The Enfield Poltergeist

Between August 1977 and September 1978, a council house in Enfield, North London became the setting for one of the most witnessed and documented poltergeist cases in history. The Hodgson family—particularly 11-year-old Janet—experienced phenomena that included furniture moving, objects flying, fires starting spontaneously, mysterious voices, and apparent levitation. Over 30 people, including police officers and BBC journalists, witnessed events they couldn’t explain.

The Family

The Hodgsons consisted of Peggy Hodgson, a single mother, and her four children: Margaret (13, the eldest daughter), Janet (11, who became the focus of the activity), Johnny (10), and Billy (7, the youngest son). They lived in a modest council house at 284 Green Street in Enfield.

The Beginning

On August 30, 1977, the disturbances began with shuffling sounds—like furniture being dragged across the floor. Peggy Hodgson investigated but found nothing.

That evening, Janet and Johnny reported their beds shaking. When Peggy entered, she witnessed a heavy chest of drawers slide across the room on its own. She pushed it back; it moved again. Terrified, Peggy took her children to the neighbors, the Nottinghams. When they returned together to investigate, they all heard loud knocking from the walls.

Peggy called the police. WPC Carolyn Heeps responded and witnessed a chair sliding across the floor by itself. She searched for strings or trickery—found nothing. She signed an affidavit confirming she witnessed the event. When a police officer signs an official statement about paranormal activity, something unusual is occurring.

The Phenomena

Over the following 18 months, the Hodgson house experienced extraordinary events. Furniture slid and overturned, small objects like Lego and marbles flew through the air, drawers opened and closed on their own, and beds lifted off the floor.

Rhythmic knocking on walls and floors would respond to questions in a knocking code. Footsteps echoed in empty rooms. Whistling and barking sounds came from nowhere. Janet was reportedly thrown from her bed, family members were picked up or pushed, scratches appeared on skin, and fires started spontaneously.

Most disturbingly, a deep, masculine voice began speaking through Janet. The voice claimed to be an old man named “Bill” who had died in the house. Multiple witnesses claimed to see Janet levitating above her bed. A famous photograph shows her apparently suspended in mid-air.

The Investigation

The Society for Psychical Research sent investigators Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair to document the case. They spent months in the house.

Grosse witnessed marbles materializing in mid-air and flying at him. He documented furniture moving, Lego flying, and Janet’s voice phenomena. Playfair, author of “This House Is Haunted,” concluded the phenomena were genuine poltergeist activity—though he noted Janet may have occasionally faked events when the real phenomena weren’t occurring.

The case attracted significant media attention. BBC reporter Rosalind Morris investigated and witnessed events, though equipment malfunctioned repeatedly. Daily Mirror photographer Graham Morris captured the famous “levitation” photograph, which some claim shows Janet genuinely airborne and others suggest shows her bouncing on her bed. The Daily Mail sent reporters who witnessed and documented events.

Over 30 people witnessed phenomena firsthand, including police officers, journalists and photographers, investigators, neighbors, social workers, and a meter reader who fled the house. The sheer number and variety of witnesses makes blanket dismissal difficult.

The Voice of “Bill”

The most unsettling aspect was the voice speaking through Janet. It was deep, masculine, and gravelly. The voice claimed to be an old man named Bill who died in the house, occasionally used profanity, showed knowledge Janet seemingly couldn’t possess, and sometimes spoke in a different voice claiming to be someone else.

Researchers covered Janet’s mouth and monitored her throat. The voice continued even while she appeared unable to physically produce it. Investigation revealed a man matching Bill’s description had indeed died in the house—sitting in a corner, as the voice described.

Some researchers, including Anita Gregory and John Beloff, believed Janet was faking the voice through ventriloquism. Video shows her lips moving during some recordings. Janet herself later admitted to occasionally faking—she estimated about 2% of the phenomena were manufactured.

The End

The phenomena gradually decreased throughout 1978. By September, the house was quiet. The family eventually moved out.

Janet Hodgson has spoken publicly about the experience. She maintains that while she occasionally faked minor events (partly because investigators were always expecting something to happen), the core phenomena were real. “I wasn’t a good enough magician to fake everything. No 11-year-old could be.”

The Theories

Was it a genuine poltergeist—a non-human intelligence attached to Janet or the house, manifesting through physical disturbances? Or was it psychokinesis—Janet’s own unconscious psychic abilities producing the phenomena, a theory called RSPK (Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis)? Could Janet have faked everything, deceiving dozens of witnesses, police officers, and trained investigators? Or was it mixed phenomena—some genuine events, amplified by occasional fakery when investigators expected activity?

The evidence for reality includes police witness testimony, multiple independent witnesses, events when Janet wasn’t present, phenomena continuing when Janet was observed, and the voice’s knowledge of the deceased resident. The evidence for fraud includes Janet’s admission of occasional fakery, video showing her bending spoons and bouncing on beds, the “poltergeist focus” being a teenager (classic for attention-seeking), and some events being suspiciously convenient.

Legacy

The Enfield case inspired “The Conjuring 2” (2016), “The Enfield Haunting” TV series (2015), “Ghostwatch” (BBC, 1992), and numerous documentaries.

The case remains significant for its volume of documentation, number of credible witnesses, duration of phenomena, and the mixed evidence (neither pure fraud nor pure paranormal).

284 Green Street still stands. Current residents report no unusual activity. Whatever was there in 1977-78 appears to have departed.

Conclusion

The Enfield Poltergeist was either one of the most elaborate hoaxes ever perpetrated by a child—requiring the consistent fooling of police officers, journalists, and paranormal investigators for 18 months—or something genuinely anomalous was occurring in that North London council house.

Janet Hodgson, now an adult, continues to insist the core events were real: “The levitation was real. The voices were real. I’m not saying everything was real, but the important stuff was.”

The truth of Enfield may lie somewhere between complete belief and total skepticism—in a gray zone where the unexplained and the explained overlap, where genuine mystery and human manipulation coexist.

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For eighteen months, something terrorized a family in Enfield. Police saw furniture move. Journalists heard voices. A girl appeared to float above her bed. Was it a hoax? Was it real? After forty years, we still don’t know. But something happened at 284 Green Street—something that scared everyone who witnessed it, something that has never been fully explained.