Poltergeists have always fascinated me. There are many theories about poltergeists. In folklore, a poltergeist is the apparent manifestation of an imperceptible but noisy, disruptive or destructive entity. Poltergeist means "noisy ghost" in German. Poltergeist cases differ from regular hauntings in that they are particularly loud and often cause objects to move. Physical harm to people is also possible in these cases. One of the most interesting types of poltergeist activity was featured in my favorite novel by Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hillhouse. The stone-throwing poltergeists are rare and difficult for skeptics to explain.
Stone-throwing poltergeist phenomena cases date back, at least, to 530 CE when it was recorded that Deacon, King Theodoric of the Ostrogoths’ physician, was besieged by stones. One of the more interesting cases of stone throwing poltergiest activity is the Grottendieck case. In 1903, a Dutch engineer living in Inodonesia, Grottendieck, awoke to a storm of rocks falling through the roof of his hut and hitting him in the head. Of course, this was concerning to Grottendieck who awoke a servant to help him figure out the origins of the rock storm. They explored the outside area around the hut and they found nothing that explained the rocks. Inside, the rocks continued to fall. They also began to change directions and started falling horizontally. Grottendieck was perplexed, but the serving boys was horrified and he ran away into the jungle.
No sooner had the boy fled than the rocks stopped falling. Grottendieck saved several of the stones and went to be. Grottendieck published a story on this incident in the Journal of the Society of Psychical Research. His hypothesis was that the stones had been sent by the ghost of his dead sister who was trying to communicate with him from beyond the grave. Many other researchers disagreed and believed that the rocks were a product of poltergeist activity brought on by the serving boy's subconscious mind. There was never any consensus on the cause of this strange case and people still conjecture as to what might have causes the strange falling stones.
In 1981, Ward End residents at Thornton Road told police they could not locate the source of stones being thrown that were causing significant damage to windows and roof tiles. The police were called in to investigate. They staked the properties out and waited. They stayed overnight. They used cameras and recording devices, but despite all their work, they couldn't find any observable source for the rocks that continued to besiege Ward End. Of course, they couldn't blame a poltergeist so they reported that the criminal must have used a long distance catapult.
Like all other poltergeist activity, there is no consensus on what causes the stone throwing incidents in these cases. Many believe that the stones are thrown by ghosts. Others believe that the telekinetic powers of certain people in crisis cause these events. Most believe that the rock throwing must be caused by some brilliant prankster who is capable of raining rocks on neighborhoods with handcrafted catapults'. Whatever the cause, I imagine in must be terrifying to look out your window and see rocks raining from the sky.
