Enfield poltergeist

Society for Psychical Research members Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair reported "curious whistling and barking noises coming from Janet's general direction." Although Playfair maintained the haunting was genuine and wrote in his later book This House Is Haunted: The True Story of a Poltergeist (1980) that an "entity" was to blame for the Enfield disturbances, he often doubted the children's veracity and wondered if they were playing tricks and exaggerating. Still, Grosse and Playfair believed that even though some of the alleged poltergeist activity was faked by the girls, other incidents were genuine.[3][6][7] Other paranormal investigators who studied the case include American demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens visited the Enfield house in 1978 and were convinced that the events had a supernatural explanation.[3]

Janet was detected in trickery; a video camera in the room next door caught her bending spoons and attempting to bend an iron bar.[8][9] Grosse had observed Janet banging a broom handle on the ceiling and hiding his tape-recorder.[10] According to Playfair, one of Janet's voices she called "Bill" displayed a "habit of suddenly changing the topic—it was a habit Janet also had".[4] When Janet and Margaret admitted "pranking" to journalists, Grosse and Playfair compelled the girls to retract their confession.[3] They were mocked by other researchers for being easily duped.[11]

The psychical researcher Renée Haynes had noted that doubts were raised about the alleged poltergeist voice at the Second International Society for Psychical Research (SPR) Conference at Cambridge in 1978, where video cassettes from the case were examined.[12] The SPR investigator Anita Gregory stated the Enfield case had been "overrated", characterising several episodes of the girls' behaviour as "suspicious" and speculated that the girls had "staged" some incidents for the benefit of journalists seeking a sensational story.[3][6] John Beloff, a former president of the SPR, investigated and suggested Janet was practicing ventriloquism. Both Beloff and Gregory came to the conclusion that Janet and Margaret were playing tricks on the investigators.[13]

American magician Milbourne Christopher briefly investigated, failed to observe anything that could be called paranormal and was dismayed by what he felt was suspicious activity on the part of Janet. Christopher would later conclude that "the poltergeist was nothing more than the antics of a little girl who wanted to cause trouble and who was very, very clever."[3] Ventriloquist Ray Alan visited the house and concluded that Janet's male voices were simply vocal tricks.[3]

Sceptic Joe Nickell examined the findings of paranormal investigators and criticized them for being overly credulous; when a supposedly disembodied demonic voice was heard, Playfair noted that, "as always Janet's lips hardly seemed to be moving." He states that a remote-controlled still camera—the photographer was not present in the room with the girls—timed to take a picture every fifteen seconds was shown by investigator Melvin Harris to reveal "pranking" by the girls. He argues that a photo allegedly depicting Janet levitating actually shows her bouncing off the bed as if it were a trampoline. Harris called the photos examples of common "gymnastics", and said, "It's worth remembering that Janet was a school sports champion!"

Nickell asserted that a tape recorder malfunction that Grosse attributed to supernatural activity and SPR president David Fontana described as an occurrence "which appeared to defy the laws of mechanics" was a peculiar threading jam capable of occurring with older model reel to reel tape recorders.[14] He also said that Ed Warren was "notorious for exaggerating and even making up incidents in such cases, often transforming a 'haunting' case into one of 'demonic possession.'"[3]

In 2015, Deborah Hyde commented that there was no solid evidence for the Enfield poltergeist: "the first thing to note is that the occurrences didn't happen under controlled circumstances. People frequently see what they expect to see, their senses being organised and shaped by their prior experiences and beliefs."[4]

Skeptics have argued that the alleged poltergeist voice that originated from Janet was produced by false vocal cords above the larynx and had the phraseology and vocabulary of a child.[10] In a television interview for BBC Scotland, Janet was observed to gain attention by waving her hand, and then putting her hand in front of her mouth while a claimed "disembodied" voice was heard. During the interview both girls were asked the question "How does it feel to be haunted by a poltergeist?" Janet replied, "It's not haunted," and Margaret, in a hushed tone, interrupted, "Shut up". These factors have been regarded by skeptics as evidence against the case.[10]

As a "magician experienced in the dynamics of trickery", Nickell examined Playfair's account as well as contemporary press clippings. He noted that the supposed poltergeist "tended to act only when it was not being watched" and concluded that the incidents were best explained as children's pranks.[3]

Although Grosse made tape recordings of Janet and believed no trickery was involved, the magician Bob Couttie said, "He made some of the recordings available to me and, having listened to them very carefully, I came to the conclusion that there was nothing in what I had heard that was beyond the capabilities of an imaginative teenager."[10] A 2016 article by psychology professor Chris French on Time Out described five reasons why he believed the case to have been a hoax.[15]