Usually the biggest danger that awaits you when you meet a ghost is the need to change your underwear. However, the tormented spirits of the dead are not always friendly. As we learned from the film with Patrick Swayze, sometimes the dead can learn to interact with our world.
These restless spirits are called poltergeists and, judging by the stories about them, they can sometimes be incredibly violent. The ghosts we'll cover in this list are the ones you definitely don't want to meet in your kitchen.
10. Greyfriars Cemetery
Greyfriars Cemetery, located in Edinburgh, is home to a ghost with a terrible reputation. It is in this cemetery that the grave of George Mackenzie, a Scottish lawyer who lived in the 17th century, is located. He was responsible for the deaths of 18,000 opponents of King Charles II, which earned him the nickname "Bluidy Mackenzie".
Back in 1999, a homeless man entered the mausoleum to find shelter from the cold. Then he climbed into the coffin, and then everything did not go as he planned. The coffin crumbled into the terrified man, and he eventually fled, covered in the ashes of a long-dead man. This thoroughly scared the man walking his dog, who probably thought he saw a ghost. However, the real ghosts were just on the way.
People soon began to report unusual activity around the grave. The city council closed the cemetery to the public, and it remained so until the moment when local guide Jan-Andrew Henderson decided to create an official ghost tour. Since then, 350 people have already declared that they were attacked by a poltergeist near the grave. There were stories of broken bones, presumably the work of the spirit, and 170 people passed out during the tour.
Promotional video:
There is another grave in Greyfriars Cemetery, which may well be the source of the appearance of evil spirits. Harry Potter fans have long visited this cemetery to leave a message next to the grave of a man named Thomas Riddell, the original name of Lord Voldemort, a character created by JK Rowling. Rowling said the grave may have had a subconscious influence on her choice of name. Or perhaps Thomas Riddle really was an evil wizard, and Rowling knows more than she says.
9. Black Monk Of Pontefract
According to some sources, the unremarkable, semi-detached house in the English market town of Pontefract was the site of "the most brutal poltergeist in European history" in the 1970s. The ghost was known as the Pontefract Poltergeist, however he was also named the Black Monk of Pontefract due to the belief that it was the spirit of a monk killed in the 16th century.
Number 30 East Drive was the home of the Pritchard family, where Joe and Jean lived with their son Philip and daughter Diane. The family says they had a whole host of problems from the ghost, whom they nicknamed "Fred". He threw objects all over the room, made the room temperature much lower than usual, and left puddles on the floor. He also nibbled on jam sandwiches and smeared various substances on doorknobs. Fred could apparently also teleport eggs from room to room (before he broke them, of course).
However, Fred was not always the supernatural equivalent of a hyperactive dog. One of the worst incidents occurred when he began to drag Diana, who at the time was 12 years old, up the stairs, holding her by the neck. He apparently left handprints on her neck. The ghost also tried to strangle Diana with an electric cable. The house was visited by the local mayor, police, and a large number of curious psychics and self-proclaimed paranormal researchers.
One person who is convinced of the truth of the stories is Carol Fieldhouse, who lives next door. Her house is adjacent to number 30, and a ghost sometimes wanders into her rooms. Carol claims to have met and talked to Fred, although he usually just comes to look at her threateningly. She says he is approximately 165 centimeters tall.
As for the house number 30, it is currently empty, and the Black Monk really likes it. According to Carol, "He already told us that whoever moves into the house will leave within 12 months."
8. South Shields Poltergeist
Not far north of the town of Pontefract is the town of South Shields. It was here, in the summer of 2006, that a young couple and their three-year-old son were attacked by a nasty spirit. Their real names have not been revealed, but they are generally known as Marc & Marianne.
The attacks began in December 2005, following all the otherworldly feng shui rules typical of visiting a poltergeist. The ghost piled chairs, moved dressers, and slammed doors. However, this was not some old ghost, he was malevolent and serious. Plus, he had access to things the family hadn't expected: small, adorable toys.
One night, lying in bed, Marianne felt her son's toy dog hit her on the back of the head. She sat up and turned on the light just in time to see the second toy dog fly in her direction. The couple huddled under the duvet, but felt something trying to pull it off of them. Out of the blue, Mark screamed in pain, and 13 scratches appeared on his back. The scratches disappeared the next morning.
While the poltergeist showed that he could inflict direct physical harm on humans, he seemed completely convinced that the way of doing this harm must have been toys. He hung a rocking horse from the ceiling by its reins, then he placed a large, fluffy rabbit on a chair at the top of the stairs, with a sharp utility knife in its adorable paws. The ghost left messages on the little boy's whiteboard, and even sent text messages (which could not be traced back to any phone or computer in this world). Usually these were such threatening messages as: "You are finished."
Even the couple's three-year-old son sometimes disappeared. He was found hiding in different parts of the house, hiding under his blanket. One day they found him in a closet, another time, hiding under a plastic table. Children at this age sometimes do such things, but the couple blamed their hellish guest for everything.
The family called in paranormal researchers Mike Hallowell and Darren Ritson. Experts found that even though Mark was a man who seemed capable of pranking people, the ghost was real. Then they wrote a book about it. Among the things you can see on the book's website are: a picture of a plastic bottle balancing in an "impossible" position, and a message on a magnetic sketch toy that says, "Just leave now."
7. Coventry Dog Killer
The family in Coventry, England, made headlines when they posted the video above on the Internet. If you can't see it, then it shows how the wardrobe door opens and the chair moves by itself around the room.
However, the video does not show the floor, or the inside of the wardrobe. Yes, all this could have been done by tying a string to the leg of a chair, but who would go to such expensive and complicated inventions to get their moment of fame under the lights of the ramps?
Coventry resident Lisa Manning stated that the phenomenon was genuine and that the poltergeist killed the family's completely healthy dog by pushing it down the stairs. To confirm her claims, she called in one of the UK's most famous psychics, Derek Acorah. While Akora is known to usually summon dog spirits from the afterlife, in this case he spoke to a ghost.
The psychic-for-hire reported that the trouble was caused by an angry spirit named Jim and cleared the house. Manning was very pleased with the results, saying, “It's amazing how quickly this happened. Now I am perfectly happy to stay in this house."
6. Indianapolis Poltergeist
In 1962, three generations of women lived together at 2910 North Delaware Street, Indianapolis. The head of the house was the divorced Renate Beck. She shared her home with her mother, a widow, and her teenage daughter, Linda. Apparently, the three women did not get along and fought on a regular basis. However, what little of the world they had was shattered by a series of unusual activities that began on the evening of March 11th.
The first thing the women noticed was a beer mug that moved by itself and hid behind a flower pot. Later, a loud knock came from the attic, and the women discovered that the crystal jewelry had been thrown several meters away from the shelf and lay shattered on the floor. All three left the house and spent the night at the hotel. When they returned the next day, everything was fine, within about 30 minutes. Then the women heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the kitchen and found that their glasses and dishes had been broken. The cup flew through the air and nearly hit Beck's mother, Lina Gemmeck.
The women called the police. Over the next several weeks, police officers regularly visited the house to try to find out what was causing the pogrom. A paranormal researcher was invited, and he stated that he received a bruise from a glass, which was thrown into the hallway by an invisible hand.
A whole series of bites and scratches appeared on the women at home, they were similar to those that can be obtained from a bat. The possibility of real bat bites has been ruled out, while there are bats in Indiana that hibernate during the winter. The possibility of a shape-shifting vampire being present was not even considered.
Eventually, the police caught Gemmek throwing objects against walls and knocking over furniture. She was arrested, although several people claimed that they faced activities that she simply could not be the cause. Perhaps she was possessed by the original culprit. In any event, the judge agreed to close the case if Gemmek returned to his native Germany. She agreed. After her departure, paranormal activity ceased.
5. Great Amherst Mystery
On September 4, 1878, Esther Cox woke up screaming in her bedroom in Amherst, Nova Scotia. A 19-year-old girl lived in a room with her sister Jennie, and when she calmed down, she complained that she felt a mouse under her mattress. Both girls lived in the home of their older sister and her husband, Daniel Teed. Daniel's brother, John Teed, also lived in this house.
The sisters searched the room, but it turned out to be suspiciously clear of rodents. Then, the same thing happened the next night. Again they searched the room and again they found nothing. Then, on September 6, Esther woke up in pain, her whole body swollen and turned bright red. A series of loud bangs echoed across the room, after which Esther returned to normal and fell asleep.
The same thing happened again a few days later, but this time other family members heard a noise and rushed into the room. Esther's bedding was stripped from her bed by an invisible force and thrown across the room. John Teed was one of the first to get there, and he tried to help put the bedding back on, but ended up in a battle of willpower with some invisible force that wished the bed would not be made. The poltergeist also threw a pillow at John. After everyone heard several more sudden explosions, everything returned to normal.
The family called their doctor, Dr. Carritte. The doctor stayed in the room when Esther went to bed. As the young woman's pillow began to slide back and forth under her head, Carritta tried to hold her back, but his invisible opponent was stronger. During a pillow tug competition, Carritta heard a scratching sound and saw a message slowly appear on the wall, carved with an invisible instrument: "Esther Cox, you're mine to kill!"
Over the next weeks, the poltergeist began setting up small fires. He threatened to burn down the house if Esther did not leave, so she left to stay at a local hotel with a family friend. The poltergeist followed her, and Esther was seriously injured when a pocket knife flew from the innkeeper's son's hand and hit Esther in the back. When the boy tried to pull it out, it was pulled out of his hand again and plunged into the same hole. The wound became infected and Esther barely survived the next weeks.
As she recovered, Esther met a man named Walter Hubbell and had the worst idea in history. He took Esther to New Brunswick and put on a show, charging people to see the macabre phenomenon. The poltergeist made no sound in front of the audience. The most boring performance in the world of theater was driven out of the city and they had to abandon the project.
Esther then took a job as a domestic servant for a local lay judge, Arthur Davison. Esther had only been there for a few months when their barn burned down. The young woman was accused of arson, but she insisted that it was in fact the fault of the poltergeist who pursued her. The judge was not impressed, and Esther was found guilty of arson.
The poltergeist gradually became less active, and disappeared as mysteriously as it appeared. Esther was married twice and died in 1912.
4. Jaboticabal Poltergeist
In 1965, an 11-year-old girl named Maria Jose Ferreira was targeted by the most infamous poltergeist in Brazilian history.
It all started at her home in Jaboticabal, when bricks and stones began to materialize out of thin air and smash things. Maria's family summoned a priest to perform an exorcism. This only angered the spirit and the attacks got worse. The largest stone found weighed 3.7 kilograms, and some of the stones were magnetic. When the stones finally stopped appearing, furniture began to be thrown in all directions.
Maria had an even worse situation than her house. She was hit and bitten and ended up with all kinds of bruises. Needles suddenly appeared under Maria's skin. In one case, 55 needles had to be removed from one ankle. The poltergeist held cups over her face to strangle her at night. Problems followed her to school, and at some point, her clothes spontaneously caught fire in the school cafeteria. The attacks continued for a year before Maria went to the medium.
The psychic said that Maria was attacked by an angry ghost because she was a witch in a previous life. While practicing witchcraft, she killed a person, and this person's spirit harbored a grudge. The ghost planned to haunt Maria her entire life. Her life, unfortunately, seemed short. Maria got poisoned when she was 16 years old. When she was gone, all activity ceased.
3. Stoke Lacy's Haunted Road
Back in 2002, the fence was apparently defeated in an argument with a ghost in the English village of Stoke Lacey. At least that was the best explanation for the fact that the spirit reportedly crashed 26 cars on the same fence over an 18-month period.
Many drivers reported feeling their hands were pulled away from the steering wheel just before they were pulled off the road. Others claimed that their wheels were simply not responding. Some of the cars overturned, but they did not show any damage. This fact turned out to be even more strange after the words of a mysterious psychic.
A local councilor named Richard James said he was approached by a man he didn't recognize at a meeting at a local pub. A strange old man told the counselor that he was psychic and that a woman had died at the scene of the accidents in the 1930s. She was killed in a car accident after a steering fight. She wanted the same fate to befall other motorists, but promised that she would not make anyone experience pain. This is good news for people and bad news for the fence.
2. Carole Compton
Many stories about poltergeists imply that the phenomena can be caused subconsciously by a person with some latent psychokinetic ability. In other words, they can move objects with their minds, but they do not consciously control their ability. At least that's what most likely happened to Carol Compton.
In the early 1980s, Compton worked as a nanny in Italy, but things went wrong. When she was with her first family, the painting fell off the wall as she walked by. She went with them to their country house in the Alps, but it burned down during their vacation. When the family returned home, random fires began to appear throughout the house. The family eventually fired Compton when a fire started in their son's room.
The young Scotswoman found another job with the Tonti family. A little time passed before household items began to fly through the air, and the mattress caught fire. Presumably, Tontis was not asked for references from other employers because that did not prompt them to fire Compton immediately. She was only fired when a fire engulfed their three-year-old daughter's room, Agnese. The family insisted on the arrest of Compton, and she was charged with arson and attempted murder (fortunately, no one was hurt during these fires).
The trial has become a media circus. Society considered Compton a witch, an accusation made by grandmother Agnese. Catholics gathered at the court with crucifixes in their hands and read prayers. The international press called the event a witch hunt. Parapsychologist Guy Lyon Playfair, whose research into the infamous poltergeist from Enfield, UK, earned him a Wikipedia page, offered to fly in and help protect Compton.
The trial took place over 16 months, during which Compton was held in prison. No one actually witnessed how she caused the fire, which made the work of the forensic investigator much more difficult. The fires and falling things seemed to just follow the young woman. She was eventually found guilty of arson, but the attempted murder charges were dropped. The judge ruled that the 16 months she had already spent in prison was sufficient punishment and she was released.
Compton returned to the UK and wrote a book about these events called Superstition - The True Story Of The Nanny They Called A Witch.
1. Widow Ghosts
Nightmare Death Syndrome is a phenomenon that has been reported among a certain group of men in Thailand who are apparently killed in their sleep by spirits known as "widows ghosts." It is believed that these are the ghosts of especially sexy women who died a sudden, especially cruel death. Now they want to kill men and take their souls as their husbands.
A widespread scare over widow ghosts broke out in northeastern Thailand in 1990. Since the ghosts only attacked men, some young Thai lads began to apply lipstick and nail polish at night to make the spirits believe they were women. However, the main strategy for warding off ghosts was to hang the penises around the neck or in close proximity to the sleeping man.
Most of them were carved from wood, some were rougher than others. Some art types added testicles made from coconuts and pubic hair made from fishing nets. The villagers of Ban Thung Nang Oak were very proud of their giant public phallus, which was almost a meter long and had a red ending.
One pair carved a whole scarecrow with a matching appendage and hung a plaque around their necks that read "Widows Ghost Hunter". In one village, rumors emerged that the ghosts had finally recruited enough husbands, and that the ghosts were also about to start looking for women.
In fact, there is a proper explanation for these ghost attacks, which have caused hundreds of deaths over the years. An autopsy revealed that the men died due to poor nutrition. Many lived on a diet of purely sweet rice, which resulted in an overproduction of insulin and a lack of many nutrients. Combined with stress, terrible diets were enough to kill men in their sleep.