Beyond the Veil Magazine

The Enfield Haunting Begins

Issue #6: June 1979

In late August 1977, a council house in Enfield, North London, became the site of what would develop into the most thoroughly documented poltergeist case in British history. The Hodgson family (mother Peggy and her four children) found themselves at the centre of phenomena that would attract international attention and defy rational explanation.

This is the first in what we expect to be a continuing series of reports on the Enfield case.

284 Green Street

The Hodgson home is unremarkable: a modest semi-detached house on a quiet suburban street. Peggy Hodgson, a single mother, lived there with her children Margaret (fourteen), Janet (eleven), Johnny (ten), and Billy (seven). There was no history of paranormal activity in the house, and the family had no previous interest in the supernatural.

On the evening of 30 August 1977, Peggy was downstairs when she heard sounds from the children’s bedroom. The noise was distinctive: a shuffling, scraping sound, as though heavy furniture were being dragged across the floor.

She went upstairs to investigate. Janet and Johnny insisted they had heard the same sounds coming from their beds. As Peggy watched, a heavy chest of drawers moved away from the wall on its own, sliding several inches across the floor.

Peggy pushed it back. It moved again. She pushed harder. It moved with greater force, pushing against her hand.

Terrified, she gathered the children and fled to the neighbours.

The Police Arrive

The neighbours (the Nottinghams) accompanied Peggy back to the house. They too heard the knocking sounds, which seemed to come from the walls themselves. The noises moved around the room, as though something were pacing the interior of the structure.

Constable Carolyn Heeps, responding to the emergency call, witnessed the phenomena firsthand. In her official statement, she recorded: “A chair in the living room moved about four feet across the floor whilst I was watching.” She could see no wires, no mechanism, no explanation.

The police could offer no assistance against forces they did not understand.

The Society for Psychical Research

Desperate for help, Peggy Hodgson contacted the Daily Mirror, which had recently published articles on poltergeist activity. The newspaper dispatched a photographer, Graham Morris, who would capture some of the most remarkable images in the history of paranormal research.

Through the newspaper’s contacts, the Society for Psychical Research was alerted. Maurice Grosse, a relatively new member who had recently lost his own daughter in a motorcycle accident, volunteered to investigate. He arrived at Green Street on 8 September 1977, beginning an involvement that would consume the next eighteen months of his life.

Grosse was joined shortly afterwards by Guy Lyon Playfair, an experienced researcher and author who had investigated poltergeist cases in Brazil. Together, they would document over 1,500 incidents at the Enfield house.

The Phenomena Intensify

Within days of Grosse’s arrival, the phenomena escalated dramatically. Marbles and Lego bricks flew across rooms, often hot to the touch when retrieved. Furniture overturned. Pools of water appeared on floors without obvious source.

The family heard voices: deep, gruff sounds that seemed to emanate from the walls or from Janet herself, speaking in tones no eleven-year-old should be able to produce. On one occasion, Janet was reportedly thrown from her bed and across the room by invisible hands.

Investigators from various backgrounds visited the house. Some were sceptical; others became believers after witnessing events they could not explain. A BBC television crew spent time at the property, though their recording equipment repeatedly malfunctioned under circumstances that technicians found inexplicable.

Early Theories

Several explanations were proposed. Sceptics suggested the children were playing elaborate pranks. Believers proposed that the phenomena represented genuine paranormal activity, possibly the spirit of a deceased previous resident. Some wondered whether Janet herself was the unwitting source of the disturbances, a human focus for forces science did not yet understand.

The investigation continues as we go to press. Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair remain in regular contact with the family, documenting each new development. The Hodgsons, exhausted and frightened, continue to live in a house that seems to have turned against them.

We will report further developments as they occur.

A Note to Readers

The Enfield case represents an unprecedented opportunity for paranormal research. The willingness of the family to permit investigation, the quality of witnesses, and the intensity of the phenomena combine to create conditions that may finally yield evidence satisfying scientific standards.

Beyond the Veil will continue to follow this case closely. Readers with expertise in poltergeist phenomena or similar experiences are encouraged to contact our research department.