Enfield poltergeist to haunt Hollywood

The photograph that is said to show Janet Hodgson, 11, flying out of her bed during the 1977 haunting
Michael Howie12 April 2012

It is a mystery that has long caused debate among paranormal experts and unease among residents of a London council house.

Now the story of the Enfield Poltergeist is to be made into a film and its producer hopes it will be a Hollywood hit.

The Hodgson family were frightened out of their wits by the incidents that began in 1977 with a series of ghostly bumps in the night but appeared to develop into furniture, toys and crockery being flung around.

One photograph taken at the time appears to catch 11-year-old Janet Hodgson suspended in mid-air after flying out of bed. She also began to speak in an elderly man's rasping voice.

Paranormal investigators claimed she had been possessed by a spirit belonging to Bill Wilkins, who had lived in the house some years before the Hodgsons but died of a brain haemorrhage.

It lasted just over a year, stopping in September 1978 with a small recurrence reported again in August 1980.

Shooting on events inside the house in Green Street will begin in the new year. Deadhouse Productions has already trademarked the name The Enfield Poltergeist, created a trailer and is in talks with distributors including Lionsgate films, which was behind the Saw horror franchise.

Today one of the film's producers told of his excitement at revealing "the untold story." John Kyriacou added: "I used to go to the same school as the family so it's a story that I've grown up with. It's the most documented evidence of poltergeist activity in the world. Opinions remain divided. There are a lot of sceptics out there and this will be the perfect film for them."

One family who is not sceptical is the Bennetts. Clare Bennett was not aware of the house's haunted past when she moved into the property in 2004 but only stayed there for two months. The mother of four said: "I didn't see anything as such but I just felt uncomfortable. I wasn't settled there. I'd unpacked all our stuff but it still didn't feel right. There was definitely some kind of presence in the house, I always felt like someone was looking at me."

"I couldn't explain what it was because we had no idea the house was haunted so I asked my sister to look into it and suddenly it all made sense."

Her son Shaka, now 15, was most disturbed by the house. He said: "I'd wake up at 3am every morning and I'd feel scared because I'd hear people talking downstairs.

"The night before we moved out, I woke up at the usual time and I saw a man into the room. I ran into my mum's room and said, 'we've got to move,' and we did the next day.

Janet Hodgson broke her silence for a TV documentary four years ago in which she said: "I felt used by a force that nobody understands. I really don't like to think about it too much."

Hazel Short, 65, a former lollipop lady who worked outside the house, said she remembered seeing Janet hovering horizontally by a window. "I will never forget what I saw and felt in that house," she said.

Today, a woman who now lives in the house said: "Do not mention what happened in this house. I've got young children inside, they don't know about it and I don't want to scare them."

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