“All these tales that ghosts and noisy spirits are driven out of their homes by our respectable citizens are the most shameless and impudent lies, and I could give a lot of convincing evidence of this. And if you have to hear that someone has an evil spirit in the house, you should know - all these are stupid inventions, and the main deceiver is the one who, hoping to divert suspicion from himself, tries to appear before you as an innocent victim."
This statement belongs to the famous English demonologist Reginald Scott and is published in his book "Revealing Witchcraft", published in 1584 in London.
More than one and a half hundred years have passed, and the Abbot of the Benedictine Order, Augustine Calmette, in his book On the Apparitions of Spirits, published in France in the middle of the eighteenth century, speaks on the same topic in the same spirit.
He writes that all stories about ghosts or spirits, “… Who disturb the houses, make noise in them and sometimes appear in some visible form… with a more accurate investigation, the cases turn out to be completely fictitious and false. Either someone is trying to discredit the house in which he lodges in order to discourage those who would want to rent an apartment in it, as, for example, the manufacturers of counterfeit banknotes do for fear of publicizing their occupations, then the tenants of the house bother so that someone does not take him away from them, creating a bad name for him."
The problem of deception in relation to the poltergeist has a very long history. The first known, but far from the very first, false poltergeist took place back in 1509, when four monks of the Dominican order in Bern deceived a novice, a "simple guy."
At that time, the Dominicans and Franciscans fiercely argued about the purity of the concept of faith, and the Dominicans decided to prove their case by demonstrating a miracle, choosing as an object of influence an innocent novice.
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At night they threw stones at his cell, made a terrible noise and pretended to be ghosts.
On this occasion, the abbot himself wore white robes. After some time, Saint Barbara, naturally, in a white robe, “appeared” to the novice, and said that he would soon be honored to appear before the eyes of the Virgin Mary, who would teach him how to answer some of the most important theological questions.
Soon the predicted visit took place. Here the monks would at least stop for a while, to allow the novice to get used to miracles, but they were clearly let down by their zeal in defending the principles of faith: the end justifies the means!
However, the pious monks hastened things somewhat and did not take into account that the novice, a former tailor, was only stupid, but not at all feeble-minded. Soon after the visit of the "Virgin Mary" one of the monks "appeared" to the novice and for so long exhorting and enlightening in matters of faith that he recognized his voice. The next night the abbot himself "appeared" in the form of the Virgin Mary.
The novice recognized his voice as well, grabbed a knife and wounded the wicked. The case became scandalous and ended very badly for the four monks: the Senate of Bern sentenced them to be burned.
There were several other examples of deception in those early years. It is interesting that then children and adolescents practically did not participate in them, mostly adults cheated. The motives for deception were varied: religious and political considerations, greed and amorous affairs, up to naive tomfoolery. At the same time, they used mainly such means of simulating the phenomenon as knocking, stamping, a lively voice and throwing various objects.
In later cases, the proportion of children and adolescents among deceivers increases. Perhaps this is somehow related to the fact that the percentage of poltergeist carriers up to twenty years old has slightly increased over time, at least since 1873.
The famous English psycho-researcher Frank Podmore considered the problem of cheating in relation to the poltergeist back in 1896, when he analyzed eleven outbreaks of the phenomenon. In four of them, deception was noticed by one or more witnesses. And three even received confessions. Podmore concluded that, probably, all other cases are based on deception, but not revealed.
Disputes with the statements of Podmore continue to this day. Thus, the researcher A. Owen, after analyzing the primary sources, came to the conclusion that one of the cases considered by Podmore for deception is not such - it is an ordinary teenage poltergeist.
As it turned out, as a rule, only one person participates in the deception, who carefully conceals his tricks even from his relatives. Usually, deception is done in a simple and rather primitive way - sophisticated tricks, especially with the use of technology, are rarely practiced.
In many cases, even if a deception is discovered, far from all manifestations can be explained by it, for example, sometimes very bizarre trajectories of flying objects, their unusually slow flight and even soaring. Not too much importance should be attached to the consciousness of deception, especially on the part of a teenager - there may be a variety of reasons.
The statistics of deceptions are interesting. For example, Roll found that of the 116 cases he investigated, 19 (16 percent) were deceitful. Of the 375 cases Carrington studied, 26 (7 percent) met with cheating, and 19 (5 percent) were suspicious in this regard.
Of the 500 cases Gould and Cornell handled, 41 (8 percent) were found to be completely or partially deceitful, and of the 50 they personally examined, 8 (16 percent). So in general, the percentage of fraudulent "poltergeists" is not that high, it is about 8 percent of all cases.
As some foreign researchers of the phenomenon note, reports of strange, suspiciously similar to poltergeist incidents often come from single ladies in need of an interlocutor or from cunning and deceitful families who want to get a new municipal apartment.
In addition, most poltergeists are associated with children who do not have the solid moral foundations of adults.
Cheating children generally left a noticeable mark in the history of parapsychology. The amateur researcher may not notice the deception, especially if the deceiver is sophisticated. But professionals succeed in it.
So, in the early eighties of the last century, a seventeen-year-old English schoolboy Tim began to claim that he could bend metal objects at will and at a distance, causing spontaneous combustion. And he said that once at home, when he was not solving a problem in mathematics, he left the table for a while. And when he returned, the papers on the table were already burning!
Once at a bus stop, his jacket pocket allegedly caught fire. Then he said that he develops the ability to induce sunburn voluntarily.
The situation as if a controlled poltergeist became interested in the psychology department of the University of Edinburgh. Tim was invited to test his abilities. Several times he was able to bend metal objects in the laboratory, but only when he was not being observed.
One day, Tim's abilities were tested on a telekinesis device using a very sensitive sensor. The system for protecting the device from thermal and electrical influences did not turn on. The results seemed promising. Then they began to investigate its ability to set fire to objects at a distance.
A corresponding experiment was carried out. But Tim constantly left the field of view of the video camera along with the cotton wool bag, which, as he promised, was supposed to catch fire by itself. Finally, smoke came out of the bag. Tim began to extinguish the burning cotton wool with water and hands, and only after that he called the experimenter.
To resolve the doubts, they installed a hidden video camera and made sure that the boy was bending metal objects using his own hands. After watching the video, Tim stated that he had lost interest in the experiments. By this time, the research had been going on for seven and a half months!
Later, Tim said that from early childhood he showed interest in magic tricks and is already a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. He wanted to test whether he could, using the skills of an illusionist, imitate paranormal phenomena. He set the cotton on fire with the help of a chemical substance, and electrostatically affected the telekinesis device - he rubbed the sweater with his hands. But - was exposed by professionals.
In general, reports of cases of complete deception are quite rare, but one had to read and hear about them. So, about an outright swindle, when in order to improve their living conditions one family methodically staged a poltergeist, it was reported in the morning broadcast of Ukrainian radio on November 19, 1990.
In another case, the Russian researcher of anomalous phenomena Vinokurov had to go to the site to get to the bottom of the matter. Here's how it went.
On December 8, 1989, the Bioenergoinformatics Committee received an urgent telegram from a small Siberian town. The researchers were asked to urgently arrive there "to study an anomalous phenomenon called a poltergeist, which has been going on for two months." They asked me to wire how quickly we would arrive. Otherwise, the author of the telegram promised to come himself with the appropriate petition.
Soon he really arrived with a letter signed by the secretary of the city executive committee (not fake!). It also contained a request to come, it was reported that both representatives of the executive committee and medical workers repeatedly visited the apartment, where they "observed this phenomenon."
For three days, Vinokurov and his assistant met with the author of the telegram, the thirty-two-year-old head of a large family, a locksmith serving the local oil fields. He was disturbed by the strange movements, flights, falls and disappearances of things that began in the apartment. But most of all, the voice that was heard in different corners of the apartment surprised. They called this voice Kesha.
To investigate the phenomenon on the spot, Vinokurov's colleague, experienced in such matters, flew there. A few days later, he called from the secretary of the city executive committee. The first thing he said was that Vinokurov should have come there himself.
- What for?
- So that you, too, experience all the delights that I experienced.
- What do you mean?
- I don't even want to talk about the cockroaches that bit my heels while spending the night in the apartment …
- What can you tell me?
- There is sheer deception. The problem is not scientific, purely social. I'll tell you when I return.
A colleague came back, cursing household and travel inconveniences. But this, of course, did not upset him, but the fact that he encountered not a phenomenon, but a deception, albeit a non-malignant one. The entire family - Valera, thirteen, Natasha - ten, Nikolai - four and a half, Pavlik - two and a half - led by their thirty-five-year-old mother, unanimously deceived the head of the family! And he, innocent, suspected nothing. It was a purely family theater!
It all started with the fact that the clever and mobile Natasha, having read something that was happening in the poltergeist house of the Chaprazovs from the Bulgarian village of Dibich, began to play the same thing. The children liked the game. Especially sincere surprise of the father, who knew nothing about the Chaprazovs.
The father took everything at face value. And the mother joined the children after the father came home from work and asked Kesha if he could take another glass of vodka. "No you can not!" - Natasha answered in a changed voice. And dad obeyed.
“The folder fights and offends mom when he gets drunk! - confidentially explained to my colleague two- and four-year-olds, - and he listens to Kesha. Natasha was the initiator, organizer and main performer of all theatrical performances. She also spoke for Kesha. This is the only way to cope with the naughty folder.
They kept their secret even from the representatives of the executive committee and medical workers who were invited to the apartment. And Natasha played her role impressively. She completely convinced her father, and he convinced everyone else, including the chairman and secretary of the city executive committee.
And here is another story of complete deception, but his motive was different. It took place at the end of the 19th century in one of the villages of the Podolsk district of the Moscow province. Thirteen-year-old Fima was taken into the house of a certain Ilyin, a merchant.
Her mother was fond of spiritualism and talked a lot about its phenomena in the presence of her daughter. But due to poverty, she was forced to give Fima a nanny.
And the lively, nimble, intelligent Fima began to nurse the sick one and a half year old child of the Ilyins - a family of stern, demanding and heartless.
Fima was often beaten and punished for offenses, she ran to her mother, but she returned her every time. Beatings again. Finally the girl found a way out. She began to stage a poltergeist! According to his mother's stories, Fima as a whole imagined what it was - “spontaneous mediumistic phenomena”.
One day in the middle of the night the girl raised a terrible cry - she claimed that someone had attacked her and severely beat her. Fima was “reassured”: they spanked and said that she had dreamed everything. After the next night, she appeared in front of people in bruises and scratches, telling with tears in her eyes that someone again attacked her, beat her, scratched her, but she was afraid to scream.
After that, near Fima and the child whom she nursed, knocking began, objects were thrown over, and the necessary things were lost. Once, frightened by all this, the owners entered Fima's room in the morning: she was asleep, and the child had disappeared somewhere! Everyone rushed to look for him, but when they found an abandoned bathhouse in the attic and brought it into the room, a cradle, found later in the garden, disappeared from it.
It became known not only in Podolsk, but also in Moscow about what was happening in the Ilyins' house. More than once, priests were invited, but during the service something unusual always happened: either the priest's hat disappeared and was found in the dough, right in the dough, or the deacon's galoshes disappeared and they were found either in the attic or in the samovar. While they were looking for the missing, the cross, the Gospel, the epitrachelion disappeared. But nobody saw the process of disappearing itself.
The Moscow spirits, who were fond of such incidents, immediately came to Ilyin and arranged a seance in his house. Only Fima and the child were not there. The medium fell into a trance and told a whole story about a wanderer who was killed in the village several years ago and buried in the Ilyins' garden: the spirit of the wanderer Vasily Silantyevich Akimov requires a proper burial.
The spirits reassured the owners: if they find the remains and bury them properly, everything will stop. But upon leaving the house, dressing, Muscovites found that all the pockets of their coats, as well as hats, not excluding the ladies' ones, were filled with potatoes!
Everyone was confused. The leader of the arrivals explained the incident by the fact that this was a confirmation sign of the spirit about his buried remains in the very garden where the potatoes grew.
The next day they dug up the whole garden, but nothing was found.
The local police officer decided to carefully examine the house again. At the same time, I discovered in Fima's room, near her bed, the end of a thick rope. Pulling on it, I heard a strong knock on the iron roof of the house. It turned out that a string was drawn from the girl's bed through the wall on the outside of the house to the attic and the end of it was tied to a large wooden block. The sergeant advised to establish strict supervision over Fima, but was immediately punished - his cap was found in the well.
The Ilyins did not want to believe in the nanny's tricks, even after the commissioner was discovered. But they came to another idea, which turned out to be also fruitful: to try to remove her from the house. And then there was complete calm, and the girl got rid of the hated family.
Eight years later, Fima, who had already become Serafima Ignatievna, the wife of a wealthy man, told the priest in confession about everything that she had put her hands to at the Ilyins, including about his headdress, which turned out to be in the test.
The behavior of adolescents for adults is often mysterious. They are capable of tricks that are considered almost the exclusive prerogative of evil spirits. It is not for nothing that J. Steinbeck ("The Winter of Our Anxiety") wisely remarked: "It is not for nothing that evil spirits settle only where there is a teenager in the family."
The Ilyins' innocence is akin to that of Aunt Sally. Remember this one?
When Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn were staying with this lovely aunt for some time, cutlery, plates, bowls suddenly began to disappear. The frying pan, bowl, flour, sheet, dress were gone. Aunt Sally found a spoon tied to her back.
A rope ladder, twisted from a sheet torn into strips, turned out to be baked in a large pie. And a lot of threatening warning notes, for example, that, they say, a gang of wild Indians is going to kidnap a fugitive negro.
In the barn where the fugitive Jim was sitting on a chain was a millstone. They found strange inscriptions engraved on the stone: "Here the poor heart broke" or: "Here the bastard son of Louis XIV ended his days."
None of the inhabitants of Aunt Sally's and her husband's farm, or the neighboring farms, had sinned against boys. In the unanimous opinion of extremely perplexed people, the teenagers had nothing to do with it. Most likely, evil spirits, such as witchcraft, are involved.
This assumption turned into a firm conviction when the dogs, set off on the trail of the eventually escaped Jim and his "captors", quickly returned back, wagging their tails in a friendly manner! Of course, the matter here is unclean, the dogs were not otherwise bewitched …
The "artistic directors" of this grandiose performance were two teenagers who conceived and carried out a plan to free the fugitive Jim, who ran away with them in a black woman's dress they had stolen. The boys knew well what was necessary for a successful escape - this is described in detail in adventure novels, to which both were great hunters. To escape you need dishes, cutlery, food, clothes and of course a rope ladder, which is sometimes hidden in bread … Well, what is not a poltergeist, if you do not know about the motive behind all the events?
And what are at least some notes! Their mysterious appearance, mysterious or threatening content has let such genuine fear in the inhabitants of the farm and their neighbors! All of this greatly contributed to the kidnapping conceived by the boys.
The playful telegrams sent by the unforgettable Ostap Bender to the underground millionaire Koreiko are from the same repertoire. This, if you put yourself in Koreiko's shoes, will throw anyone out of balance: "Load oranges with barrels, brothers Karamazov", "The Countess with a changed face is running to the pond."
Adolescents tend to vent their surplus energy and display mischief in ways far removed from those of noisy spirits; their mischief tends to manifest itself in the yard, at school, on the street, but not in the family.
If they are mischievous in their own apartment, imitating a poltergeist, then it is very difficult for them to live in the family. Indeed, a true poltergeist is also associated with conflict, difficult life situations, which children and adolescents are unable to withstand.