The book I have just finished is a non-fiction one and there is not plot to spoil so I will not be putting any "spoiler alert" up for this review. So if you don't want to know if the book ends with and index or not do not read on!!
This House is Haunted - Guy Lyon Playfair
The subtitle of the book is "The Investigation into the Enfield Poltergeist".
I remember coming across the name Enfield Poltergeist years and years ago. I am not really sure any more why I came across it but I can remember many years ago reading something about it and thinking "jeez that's interesting". At the time I did not find out much more about it other than the fact that there was some weird stuff going on in England. Actually, looking at it now, if it played out in '77-'79 I was just a young lass so maybe I heard something on the news or read about it in some magazine or other. I was one of those weird kids who loved to read and look up stuff in books when other kids were off playing hide and seek. When, years later, I started reading more about ghost stories, ghost hunting and all sorts of other weird and wonderful things I came across the name again. The final time the Enfield case came back into my life was when I went on my book buying trip to Hay on Wye last year. I found this one shop (they actually sold more than two books on ghosts) and I noticed this one so I just had to get it.
The book gives an account of what happened in a house in Enfield over a period of almost two years (the trouble started in August 1977 and ended mid 1979). The case came to the attention of the SPR in 1977 and was taken up by Maurice Grosse. He visited the house on several occasions, talked to all the people involved and kept extensive records of what went on in the house. The author of the book was also involved with the investigation himself and spent days, weeks and months collecting data, talking to family member and witnessing events as they unfolded in the house. The book has one of the best opening lines I have ever seen:
"What would you do if a piece of your furniture suddenly slid along the floor in front of your eyes? Think for a moment, and be honest with yourself. What would you actually do? [p vii]
This is a very good question. I would probably freak out and think "I did not just see that!!". Then I would probably call mr Playfair and ask him if he would mind awfully stopping by my place at his earliest convenience. By asking the quesstion of what you would do the author very quickly tries to involve you into his experiences. He gets you to think about what you would do if it was happening to you and makes you curious as to what the people did in the case he investigated.
In essence the books is a blow by blow account of the events that happened in this normal looking house in Enfield. You gain a very good insight into what happened to this unassuming English family and I must say it is simply staggering: pieces of furniture are moved, tables turned upside down, voices heard, people being thrown out of bed, puddles of water appearing out of nowhere, tape recorders being switched off and on at will, doors opened and kept closed... the list goes on and on. Even if half of the things that have been recorded in this book happened to the family it is a miracle that not all of them went stark raving mad. Apart from Grosse and Playfiar telling you their experiences they also relate what happened when various "experts" and experts came round to the house and what their findings were. Not surprisingly our investigators meet with a lot of criticism, disbelief and ridicule. Many of the "scientists" that visit the house seem more keen to prove them wrong than that they are willing to look at what is happening objectively. However, our duo they keep on investigating, gathering evidence and in the end build up a solid case of the events that took place over the almost two years that they were visiting (and at times living with) the family. Some things that the experts suggest make the situation in the house more livable whereas others just seem to aggravate the situation. In the end it feels that with all the things they have seen and recorded they have managed to construct a very strong case for the existence of poltergeists and that this was a genuine case of a family being haunted by one (or more than one perhaps?). It seems very unlikely that the whole family, over a course of almost two years would disrupt their own lives so several and be consistently reporting the same phenomena just to have a bit of media attention.
It is interesting that after all their investigating neither Playfair nor Grosse have been able to come to a clear conclusion on what the exact entity/force/energy is that defines the poltergeist. Playfair and Gross seem to be leaning towards the explanation that:
In essence the books is a blow by blow account of the events that happened in this normal looking house in Enfield. You gain a very good insight into what happened to this unassuming English family and I must say it is simply staggering: pieces of furniture are moved, tables turned upside down, voices heard, people being thrown out of bed, puddles of water appearing out of nowhere, tape recorders being switched off and on at will, doors opened and kept closed... the list goes on and on. Even if half of the things that have been recorded in this book happened to the family it is a miracle that not all of them went stark raving mad. Apart from Grosse and Playfiar telling you their experiences they also relate what happened when various "experts" and experts came round to the house and what their findings were. Not surprisingly our investigators meet with a lot of criticism, disbelief and ridicule. Many of the "scientists" that visit the house seem more keen to prove them wrong than that they are willing to look at what is happening objectively. However, our duo they keep on investigating, gathering evidence and in the end build up a solid case of the events that took place over the almost two years that they were visiting (and at times living with) the family. Some things that the experts suggest make the situation in the house more livable whereas others just seem to aggravate the situation. In the end it feels that with all the things they have seen and recorded they have managed to construct a very strong case for the existence of poltergeists and that this was a genuine case of a family being haunted by one (or more than one perhaps?). It seems very unlikely that the whole family, over a course of almost two years would disrupt their own lives so several and be consistently reporting the same phenomena just to have a bit of media attention.
It is interesting that after all their investigating neither Playfair nor Grosse have been able to come to a clear conclusion on what the exact entity/force/energy is that defines the poltergeist. Playfair and Gross seem to be leaning towards the explanation that:
"there is a still unidentified natural force generated by human beings in certain stressful conditions, and that this force can be manipulated by a secondary personality in such a way that it gives us the impression of intelligent action by a separate individual." [p 289]
However, in the Enfield case even when one of the centres of activity is removed from the house strange things still happen, albeit less often and extreme than before. At one point Playfair also suggests that poltergeist are like a variety of Gilles de La Tourette syndrome. As in Tourettes acts by poltergeists are sudden, uncontrolled, in the Enfield case the voices speak in obscenities and swear a lot and there are grunting barking like noises also produced by Tourettes sufferers. However, I don't quite see how the two are linked and Playfair does not really seems to pursue the link too far?
You think that you would be disappointed that at the end of the book Playfair and Grosse are no closer to finding out how of why things happened in Enfield than they were when they were first called in but I was not. What is clear to me is that the field of psychic research has some some slippery customers to deal with, ones that are not easily categorised, defined or labeled. This might explain to some extent why some people struggle to believe events like the ones that occurred in Enfield. The human race tends to want to be able to poke or prod something to see what it does and we like things to do the same thing every time. Science likes to have something tangible to test and study but unfortunately this is not always what the world of psychic research gives us to study. To me it makes life more interesting.
PS: and for those who want to know, there is no index!!!
Title: This House is Haunted
Author: Guy Lyon Playfair
308 pages
Sutton Publishing
ISBN nr 978-0-7509-4836-4
Books to be read: 73
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