Thornton Heath Poltergeist 1938
Dr. Nandor Fodor, Distinguished Parapsychologist, Investigated
Nandor Fodor and the London Poltergeist
Fodor was the pioneer in linking the psychic with the psychological. He was a psychoanalyst and parapsychologist and theorized that poltergeist activity was caused by human agents with unpleasant emotions including feelings of repressed hostility, anger and sexual tension. Since then, William Roll, D. Scott Rogo, Raymond Bayless and others have expanded on his work. There is a psychological profile for the human agent. The treatment is psychotherapy.
In 1938, he investigated the Thornton Heath poltergeist which helped to validate his theory.
There was another Thornton Heath Poltergeist that happened in 1972, which also included poltergeist phenomena with which this is not to be confused. The available literature about this one does not mention Fodor’s case.
The “Poltergeist”
Mrs. Forbes was the mistress of London’s Thornton Heath house. She was 35, married and had a son. The first time Fodor observed her and the poltergeist phenomena, he felt the activity could be caused by natural means. He decided to have her studied in his laboratory at the International Institute for Psychical Research where he was the Director of Research. He felt he and his colleagues needed to scrutinize her actions. She had to undress for examinations and wear special clothing that would reveal chicanery.
In the laboratory, dishes moved and crashed on the floor. Glasses flew out of Forbes’ hands. Objects from Thornton aported to the Institute. Fodor was convinced that Forbes was producing the phenomena by physical means. He had her x-rayed and was proved to be correct. She secreted two objects which later appeared in her hands.
She claimed a ghost tried to choker her with a necklace. There were marks on her neck that looked like burns. Another claim she made was that a vampyre bit her neck. There were two puncture wounds to evidence this. She reported she was clawed by a tiger and had five wounds on her arm as proof.
The Psychological
Fodor concluded that Forbes had a disorganized psyche and was neurotic. She showed signs of dissociation, separating emotions, thoughts or experiences from each other either consciously or subconsciously. There had been hysterical reactions and auditory and visual hallucinations. She also had swelling in her abdomen.
He believed the ghost, vampyre and tiger incidents were attempts at harming herself which is a criterion for borderline personality disorder.
This case further convinced him that there was a need to consider the psychological in parapsychological research. Mental processes involved in psychic phenomena, psi, had to be studied even if the phenomena were caused by fraud. He believed the events surrounding Forbes indicated the subconscious nature of the alleged poltergeist activity.
While there have been well documented cases of human agent poltergeists such as Eleanore Zugun, whom Harry Price and other investigated, it was apparent to Fodor that Forbes was not a true agent and produced the psi by trickery. This led him to theorize that there was a need to understand the psychological processes that go hand and hand with the apparent psychic phenomena, no matter how much trickery was employed. He opined that choice of items to produce, the distress that she exhibited before she did so and her hallucinations pointed to the type of unconscious nature of her actions.
Related articles:
Eleanore Zugun, Poltergeist Agent or Possessed?
Famous Psychoanalysts Involved with the Paranormal
Poltergeists! The Reality, Not the Movie
Sources:
Fodor, Nandor, Between Two Worlds (Paperback Library Inc., 1967)
Fodor, Nandor, On the Trail of the Poltergeist (The Citadel Press, 1958)
