Enfield Poltergeist — BBC and Police Witness Furniture Fly in London Council House

Beginning in August 1977, the Hodgson family of Enfield, north London reported escalating poltergeist activity in their council house that would become one of the most extensively documented cases in paranormal history. The family—a single mother and her four children—first experienced furniture moving and loud knocking sounds, which quickly gave way to objects being thrown, children levitating, and voices speaking through the youngest daughter Janet. The Society for Psychical Research sent investigators Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair who spent months documenting the events. A BBC news crew captured footage of a chair moving on its own. Multiple police officers witnessed objects moving and levitating, with one officer signing a statement to that effect. A photographer for the Daily Mirror captured Janet being thrown across the room. Janet, aged 11, appeared to be the central focus of the phenomena. She was documented speaking in a gruff male voice she identified as 'Bill,' who claimed to have died in the house. Death records confirmed a man named William had died in the house. She was tested by speech therapists who were baffled by her ability to sustain the voice without using her vocal cords normally. The case was investigated by over 30 witnesses from diverse backgrounds, most of whom concluded that at least some of the phenomena were genuine. It was the basis for the 2016 film The Conjuring 2. Janet Hodgson, now an adult, maintains that while she did occasionally fake events under pressure from investigators, the core phenomena were real.