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His aunt “Harriet” (did I spell that right?) was a spiritualist. I may be a bit foggy on details, it’s been a while since I read it. He used the ouija board to try to contact her after she died. As far as I remember, the activity started after her death. The boy and his mother (and another relative) were on the bed when they asked if the noises were her doing. Either the bed shook or there was a scratching from inside the mattress, seeming to them to mean “yes”.
That’s basically how I remember it, too. The book even briefly theorizes that it was the deceased aunt’s spirit that was behind the manifestations. Additionaly, it theorizes that the aunt, while introducing the kid to occult stuff, may also have been molesting him. If memory serves, the book doesn’t follow up much on these two ideas.
I hadn’t heard about that side of the story… It’s possible; that sort of association would cause emotional instability. Now if that really happend, we would have a very interesting bunch of theories regarding the poltergeist activity and possession. Maybe a mental state like that could produce RSPK (psychokinesis). And maybe he was relieved that she died, giving him a guilt complex, and somehow causing the “haunting”. I believe it was true possession. Possibly the exposure to the occult opened his mind allowing a demon (devil) in. So many possibilities…
Nice points. As you say, poltergeist theory is frequently based on adolescent trauma, which could have been involved in this case. Certainly, this “etiology” is invoked in other cases, such as the Bell Witch incident.
Nice idea, though I for one coudldn’t contribute much. My only exposure to poltergeist theory is:
1) The poltergeist is an actual discarnate spirit causing kinetic environmental effects.
2) The poltergeist is a discarnate soul of a deceased person.
3) The poltergeist is a split-off portion of a living personality which manifests in psychokinetic effects.
4) Ditto the above, with the personality being a stressed-out, traumatized person, usually an adolescent.
5) The poltergeist is purely imaginary, the manifestations being due, at the least, to over-active imaginations, at the most, trickery on the part of the person around whom the manifestations center.
That’s all I know about it, although others might have more to contribute.
Me, too. In all of the possession cases I’ve read about, there has not been evidence “of the kind the Church would accept” as being manifestations of a truly discarnate superhuman invading personality. That leave us with an odd form of mental illness combined with paranormal activity – namely, poltergeist phenomena. Seems that Jung had some experiences with poltergeists for which he supplied a psychological explanation, e.g., a constellation of archetypes or a maladjusted adolescent, or some psychic crisis, etc…
That reminds me of the story about Jung having an argument with Freud during which a loud bang came from a book shelf. Apparently, the noise came again when the angry Jung had left.
No, sorry, wolfboy I haven’t heard anything about it except in Blatty’s work and of course here on Howdy.
Yeah, Blizzi, according to Jung, Freud was quite shaken by the bookcase “poltergeist” on the occasion it happened. Later, however, he was able to rationalize it away, although apparently he did maintain a secretive interest in such things throughout his life.
I never thought that Freud would be shaken by it… I figured he assumed it was a coincidence. Thanks for the info
I’m still very curious to know if anybody anywhere has ever talked to Ronald Hunkeler. He’s probably in his 70’s (?) if he’s not already dead. He is notoriously unwilling to talk to the press (understandably) but his side of the story whether it be supernatural or psychological or troubled youth has real value in the manner in which all these issues have been (and are) discussed.
Blizzi, just adding Freud’s comment on the paranormal:
15 June 1911 Freud to Jung:
“In matters of occultism I have grown humble since the great lesson Ferenczi’s experiences gave me. I promist to believe anything that can be made to look reasonable. I shall not do so gladly, that, you know. But my hubris has been shattered.”
[Sandor Ferenczi, a psychoanalist, had also been experimenting with the paranormal.]
Jung. Psychology and the Occult. Bollingen Series, Princeton University Press, 1977, p. ix.
Freud had a life-long interest in the paranormal, regardless of his conclusions about the “cabinet poltergeist.”
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