Poltergeists anyone??

[ljiljanac]

Has anyone ever been asked to invesitgate a Poltergeist?    My understanding is that they are entities that poke, push, pull hair, hit, scratch, and throw things.  If so, has anyone ever callled PPI claiming they have one in their house?  Poltergeists are supposed to be the scariest and meanest entities. 

[PPI Tim]

Since I have been with the group, I have not seen any activity that was on the scale of a poltergeist. If it is anything like the movie "Poltergeist", I'm not sure if I want to go on that investigation.

[PPI Debra]

I have been in at least 2 homes where there was poltergeist phenomena. (Not as an investigator) Objects were moved in front of us, old coins and cheap metal jewelry would just show up on the floor, a bed was moved across the floor, silverware was bent frequently.  No pushing, scratching or violence, though. There were teens in each home during this phenomena. After the teens left home, activity ceased.

[Damian]

I'm not sure if this would be classified as poltergeist activity or not, but Buddy the ghost who was in my apartment used to rearrange my piles of folded laundry while I was at work.  At first I thought I was either imagining things or losing my mind, but then I began putting measures in place to make sure there was actually something paranormal going on, and even though this only happened a few times I'm convinced it was paranormal.

[PPI Jason]

I'm not sure if this would be classified as poltergeist activity or not, but Buddy the ghost who was in my apartment used to rearrange my piles of folded laundry while I was at work.  At first I thought I was either imagining things or losing my mind, but then I began putting measures in place to make sure there was actually something paranormal going on, and even though this only happened a few times I'm convinced it was paranormal.

What kind of measures did you put into place? And did they have any effect on the activity?

[Damian]

This would happen in my bedroom, so I would close and lock the window in my bedroom and put a copper bb in the track of the window so that if it was opened while I was away the bb would be moved and roll in the window track.  And as far as the folded piles of laundry that I would leave on my bed, I made note on a slip of paper of which specific article of clothing was on the top and bottom of each pile (I usually had about 5 piles or so), and I would line up one corner of each pile with the plaid design on my blanket on the bed so that I could tell if the piles had been moved.  Then I would leave my room, close the door and sandwich some laundry lint in the door as I closed it so that I could tell if my bedroom door had been opened while I was at work.  I should note that I was the only person living in my 2-bedroom apartment.  I even went so far as to call my landlord, who was a friend of mine and my Humanities professor at City College, to find out if he had been in my apartment for any reason, and the answer was no.  And on a few different occasions there was a rearranging of my laundry piles...the items on top were sometimes in other positions in the piles and some of the piles were no longer in line with the plaid pattern on my blanket.

[ljiljanac]

Wow!  That's pretty cool!  What differentiates a spirit/ghost and a poltergeist?  How does one know which one they may have? 

In my experiences at my dad's old house, I saw what I believe to be an old man out of the corner of my eye and then actually saw a part of his hat.  I decided that I had seen a "ghost".  One time, my battery operated hot pink alarm clock disappeared from my room in the middle of the night and was gone for a couple of weeks.  One day, I found it in the living room couch, under the cushions.  I had already pulled the cushions off of that couch more than once for a variety of reasons.  I figured that there was a logical explanation for this (i.e. ..... not sure yet), but I was and still am not convinced that the cause of my alarm clock disappearing like that and reappearing was paranormal.  However, if it was paranormal, would that have been a poltergeist playing a joke on me?       

[Damian]

It's a commonly-accepted belief that 'ghosts' are drawn to hot-pink alarm clocks...also Hello Kitty items tend to be a ghost magnet.   

That's pretty interesting.  Was the alarm clock the type that is plugged into the wall plus has a battery back-up, or was it strictly battery powered?  I've wondered about the causes/motivations behind the disappearance and reappearance of items.

Just thinking out loud here, but if there was an item that was regularly disappearing and popping up elsewhere, I wonder if you could attach some sort of a measurement device or tracking device to it to see attempt to learn where it goes and for how long relative to elapsed time in our world.

My imagination kind of ran away from me there...

[Gary]

The disappearing clock interests me.  I've also recently spoken with some people who claim to have had items just vanish, and reappear somewhere days later.  Sometimes at a different home altogether.  However, I wouldn't rule out sleep walking.  I don't know enough about it, but I'm sure people are capable of picking up objects in their sleep and moving them. 

I've actually been toying with the idea (I feel kinda weird about it) of filming myself while I sleep... maybe for a week straight.  All I know is quite frequently ALL of my blankets manage to find their way to the floor, and I (not to be gross) sweat a ton in my sleep.  I'm pretty sure I don't sleep walk, but some activity in my bed causes havoc on my blankets. 

[PPI Jason]

Wow!  That's pretty cool!  What differentiates a spirit/ghost and a poltergeist?  How does one know which one they may have? 

In my experiences at my dad's old house, I saw what I believe to be an old man out of the corner of my eye and then actually saw a part of his hat.  I decided that I had seen a "ghost".  One time, my battery operated hot pink alarm clock disappeared from my room in the middle of the night and was gone for a couple of weeks.  One day, I found it in the living room couch, under the cushions.  I had already pulled the cushions off of that couch more than once for a variety of reasons.  I figured that there was a logical explanation for this (i.e. ..... not sure yet), but I was and still am not convinced that the cause of my alarm clock disappearing like that and reappearing was paranormal.  However, if it was paranormal, would that have been a poltergeist playing a joke on me?       

I think that if this was genuinely paranormal, then it would be an excellent candidate for a poltergeist type haunting. There is a lot of controversy over what constitutes a poltergeist type haunting. Some of the common theories I am familiar with associate it with significant object movement, usually in a way that clearly shows that the spirit is trying to make a statement or get people's attention. Common examples are leaving a kitchen and then returning only a moment later to find all the cabinets and drawers open. Another is leaving a room and returning a moment later to find all the books removed from the shelves and stacked in precariously tall piles in the middle of the room. Both of those types of movements were not like a slight movement of a picture several inches or a slight tap on a wall. Some have theorized that poltergeist activity is actually just telekinetic energy being exerted, sometimes unconsciously, by one of the residents (some go so far as to say this is most common among adolescent teens or subjects suffereing from some type of psychological illeness like PTSD). If you subscribe to this theory than maybe, Lily, you were subconsciously offended by the loud color of your alarm clock and your mind, exerting powers you didn't know you had, stuffed it underneath the pillow without you knowing.

If THAT is the case, then remind me to me very nice to you until we can either confirm or deny your mind's ability to do mean things to objects, or people, that offend you  :o

[PPI Jason]

It's a commonly-accepted belief that 'ghosts' are drawn to hot-pink alarm clocks...also Hello Kitty items tend to be a ghost magnet.   

I wasn't aware of this theory. I guess now we will all have to go out and get "Hello Kitty" tm  apparel for our next investigation..............in the name of SCIENCE 

This post brought to you by "Hello Kitty," the official sponsor of Pacific Paranormal Investigations.

[PPI Debra]

Um.... like , couldn't we use Badtz Muru instead???  At least he's goth.  :o

[ljiljanac]

Alright, people...let's get something straight here.           It was NOT "Hello Kitty".  It was just a plain ole lil ole hot pink battery operated obnoxious-sounding alarm clock that I grew quite attached to.  It strived to be "Hello Kitty" but just didn't make the cut.  And oh how it tried.  So there it sat...on the table next to my bed...shreaking obnoxiously in the mornings for me to wake up....just doing its job and minding its own business.  (sniffle sniffle)  Poor clock.    (

In all seriousness though, I definitely entertained the theory of sleep-walking....which I have never done before.  That I know of, of course.      I don't have the guts to video tape myself sleeping because I don't think I really want to know what I do or say in my sleep.  Then again, it might be interesting.   ::|   The windows opening for my step-mom and the clock disappearing for me makes me wonder if that house had a Poltergeist.  Did it really have anything??  I still think it did to some degree.

Jason, I'm still testing out the theory of having such Telekinetic powers.  Everytime I come across someone who ticks me off, I mentally try my hardest to make them disappear or go away or move to a different location.  Sometimes it works!  Their little legs carry them to other places.  Sometimes my powers fail me, and they remain by my side or in front of me...like little gnats...chipping away at my patience and self-control.  I will keep you posted, though!   

How about "Hello Kitty" goth!!?  I would be sooooo there!!!!   

 

[PPI Brian]

Sorry to chime in late on this topic. I wanted to respond earlier, but I was unable to express my thoughts sufficiently.

Although we haven't investigated a poltergeist case, we have read extensively on the subject and discussed it in great detail.

In my opinion the term Poltergeist needs to be redefined. Currently the term applies to many different types of paranormal activity, and includes many possible sources. Poltergeist-type activity has been associated with intelligent human haunts and hostile "non-human" haunts. But it has also been associated with adolescents who appear to cause the paranormal activity with their minds.

From the many written accounts of classic poltergeist phenomena, a pattern of commonalities has emerged:

1. Poltergeist activity often occurs in a household with a lot of emotional issues.

2. Poltergeist activity begins suddenly.

3. The poltergeist activity always occurs around a focal person, usually an adolescent female. Activity often only happens when the focal is present.

4. The activity ceases as suddenly as it began. It seldom tends to reoccur.

5. No identifiable paranormal entity (i.e. ghost) is usually involved at the beginning of the outbreak, but one often begins to appear and "evolve" over the course of the outbreak. There is speculation among the PPI crew that this type of paranormal entity could be a Thought Form or Tulpa, somehow created by the will of the focal person.

6. Most, but not all, of the documented cases involved a certain amount of fraud by the focal person. This usually occurs after the activity begins to diminish.

In summary, these fascinating cases are extremely rare. It would be an honor and a privilege to investigate a classic poltergeist case. 

[PPI Tracy]

Okay...I have to bring this up because....well....just because.

Two years ago, I bought my then 8 year old daughter a (wait for it)...Hello Kitty alarm clock.  It was a stand alone, battery operated clock with the bells and hammer in the middle that wouldn't just wake you up, but jumble your brain at the same time.  Double your pleasure, double your fun.  Annnnyway.....the thing would go off at 3am on a regular basis.  We would walk in the door at the end of the day, be on our way upstairs and "bbbbbbbrrrrrrringgggggg" the thing would go off.  Wouldn't matter if it was set or not.  It would go off at the time you set it for but also middle of the night and other odd times.  If we raised our voices, it would go off.  Finally, I got frustrated (and a little freaked out) and I took the batteries out of the thing.  Guess what?  Yep, you guessed it.  Hello Kitty came alive to terrorize.  3am...6pm...and at will:  "brrrriiiinnnnng".  Let the brain numbing jumbling begin. 

For the life of me, I never figured it out......and got tired of being woken up in the middle of the night, so I tossed it.  Funny enough..or oddly enough....it went off in the trash dumpster outside.  I could hear it from my house.  So yes....I have come to the conclusion......Hello Kitty is EEEEVIIIIILLLLLL. 

oh, and in case you are wondering......yes...it was HOT PINK!

[Damian]

I can't imagine a story more awesome than that!  LOL!  I love that there is actually a hot-pink Hello Kitty alarm clock out there!   

[PPI Jason]

Tracy,

Your comments make me think of this commercial. I just saw it the other day and I rolled on the floor laughing when I saw it. It may not be THAT funny, but some commercials just hit you the right way. This one just knocks me out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwXdSH2Co78

[Gary]

LoL, I haven't seen that commercial on TV yet.... glad you showed me.  That's funny!!!   

[PPI Brian]

LOL! Love it! That's a great commercial. I don't blame them. That clown's got to go. 

[PPI Tim]

Yep, It is the classic 'Poltergiest clown" with mix of trilogy of terror doll thrown in.
I was wondering if there was any recalls on the Hello kitty alarm clocks?

[ljiljanac]

OMG, that commercial is absolutely HILARIOUS!!!!!   

Tracy.....I would have LOVED to have that alarm clock!!!!!   haha!!!   It would have fit right in to my dad's old house!  (By the way....Disregard the fact that my profile picture came from my P.J.'s.   I seriously AM NOT a Hello Kitty fan.  Sorta.)     

[PPI Tracy]

I can't imagine a story more awesome than that!  LOL!  I love that there is actually a hot-pink Hello Kitty alarm clock out there!   

Was out there....

[PPI Tracy]

I haven't viewed the YouTube video yet....and I don't know if I want to.  Here's why....

I saw Poltergeist with some friends.  I think I was 18.  That stupid clown gave me nightmares.  So, my birthday rolls around and I get a few gifts.  Then there is this tall box I go to open up.  Guess what was inside?  A FREAKIN POLTERGEIST CLOWN!  AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

That son of a b*tch is STILL buried in my Mom's garage. (which is precisely where it went on August 1st, 1983)

say hello to my little nightmare friend......     http://www.supermongrel.net/productpages/poltergeistclowndoll.html

[PPI Brian]

Good Lord, you should dig that sucker out of the garage and sell it on ebay. Did you see how much they want for those things? $1200.00! :o

[PPI Tracy]

Good Lord, you should dig that sucker out of the garage and sell it on ebay. Did you see how much they want for those things? $1200.00! :o

Hey, no doubt huh?  That would pay for quite a few canvases and tubes of paint.