The Enfield case of 1977 to 1979 produced more than 30 hours of audio recordings, hundreds of pages of investigator notes and statements from over 30 witnesses who reported unexplained movement of objects and loud knocks inside a modest council house in north London.
Two Society for Psychical Research members, Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair, spent the greater part of two years logging events at the Hodgson family home. Their records describe furniture shifting without apparent cause, ornaments flying across rooms and a young girl apparently lifted from her bed while neighbours and police officers watched.
The disturbances began on 31 August 1977 when Peggy Hodgson and her four children heard knocking sounds and saw a chest of drawers move across the floor of the bedroom shared by Janet, then aged 11, and Margaret, aged 13. Police constable Carolyn Heeps attended the same evening and later signed a statement confirming she had watched a chair slide several feet while no one touched it.
Within days the activity intensified. Toys and household items were thrown, doors slammed and the family reported cold patches and a sensation of being watched. Neighbours across the street heard loud crashes at night and several visited to offer support, later providing written accounts of objects moving in their presence.
Background of the Hodgson Family
Peggy Hodgson had separated from her husband and lived with her children in a three-bedroom semi-detached house at 284 Green Street, Enfield. The family had no prior interest in the paranormal and initially treated the noises as possible pranks by local children. After police involvement failed to identify any intruder, the Hodgsons contacted the Daily Mirror, whose reporters photographed overturned furniture and recorded further knocks.
The newspaper coverage brought the case to the attention of the Society for Psychical Research. Maurice Grosse, whose own daughter had recently died, volunteered to investigate and arrived on 5 September 1977. He was joined shortly afterwards by author and researcher Guy Lyon Playfair.
Documented Events and Timeline
Early Phase: August to December 1977
Investigators recorded more than 150 separate incidents in the first three months. These included the levitation of Janet and Margaret, the appearance of wet patches on floors and walls, and the displacement of heavy furniture such as a sofa that required two adults to move. Grosse kept a detailed log noting times, witnesses present and any possible normal explanations that had been ruled out.
The Voice Phenomena
From late September 1977 a gruff male voice began speaking through Janet while she appeared to be in a trance-like state. The voice identified itself first as “Joe Watson” and later as Bill Wilkins, a former resident who had died in the house in 1963. Transcripts show the voice answering questions about Wilkins’s life and describing events unknown to the family. Audio tapes made by the investigators captured the voice on multiple occasions, sometimes continuing for several minutes.
1978 Incidents
Activity continued into the following year with new phenomena such as books thrown from shelves, clothing pulled from drawers and Janet reportedly dragged across the floor by an unseen force. On one occasion Playfair and Grosse measured the distance Janet travelled while observers watched. Independent witnesses included a BBC crew and several SPR members who visited on separate dates.
Witness Accounts and Official Records
Police officers, social workers, journalists and neighbours all provided statements. One officer reported seeing a slipper thrown across a room while both children were seated with their hands visible. A local schoolteacher described seeing a pillow rise from a bed and float several feet before falling. These accounts were collected and preserved in the investigators’ files rather than published at the time.
Investigations by the Society for Psychical Research
Grosse and Playfair maintained a near-constant presence for many months, sleeping in the house on rotation and installing tape recorders and simple trip devices. They ruled out obvious fraud such as hidden strings or accomplices. The SPR later published summaries of the case in its Journal, though it stopped short of declaring the events paranormal. Playfair’s 1980 book This House is Haunted presented the raw logs and transcripts in greater detail.
Competing Explanations and Skeptical Analysis
Some visitors, including psychologist Anita Gregory, concluded that Janet and Margaret had faked at least some incidents using threads and sleight of hand. Video footage taken in 1978 shows Janet bending forward and appearing to throw an object, though the investigators maintained that many other events occurred when both girls were under observation or asleep. The voice was never conclusively identified as either genuine or fraudulent by independent speech analysts at the time.
Aftermath and Long-term Records
The disturbances gradually subsided by 1979. Janet later stated in interviews that some events were genuine while others were exaggerated or invented for attention. The original audio tapes and notebooks remain in the SPR archive and have been examined by subsequent researchers. No further large-scale activity has been reported at the address since the family moved away.
Conclusion
The Enfield case stands out among British poltergeist reports because of the volume of contemporaneous notes, audio recordings and multiple independent witnesses. While some incidents appear consistent with trickery, others lack any identified normal explanation after careful scrutiny. The surviving documentation continues to invite fresh examination by those willing to weigh the primary sources directly rather than rely on later summaries.
Playfair, G.L. (1980) This House is Haunted: The True Story of a Poltergeist. London: Souvenir Press.
Playfair, G.L. and Grosse, M. (1980) ‘Poltergeist effects in Enfield’, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 50(785), pp. 233–260.
Gregory, A. (1979) ‘Enfield: A study of a poltergeist’, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, 50(782), pp. 95–112.
Daily Mirror (1977) ‘Terror in the night at Enfield house’, 10 September.
Metropolitan Police (1977) Incident report and witness statements, Enfield, 31 August (archived at Enfield Local Studies Centre).
Fontana, D. (2005) Is There an Afterlife? A Comprehensive Overview of the Evidence. Ropley: O Books, pp. 312–328.
Nickell, J. (2012) ‘Enfield poltergeist: A sober examination’, Skeptical Inquirer, 36(4), pp. 24–29.
Society for Psychical Research (2015) Enfield Archive Catalogue. London: SPR.
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