THE “POLTERGEIST”
A MISCHIEVOUS GHOST The “Poltergeist,”' according to Elliott*0 ,| Donnell, a noted authority on this subject, is a mischievous spook, credited with performing all manner of foolish and often alarming pranks such as the upsetting of furniture and the throwing about and hiding of various objects ,ap parently for no other reason than to startle and annoy, states a waiter in the San Francisco “Chronicle.” Now, although this mischievous spirit, as may be gathered from its name —a compound of palter (rackety) and geist § ( spirit)?—is of German origin, it is by no means confined to Germany. The Poltergeist, in fact, is well known all over Europe. “The Poltergeist haunting,” says Mr. O’Donnell, “that strikes me as one of the most startling and mysterious, occurred at a farmhouse near 'Wjem, in Shropshire. Briefly it was this:
“One afternoon, when Mr. Hampson, the fanner, bis wife, and children and two young servants were to •have tea, there was a sudden commotion in the direction of the grate, and a large saucepan of water that had been set on the fire fell wth a loud clatter on to the stone hearth. “The next moment all the tea things were swept off the table in a heap on the floor, and pieces of burning coal and wood were hurled across the room, with the result that one of the children was struck and her clothes set on fire. The flames were quickly extinguished, hut not before the child had been rather badly burned.
“But this was by no means all. Vases and other ornaments on the mantleshelf were thrown on the ground, and smashed, the globe and chimney-of the kitchen lamp were treated in a. similalr fashion, and missiles of all kinds were thrown at the grandfather clock.
“Thoroughly alarmed, ,Mr. Hampson called in his nearest' neighbour, a farmer named Lea, and also the village constable, and in the presence of these two witnesses there was moke hurtling about - of .coal and other objects, and more smashing of glass and crockery. “The disturbances lasted till there was practically nothing left to break in the rosm, when they abniiptly ceased Apparently there w as no renewal of them, and opinion was divided as to their cause, some saying they 'were the work of tricksters.”
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Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 4004, 1 October 1929, Page 4
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380THE “POLTERGEIST” Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 4004, 1 October 1929, Page 4
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