Poltergeist Definition | Stages & What You Need To Know

Do you know any teenagers who is in a stressful situation? Then, beware of them. Because, they may cause objects flying, doors banging, electrical disturbances and many unusual things without any force acting on them. This phenomenon is known as a Poltergeist Activity.

Poltergeist Definition

What is Poltergeist?

Poltergeist is derived from two German words, “poltern” meaning “to make sound” and “Geist” meaning “ghost or spirit”, which literally means “a noisy ghost”. In fact, poltergeist is not related to ghosts or spirits. This is probably the most terrifying and destructive of all paranormal activities. This phenomenon may also include noises coming with no source, objects disappearing and reappearing in the same or another location, levitation and in rare cases, causing small fires.

Many believe that Poltergeist activity is caused by an invisible ghost or spirit that interacts with a particular person by moving and influencing physical items. However, most researchers believe that it is not caused by the work of spirit or ghost but by an individual in unconscious state usually by his or her subconscious mind. This phenomenon is generally termed in Parapsychology, coined by William G. Roll, as a type of uncontrolled psychokinesis called RSPK (Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis) and the person around whom this phenomena occur is clinically called as RSPK agent.

There are many stories related to the Poltergeist, but in many cases it was found that this activity is caused by a young teenage girl at puberty, with emotional problems. There is no scientific evidence to support the existence of this psychic phenomena, which remain unexplained by scientists. Many skeptics disproved it by catching many fake people who attempted to do poltergeist activity and many reports suggest that this activity was faked by children and teenagers.

However, during 20th century many scientists and researchers have undertaken further study to find more about poltergeist activity. According to researchers in Rhine Research Center, Poltergeist activity is the outward manifestation of psychological trauma. But, researches could not able to explain the point, that there are many troubled teenagers all over the world, but why most of them do not cause poltergeist activity.

Some of the signs that indicate poltergeist activity are appearing or disappearing things, power disturbances, scents and odors, objects levitating or thrown, flying pots, knocks, rapping and other noises, and most dangerous is physical abuse to the victim. Observations have shown that the activity will not occur unless a person is present. As soon as that fellow is removed from the environment, the activity ceases. The people causing this, is usually unaware that they are the reason behind this activity.

Stages of Poltergeist:

The parapsychologist and paranormal investigators will look into this matter not only the signs but also in other way. They consider the stages of a poltergeist to deal with this activity. You can read a book “Poltergeists and Other Hauntings” by Rupert Matthews, where he covers an in-depth detail of a poltergeist activity with possible explanations such as fraud and mis-identification. He also covered many historic and modern cases including fraudsters.

The level of poltergeist activity can be described in stages. These stages range from mild sounds to a physical attack including life threatening.

• • Stage 1: This is the level where poltergeist activity really starts to take off. At this stage, people are generally unaware of the activities taking place. These includes a mild noise coming from nowhere or some small things falling here and there, which considered as a coincidence or a freak occurrences.
    But, during this stage, your pet animal may act strangely and also you may find some cold spots in your home where the temperature is very low compared to other areas.
  • Stage 2: Now, this is the level where people may start to notice something is wrong. But there may be some people who still consider these as a coincidence or just their imagination.
    During this stage, cold spots start increasing in your room and you may feel your whole room getting colder compared to other rooms. Even people can experience unusual scratches on their skin or scratches and cuts on household furniture.

• • Stage 3: Now, things really start to scare you. You will find things disappearing and appearing in the same place or at another place. Electrical disturbances like lights going on/off, rapping and noises can be heard. It is uncommon to actually see an object moving.
    Sometimes, even locked doors and windows may suddenly opened, people may now feel the presence of someone acting in a weird way. This is the time people feel to seek help may be from a priest or a paranormal investigator.

• • Stage 4: This is the violent stage and it is really very scary. At this stage, poltergeist behave as if they are targeting one or more persons. Objects start flying at people, doors and windows banging, often striking people when closing.
    Sharp items like knives may even shoot at the people but this normally don’t hit at anyone. In this stage, it is observed that the attack usually not seriously hurt anyone.

• Stage 5: In very rare cases, a poltergeist may reach this stage. At this stage, you must get out of your home. This level of poltergeist activity will injure you and may even more worse.                                   Everything what happened in earlier stages will continue but with more intensity. The objects start flying at you with greater force which damage you seriously. Even, sparks start at some places and may spread out fire all over the house.

Media interest in the subject has over estimated the phenomenon and resulted some misconceptions that poltergeist activity is caused by spirits or demons. Movies like “Poltergeist” in 1982 by Steven Spielberg have nothing to do with real poltergeists. Poltergeist activity can be confused with haunt phenomena due to their similarities in characteristics. However, parapsychologists have found subtle differences under closer examination. The differences and similarities are as below.

Similarities and Differences between Poltergeist and Haunted Phenomena:

1. Poltergeists and haunts, both involve in moving objects, making sounds and causing electrical disturbances. The difference may be the duration of the phenomenon. Poltergeist effect will last for a few moments whereas haunt phenomena has a long period of activity.
2. The noises that heard due to poltergeist activity can be witnessed by moving or falling physical objects, whereas, in haunt phenomena, the source cannot be found. Also, in haunt cases, the noise heard by one person may not be heard by another one.
3. Presence of ghost like person or apparition is more predominant in haunt cases than in poltergeist.
4. The best difference we can say is, haunts are tend to be linked to a particular place whereas poltergeist tend to linked to a particular individual.

• Also Read Article Poltergeist Signs – How To Identify A Poltergeist

Dealing with a Poltergeist:

Once it is confirmed that you have a poltergeist at home, now a question arises how to deal with them? The first option is to wait till it ends. Many poltergeist cases do not stay for a long. The average time period it may stay can be anything from few days to few weeks. In very rare cases, it extends up to months. If Poltergeist disturbance is not much, then you can wait. Otherwise, if it is unbearable, then it is better to seek help.

The following options can be tried:

• Exorcism: Casting out evil spirits with the help of priest by doing some rituals is the common option many people try. You too can give a try, but it is observed that this option is proved to be ineffective because the poltergeist is not actually caused by demons or spirits.
• Counselling: Another best option is to consult a psychological counselor, who deals with a poltergeist agent. It is easy to identify a person, because the victim is generally a young person. If more than one young person is present in the house, then isolating one person will confirm the victim. You can observe that poltergeist phenomena cease once the person is out of house.

It must be noted that not all poltergeist activity involve disturbed persons and not all haunting are clearly distinguished. So, it is very important not to make conclusions quickly. It is better to appoint a paranormal investigator to investigate the phenomenon.

Though researchers have a good knowledge on poltergeist activity, and these activities are most likely doesn’t involve ghosts or spirits, there is no way for them to help victims involved in this activity. It is better to consult them to a counselor or a psychologist doctor to treat their emotional disturbances.