Strange Behaviour of a Ghost
and the man who shot at it.
By Dr. Nandor Fodor, Research Officer, International Institute for Psychical Research.
One of the most extraordinary cases of a Poltergeist – an invisible something that smashes crockery, throws things about, and torments a small boy or girl in the house – is reported from Hungary. In a signed statement, Dr Kalman Toth, District Judge of Szolnok, writes:
“From the beginning of November 1935, I heard my wife complain that during the day, and particularly towards evening, extraordinary and loud scratching and knocking noises came from the ceiling of the house, and that this could not be due to rats as sometimes footsteps were also heard. Later the door leading into the courtyard shook, knocks were heard on the window, and footsteps in the courtyard. My wife notified the police. The house was searched, particularly the loft, but nothing was found.
“On November 22, when I arrived home, my wife complained that my little girl was suffering from an attack by needles. I examined the child. In her mouth, in her armpit, and in other places I found about fifty pins and needles, also matches, and a drawing pin. The needles were taken to the next room, but soon we found the child again covered with needles in the same places. We could not imagine where all the needles came from. There was a seamstress working at the house at the time, but she missed no needles.
“The following day at 11 in the morning my wife sent a message to the court that I should come home. I found my house a scene of devastation. Seven window panes, several plates, saucers, glasses, a beautiful vase, and a thick mirror in the bathroom were shattered. While the invisible wrecker was at work my wife took some dishes into the courtyard. The dishes flew up, banged into the wall, and broke into fragments.
“In my presence the same afternoon the glass pane of the door which leads into the courtyard and was protected by a massive wooden door broke, as if an invisible elbow banged into it from outside through the wooden door.
“The following day, Sunday November 24, a colleague, Dr Baky was examining the breakage when a china dish half filled with water rose from the dining table and smashed itself against the back of a chair, the water splashing all over the room. After all this I saw it best to take my family away to Rakospalota to my wife’s parents. I had to return the same day.
“Dr. Heinrich, the Court Notary, expressed a strong desire to spend the night in my house. We entered the house after midnight. I made bed for Dr Heinrich on the sofa of the bedroom. I went to bed in the room next to the dining-room. A quarter of an hour later I heard deep snoring from the bedroom. (Dr Heinrich later confessed that he simulated this because he heard suspicious noises and wanted to encourage them). Not long after I heard two revolver shots. I switched on the light and rushed into the bedroom. I stumbled over a heap of dresses (my wife’s) near the door on the floor (they were not there before), and on the top of this I found an enamelled basin shot through.
“Dr Heinrich said that he was about to fall asleep when he heard a noise. He kept his revolver cocked under the cover. all at once something cold touched his forehead. He fired and shot the basin. The basin before the shooting was in the next room, the other side of the locked door…
“My father-in-law and my wife, with my two children, wanted to leave the house, but they were held back by some strong pressure which which was accompanied by an ice-cold draught. With difficulty they got as far as the courtyard. There they felt strangled. My father-in-law shouted in terror: “Help!” The cry was followed by three loud crashes and a penetrating smell of sulphur.
“Later a sitting with a trance medium took place on November 30 at 4 a.m. The medium was a 20-years-old man named Ristpler. When he went into trance, an entity calling herself Erzebet came and said that the house was infested with low spirits, and that there would be a chance to speak with one of them. The spirit came and raved. Implored and adjured, at last he promised to mend his ways. Noises are still heard. The chandelier swings from time to time, but the worst is over.”
Weekly Dispatch (London), March 8th 1936.