05 January 2007
GUY LYON PLAYFAIR
I think I'm always going to be interested in the Enfield poltergeist.
I first came across the case in one of those huge supernatural books from the local library. I was about 11 or so and genuinely freaked out by the pictures of Janet springing out of her bed. Not particularly because of the possibility of a malevolent spirit, more because the whole thing looked so utterly, utterly '70s. Not the '70s of glam rock and space dust, but the '70s of industrial action, council houses. Autumnal colours and huge geometric patterns on the wall. The '70s of Peter Sutcliffe and Donald 'Black Panther' Neilson.
I'm returned to that unsettling place thanks to a preview disc from Channel 4. As part of their unpromisingly-named "Occult Week" season, we have Interview With a Poltergeist a maddeningly inconclusive look at the Enfield affair some three decades on. And, oh my God, it's all here. Paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse looks every bit the be-whiskered crackpot expert you'd expect from the era. Meanwhile his co-investigator hits all the right notes simply through dint of his name: Guy Lyon Playfair. There's twin beds, a convertible Jag, a burly next door neighbour called Vic (blokes aren't called Vic anymore, are they?) and a witness statement from "the baker's roundsman".
"Maddeningly inconclusive", I said. But to be fair, that's no fault of the documentary-makers, whose even-handed efforts doom them to a hung jury.
And as for Janet herself, well, commendably the crew catch up with her today. Scarily, she's still got the most 1970s face ever. It's all too unsettling. But not as unsettling as this photo of her back in her prime. Or maybe it's just me who gets spooked by this sort of thing.
Anyway, that's Interview With a Poltergeist, Channel 4, January 24.
UPDATE: This show's now been moved back two weeks in the schedules.
I first came across the case in one of those huge supernatural books from the local library. I was about 11 or so and genuinely freaked out by the pictures of Janet springing out of her bed. Not particularly because of the possibility of a malevolent spirit, more because the whole thing looked so utterly, utterly '70s. Not the '70s of glam rock and space dust, but the '70s of industrial action, council houses. Autumnal colours and huge geometric patterns on the wall. The '70s of Peter Sutcliffe and Donald 'Black Panther' Neilson.
I'm returned to that unsettling place thanks to a preview disc from Channel 4. As part of their unpromisingly-named "Occult Week" season, we have Interview With a Poltergeist a maddeningly inconclusive look at the Enfield affair some three decades on. And, oh my God, it's all here. Paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse looks every bit the be-whiskered crackpot expert you'd expect from the era. Meanwhile his co-investigator hits all the right notes simply through dint of his name: Guy Lyon Playfair. There's twin beds, a convertible Jag, a burly next door neighbour called Vic (blokes aren't called Vic anymore, are they?) and a witness statement from "the baker's roundsman".
"Maddeningly inconclusive", I said. But to be fair, that's no fault of the documentary-makers, whose even-handed efforts doom them to a hung jury.
And as for Janet herself, well, commendably the crew catch up with her today. Scarily, she's still got the most 1970s face ever. It's all too unsettling. But not as unsettling as this photo of her back in her prime. Or maybe it's just me who gets spooked by this sort of thing.
Anyway, that's Interview With a Poltergeist, Channel 4, January 24.
UPDATE: This show's now been moved back two weeks in the schedules.
Comments:
<< Home
Yes that photo is shit scary. And didn't Guy Lyon Playfair have a hand in Stephen Volk's Ghostwatch? And then the two had a big falling out that was played across the letters page of the Fortean Times? Or maybe I'm completely confused.
I'll keep my eye open for this. It sounds sure to evoke those childhood terrors that arose while reading The Unexplained (Mysteries of Mind, Space & Time!) and The Usborne Book of Ghosts at the start of the 80s. Mind you, that picture never looked anything other than a shot of the girl leaping off her bed of her own volition...
I hope they do something on Borley Rectory and the investigations by Harry Price!
Now... where did I put my Voices from Beyond the Grave flexidisc?..
I hope they do something on Borley Rectory and the investigations by Harry Price!
Now... where did I put my Voices from Beyond the Grave flexidisc?..
# posted by 
: 7:19 PM
: 7:19 PM
this is one of the strangest but fascinating stories ive come upon,ive been obsessed with this case ever since i watched strange but true back in 1995 i was 12 and i have always belived every word about the case and im so looking forward to the documentary on channel 4, for people out there that don't believe watch it it might change your mind.The thing that has always freaked me out was the voice i mean 11 year old talking like that im a girl im 24 and have a husky voice but i could not ever talk that deep it even starts to hurt my throat when i try it's crazy plus the pictures look like she's jumping but take a look at the others there would be a dip in the bed clothes were her feet would of made an in print in the sheets as she took off.Also they found the person behind the voice and the scarist thing is he was a real person who lived & died in the harpers home called william(bill)wilkins as maurice grosse got contacted by bills son so what other proof do we need.
Post a Comment
# posted by : 5:43 PM
: 5:43 PM<< Home