Brockport New York Poltergeist

Artist conception of poltergeist activity as reported by Therese Selles, a 14-year-old domestic servant of the Todescini family at Cheragas, Algeria. From the French magazine La Vie Mysterieuse in 1911.

From the case files of Susan Demeter  

Brockport New York Poltergeist

 

Poltergeist phenomena are often very physically and psychologically destructive. It has been attributed to troubled ghosts of our dead or inhuman spirits and sometimes emotional turmoil and stress are suspected of creating PSI phenomenon as is suggested in the report that I investigated below. Or perhaps it is a combination of all of these factors? Is our beloved dead restless and responding to our emotional pain? Or is this an inhuman interaction? I’ll let you decide. 

The witness writes: 

"For nearly two years from 1991 to 1992 I went to live with my parents in Brockport New York. I was 24-25 at the time and was experiencing a great amount of emotional turmoil because of a recent arrest and lengthy court appearances. In addition I had a falling out with my wife at the time because of said arrest.

 

While at my parent's home I would on occasion hear loud explosions sometimes so violently loud that they would shake the house. My mother would hear them too, one time knocking on my bedroom door to inquire if I had been lighting off fireworks. My father had experienced these explosions too, but refused to discuss such (I think it unnerved him). I came out of my room one day to hear something like chains jingling in the small linen closet in front of me. Upon opening the closet the only thing I could find that could possibly make such a noise was a box of family silverware. However this was secured in a large wooden box which would have muffled the noise to the point that I doubt it could have been heard as clearly as I heard this.

 

The occurrences climaxed one day while I was home alone. I was upstairs in the loft when I heard something that sounded like a 300lb. safe being dropped below me in the kitchen. I proceeded to grab my father's 32  (rifle) from the adjoining bedroom as I thought someone may have kicked in the door downstairs. As I swept the house and began to descend the staircase I felt and heard pounding directly under my feet and then I felt something pass through me from my feet to my head, like a chill (it made me tingle). I checked the house inside and outside and from top to bottom, nothing was amiss.

 

I did not know what to do or who to turn to. I called a local psychic bookstore and talked to the person there. I explained the situation to them and told them that it was a brand new home that my parents had just built and that we had even had the builder come to inspect the home because of the occurrences, but he had no explanation. 

The woman I was talking to suggested that we could have built over an old grave site and to tell the presence to go to the light. So after getting off the phone with her I told this presence out loud several times to go to the light. Later that night while lying in my bed I heard directly over top of me, and only for a split second, a piercing scream so loud that it reverberated off of the walls. I lay in awe, and actually began to question if I had really heard what I had heard. The interesting thing was that we never had any further occurrences after this event.

 

I believe that I may have been unconsciously manifesting these happenings or that it could have been a manifestation of energy caused by disturbing the site the house was built on. From what I have studied over the years concerning poltergeists, the severe turmoil and uncertainty in my life may have very well been the catalyst that precipitated the happenings."

 

My thanks goes out to the witness for sharing these experiences with me.  It is interesting to note that when the witness took charge of the situation by speaking out loud and therefore empowering himself that the phenomena ceased. This is very much in keeping with my own findings and will often work to calm down a haunting.

The Rochester Poltergeist

 

Artist conception of poltergeist activity claimed by Therese Selles, a 14-year-old domestic servant of the Todescini family at Cheragas, Algeria. From the French magazine La Vie Mysterieuse in 1911.

Sometimes emotional turmoil and stress are suspected of creating PSI phenomena such as is suggested in the report that I investigated below.

"For nearly two years from 1991 to 1992 I went to live with my parents in Brockport NY. I was 24-25 at the time and was experiencing a great amount of emotional turmoil because of a recent arrest and lengthy court appearances. In addition I had a falling out with my wife at the time because of said arrest.

While at my parent's home I would on occasion hear loud explosions sometimes so violently loud that they would shake the house. My mother would hear them too, one time knocking on my bedroom door to inquire if I had been lighting off fireworks. My father had experienced these explosions too, but refused to discuss such (I think it unnerved him). I came out of my room one day to hear something like chains jingling in the small linen closet in front of me. upon opening the closet the only thing I could find that could possibly make such a noise was a box of family silverware. However this was secured in a large wooden box which would have muffled the noise to the point that I doubt it could have been heard as clearly as I heard this.

The occurrences climaxed one day while I was home alone. I was upstairs in the loft when I heard something that sounded like a 300lb. safe being dropped below me in the kitchen. I proceeded to grab my father's 32 auto from the adjoining bedroom as I thought someone may have kicked in the door downstairs. As I swept the house and began to descend the staircase I felt and heard pounding directly under my feet and then I felt something pass through me from my feet to my head, like a chill(it made me tingle). I checked the house inside and outside and from top to bottom, nothing was amiss.

I did not know what to do so I called this psychic bookstore and talked to the person there. I explained the situation to them and told them that it was a brand new home that my parents had just built and that we had even had the builder come to inspect the home because of the occurrences, but he had no explanation. The woman I was talking to suggested that we could have built over an old grave site and to tell the presence to go to the light. So after getting off the phone with her I told this presence out loud several times to go to the light. Later that night while lying in my bed I heard directly over top of me, and only for a split second, a piercing scream so loud that it reverberated off of the walls. I lay in awe, and actually began to question if I had really heard what I had heard. The interesting thing was that we never had any further occurrences after this event.

I believe that I may have been unconsciously manifesting these happenings or that it could have been a manifestation of energy caused by disturbing the site the house was built on (old burial ground, etc.). From what I have studied over the years concerning poltergeists, the severe turmoil and uncertainty in my life may have very well been the catalyst that precipitated the happenings."

Much appreciation and gratitude goes to the witness for sharing these experiences with me.  It is interesting to note that when the witness took charge of the situation by speaking out loud and therefore empowering himself that the phenomena ceased. This is very much in keeping with my own findings to date, and is usually the case.

Pandemic note: During 2020-21 numerous reports of loud explosions, and phantom fireworks have been reported first in North America and then Europe. Some of these reports I'm certain have mundane explanations, but others such as the poltergeist report above do not. I do not doubt that in these times of extreme anxiety, stress, and death the world is experiencing increased poltergeist phenomena. We are living in haunted times. 

Originally published to PSICAN Paranormal Studies and Inquiry Canada

Have you had a similar experience? If so please feel free to connect with me here or through social media I'd love to hear from you. 

 

UFOs and the Supernatural in Times Of Crisis

“The phenomenon of UFOs is real. I know that there are scientific organisations which study the problem.” - Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on 26th April 1990.

The quote above came at a time when the former Soviet Union was coming to an end, the Berlin wall had started to come down, Germany was reunifying, and millions of Russians and Europeans were living in a very liminal state. It was a time when UFOs appeared all over Russia and Europe particularly over NATO headquarters, and thousands more were experiencing strange paranormal events.

In troubling times UFOs appear, and the supernatural is more likely to be experienced, and reported.  This may be do to the amount of stress we are all under, or it may simply be a way to let us know that whatever is behind these strange magics, we are not alone.  I really don't know for certain why humans in crisis experience psychic phenomenon like poltergeists more often, but there is a lot of historical evidence that shows this to be the case.

In 2014 I worked on research with Dr Eric Ouellet that demonstrated how UFOs may in fact be parapsychological in nature, and part of that research included examining UFO events that occurred during times of liminal states.

The most obvious being the Belgium UFO wave and the Russian waves of the late 80's and early 90s, which is why I quoted Gorbachev. It was a very uncertain time for many Europeans and Russians, and there were numerous types of UFOs, and paranormal events being reported and investigated by both civilians, police and military. The cooperation between military and civillian UFO researchers at that time was unprecedented in the Western world.

In total more that 13, 000 people officially reported experiences with UFOs, UFO pilots, and other paranormal encounters, but the true number is probably much higher.

Once again we are living in an uncertain and turbulent time. This time the whole world is in crisis over the Covid 19 pandemic, and never before have so many people been plunged into a liminal state, all at once. As I write this a quarter of the world's population, over a billion people are quarantined. And, I have to wonder if this general state of anxiety, sickness, and uncertainty will produce mass paranormal phenomena including UFO waves?

I have reached out through social media asking if anyone hears of any increased UFO or paranormal activity to please let me know as I would like to document any large scale events that may occur.

Greg Bishop and I have created a group on Facebook that aims to explore contemporary accounts as well as historical cases of paranormal outbreaks at times of human crisis such as Covid-19. Please feel free to join us. Or leave a comment for me here.

Join us here: Paranormal Experiences and the Pandemic

This is a very scary time for many of us, and it may help to give us some insights into how human beings experience the paranormal during times of mass crisis.

Many good wishes to us all. Be well and safe my friends.