Every month - that is the plan, anyway - I will review a book selected
randomly from my Paranormal Library. This month, I will review This House Is Haunted by Guy Lyon Playfair.
This book was, undoubtedly, a very good enjoyable read. It relayed Playfair's account of his co-investigation of the Enfield Poltergeist case that began on 31 August 1977. It is written in an extremely easy-to-read yet entertaining style, and recounted some rather fascinating accounts of phenomena he witnessed during the time that he and Maurice Grosse were investigating.
Alongside some photographs of Janet being "levitated" from her bed and graphs obtained through the use of specialist equipment that was brought along by a visiting physicist, the book provides an exclusive insight into one of the best cases of poltergeist activity.
In the book, we meet the family of four who are plagued by poltergeist activity - which started off as merely flying marbles and pieces of Lego - Janet, Rose, Jimmy and Mrs Harper. As the book progresses, the tale becomes more and more compelling - to the extent that I found it difficult to put the book down! The level of activity seems to go up and down, and the list of the phenomena that the family experienced was varied, although it was monotonous most often. The activity seemed to be based around Janet, although Playfair and Grosse counted out the possibility of fraud on behalf of the twelve-year-old girl. Some experts both investigators brought in proved to be useless, whilst others seemed to be, at first, helpful. Some individuals, however, were hell-bent on finding evidence for fraud, convinced that the case and the phenomena were only the product of trickery. One such individual was a magician, who was adamant that Janet was behind all of the phenomena at Enfield. However, the evidence did not seem to account for fraud. How was it possible, for example, for Janet to maintain the voice of an old man for hours at a time, even with the use of her false vocal cords?
At times, the phenomena reported was amusing: for example, a shoe danced in front of the investigators, whilst at other times, the phenomena was disgusting. Some of the most intriguing examples that appealed to me the most were the books that seemed to pass through the wall and into the family's neighbour's household, as well as various items levitating even when people were sat on them.
In conclusion, Playfair's account of the Enfield poltergeist was a compelling one. I found it an addictive read that was both informative and entertaining. It has spurred me into finding out more about the remarkable case of the Enfield Poltergeist.
Look out for next month's book review!
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