEAKER_00 21:44

Oh, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Why would he think the doorbell evolved? I think he was just desperate to find a logical conclusion.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

That just doesn't seem like a logical conclusion at all. But okay, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Peggy called him into the kitchen because of a Noise and when you went in the room, there was no noise, but the bathroom door opened and closed on its own. And a shirt flung out of a pile of laundry, even though no one touched it. Uh in addition to marbles, the bathroom door and a flying shirt, uh, they also experienced a kitchen drawer opening, the door chimes swinging back and forth again, a teaspoon jumping, and a cardboard box shooting itself at Janet. I this is what I mean. I would be fucking annoyed after a while.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

I mean, my god, like somebody has to clean that mess up.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

Yeah, and that's what I like. Listen, I'm a Taurus. I like to lounge in a clean environment. And if a poltergeist is throwing shit around my house, I'm gonna be fucking pissed about it.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

For sure. But chances are you're the reason for that poltergeist, so really you only have yourself to blame. Not as a Taurus, we are earthbound. Uh but it would be more than likely you bringing the pol the poltergeist on.

SPEAKER_01 23:00

Absolutely not. It would be my insane husband. I can see yeah, okay. He has very chaotic energy sometimes. That's true. Uh Maurice noticed that the majority of the activity was directed at or in the presence of Janet. So he was like, I'm gonna keep an eye on her because like she might be doing this. At one point, Peggy next door's dad, Mr. Richardson, brought the kids home from the park and Janet went directly upstairs. She immediately called out to Mr. Richardson when she got up the stairs. And when he went to her room, he saw her bedroom chair was on top of the bedroom door balancing against the wall. What? Yeah. And he was like, I don't think Janet did that because like that's really high up, and it was so meticulously set there that as soon as he touched it, it came toppling down. So like the physics wouldn't even that would be an extraordinary feat for someone to perform at all.

SPEAKER_00 24:01

Why is that a thing that poltergeist do? Why do they stack things? Is it to show like no one could have done this, this, like, pay attention, it's me, it's not Janet, it's not whoever. Yeah because they they seem to always stack things.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

Yeah. Uh so he was like, Okay, uh if the neighbor girl did that to me, I'd be like, Where's your mom? Oh yeah. He was more like, girl stop. And they went downstairs because he's old. He's an old man. So he's like, I'm too old for this shit.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

Dude, I feel like 100%, once again, dad would blame us for that. 100% and then he would probably go to mom and be like, I just don't know how they did it. I don't know how they did it, but they did it.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

And then mom would get drunk years later and be like, You really freaked your dad out.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

Oh, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

Um she would laugh hysterically. And then she would be like, I also don't know how you did that, but it it was more funny that you freaked your dad out.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Actually, you know what I think would happen if it was something like a weird thing like this. I think mom would be like, We're gonna start going to church as a family. Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

We never went to fucking church, but she would be.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

She would have made us go to church after that.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

We're gonna ask Jesus. Janet had some rocks that she got from the park, uh, but she put them in the fish tank, which I also think is weird. I don't think you can do that. I don't think so. She put the lid back on and walked away, but the lid jumped off and hurled itself across the room. And she looked at Mr. Richardson and she was like, Fucking told ya, you old dork. I would too. By this time, the Daily Mirror had run its story on the poltergeist, and the producer of a popular radio show called Nightline wanted to hear an episode. Oh, Nightline, I remember Nightline. I don't remember. Can you tell which one of us is the older sister? Okay. You old bitch.

SPEAKER_00 26:04

How's 1982 treating you? I was not born in 1982. Keep going. A reporter showed up to the house.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

And while she was there, Janice's bedroom chair shot across the room and her bed started shaking. She interviewed the Hodgsons and hurried back to the station so she could air it before lunch. Uh Guy saw the lunchtime segment, the guy from SPR. Okay. And decided that maybe Maurice did need some help. So he called him and told him he would be there.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Which I feel like, bitch. Now you want attention? Yeah. Now you want to help? Yeah. I would tell him to get fucked. I would be like, oh, you can be my assistant. Yeah. You can take notes for me. And you're not making any money off of it.

SPEAKER_01 26:47

Fuck no. Uh got well, he does because he's the author of this book. So Oh, see? Yeah. Yeah. He was cautious at first uh and wanted to make sure that this was worth investigating. Um, but right away he suspected Janet was playing tricks. So the first night he was there, the photographer Graham and he put cameras on the landing outside the bedrooms. When he peeked in, uh Janet was sleeping. He told Graham, okay, let's go downstairs. Guy stayed on the landing, and Graham walked down the stairs, double tapping on each one to make sure it sounded like two people were walking down the stairs. Uh oh, they're trying to trick Janet? Yeah. Guy was looking into Janet That's some male shit. Guy was looking into Janet's room. He saw that when Janet heard the door downstairs closed, her head shot up out of bed. And Guy was like, Yeah, that's what I fucking thought. But the next night, uh, they were waiting on the landing again. They s heard what sounded like a marble hit the floor. But when he opened the room, the bedroom door, he saw the marble in the middle of the doorway. Like it just hit the door and dropped, which is not what a marble would do. No. Like he even recreated it to try to get it to do that again, but it would roll every time. Uh so he was like, Alright, I'll see where this goes. But day after day, he witnessed the same shit marbles and blocks flying across the room, shaking beds, drawers opening, and chairs being moved. I love uh that a paranormal investigator sees all this and is like, cool, do something new now. Yeah. Like, all right. Okay. Yeah. I don't know that is proof enough. Yeah, and also like I'm not here for you. Yeah. The guy and Maurice decided that in order to help them, they would need a medium. Which I love. It's always my favorite part of the story. Yeah. Maurice suggested a woman, Annie Shaw, but she would be out of the country for two to three weeks. Um, and things were starting to escalate. Whatever was haunting the Hodgshins was definitely following Janet. Uh drawers opened where she walked past, chairs fell over when she came out into the room, objects jumped when she was sitting next to them. Once uh they were at another neighbor's house to escape their little spiritual terrorist. Uh the neighbor Sylvie was making tea in the kitchen when she was pouring water in the teapot. A plastic toy materialized out of nowhere and dropped on the stove.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Oh my god. Okay, see material material coming up out of nowhere. You're coming up that's like shit popping up. That's definitely not for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:52

No. The spirit also followed them to her brother John's house. Uh his bedroom door was like a swing door. Okay. Okay. And a saloon door, okay. Well, I think it was like one door that swung in. Yes, I figured. Didn't Dad ever make you watch Tombstone? Yes, of course. Great fucking movie, by the way, one of my top five. Um so Dad deserves that credit. Anyway, the door would suddenly stop halfway. Like it would just stop. A lamp set across slid across the floor on its own, and his son saw Janet be thrown from a chair in the living room. Poor Janet. I know. Vic and Peggy Damn it, Janet. Vic and Peggy both saw an apparition in the window from the outside of a grey old lady. This could only mean that the spirit was much stronger than they thought, and that it could follow them wherever they went. Uh so Guy and Maurice had come up with a theory that instead of Janet playing tricks or pranks to get attention, the spirit only knew what Janet knew. For instance, things seemed to happen the most right after Guy would leave or right before he came back. Uh so one day he left the house to get something to eat and left a recorder on top of the kitchen cabinets without telling anyone. When he listened to the recording back, the family was watching TV uh and you could hear a loud crash. Margaret became scared and Peggy calmed her down. This was followed by another loud crash, and Janet said, I was about to sit on that and it went bang over. That's a quote. Janet, you're so cute. Bang over. Uh another loud crash, and Billy said, Hold on now. That's in here. Um and then he could hear Peggy say, hurry up, Mr. Playfair, wherever you are. That was a bad one. This convinced him that there weren't just acting since no one knew the recording was there. Um also don't record people without their knowing.

SPEAKER_00 31:57

Yeah, that's so uh violent. Yeah. Especially when it's minors. Especially, I don't like it. I wouldn't do it just for the the fact that like I'd be pissed if I came back and they were talking shit about me. I would definitely be like, I'm done. You guys are on your fucking own. Fuck you.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

I swear to god, every episode you're just like emanating Leo energy. Why? Like I swe I I swear to god, if I get back and I hear that they were talking shit about me, they can get fucked. That's like for sure the first thing I would have thought when I put that recorder up there.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

I love that. Because who would talk shit about it, Leo? Everybody talks shit about Leo's. Nobody likes Leo's.

SPEAKER_01 32:36

Well, no, they're jealous. Yeah, for sure. Obviously. By this time, the medium Annie had finally gotten back uh into town and said that her husband George and her would come to the house and investigate. Annie had a interesting way of communicating with the dead. She sat in the middle of the living room in a chair, closed her eyes, and began to breathe heavily. Oh, I've heard of this. Um George turned to Annie and said, Now, can you see me? Annie screamed and said, Go away and screamed again. And then she began to laugh like a witch. I don't know what a witch laughs like. Uh but like a cackle. Oh, okay. And George decided it was over. Uh he took a small mirror and put it in front of her face. Annie spit at him, but George made her look at the mirror again and said, Now you look at this, look and see what went wrong, and we will show you how to put it right. What the fuck? Yeah. Weird. Annie said, Gozer, Gozer, help me. Elvie, come here. George told the spirit it had forgotten Jesus and it had to leave through the blue door in the mirror. After a while he told the spirit to stay away from the house, or it will quote, feel the burning again, which sounds like gonorrhea. Yeah. Annie came to and said that the main spirit was attached to Janet, but that there are other number of spirits in the house. Annie said the spirits were drawing energy from Janet, uh, and they gave Peggy and Janet a quick little spiritual healing, invited them to their house for more rituals. Uh, and this only seemed to work for about a week before the activity started again, and just as bad, including pools of water just appearing at random spots on the floor. Oh gross, I hate stagnant water. Um, also though, I have a toddler, so I would just think it's pee. Not that he just like regularly pees on the floor, but like, you know, if he's out of the shower and we haven't gotten a diaper on him. Yeah. He also thinks it's hilarious to pee on the floor. Um, so he does do it often. Yeah, and then the five-year-old is like, I'm gonna pee on the floor. And I'm like, no one's peeing on the fucking floor. And then your husband comes along to pee on the floor.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Me and the goddamn cat are the only people peeping it together. The cat pees on the floor, too. Shh. After that. She has to assert her dominance. Oh, so I'm the only one who gets to pee in the toilet.

SPEAKER_01 35:04

And I bet I'm the one who gets to clean it up. Absolutely. Uh, I'm gonna move into this house by myself. Just me and the poltergeist. It'll probably be a lot more peaceful to be. Probably, honestly. At least I'll know I'm not responsible for the poltergeist.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

Yeah, and you won't have to talk about Spider-Man or the Hulk. He's so cute.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

I love him so much, but Christ. Yeah. Um, one night Janet complained that something was sitting on top of her own bed, and it felt like her mouth and nose were being covered. Guy told her she needed to practice what the Shaws had showed her, um, because they had showed her how to protect her energy. As soon as Guy went downstairs, he heard a loud crash, where she proclaimed that before the chel f chair fell over, an old man had been sitting in it and putting his hands on her face, keeping her from breathing. But that is not this is not poltergeist activity if there are actual figures. Okay, I was gonna ask you at the end of this if you thought it was a poltergeist, because I don't think it is. Guy and Maurice decided to try to contact a physicist to see if they could explain the random flying objects, which like isn't a solution to an old man trying to suffocate you.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

I don't know, but I would be interested to hear what the physicist uh physicist had to say.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Here it is. A professor from Birkabeck College had recently joined the SPR team and agreed to help them. Uh the Shaws had warned Guy to not communicate with the spirit. Dr. Hastead, the professor, told Guy to try to make contact and ask the spirit to do things or show itself. So that was the physicist's idea.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Interesting. Did you do any physics, my man? Were you just like a haunted house? Of course it's haunted. Yeah. Nothing else can explain this. He's an SPR. So he was like, That's the kind of physicist I would be.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

I love that he like agreed to help, and he was like, Have you tried talking to it?

SPEAKER_00 37:06

Right. Like, he's not actually helping. No. I love it for him.

SPEAKER_01 37:10

Shortly after this, uh, Peggy was in her room telling Margaret that she had trouble sleeping the night before. Guy said he felt a violent shaking throughout the house, and he got up to see what the source was. The frame of the gas fireplace, which was cemented into the wall, had been pulled out. It was now sitting on the floor at a bend angle. Jesus. They guessed that the frame weighed at least 50 pounds and it had come out of the wall as of being pulled.

SPEAKER_00 37:40

Well, Janet probably did it. Well, obviously.

SPEAKER_01 37:43

She kinda seems feral to be f to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

The way these people tell it.

SPEAKER_01 37:48

Yeah. So Guy came up with a plan uh to talk to this terrible interior designer. And Peggy's brother John was in the room. Guy stood on a chair so he could reach the ceiling and told the spirit that one knock meant yes and two meant no. And he was about to knock three times to say hello, which wasn't in the rules, so how the fuck is the ghost supposed to know that's hello? Uh, and things started being thrown where Peggy and the kids were upstairs. A loud succession of knocks started going off in threes, fours, and sevens. Guy yelled at the ghost, you're dead.

SPEAKER_00 38:26

And then started throwing shit. And then we wonder. Wouldn't it be funny if the ghost yelled back, YORAM? No, you're dead. No shit. I was wondering what happened.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Well, no shit, Shola. Guy said there was shit everywhere in the room where Peggy and the kids were, and decided that uh this thing did not want to talk to him. And he was like, I'll wait for Maurice. Maurice had been uh sick with a cold and the Hodgchens went out of town for a little reprieve. So when they got back, Maurice met them at the house and told them that he was gonna try to communicate with it. He told the spirit that one knock was no and two was yes, which is confusing because it was the other way around last time. The first question he asked was, Did you die in this house? Two knocks. Yes. Will you go away now? Okay. Not even a police. One knock, no. Oh, good for you. Did you live here for ten years? No. More than ten years. Yes. More than thirty years. Yes. He asked how long the spirit had lived there, and they heard 53 knocks, which is a long goddamn time to wait. Jesus. And also, like, not really that's a lot of waiting for not like shitty information. Did anybody record this? Yes, so we'll get there. He asked, Did you die this year? Yes. Do you know that you shouldn't be here? And the knocks started rapping against the walls like crazy. He asked, Are you fucking with me? And a box of blankets flew off a shelf and hit him in the head. Well he had to let him know what was up. It was a box of blankets, so at least it was soft. Yeah. Guy told Peggy to leave pads of paper and pencils around the house and tell the spirit to write something to her. I used to do that. This is fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

You used to do what? I used to leave pads of paper around with pencils and ask God to leave me a note.

SPEAKER_01 40:38

You never did. Can you tell how our family communicated with one another? Leave a note. Ashley, do the dishes. Love mom. Uh what did you think God was gonna say?

SPEAKER_00 40:50

I don't know. Just like, okay, I'm here. Yo dog. Do you need something? What's lapping? What can I help you with? Why would you need to write that down?

unknown 41:01

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 41:03

I don't I was a little kid. I didn't I had there was no like plan. What was I gonna what was I gonna do after I like I wouldn't have even believed that I would have thought like it was dad or something. Oh it wouldn't have been. Well, I didn't tell mom and dad that I was doing this.

SPEAKER_01 41:18

I I would have loved to see the look on dad's face if you told him what you were doing because he would totally have fucked with you.

SPEAKER_00 41:25

Oh, he absolutely would have. I'm gonna tell him this story one day. That's hilarious. Uh but one day she did find a note on top of the fridge. Not that crazy.

SPEAKER_01 41:34

Yeah, but it wasn't on the paper she had left. It was on one of Janet's notebook papers. Uh oh, wasn't good enough for you. It read, I will stay in this house. Do not read this to anyone else, or I will retaliate. Janet said she didn't recognize the note, and Peggy didn't see how she could have put it on top of the fridge without anyone seeing her, which I don't know, like pr probably pretty easy.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

So the the the spirit said, Don't show anyone this note, so she immediately went and showed the note. Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 42:06

Peggy went to the living room and on the coffee table another note was found that said, Can I have a teabag? Oh my god. I wrote that note to Chris just last Thursday. Oh, for fun. I'm just kidding. Keep your balls away from my face. The next Saturday, Mr. Hodgson, the hit her Peggy's ex-husband, showed up to pay his child support and was making fun of the whole thing. So Peggy showed him the note. You know, the one that said, don't read this to anyone. She immediately immediately apologized and said she wouldn't do it again. Oh, I don't believe her. Ashley, listen to this shit. After her ex-husband left, she found a note that said, A misunderstanding. Don't do it again. I know who that was. Look, I'm sorry, but this is a teenage girl. No ghost is coming back to the physical plane to be threatening and then be like, it's fine. Just be cool next time. Okay, you think it's I don't think this part is real, no.

SPEAKER_00 43:08

I mean, this is really far-fetched. Yes. But and like, a misunderstanding. Don't do it again. But what this was right after he left.

SPEAKER_01 43:18

I mean, uh it didn't specify like Okay. Uh Guy wasn't convinced this wasn't Janet, uh, but he did know that he had witnessed things that were impossible for Janet to have planned. Uh so once the activity escalated again and it was centered around Janet, Guy felt Janet was possessed.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

Ugh, poor Janet, she was just getting the shit end of the stick.

SPEAKER_01 43:44

Yeah, except I don't think she's possessed. No. Peggy thought all the trauma from the divorce and her age made Janet a candidate for a girl whose mind had taken on a personality of its own and had started to rearrange the energy in the house. So a poltergeist. Yeah. Guys. Theory on poltergeist was interesting. He suggested in the book, but didn't say this to Peggy that poltergeists are evil and have come back to haunt you because you wronged them in another life. I've never heard that theory before. I haven't either, and it will come full circle later. It became clear to him that the mission of this haunting had changed from getting evidence of the afterlife to helping the family. Guy asked Peggy if she wanted him to contact an exorcist, but she had wanted to go get to the bottom of it herself. Just call the exorcist, girl. Right. Girly pop. This is the time Like your daughter is being affected. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

Uh what the fuck are you gonna do about it?

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Right. You called us. You haven't done anything so far. Right. So Guy called a medium he had met in Brazil and her husband, Elizabeth and John Fuller, who said that they were more than happy to come and see what they could do. When Guy met up with the Fullers, the only information he gave Elizabeth was that they were in Enfield and handed her his notebook where he kept all his records. She just held it. She didn't like read it. And she said Wood Lane, which was the street next to theirs, and who was Margaret? I can see a house, it's brick built with white trim and a green door. That was an accurate description of the Hodgson. And obviously Margaret was one of the daughters. But the rest of the information and names that she gave in that little spiel had no connection that Guy could remember. When the Foolers and Guy went to the house, Elizabeth walked in and felt absolutely nothing. It should be noted that when the Fullers were in the house, the kids had been sent to a group home for a couple days where Peggy rested at the neighbor's house. So one of two things is possible. It is Janet doing it. Um or the spirit was haunting the house that Janet was in, because it follows Janet.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

Yeah, or yeah, it's following whoever it's following somebody at this point. Yeah. Like why stay around and haunt a house that nobody's in? Like why why throw things around when nobody's gonna see it or hear it?

SPEAKER_01 46:08

Right. Soon the kids met Peggy at the neighbor's house before going back home and the activity instantly started again. It threw a plate of food on the floor and jettisoned the neighbor out of his chair. I just need you to picture this. Imagine dad getting thrown out of his recliner. Just the look on his face, glasses flying off bass fishing magazines on the land of order. Someone blames a cat. Someone did it.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

I didn't actually picture the look on his face. I can see like his eyes are all big. His mouth is like okay. So for reference, if you are picturing our dad, picture Hank Hill.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

But without the Texas accent. Yes. They are one and the same.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

The jeans, the tucked in white shirt, the very like conservative Republican like viewpoint. Yeah, and then the like analytical interpretativeness of like gas in your car.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

No magnets on the fridge. Don't move the coffee table to make new carpet indents.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

You better have a good firm handshake. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

Like so for future reference, just picture Hank Hill when we discuss our dad.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

Yeah. Unfortunately, that night, Janet had a little demonic episode. Um at the group home? No, at home. They were at home. Okay. Don't be embarrassed, Janet. It's fine. We all have a little demonic episode every once in a while. Um I have one at least once a week.

SPEAKER_00 47:58

I was gonna say some of us more than others.

SPEAKER_01 48:00

Are you looking at me?

SPEAKER_00 48:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:02

I'm an angel baby.

SPEAKER_00 48:04

I fucking can't with you.

SPEAKER_01 48:05

Um Peggy told Guy that Janet was having an episode, and when they arrived in her room, Janet was screaming loudly, and they found Maurice holding down her arms as she pinched him several times, punched him several times. She said, Qua bitch! What does that mean? That's like what your husband does like, qua!

SPEAKER_00 48:23

Oh, like Phil. Yeah. It's just that the same without the hand motion. I know.

SPEAKER_01 48:28

Graham was holding her legs while Janet thrashed in her bed, her face twisted and trying to bite Maurice's arms. Uh, in between screams, she would yell, mommy, mommy, mommy, in a voice of a girl half her age. They called a doctor who gave her Valium and diagnosed her with schizophrenia. I don't feel like you can diagnose her that quick, but how quick do I know? Janet passed out from the Valium, but an hour later they found her on top of the radio in her room, crouched with her head down and fully asleep. There's a picture of it on her Instagram. It's actually kind of funny.

SPEAKER_00 49:02

Crouched is not something that I want to see like a haunted child in.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

No. I once found my toddler asleep in the hallway in a Hulk costume. So I wouldn't be too alarmed if he was like.

SPEAKER_00 49:15

Was he crouched though? No. Okay, see? That's the difference. Crouched means possession. Yeah. Sprawled out means they're just fine. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:24

They lifted her up and put her back into bed for the night. However, the next night she had another episode. Uh she screamed less, cried more, lasted for about three hours. Oh my god. At one point she got out of the bed with her arms in front of her and her eyes shut. Guy opened her eyelid and shined a light in her eye, uh, but there was no reaction. Janet then said, Where's Gober? He'll kill you. The original mediums that came to the house had mentioned a ghost by the name of Gozer, but Guy didn't really care at this point because he was kind of convinced Janet was being possessed by the spirit of a little girl. They called another doctor who found her physically fine but diagnosed her with hysteria and left Atavan pills.

SPEAKER_00 50:04

Hysteria at eleven?

SPEAKER_01 50:06

You don't have to fake a possession to get anxiety pills, Janet. Just tell your doctor you obsessively think about your house burning down all day and night, and they'll just give you some. Or d j even just I have some anxiety. That's what I did. The next morning Janet woke up with another episode. Peggy and Peggy next door called Maurice and took Janet to the hospital. The psychiatrist who saw her there said she was fine, but they should try to keep her away from any hysterical situations, which I feel like as a parent you should be doing that anyway. Right. John, Peggy's brother, was like, the fuck she is fine. So the psychiatrist said, Okay, then I'll admit her. And John was like wanting her to stay in the hospital that he worked at, uh, so he could keep an eye on her. So they just took her home where she immediately had another episode and they gave her out of van to calm down. At this point, Guy didn't really know what to do. It was just getting worse and she was missing school and Peggy had was about to have a nervous breakdown. So he contacted two friends we met in Brazil, Luis and Elsie. They were known for their work in spiritual healing. Uh Guy wouldn't have normally contacted them for a poltergeist, but he was out of moves, so sometimes you gotta say, fuck it. They agreed to help. Uh got there November 29th. Luis found Janet on the couch in a K-hole.

SPEAKER_00 51:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 51:26

Just kidding.

SPEAKER_00 51:28

That took me a second.

SPEAKER_01 51:30

I was like, that tracks for like, you know, this era, but then no, she was just on a shit ton of Atavam. Um we've all been there. Luis and Elsie has to go upstairs to have a meeting with their spirit guides. I didn't know you had to leave the room to do that. Luis went into a trance and almost instantaneously downstairs, Janet went into a slow motion fit, which is somehow creepier than a normal fit. For sure. One thing that Peggy and Maurice thought was weird was that when Janet went into these episodes and said mommy, she was putting the emphasis on the end of the word, like momet. Luis came downstairs and started speaking Portuguese to Janet, asking her what her mom's name was, and Elsie turned to the group and said she's speaking Portuguese and explained that the way she was saying mame is how small children in Brazil said mommy.

SPEAKER_00 52:23

How did she know it was Portuguese right off the bat?

SPEAKER_01 52:26

Well, they're from Brazil.

SPEAKER_00 52:28

But I mean, like, okay, okay, that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 52:31

Gotcha. Yeah. Luis went zaddy on the ghost and started yelling at the spirit to leave and get the fuck out. A few minutes later, Janet was back to normal, uh, but she was really tired and weak and stopped having episodes again and recognized Guy because she didn't recognize him when sh when he first came in. Elsie told Guy, I see this child Janet in the Middle Ages, a cruel and wanton woman who caused suffering s suffering to families of yeomen, which is a landowning farmer. I don't just say that. Some of these seem to have come back now to get even with her and the family. Um, which tracks with the definition of poltergeist that guy was talking about. Yeah, for sure. After this, Janet had only one more episode, but it lasted only lasted a few minutes. Luis told Guy that Janet was an unconscious medium and needed to understand how to control her abilities. The next event is probably one of the biggest mysteries of this whole thing. Maurice heard Peggy call Janet's name from upstairs. He went to the staircase and saw Janet slithering down the stairs. Oh my god. Uh apparently asleep. Maurice asked how she got the door open if she wasn't awake, and Peggy said, I saw it open the door for her. It? Yeah. They put Janet back in bed. Uh it happened again, but Janet was awake and being dragged by her arms with her feet dragging behind her. After this, Margaret and Janet started having vivid dreams of the ghosts and were talking endlessly in their sleep. So Guy sought out a hypnotist, Dr. Fletcher. Dr. Fletcher was careful to not ask Janet leading questions. He used open-ended questions to be unbiased. And when he asked if she knew it was causing all this trouble, she said, Yes, me and my sister. Oh, that's messed up. When pushed on this answer, uh, she didn't outright confess that her and Margaret were like fucking around, but that their unhappiness and fear of their father had made a doorway for something like this to happen. Okay. Uh not much else was discovered in with hypnosis. Guy actually wanted her to go to a very specific hospital where he knew a psychiatrist uh who specialized in hypnotism, but the general practitioner refused to write a referral uh to anyone but the social welfare doctor. That psychiatrist had been the one to recommend that Johnny go to a special boarding school. So Peggy refused to let any of her kids see him. And I don't blame her. Um I don't know what was going on there, but like I would be scared we're gonna send away another kid. They decided they would try to reach out to the spirit again directly. This whole story is like the same two remedies over and over again, basically. Um, trying to talk to it directly in hiring mediums. Yeah. They named the poltergeist Charlie.

SPEAKER_00 55:34

Oh, that's good. Give it a name.

SPEAKER_01 55:35

I think it's a nice name.

SPEAKER_00 55:37

You should okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:38

Maurice asked Charlie to make noises in the room. No noise came, but as soon as Maurice left the room, two loud barks coming from under Janet's bed were heard. Oh, that's creepy. I don't like it. No, that's like a demon dog. I just picture a little girl barking underneath her bill. Oh, that's even creepier. Freaks me the fuck out. Maurice was finally like, Alright, you little shit. You can whistle and bark. So I know you can talk. Full on Destiny's Child and said, Say my name, say my name. I knew it. As soon as he left the room, the ghost said, Ooh, Maurice. Ooh. No. Yes. Well, I don't know if it made the it the the book had the letter O, so it was probably more like, oh, Maroon. Okay. Um, but I wanted to do 1950s Mickey Mouse. Got it. Maurice went on to ask Charlie's real name, to which he replied, Joe Watson. And went on to answer yes when asked if he lived in the house. Charlie slash Joe didn't answer the next couple of questions. But when Maurice asked if he knew if he was dead, Charlie replied, shut up.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

Now, was it a shut-up, like shut up I know, or like shut up. I am not dead.

SPEAKER_01 56:59

And it didn't specify. But I like the version where shut up. That's not real. Guy had had enough, so he went on to lecture Charlie slash Joe. But he was like, You're dead, you're a ghost, you're a spirit, get the fuck out. And the spirit yelled, no. So Guy tried the nice guy approach and was like, I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed. Oh. He told him that he needs to tell them what he wants so they can help him. And Joe yelled, fuck off!

SPEAKER_00 57:31

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 57:33

You fuck off, mate. Get out of my house. At this point, they decided to figure out if Janet was practicing ventriloquism. Oh my god, this little girl is talented. Yes. Uh, when Guy listened back to the tapes, he realized that the voice was very deep and guttural, and it would have been really hard for Janet to make that voice without her normal voice becoming scratchy or gravelly, which makes sense. Right. He read several cases of possession um that described exactly what they were encountering with Janet, which I just don't it I don't know. Cases of young girls near puberty who were levitating across rooms and deep male voices coming from their mouths. I get why you think it was possession, but like nothing else really matches up here. I mean, doesn't that happen to all of us when we go through puberty? Or not? Yeah. I flew to the park across the street. Other researchers that we we should start telling men that that's what happens. You know, when they give those talks in school, they tell you how you're gonna levitate and speak in a guttural voice.

SPEAKER_00 58:42

In Latin, or at least some dead language that like nobody's ever heard of.

SPEAKER_01 58:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:46

It's because we're witches.

SPEAKER_01 58:48

Other researchers that guy had reached out to told them, in their opinion, they were playing tricks on him. The next night they had set out to talk to the spirit again. To their dismay, the voice would only speak if Janet's bedroom door was closed. Which is sus. That is really suspicious. The voice was the same as the night before, but the ghost now said his name was Bill, and he had a dog named Gober. Oh. He also said he was sleeping in the house and he wanted Janet out of the bed, which made sense why he kept shaking them and violently throwing her out of it. Uh but here's where you really lose your audience. Guy and Maurice decided they wanted to test if Janet and Bill could talk at the same time. Okay. Maurice let the girls in a song and asked Bill to join in. But every time Janet would stop singing, Bill would start. And anytime they tried to get Janet to interrupt Bill, she couldn't. Also, when the girls were left in the room to talk to Charlie Joe Bill, Janet would sometimes slip up and say things in her regular voice that would not have made sense unless it was the spirit. He also noticed that the spirit had a habit of changing the subject frequently, which he noticed Janet also did, because she's 11. But still, like they're still hearing this voice.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:15

Yes. Which would be hard for her to make. Yeah. And like she obviously can't like throw her voice across the room. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:26

At one point, the spirit randomly asked, Why do girls have periods? Oh my god. And was semi-obsessed with girls and their menstruation.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:43

Okay. So somebody like that's his unfinished business. He has to find out all about our cycles. It is a mystery.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

It's not. You can read all about it. Um once the book by Guy Playfair uh said that Maurice put surgical bandage over her mouth before she went to bed. I don't think you should fucking do that. Yeah. When he asked the spirit questions, the answers were subdued as if something was making it difficult for the spirit to speak. So that's suspicious. I think the majority of the things in this story so far have been true, but it's really difficult to defend this one. Okay. Yeah. Um, it's possible that the haunting was real and the girls started to escalate it. For sure. Teenage girls do things. But Guy was like, there's no fucking way that she has can keep this voice going on for three or four hour conversations. No. So he called a speech therapist. The therapist couldn't say who or what was doing it or where it was coming from. She said that it would be nearly impossible for them to make the guttural sound and not have some at least temporary damage to the their vocal cords. Uh each girl had a normal voice and pitch for their age, and she said about the voice, quote, as far as I'm concerned, it's a sound. I wouldn't even identify it as a voice, because when I say a voice, I'm thinking terms of faunation created by vocal cords, and I can't identify this with that. Okay, that's bizarre. Right. The next day, unprompted, the speech therapist called Guy and Maurice and told them that she could not help them anymore and to keep her name out their mouths.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:29

Whoa. Yeah. That's weird. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:33

Guy and Maurice were running out of ideas and strategies to help them. Uh Maurice had kind of come to a point where he was convinced his daughter Janet was guiding him uh and trying to communicate through the house. When Guy tried to convince him uh that they should take some time away, Maurice was like, I don't really think we have a choice but to keep showing up. Um so they hired another medium named Jerry Sherrick. Before Jerry and Guy even got to the house, Jerry knew there was more than one entity, including an unhinged woman. Jerry told Janet and Margaret that they were mediums. Uh, but if they didn't start to control it, they would continue to attract ghosts. They were like in tennis, calling in spirits from all over the place. Uh he also said that in another life the girls were sisters who practiced witchcraft. And their mom, who was also Peggy, was a lady of the town. Which I don't know what that means. Does that mean a hooker or a rich lady? I feel like it could mean either. Yeah. Jerry then went into a trance, let his spear guide take over. Jerry began meditating, and his guide White Cloud took over and told them there was an old woman causing most of the trouble. The old woman said she liked it there and she wasn't leaving. He then introduced the spirit of a Welsh man named Mr. Die, who was supposed to keep spirits from entering the house. You did a bad job, but where were you? Where were you at? He said the girls could call on him when they're having ghostly troubles. Oh, good to know now. I have no confidence in this man. Like, yeah where the fuck have you been? Jerry gave them each a blessing, and the trouble ceased for a few days, but obviously it didn't last. Something confusing happened. The Daily Mir wanted to do a follow-up on the Hodgson story. They sent a guy named Brian Rimmer to the house who showed up multiple times to interview everyone. Uh Guy was satisfied with the job that he did. But then Rimmer called Maurice and told him that during the interview he did, Margaret told him that Janet and she were making up the voices. Guy was suspicious, uh, but he was like thankful because he wanted to know if it was real or not. So he was like, you know, I just want to know the truth. Yeah. He asked Rimmer if he asked Margaret how she was doing it, and he said, Yes, she said she was using her diaphragm. What? Right away, Guy was like, Yeah, a 13-year-old girl doesn't know what a diaphragm is. To which I say, maybe she likes anatomy guy. True. I mean, I I I think at 13 you know what a fucking diaphragm is. I think so. But Rimmer had brought a versed ventriloquist with him, who was also a magician. Oh my god. Magic Mike asked Margaret if she was using her diaphragm, and she said she was. Objection leading. Yeah. Guy asked Rimmer whose idea it was to bring the ventriloquist, and he said one of the T V critics from the station who was also a magician. Why do so many magicians work for this company? Right. How many magicians are in this area? Is Joe the ghost? A magician too.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:01

I'm like, why are there so many magicians? Like, what the fuck? Why am I bringing in ventriloquists and magicians? I've never met a magician in my fucking life. No, me either.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:13

Nor a ventriloquist. Guy had his doubts about what happened because of the way he asked the questions. I love Margaret's response. She said when the Ms When the magician was talking to her, she wasn't listening. She was daydreaming about what she needed for school the next day. Okay. The magician kept using words she didn't understand and she just kept nodding. She said, I don't have time for this. I have lollygagging to do. Good for you, girl. Yeah. A silly heart. A dreamer. Yeah. So when he asked her if her sister and she were faking the voices, she was just nodding because she wasn't listening. And the team from the mirror took that as her confessing. The girls went to Peggy next door very upset and crying because this magician was being a dick to them. Never let a magician make you cry. Okay. No. You are better than that.

unknown 1:07:14

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:15

Sir, you do magic for money. I would never, ever admit to anyone that a magician made me cry. No.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:23

It had been nine months since this started. Uh and they were starting to get concerned about Janet and her mental well-being. She wasn't sleeping, so she kept getting thrown out of bed. Uh her schoolwork was falling behind, she'd become used to the activity in the house. She barely even noticed things like flying bowls and sinks turning on. Guy previously contacted Dr. Fenwick at Maudsley Hospital, but he had always had previous engagements. He wanted Janet to spend time with Dr. Fenwick to undergo hypnosis sessions uninterrupted and away from the house. Finally the doctor had time and found a psychiatrist that he would that would refer her to the hospital. Guy was hopeful this would at least give them a clue on how to get rid of it. So July 25th, Janet arrived at Maudsley Hospital for treatment and was given full physical and psychological exams. When Guy visited Janet in the hospital, sh he like a couple weeks later, he was relieved that she was in good health and looked happy. She had some friends at the hospital and had very little activity happen while she was away. She'd come up with the theory that because she was away from Margaret, there was no way the spirit to there was no way for the spirit to create a buildup of energy and with anyone.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:38

His suggestion is that it takes both of them to manifest anything. Suggestion.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:44

Oh Janet thinks it's her and Margaret. Okay. Guy and Maurice hypothesized that while Janet was out of the house, the activity would stop. It really didn't, like a few more things happened, but I think it would it it was small things that could be residual. Margaret had taken Jerry the medium's advice and learned to shut the s the the spirits off. And so she really didn't have any problems when she began controlling her gift. Uh it became evident though that Janet was probably the root cause because as soon as she came back in September of 78, the activity immediately went back to how it was before. Guy had another theory that the divorce between the Hodgchens had been tense and traumatic, especially for the girls who were nearing the age of puberty. They had so much natural energy and pet it attracted whatever was around and stayed because it had an excess of emotions and energy. Um he theorized that darker or more malevolent spirits were playing off of these fragments of energy to entertain themselves or cause mischief. Uh this was all guesswork, and there was really nothing that led them to a definitive answer ever.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:02

After all that, after all of the mediums, yeah, and all these extra people and the ventriloquist and the magicians. Yeah. They have nothing.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:12

Nope. The activity ceased as quickly as it started in 1979. Um weird. I guess it's possible both the girls learned to control their medium abilities uh and the energy got bored. Yeah. Of because no one was scared anymore. Yeah. They were no longer plagued by anything paranormal and could move on. Huh. Peggy avoided the public eye, but for the rest of her life she never took back anything she said that she witnessed during the haunting. She died in 2003 uh and was very sadly preceded in death by Johnny in 1981 at the age of 14. What? Yeah, it doesn't say how he passed. Janet and Margaret have stayed the course and have gone on television multiple times to recount what happened to them. Janet did admit that they would sometimes play tricks on Maurice and Guy. Yeah. Um, but only about 2% of the events were faked. More than 30 people witnessed paranormal activity in the house that couldn't be explained, including police officers, reporters, and researchers. Maurice and Guy had a hundred and eighty hours of EVPs. Oh my god. Yeah, which is crazy. Not 180 instances, yeah. 180 hours. That's crazy. Yeah. They both spent the rest of their careers defending this research. Um neither would bend. Like they just they basically just wrote research paper after research paper defending the Enfield case.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:48

Huh. I mean, after that much time, yeah, I would hope that you would defend your own work. Yeah. But Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:57

So poltergeist or two teenage girls who were bored as fuck?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:05

I think it was a combination of poltergeist and paranormal activity, including spirits, and that the girls all of the things that were there were feeding off the girls and using them as a medium to uh a way to show themselves and speak to other people.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:25

I don't I don't think it was a poltergeist. I think there was a poltergeist there for sure. No, I think it was just a bored spirit or multiple. Yeah. Well. Yeah. But boo, isn't it? It's a good one. It was long. I'm sorry. It's my joke. It was a lot. Um it was a lot of the same thing over and over again, because I you know it happens. So first thing I'll do when I die. You know, in 2001, there used to be this custard place downtown. I remember that place. I need that custard. It was so good. It was so fucking good. Yeah. So I'd get some custard and I'd find a really comfy chair and a blanket and watch some shitty reality TV.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:22

I mean, you have like the rest of eternity, and that's what you would do.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:27

I'll be tired from holding it.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:29

Oh my god. I am a Taurus. I just want to sit like a lump.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:36

I guess. I mean, the first thing I would do is go play some tricks on people that I didn't like in my living life.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:47

Oh, what if I came back and haunted you?

SPEAKER_00 1:13:50

I would know it was you, dummy.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:52

You know what? I would haunt if I if I died before Chris, I would come back and I would every time he bent over, I would groping to get back at him. There's no bending over in my house.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:05

I wouldn't even bother haunting Phil because he would either A, say, like, just ignore it completely, or B, be like, no, that's you ash. So I wouldn't even bother with Phil. Ooh, you know what? I would get dad. Oh, good one. Yeah. He'd be so mad. Oh, he would be pissed. And again, he would blame it on us.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:31

Yeah. He'd be right that time, though.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:34

Yeah. Okay. Well. That wraps up this week's episode. Thanks for hanging out with us. And we hope you were just as stressed out as we were. If you survived tonight's episode, make sure to follow, rate, and share the podcast with your haunted BFFs.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:50

If you have a paranormal story that you think others need to hear, let us know at terrible toosome Tuesday at gmail.com. Make sure to title that subject line as My Terrible Tuesday Story, and please don't leave out any terrible details.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:04

Check out our Instagram at TerribleToosome Tuesday. Give that page a follow if you want to be terrible too.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:09

That's all for this Tuesday. Don't miss out next week, where we tell you the true haunted story of the Lollery Mansion. Have a good week and see you next Tuesday.