A poltergeist (German for noisy ghost) is an invisible, inaudible ghost that can only interact with others by moving and influencing the actions of inanimate objects. Stories featuring poltergeists typically focus heavily on atmospherics, as the ghost cannot be personally interacted with as can ghosts in most such stories. Malevolent poltergeists are typically portrayed as throwing objects aout and causing bruises and cuts to appear on the living, while benevolent ones help the living by relocating sought-after and forgotten possessions. The haunting by a poltergeist is called infestation. Most classic modern poltergeist stories originate in England, though the word itself is German.
In parapsychology, poltergeist activity is defined as a type of uncontrolled psychokinesis. Almost seventy years of research by the Rhine Research Center (Raleigh-Durham, NC USA) has led to the hypothesis that the "poltergeist effect", while certainly a manifestation of psychokinesis, is generated by a living human mind (typically a prepubescent female). Moreover, according to researchers who have contributed to the body of data at the Rhine Center, the "poltergeist effect" has its roots in contemporary psychology and in Freudian theory; psychological trauma is the cause of the phenomenon, while the "poltergeist effect" is simply the outward manifestation.
Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) is a phrase suggested by parapsychologist W. G. Roll to denote poltergeist phenomena.
Famous (said-to-be) poltergeist infestations :
- The demon drummer of Tedworth (17th century)
- The Borley Rectory phenomena (20th century)
- The Bell Witch (19th century)
- The haunting of the Fox Sisters (19th century) - arguably one of the most famous, as it started the Spiritualism movement.
Both the word and the concept poltergeist became famous to modern audiences by the Poltergeist movies and the subsequent TV series Poltergeist - The Legacy.
There is a poltergeist named Peeves in the Harry Potter books.
