Facts On ---- Halloween -- Chapter Ten

* Showers of stones, earth, mud, sticks, fruit, shells, and occasionally, more bizarre material such as banknotes, small animals, etc.;
* Objects, e.g., furniture, may be rolled, moved, overturned or otherwise agitated; in particular, small items are likely to be thrown, levitated, caused to simulate a rocking or "dancing" motion, or may be swept across the room in flights of complicated and sustained trajectory from which they descend either gradually and gentle in hovering motion or very abruptly;
* Bedclothes, linen garments, and curtains may be molested, torn, slashed or otherwise damaged. In some rare cases, linen has been found to have been deliberately arranged in the form of a "tableau" reminiscent of human figures at worship;
*Small objects may disappear from their appointed places, possibly making subsequent reappearances in highly incongruous situations...others fail to reappear at all;
* "Apports" (objects perhaps foreign to the afflicted household) may similarly arrive on the scene;
* Manipulations suggestive of internal malfunction may affect electrical equipment later found to be in normal working order. Telephones may ring or register calls when none have been made; plugs are removed and light bulbs smashed or wrenched from their sockets;
* "Spontaneous" fires may break out;
* Pools of jets of water (and/or liquids may be emitted from normally dry surfaces, e.g., walls, ceilings, etc;
* Personal assaults such as blows, slaps, shoves, etc., may be inflicted on householders and their guests. However, stigmata in the form of wheels, teeth-marks, or scratches, are likely to be confined to one particular person, namely the supposed "agent" or "focus" in the disturbances;
* Apparitions (human, animal or indeterminate) are sometimes witnessed, as are unusual lights, clouds of phosphorescence, etc;
* In a few instances a form of psychic invasion characterized as "possession" of entrancement with the associated psi abilities and the poltergeist agent has been reported.

   As Raymond Bayless correctly reports, "with a poltergeist, every form of psychical phenomena both in the experimental séance and in spontaneous cases, has been reported, and the sheer diversity of manifestations is truly incredible. It is almost impossible to list all the strange, individual actions attributed to the poltergeist."
   The "Unsolved Mysteries" TV series on February 23, 1996, reported that the famous Los Angeles "Comedy Store" is subject to serious hauntings. One waitress alone had chronicled as least 50 supernatural events.
   In the 1940's and 1050's, "The Comedy Store" was called Ciro's. It was the most popular nightclub in all Hollywood and widely considered "the place to be seen." Ciro's was frequented both by famous movie stars such as Tyrone Power, Bette Davis, and Lucille Ball as well as by mob gangsters such as Mickey Coleman and Ben "Bugsy" Siegel, the murderous mobster who built The Flamingo, one of the earliest Las Vegas casinos.
   Coleman had killed a number of people, apparently at Ciro's; and the story goes, these individuals continue today to haunt The Comedy Store. What is significant about the story is not the characteristic death connection in poltergeist events, which, as we saw supposedly confirms there is no biblical judgment at death, but the kinds of events that have happened there. Consider two examples. In one case, in a matter of just a few seconds, all the table chairs in the main-stage room were piled in a heap one on top of another. An individual was in the room and all the chairs were neatly placed around the tables; he left the room for a few seconds and came back to find them all piled in a heap. Further, not a sound was heard of the activity.
   In another incident, a waitress had just finished getting the room set up for the evening's performance. She had placed tablecloths over the tables, put down ashtrays, and so forth. She left the room for a few seconds, came back, and incredibly, found that the room was just as it was before she had fitted all the tables. In other words, in a matter of literally less than 10 seconds, all the ashtrays, tablecloths, silverware, and napkins that had been on the tables were now lying in their original positions, waiting to be placed. The tablecloths and other items were neatly stacked.
   Obviously, things like this could hardly be the result of a mental hallucination or psychokinesis, adolescent or otherwise - especially since no adolescents were present. (In fact, have those who advocate this strained theory of adolescents and psychokinetic energy ever done a creditable study to determine just how frequently adolescents are even present at poltergeist events?)
   In addition, examining poltergeists as a whole, we find truly frightening apparitions that can only be characterized as demonic and which may seriously injure people. There are also horrible encounters with beings which may take grotesque human form and in rare cases proceed to kill or to sexually rape both men and women, leaving them covered with a slimy substance and/or terrible odor. Further, the rare if controversial phenomenon of spontaneous human combustion - people instantaneously bursting into flames and largely being reduced to ashes - may have some kind of association with poltergeists. And, as noted, there are also numerous examples of demonic possessions occurring during poltergeist manifestations. Thus, in many cases investigated, "the nature of invading forces has many times been annoying and malicious, and frequently has displayed a vicious and dangerous nature...Poltergeist's intentions...were in the main savage, destructive and malignant."
   It is hardly surprising then, as occult authority Colin Wilson points out, that "until the mid-nineteenth century it was generally assumed that poltergeist disturbances were the result of witchcraft, or evil spirits, or both." In his bibliography, Goss points out in a similar fashion that earlier generations "concluded quite logically that they were faced by the work of witchcraft and/or demons" and that such a theory "has shown remarkable durability regardless of what the twentieth century may think about witchcraft and demons."
   In fact, researchers have connected the poltergeist to mediumism, witchcraft, spiritism and other forms of the occult throughout history, right up to the present. Scores of incidents were recorded or investigated by the late Dr. Kurt Koch, a leading Christian authority on the occult. In every case "occult practices lay at the root of the [poltergeist] phenomena."
   Indeed, what poltergeists are actually connected with is occult practices, not hallucinations or adolescent psychokinesis. This connection is illustrated by the fact that the celebrated revival of spiritualism in America actually began with a poltergeist. The Fox sisters, from Hydesville, NY, and considered the founders of the spiritualism movement in the United States (1884), heard "rapping's" that were clearly a manifestation of poltergeist activity. Colin Wilson, noted author of The Occult: A History, observes, "The Hydesville rapping's which inaugurated the history of modern spiritualism were almost certainly poltergeist phenomena; the Hydesville 'ghost' also claimed to be the victim of the undetected murder."
   Once poltergeist disturbances are experienced in a home, often the Ouija board is brought out of a closet in an attempt, whether in seriousness or jest, to establish contact with the "troubled ghost." In such cases, poltergeist phenomena often become the means of a person's conversion of the occult. The supernatural encounters are so startling and intriguing that even initially skeptical observers may come to a belief in the supernatural and become involved in psychic investigation, such as seeking the advice of psychics, using automatic writing, or attending séances.
   In The Enigma of the Poltergeist, psychical researcher Raymond Bayless further observes, "It can be suggested that witchcraft may be the child of the poltergeist. The study of poltergeists and haunting phenomena continually uncovers reminders of the close relationship existing between each subject.
   Poltergeist phenomena are not only frequently associated with witchcraft but with necromancy ands séance phenomena as well. For example, "[The poltergeist] has duplicated every phenomenon observed in the experimental séance." And, during known, obvious poltergeist cases, phantoms have been seen and heard that gave every indication of having been spirits of the dead. On occasion, phantoms have indicated that they were spirits of dead relatives of witnesses present."
   From a Christian view, we see this as a typical attempt by demons to establish belief in or practice of contacting the dead - something God has forbidden in the Bible (Deuteronomy 18:9-12).

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Deuteronomy 18:9-12; (9) When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. (10) Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, (11) or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. (12) Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.

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   This is illustrated in the attempt to "rescue" supposedly confused or "earthbound" spirits who are allegedly causing the poltergeist disturbances. Thus, "in each case the living had a duty to the dead. By means of séances (sometimes specifically convened as 'rescue circles') the distressed party [the poltergeist] could be contracted and ultimately directed along the appointed paths of self-improvement."
   In fact, we suspect that, in many cases where poltergeists are directly associated with some person rather than a location, demons are attempting to trick the individual into some kind of occult involvement or even bring about his or her possession.
   At the least, when poltergeist phenomena seems to be associated with an individual, there are certain parallels to the medium and her spirit controls: "Obviously, this relates to the concept of mediumship in general and moreover to the equally fascinating study of the way in which this person - the 'agent' or 'focus' - is different from other human beings who do not have poltergeist abilities."
    In light of this, it is not surprising that a common feature of ghost or poltergeist manifestations involves the attempt to seek actual contact with the dead. This also, obviously, is a common occurrence in séance mediumism. For example, Dr. Weldon remembers viewing a television program on a particularly dramatic poltergeist haunting in 1994. After the poltergeist manifestations began, a Ouija board was used to attempt to make contact with the spirit. Through the board, the spirit spelled out its name to those present. The next day psychical researchers were called in to investigate. Hauntingly, one of this spirit mentally impressed upon him entirely without his knowledge. He simply began his conversation, "When did you first meet___________?" and gave the actual name that the spirit had given the day before through the Ouija board. He had no idea why he said this name or were it came from, but obviously it "confirmed" the "identity" of the spirit they were now seeking to establish contact with. Further, the particular name was, in fact, found to be that of the very same individual who had lived in that house prior to that time - and who had also been murdered. In the minds of everyone present, this confirmed the fact they were actually in contact with the deceased spirit of the man who had earlier been killed in this house. In the world of the occult, this kind of confirmatory scenario is not at all an uncommon occurrence.

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Taken from The Facts on Halloween by John Ankerberg & John Weldon...Harvest House Publishers...Are you Rapture Ready?