The Enfield Poltergeist

The Enfield Poltergeist A celebration of the most famous poltergeist case in history - The Enfield Poltergeist

On the evening of August 31st, 1977, in the north London borough of Enfield, the Hodgson family was to become witness to one of the greatest poltergeist cases in history - The Enfield Poltergeist. Peggy Hodgson and her four children - Janet (11), Margaret (13), Billy (7) and Johnny (10) were to endure poltergeist activity for over a years time, lasting between 1977-1979 and briefly in 1980. As mos

t of the activity seemed to centre around Janet, such activity included movement and disappearance of objects, fires igniting, levitation, knocking on walls and floors, materialization and dematerialization, possession, young girls speaking in gruff voices for extended lengths of time, etc. Two researchers from the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair, were brought into the case early on and spent fourteen months in the house documenting the activity through tape recordings, written documents and to a lesser degree, video recordings. With over 30 witnesses to such activity, including a written statement by police officer, WCP Carolyn Heaps, photographer Graham Morris and neighbours Vic and Peggy Nottingham, the Enfield Poltergeist is considered to be the longest and most well- documented case of such phenomena in recent history. For further inquiry, please read This House Is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair. This brilliant, and extraordinarily creepy, book is Guy's firsthand account of the goings-on at the "house of strange happenings."

Moment of crisis - Janet Hodgson pictured here during one of a number of mysterious fits. Here, we see photographer Grah...
31/08/2025

Moment of crisis - Janet Hodgson pictured here during one of a number of mysterious fits. Here, we see photographer Graham Morris (left) and Maurice Grosse trying to contain Janet. (November, 1977)

Worth noting - one will notice that both walls, behind the bed, as well as the window wall, are free of posters and other wall art and photographs. One will also notice that in pre-November, 1977 photos, these walls are completely covered in posters, etc. Due to the poltergeist phenomena, the Hodgson family decided to take down all images on these two walls. Some sort of saftey concerns could have likewise been at play. This is not the only part of the house in which such wall images were either taken down or moved. This happened throughout the Hodgson home during the poltergeist period.

Janet Hodgson (February 17th, 1978)
12/07/2025

Janet Hodgson (February 17th, 1978)

Johnny, Margaret and Billy Hodgson (February 17th, 1978)
22/06/2025

Johnny, Margaret and Billy Hodgson (February 17th, 1978)

Intimate photo of the Hodgson children. Pictured left to right - Janet, Billy and Johnny (1977)
08/06/2025

Intimate photo of the Hodgson children. Pictured left to right - Janet, Billy and Johnny (1977)

Thrown and awakened - one of many trying moments in which Janet and Margaret Hodgson were thrown out of bed due to the p...
26/04/2025

Thrown and awakened - one of many trying moments in which Janet and Margaret Hodgson were thrown out of bed due to the poltergeist force. Seen here are Peggy Hodgson comforting Janet, Janet’s uncle, John Burcombe with Margaret and John’s wife, Sylvia. (1977)

Margaret Hodgson (1977)
01/12/2024

Margaret Hodgson (1977)

A house and family bombarded by poltergeist phenomena. 284 Green Street, Enfield, North London1977
30/06/2024

A house and family bombarded by poltergeist phenomena.
284 Green Street, Enfield, North London
1977

Present day Graham Morris, the photographer who was responsible for having captured so many of the now famous photos fro...
18/05/2024

Present day Graham Morris, the photographer who was responsible for having captured so many of the now famous photos from the Enfield case. Thank you Graham for all of the weird and wonderful images you've given us!

Johnny Hodgson
06/04/2024

Johnny Hodgson

Aftermath of poltergeist activity at 284 Green Street, Enfield. Photo taken in the large, back, upstairs bedroom. (1977)
17/03/2024

Aftermath of poltergeist activity at 284 Green Street, Enfield. Photo taken in the large, back, upstairs bedroom. (1977)

The Observer (November 20th, 1977)
13/03/2024

The Observer (November 20th, 1977)

Continuation of last post (wallpaper ripping from the walls) …John Kenyhercz Jr. was one of many visitors to Enfield who...
25/02/2024

Continuation of last post (wallpaper ripping from the walls) …

John Kenyhercz Jr. was one of many visitors to Enfield whose story is unique in that he visited the Hodgson homestead, along with Ed Warren and fellow psychical research colleague, Paul Barts, in August of 1979, when the poltergeist phenomena had at this point diminished significantly. That said, he, along with his collegues, were able to experience the strange goings-on at 284 Green Street first hand.

During his 30 hours in the Hodgson home, Ed gave John the task of interviewing Margaret Hodgson. During the interview, the voice of “Fred” began emenating in the room .. not directly from Margaret but, in the room. Fred wanted the lights cut off. Ed overheard this but, refused to abide in his wish. Shortly after, John heard a sound in the kitchen, and as he looked over, noticed that the kitchen was becoming darker. John then walked into the kitchen and to his astonishment, noticed a large amount (in his words, “a lot”) of wallpaper ripping off the wall and floating up to the kitchen ceiling light. Without touching the light, the wallpaper hovered around the light, almost completely dimming the light.

More to come on John’s Enfield experiences in future posts.

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