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June 2, 2025

Terrifying & True | The Herrmann Family Poltergeist — America’s First Televised Haunting

Terrifying & True | The Herrmann Family Poltergeist — America’s First Televised Haunting
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Terrifying & True

In 1958, bottles popped open and heavy objects flew through the Herrmann family’s Seaford, Long Island, home—sometimes in front of police and reporters.

The disturbances began with household containers mysteriously spilling their contents, then escalated to moving figurines, overturned furniture, and dangerous projectiles. Nassau County detective Joseph Tozzi investigated, tested conventional explanations, and documented 67 reported incidents. National press and television crews turned the suburban haunting into a spectacle, earning “Popper” a reputation as perhaps America’s first televised poltergeist.

Duke University parapsychologists J. Gaither Pratt and William G. Roll studied the house and considered recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis centered on 12-year-old James Jr. Skeptics instead argued that a clever child and chaotic witnesses could account for the activity, noting that many events occurred when Jimmy was nearby. No fraud was proven, and independent witnesses reported objects moving without anyone touching them.

Terrifying & True reconstructs the famous Seaford case and weighs haunting, hoax, psychology, and unproven psychokinesis against a remarkably detailed record.

The Herrmann case stands out because the disturbances were not known only through family recollection. Police, reporters, photographers, and parapsychologists entered the home, creating a dense record of claims and observations even though no camera or witness settled the cause. Publicity also changed the conditions under which every later incident was interpreted.

Jimmy’s proximity made him central to both psychokinesis and hoax theories. The episode follows Detective Tozzi’s work, the 67 reported events, Duke researchers, skeptical explanations, and the television spectacle that turned a Long Island household into a national argument over what counts as evidence for a poltergeist.

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🎥 Produced by: Daniel Wilder
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In nineteen fifty eight, bottles exploded, furniture flu and police

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watched in disbelief, all inside a quiet suburban home in

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Long Island. The Hermann family poltergeist, later known as Popper,

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sparked a media frenzy, scientific study, and national fear.

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What you were about to take burn? Based on witness accounts, testimonies,

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and public record, this is terrifying and true.

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Seaford, Long Island, February nineteen fifty eight, In a quiet

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suburb urban neighborhood, the Harman family lived an ordinary life

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until something extraordinary shattered their peace. Bottles exploded without warning,

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furniture moved on its own, and inanimate objects took flight,

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witnessed not only by the family but by police, reporters

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and scientists alike. Authorities searched for natural explanations, but none

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were found. Some blamed a prank, and others suspected the supernatural.

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As the nation watched, chaos grew. We're telling that story

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after this. In early February nineteen fifty eight, the peace

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full routine of a suburban family in Seaford, Long Island

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was suddenly shattered by an invisible intruder. James and Lucille

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Harmon lived with their two children, thirteen year old Lucille

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and twelve year old James Junior, in a typical ranch

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style house in a quiet neighborhood. On the afternoon of

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February third, nineteen fifty eight, strange noises rang out as

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the Harman children returned from school. Lucille Herman heard a

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rapid series of pops echoing through the house. Moments later,

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she discovered, to her astonishment that several sealed bottles in

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various rooms had inexplicably popped open, their caps scattered in contents,

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spilled in the kitchen, bathroom, basement, and bedrooms. No two

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bottles were alike. Holy water, starch, turpentine, shampoo, who and

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other liquids all had burst open simultaneously. All the bottles

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in the house are blowing their tops. Missus Harman frantically

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told her husband over the phone that day six bottles

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with screw on caps, from rubbing alcohol to bleach to

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holy water had opened on their own, ejecting their lids

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as if flung by some unseen force. The family cleaned

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up the odd mess in confusion. Since no one was

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hurt and no further disturbances occurred immediately. They initially wrote

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it off as a freak incident or a chemical coincidence.

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James Herman, an airline employee with a logical mindset, theorized

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that perhaps unusual humidity or a chemical reaction had built

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up pressure in the containers. But to his puzzlement, all

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the bottles had secured twist caps, not loose corks. What

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natural process could unscrew them. Two uneventful days passed, lulling

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the Hermuns into thinking the episode was a one time fluke. Then,

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on February sixth, just as the children arrived home from school,

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the mysterious phenomenon recurred again. A half dozen household bottles

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abruptly popped their lids and spilled their contents in rapid succession.

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A bottle of nail polish, a container of rubbing alcohol,

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a detergent, a bottle of bleach, some starch, even the

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same holy water flask on missus Herman's dresser all suddenly

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sprang open in an almost identical replay of the initial incident.

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Startled and alarmed, the family began to realize something truly

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bizarre was happening in their home. When the bottle lids

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popped for a third time the following evening, Friday, February seventh,

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James Herman's initial skepticism gave way to suspicion. He began

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to eye his science loving son, Jimmy as a potential

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prankster behind these cap popping capers. Perhaps, he theorized the

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boy had secretly rigged the bottles with some chemical pellets

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or homemade trick to scare the family, timing the pops

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to coincide with his return from school. Determined to catch

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the culprit, the father spent that weekend quietly observing Jimmy's

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every move, searching for any evidence of tampering. On Sunday,

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February ninth, James Herman's watchfulness was rewarded, but not in

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the way he expected. That morning, as the family went

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about their routine, several caps abruptly popped off bottle of starch, turpentine,

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and holy water right in front of him, the bottles

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rocking on the shelves as their contents spewed out. Mister

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Herman had been keeping a close eye on Jimmy the

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entire time, and the boy was nowhere near these containers.

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How could the child have possibly engineered this from afar.

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Baffled and growing fearful, the father confronted his son in

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the bathroom, where Jimmy was calmly brushing his teeth. James

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Herman angrily accused the boy of staging an elaborate hoax.

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But before Jimmy could protest too much, two more bottles

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moved on their own, as if to testify to the

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boy's innocence. Right before the father's eyes, a medicine bottle

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slid across the bathroom vanity and plopped into the sink,

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and a moment later, a shampoo bottle glided in a

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different direction and tumbled to the floor. Both bottles had

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been sitting securely on the counter just seconds before. Mister

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Herrmann's skepticism evaporated. He could no longer deny that an

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unseen force was at work in his home. After checking

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under the sink and around the bathroom for wires, magnets,

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or any trickery and finding nothing, the deeply unsettled father

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realized these incidents defied any conventional explanation, at least that

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he could imagine. Unsure where else to turn, James Herman

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reached out to local authorities. He phoned the Nassau County

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Police Department, struggling to convince the desk lieutenant that this

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was not a prank call. Detective Joseph Tozzi, a level

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headed veteran officer, was assigned to investigate the the Herman home,

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though he suspected there must be a rational explanation or

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perhaps a mischievous human hand behind it all. That same day,

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Patrolman James Hughes was dispatched to the house to take

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an initial report. Hughes arrived skeptical, surely this would turn

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out to be nothing more than an overwrought homeowner or

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a practical joke, But within minutes, Officer Hughes personally witnessed

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the otherworldly activity and had a dramatic change of heart.

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As the entire family gathered nervously in the living room,

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a sudden crack echoed from the bathroom. Hughes rushed to

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investigate and found that yet another bottle had overturned on

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its own. He had just inspected that bathroom moments before

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and swore that everything had been in order. Even more,

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shot several bottles abruptly popped their caps and shot their

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contents toward the startled officer. As if he were being

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deliberately targeted. Hughes was astonished. He later admitted he briefly

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wondered if the nutcase call might actually be real. Convinced

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now that the family truly needed help, the patrolman radioed

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in a perplexing report something unexplainable was occurring at the

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Herman residence. By the second week of February nineteen fifty eight,

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the Herman home had become a locusts of unpredictable chaos.

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Detective Tazzi began around the clock vigil at the house

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on February eleventh, intent on observing the occurrence's first hand

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and catching any possible hoaxer in the act. Initially, Tazi

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remained doubtful and methodical, making detailed notes of each incident,

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interviewing the family and neighbours, and systematically testing theories. But

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as he spent day and night in the residence, the

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disturbances only escalated in number and intensity, gradually convincing the

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detective that something truly anomalous was unfolding. Over the next

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several days, seemingly no room or object was safe from

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the inexplicable activity. Small porcelain and plastic figurines began to

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move and fly about as if of their own accord,

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in some cases hurling themselves with such force that they

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shattered on impact. One particularly unsettling incident occurred on February fifteen.

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While the Hermann children and their visiting cousin, thirty four

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year old Marie Mirtha, sat in the living room watching television,

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A delicate porcelain figurine on an end table began to

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twitch and wobble on its own, then suddenly launched into

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the air in front of their eyes. The figurine shot

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about two feet through the air and crashed to the

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floor with a sharp report, yet astonishingly, it did not break.

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Miss Mirtha was flabbergasted. She insisted to Detective Tazzi that

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neither she nor the children had been anywhere near the

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figurine when it flew. They could not have touched it

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even if they'd wanted to. This dramatic display left the

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family badly shaken and provided the first non family eye

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witness aside from police, to the Poltergeist's antics. As the

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days went on, the invisible assailant grew bolder, toppling larger

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and heavier pieces of furniture lamps flipped over, end tables

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were found mysteriously overturned, and in one case, a large

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wooden night stand in Jimmy's bedroom up ended itself without warning.

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A twenty five volume set of encyclopedias in the basement

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was strewn about after the hefty bookcase that contained them

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was found flipped upside down, dumping its contents. Even a

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solid mahogany coffee table flipped over in front of witnesses

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as if yanked by unseen hands. On one occasion, Detective

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Tozzy and young Jimmy were walking side by side down

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the basement stairs when a bronze horse statue weighing nearly

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one hundred pounds came hurtling across the cellar and struck

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the detective in the legs. Jimmy was several steps behind

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Tozzy at the time, and no one else was down

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in the basement. The sheer force with which the heavy

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statue had flown was terrifying. Tozzi luckily suffered no serious injury.

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The normally stoic detective found himself at a loss to

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explain how such a thing could happen. Each new incident

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had a random, capricious quality. Objects seemed to leap, slide,

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or smash at different times in different rooms, with no

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consistent pattern beyond one. Twelve year old Jimmy was often

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nearby when trouble struck. In fact, a review of Tozzi's

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notes showed that Jimmy was present or close at hand

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in roughly three out of four incidents, a fact that

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did not go unnoticed by investigators or by mister Harman,

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who had already harbored suspicions about his son. However, there

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were also disturbances that occurred when Jimmy was clearly elsewhere,

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or even when the children were out of the house entirely,

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and multiple independent witnesses had now seen objects move with

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no one near them, seeming to rule out any kind

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of trick that could be done by a bored child.

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By mid February, the relentless parade of phenomena had the

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Harman family nearing a breaking point for the first time.

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They began to flee the house for relief, spending nights

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with relatives on at least four occasions when the activity

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became too intense. The children, who initially might have found

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the odd bottle popping to be a curious thrill, were

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now truly afraid to sleep in their own rooms. The

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Herman's once comfortable home had become a nerve racking stage

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for nightly outbursts of clattering noises and flying objects that

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no one could predict or control. Even ordinarily mundane sounds

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had put them on edge. The family described low rumbles

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echoing through the walls, like the whole house was almost

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caving in at times. Detective Tazzi, meanwhile, was accumulating a

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thick case file documenting each unexplained occurrence in precise detail.

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By his count, Dozens upon dozens of incidents were logged

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over the course of a few short weeks, sixty seven

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separate disturbances by the end of the episode. Yet despite

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his careful cataloging of events and his dogged attempts at

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rational investigation, Tozi was no closer to identifying a culprit,

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let alone a cause. After roughly two weeks of this

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inexplicable siege, word of the herman House poltergeist leaked out

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to the press. What had begun as the Herman's private

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nightmare soon became public spectacle. By late February nineteen fifty eight,

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news media from across the country descended on sixteen forty

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eight Redwood Path in Seaford, turning the quiet suburban lane

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into a carnival of reporters, photographers and curiosity seekers. The

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strange case of the Long Island Poltergeist made headlines in

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major newspapers. Journalists from the New York Times, Newsday, and

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even the London Evening News traveled to witness events first hand.

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Life Magazine ran a photo essay titled House of Flying Objects,

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A Ghostly mystery, Plagues of Family and baffles. The Experts

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and Time magazine published an article in its religion section

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dubiously titled Long Island's Poltergeist. The Herman Home was soon

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besieged by television crews with bright lights and bulky nineteen

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fifties cameras, hoping to catch the mischievous spirit on film.

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In fact, the case became noted as perhaps the first

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haunting broadcast on American television, with news programs airing footage

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of the aftermath of incidents and live reports from the

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haunted house. Wide eyed TV audiences across the nation watched

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as the Herman's stood by a fallen bookcase in their

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cellar or pointed out dense in walls and furniture from

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airborne objects. The unseen entity, nick named Popper by the

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press for its penchant for popping bottle caps, seemed eager

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to perform for this wider audience, or at least the

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phenomena continued unabated under the media spotlight. One visiting reporter,

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Dave Kahan of Newsday even camped overnight in the house

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and personally witnessed multiple disturbances on February twenty third to

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twenty fifth, including an overturned dresser and a toppled lamp,

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which lent further credibility to the hermun's claims. Another journalist,

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John Gold of The London Evening News, was present in

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early March and saw flashbulbs lift off a table and

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hurdle through the air during his visit. The fact that

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skeptical newsmen were coming away convinced that something unexplained was

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occurring only fueled the public fascination. The Harmans, meanwhile, now

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faced not only a mysterious disturbance in their home, but

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also the overwhelming glare of public attention. It was worse

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than the phenomena in some ways, mister Harman later said

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of the crowds of gawkers on his lawn. Day after day,

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Their yard and street were crowded, with reporters scribbling in notepads,

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photographers setting off flashbulbs, and neighbors and curiosity seekers peering

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in hopes of catching a glimpse of moving furniture or

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phantom figures. Some onlookers took it upon themselves to offer

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help or interpretation, ranging from the well meaning to the

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outright bizarre. Letters and phone calls flooded in from far

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and wide. Amateur sleuths proposed all manner of logical sone,

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00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:08.039
while occult enthusiasts confidently offered supernatural diagnoses. The Hermans were

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told that Martians had landed nearby and caused the disturbances,

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that the house had somehow been built on an ancient

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Indian burial ground, angering the spirit of a long dead

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Indian chief, or even that the Russians were tunneling under

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Long Island a prelude to an invasion. It was, after all,

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the height of the Cold War and Sputnik had only

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recently orbited the earth. Some callers screamed religious warnings, convinced

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the family was being punished by dark forces. Anonymous voices

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late at night shouted repent over the phone, or claimed

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the devil's tricks were at work. The Hermans tried to

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take it all in stride. They patiently listened to every theory,

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no matter how our landish or politely endured lectures from

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self appointed prophets. They even allowed a number of volunteer

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exorcists and spiritualists onto their property. Ministers of various obscure

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sects conducted impromptu prayer vigils on the front lawn, sprinkling

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holy oil or chanting blessings. One self proclaimed holy man

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arrived in a blue suit, knelt in the yard praying

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for ten minutes, then solemnly stood and announced to the

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00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:37.680
assembled crowd, everything is all right. You have been forgiven.

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With that pronouncement, he departed, yet Pauper remained as active

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as ever. The carnival atmosphere was surreal. Each morning, Lucille

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Herrmann would shew people off her porch before sending the

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children to school, and each night the family peered through

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00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:05.440
closed curtains at the silhouettes of curious strangers outside, all

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00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:10.680
while wondering if the next flying object would be aimed

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at them. Throughout February, as the poltergeist incidents continued. Detective

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Tazi worked tirelessly to find a rational source for the disturbances.

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Every possible physical or environmental factor was examined. Structural engineers

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00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:36.920
inspected the house for shifts or subsidence, finding nothing amiss

261
00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:42.680
in the foundation or framework. The Seaford Fire Department analyzed

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an old well on the property to see if changes

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in the water table or underground pressure might be causing

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the bizarre bottle explosions. The wells water level had not

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00:22:55.640 --> 00:23:01.279
changed appreciably in five years. In inquired with the US

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Air Force about aircraft flight patterns, suspecting that shock waves

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from passing jets or sonic booms might coincide with the incidents,

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00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:16.680
but flight log showed no correlation, and in any case,

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the force needed to knock over heavy furniture far exceeded

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any rumble from distant planes. He reached out to radio

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engineers at RCA to check for stray radio frequency or

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electromagnetic interference in the neighborhood. Perhaps a powerful transmitter or

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radar was triggering some reaction in the home. These tests,

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00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:44.640
too turned up nothing unusual. A neighbor with a Ham

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radio set hadn't used it in years, and no abnormal

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00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:54.039
radio waves were detected during the incidents. The local power

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00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:58.720
company Long Island Lighting set up a delicate ascilloscope in

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00:23:58.759 --> 00:24:04.440
the basement to monitor vibrations or electrical disturbances during the

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00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:09.400
poltergeist's peak hours. On a few occasions, the apparatus was

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running when objects moved or bottles popped, but it registered

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00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:20.319
no unusual tremors or surges at those moments. Likewise, and

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00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:26.759
aciligraph vibration censor recorded calm readings even as crashes were

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00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:31.960
heard upstairs. The idea of air pressure or drafts received

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attention as well. Recalling a tip from a woman in

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00:24:35.519 --> 00:24:39.759
Massachusetts who had written about furniture moving around in her

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00:24:39.799 --> 00:24:43.440
home from a strong downdraft of her chimney, mister Harman

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00:24:43.599 --> 00:24:49.240
eagerly installed a rotary turbine chimney cap to neutralize any

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weird air currents in their fireplace, but Popper seemed unfazed.

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No sooner had the workmen finished than a porcelain figurine

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longlaunched itself twelve feet across a room and smashed into

291
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:08.000
a desk, making a loud impact and denting the wood.

292
00:25:08.839 --> 00:25:12.680
That dent, in fact, became one of the most tangible

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pieces of evidence. They had shown off for news reporters

294
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and even captured on camera for local TV. One by one,

295
00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:35.240
mundane explanations fell short. The house was structurally sound, there

296
00:25:35.240 --> 00:25:40.000
were no underground streams or magnetic anomalies beneath the foundation.

297
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:46.039
A Brookhaven National Laboratory physicist named doctor Robert Zeider came

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00:25:46.119 --> 00:25:50.359
with dowsing rods, originally speculating that it could be underground

299
00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:56.319
water creating a freak magnetic field, but geological surveys disproved

300
00:25:56.319 --> 00:26:01.440
this idea. Household appliances and wiring wars inspected for shorts

301
00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:07.400
or unusual outputs. Everything was normal. Even the plumbing was

302
00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:12.359
scrutinized in case water hammer or pipe vibrations were jolting

303
00:26:12.400 --> 00:26:17.039
the house. Nothing of the sort was found. In fact,

304
00:26:17.079 --> 00:26:21.400
the neighbour's house had worse pipe rattle and no hauntings.

305
00:26:22.400 --> 00:26:26.319
The caps and bottles themselves were tested by police labs

306
00:26:26.599 --> 00:26:30.359
for any prank substance that could cause a fizzing eruption.

307
00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:36.400
None was found, and despite the elaborate measures taken, the

308
00:26:36.519 --> 00:26:41.400
incidents continued to defy any predictable pattern that would allow

309
00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:46.079
Tazzi to catch someone faking it. At one point, the

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00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:51.359
detective dusted certain vulnerable objects with a fine powder detectable

311
00:26:51.519 --> 00:26:56.880
under ultraviolet light, hoping to see fingerprints or disturbances, but

312
00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:03.039
whichever pesky ghost or human was respondedile avoided those items entirely.

313
00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:09.200
Tazzi grew increasingly frustrated. By February twentieth, he admitted to

314
00:27:09.240 --> 00:27:13.240
being all out of fresh ideas. In a report to

315
00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:17.240
his superiors, The weary detective wrote that while he was

316
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:21.519
not prepared to declare the house haunted, he had exhausted

317
00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:26.400
every conventional lead. It was around this time that he

318
00:27:26.519 --> 00:27:31.480
began to accept that the Herman case might exist outside

319
00:27:31.480 --> 00:27:35.839
of the scope of normal police work. With the phenomena

320
00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:40.640
only growing more violent. By late February, objects were not

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00:27:40.759 --> 00:27:45.720
just moving, but often flying dangerously at people, the Hermanns

322
00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:51.960
sought help from spiritual authorities as well. Being devout Roman Catholics,

323
00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:56.880
the family turned to their parish priest, Father William MacLeod

324
00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:00.440
of Saint William the Abbot Church, hoping a bl blessing

325
00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:07.240
or exorcism might succeed where science had failed. Father MacLeod

326
00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:11.160
visited the home around mid February and performed a simple

327
00:28:11.240 --> 00:28:16.440
house blessing, reciting prayers in Latin, and sprinkling holy water

328
00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:21.160
in each room, The family joined in fervent prayer for

329
00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:26.079
deliverance from whatever evil or energy was at play. For

330
00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:31.079
a short while after the priest's intervention, Pauper's antic subsided,

331
00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:35.240
leading the Hermans to feel a sense of relief, But

332
00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:39.759
the respite was brief. The poltergeist soon resumed its mischief,

333
00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:44.720
almost as if to show defiance. In fact, holy water

334
00:28:44.839 --> 00:28:49.599
itself seemed to become a favorite target of the entity itself.

335
00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:53.039
The small bottle of holy water in the master bedroom

336
00:28:53.599 --> 00:28:57.160
was found spilled or knocked over repeatedly in those days,

337
00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:01.480
its screw cap popping off again and again, as if

338
00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:06.240
to taunt the priest's efforts. On one occasion, mister Harman

339
00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:09.720
dashed into the bedroom after hearing the now familiar pop

340
00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:13.200
of that vial. He found it on the floor and

341
00:29:13.400 --> 00:29:17.960
curiously noted that the glass bottle felt warm to the touch,

342
00:29:18.599 --> 00:29:21.839
far warmer than you would expect a bottle sitting at

343
00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:27.799
room temperature. Such eerie details only reinforced the family's belief

344
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:32.519
that a malicious or mischievous spirit was actively operating in

345
00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:38.200
the house. Father MacLeod deeply concerned, prepared to escalate the

346
00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:42.519
matter to church authorities. He reportedly sought permission from the

347
00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:46.839
diocese and bishop to conduct a formal exorcism if the

348
00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:54.319
disturbances continued. However, the church's involvement would eventually be overtaken

349
00:29:54.400 --> 00:29:59.519
as events got out of hand. As the mystery reached

350
00:29:59.519 --> 00:30:04.839
its cloud, late February nineteen fifty eight saw the poltergeist

351
00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:10.960
activity crescendo in both frequency and ferocity. On February twentieth,

352
00:30:11.279 --> 00:30:17.200
multiple disturbances erupted in rapid succession. While Detective Tazi stood watch.

353
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:22.039
A figurine once again launched through the air and smashed

354
00:30:22.079 --> 00:30:26.480
against a desk, this time shattering to pieces on impact.

355
00:30:27.039 --> 00:30:30.039
A moment later, a bottle of ink on a table

356
00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:35.279
abruptly exploded with a loud bang, its screw cap flying

357
00:30:35.319 --> 00:30:39.920
off and the bottle itself hurdling several feet before crashing

358
00:30:39.960 --> 00:30:44.079
and splattering ink across the living room walls and furniture.

359
00:30:44.839 --> 00:30:48.440
A heavy ceramic sugar bowl then lifted off the dining

360
00:30:48.519 --> 00:30:52.480
table and flew, landing on the floor with a thud.

361
00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:57.039
These incidents occurred in plain view of the herman's and

362
00:30:57.160 --> 00:31:02.279
Detective Tazi. The sugar bowl notably took flight while Jimmy

363
00:31:02.400 --> 00:31:06.960
was nearby but clearly not touching it. As Tozzi later documented,

364
00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:12.880
the escalation deeply unnerved the detective. This was no longer

365
00:31:13.039 --> 00:31:17.319
just parlor tricks with small bottles, but large objects moving

366
00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:22.839
with dangerous force. That night, the Herman family packed overnight

367
00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:28.079
bags and sought refuge at a relative's home, leaving detective

368
00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:32.559
Tozzi alone in the haunted house to monitor what Popper

369
00:31:32.680 --> 00:31:38.359
might do in their absence. Interestingly, the poltergeist was inactive

370
00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:42.599
the whole night while the family was gone, as if

371
00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:46.200
it had no audience to play to. But when the

372
00:31:46.279 --> 00:31:51.880
Hermans cautiously returned the next day, the phenomena resumed, as

373
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:56.519
if on que On the evening of February twenty first,

374
00:31:56.920 --> 00:32:00.200
the same sugar bowl that flew earlier suddenly left kept

375
00:32:00.279 --> 00:32:04.279
from the table once more, this time shattering into pieces

376
00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:06.880
on the floor as soon as the family had re

377
00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:12.000
entered the home. Clearly, whatever force was at work seemed

378
00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:16.200
tied to the family's presence and possibly to the emotional

379
00:32:16.319 --> 00:32:20.960
energy in the home, a pattern not lost on investigators.

380
00:32:21.720 --> 00:32:25.559
The nights of February twenty fourth and twenty fifth marked

381
00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:30.000
the peak of Popper's Mayhem. On February twenty fourth, a

382
00:32:30.119 --> 00:32:34.519
thunderous crash from Young James's bedroom sent Tozzy and mister

383
00:32:34.599 --> 00:32:39.559
Harman running upstairs. They found that a large wooden bookcase,

384
00:32:39.880 --> 00:32:43.759
which had been standing firmly against the wall, was now

385
00:32:43.799 --> 00:32:48.480
inexplicably face down on the floor amid a tangle of books.

386
00:32:49.599 --> 00:32:51.839
No one had been in the room at the time.

387
00:32:52.799 --> 00:32:57.480
The following evening, February twenty fifth, saw a rapid fire

388
00:32:57.640 --> 00:33:02.039
series of events unfold crossed different rooms of the house,

389
00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:05.599
almost as if the entity was showing off its full

390
00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:16.680
range of tricks. While Jimmy sat at his desk doing homework,

391
00:33:17.240 --> 00:33:21.039
his portable record player lifted up off its table and

392
00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:25.559
traveled fifteen feet across the room before coming to rest,

393
00:33:26.039 --> 00:33:31.880
startling the boy. Almost simultaneously, in the master bedroom, a

394
00:33:31.920 --> 00:33:35.160
heavy statue of the Virgin Mary flew a distance of

395
00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:38.799
about twelve feet, striking the wooden frame of a mirror

396
00:33:39.240 --> 00:33:44.960
and clattering to the floor. Downstairs, a glass centerpiece that

397
00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:49.160
usually adorned the dining room table suddenly soared into the

398
00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:54.160
air and smashed into a cupboard, splintering a piece of molding,

399
00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:58.960
before crashing down. As the household rushed about reacting to

400
00:33:59.039 --> 00:34:02.799
each noise. A globe from Jimmy's desk shot down the

401
00:34:02.799 --> 00:34:09.119
hallway at high speed, narrowly missing Detective Tazzi's head by inches.

402
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:14.559
Amid this chaos, a Life magazine photographer attempting to document

403
00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:19.480
the scene was astonished to see his camera flashbulbs slide

404
00:34:19.480 --> 00:34:23.480
off a table and fling themselves against a wall, as

405
00:34:23.519 --> 00:34:28.159
if the poltergeist were playfully sabotaging the efforts to capture

406
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:32.360
it on film. The house rang with crashes and thuds

407
00:34:32.599 --> 00:34:38.679
from multiple rooms. Perhaps most unnerving of all, unexplained knocking

408
00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:43.880
sounds began to emanate from the walls, loud, insistent raps

409
00:34:44.039 --> 00:34:47.559
that seemed to have no point of origin, almost as

410
00:34:47.599 --> 00:34:53.960
if Popper were literally knocking for attention. The Harmans did

411
00:34:53.960 --> 00:34:58.679
not attempt any kind of spirit communication, such as asking

412
00:34:58.800 --> 00:35:02.960
questions for knock in reply. They were too startled and

413
00:35:03.119 --> 00:35:08.559
frightened to play parlor games. But the knocking added another

414
00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:15.000
layer of menace to the already terrifying situation around them.

415
00:35:15.400 --> 00:35:19.199
Detective Tazzi was alarmed by this new level of violence.

416
00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:22.960
Up until that week, no one had been injured, and

417
00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:29.199
the incidents, while unnerving, had almost prankish quality popping caps,

418
00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:34.159
minor objects tipping over, But now the potential for harm

419
00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:40.119
was real. Heavy furniture was toppling and hurtling across rooms.

420
00:35:40.760 --> 00:35:43.639
The family began to fear that if the mysterious force

421
00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.960
could fling a one hundred pound statue or send a

422
00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:50.239
globe flying at a person's head, what might it do

423
00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:54.920
next Tozzi himself later admitted that by the end of

424
00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:00.239
February he feared someone could get seriously hurt if this continued.

425
00:36:01.199 --> 00:36:05.519
Having run through every scientific test and police technique he

426
00:36:05.599 --> 00:36:11.440
could think of, the detective finally looked outward for help.

427
00:36:12.280 --> 00:36:16.199
Around this time, the Hermann case caught the attention of

428
00:36:16.280 --> 00:36:22.079
an unusual team of investigators, the Parapsychology Laboratory of Duke

429
00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:28.280
University in North Carolina. Doctor J. B. Rhyne's pioneering lab

430
00:36:28.360 --> 00:36:36.639
had spent the nineteen fifties studying psychic phenomena, extrasensory perception ESP. Telepathy,

431
00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:41.760
and haunting cases with an aim to find scientific explanations

432
00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:46.639
for the paranormal. When doctor Rhyne's staff read the newspaper

433
00:36:46.679 --> 00:36:50.920
accounts of objects flying around a Long Island home, they

434
00:36:50.960 --> 00:36:54.280
felt it was a prime opportunity to study what they

435
00:36:54.440 --> 00:37:02.039
termed recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis in real time. Ryin dispatched one

436
00:37:02.079 --> 00:37:07.400
of his top researchers, doctor j. Gaither Pratt, to Seaford,

437
00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:11.880
to observe and assist. Pratt arrived at the Herman home

438
00:37:11.960 --> 00:37:16.760
on February twenty sixth, nineteen fifty eight, bringing a trained

439
00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:20.400
but open mind to the chaotic household. He had been

440
00:37:20.440 --> 00:37:26.960
following the reports closely. Pratt's working hypothesis aligned with Ryin's theories.

441
00:37:27.599 --> 00:37:31.280
He suspected that the disturbances might not be caused by

442
00:37:31.280 --> 00:37:37.079
a traditional ghost or spirit, but by psychokinetic energy unknowingly

443
00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:41.800
generated by a human agent in the household. In case

444
00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:46.400
after case of so called poltergeists, Ryan's team had noted

445
00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:52.400
the presence of an adolescent, usually female, coinciding with the phenomena,

446
00:37:52.920 --> 00:37:57.519
and they theorized that repressed emotional tensions in a teenager

447
00:37:57.880 --> 00:38:03.320
could manifest as unconscious to telekinetic outbursts. In the Herman family,

448
00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:07.519
twelve year old Jimmy fit the classic profile of the

449
00:38:07.559 --> 00:38:13.199
focus of poltergeist activity, even though he himself appeared just

450
00:38:13.239 --> 00:38:18.320
as terrified and baffled as everyone else. Pratt was careful

451
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:22.960
not to jump to conclusions. However, he also knew that

452
00:38:23.159 --> 00:38:29.760
historically poltergeist cases often ended up being pranks or exaggerations,

453
00:38:30.280 --> 00:38:35.679
once carefully observed. With the Herman's blessing, by now they

454
00:38:35.719 --> 00:38:39.679
were willing to welcome any expert who might help. Doctor

455
00:38:39.760 --> 00:38:44.239
Pratt moved into the house for an extended stay. He

456
00:38:44.360 --> 00:38:50.239
spent the next several days quietly monitoring the family's routines. Notably,

457
00:38:50.639 --> 00:38:53.800
he devoted a lot of friendly attention to young Jimmy,

458
00:38:54.679 --> 00:38:59.719
chatting with him, helping with homework, even playing cards, both

459
00:38:59.800 --> 00:39:02.840
to put the boy at ease and perhaps to see

460
00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:08.039
if calming the child's stress might calm the phenomena. Strangely enough,

461
00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:12.639
during Pratt's first several days in the house, Popper's activity

462
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:16.840
came to a screeching halt. The poltergeist that had so

463
00:39:17.039 --> 00:39:22.519
boisterously upended the home now went silent and dormant, as

464
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:27.239
if it refused to perform under the scrutiny of the

465
00:39:27.320 --> 00:39:31.960
Duke scientist. From February twenty sixth through the end of

466
00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:36.880
that month, barely a single disturbance occurred, much to the

467
00:39:36.920 --> 00:39:42.039
frustration of the media camped outside and to Pratt's own disappointment,

468
00:39:42.840 --> 00:39:46.599
He half wondered if his presence had somehow exerted a

469
00:39:46.639 --> 00:39:51.679
calming influence on the boy or the household atmosphere. Quelling

470
00:39:51.800 --> 00:39:57.960
the phenomena, Pratt's colleague, doctor William g. Rohl, soon joined

471
00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:02.960
him in Seaford as February term to March. Together, Pratt

472
00:40:03.000 --> 00:40:07.480
and Roll interviewed each family member in depth, looking for

473
00:40:07.559 --> 00:40:12.960
any clues of fraud or psychological triggers. They emerged convinced

474
00:40:13.000 --> 00:40:18.440
that the Hermans were honest and genuinely distressed. The family

475
00:40:18.599 --> 00:40:22.000
was much too shaken for it to be a colossal hoax,

476
00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:27.079
Pratt told a United Press reporter, emphasizing that none of

477
00:40:27.119 --> 00:40:33.079
them seemed capable of orchestrating such elaborate tricks. Pratt even

478
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:38.159
suggested administering lie detector tests to the family in order

479
00:40:38.280 --> 00:40:43.960
to silence the skeptics, but mister and Missus Harriman ultimately declined.

480
00:40:51.760 --> 00:40:55.320
Just when it seemed the mysterious force might have finally

481
00:40:55.400 --> 00:40:59.039
died out, the poltergeist roared back to life in March.

482
00:41:00.079 --> 00:41:05.440
On March second, nineteen fifty eight, exactly one month after

483
00:41:05.480 --> 00:41:09.639
the first bottle popping, the Harmans and the visiting Duke

484
00:41:09.760 --> 00:41:13.119
researchers were all in the house when a new wave

485
00:41:13.199 --> 00:41:19.159
of activity erupted. First, a porcelain dish vaulted out of

486
00:41:19.199 --> 00:41:23.480
a kitchen cabinet and smashed onto the floor in front

487
00:41:23.519 --> 00:41:28.079
of everyone. Moments later, a night stand in Jimmy's bedroom

488
00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:32.320
flipped over completely, as if tossed by an invisible hand.

489
00:41:33.280 --> 00:41:36.639
After a few days of quiet, Popper was announcing his

490
00:41:36.760 --> 00:41:42.000
return with emphasis. Two days later, on March fourth, another

491
00:41:42.039 --> 00:41:46.159
burst of chaos struck a bowl of fresh flowers slid

492
00:41:46.239 --> 00:41:50.960
inexplicably across the dining table and then leapt into the air,

493
00:41:51.639 --> 00:41:56.039
landing with a crash in the cellar. Yet another heavy

494
00:41:56.079 --> 00:41:59.800
bookcase was found turned end over end on the floor.

495
00:42:00.800 --> 00:42:05.639
Pratt and Roll witnessed some of these final incidents, finally

496
00:42:05.719 --> 00:42:10.760
getting the direct encounters they needed to round out their investigation.

497
00:42:11.760 --> 00:42:15.159
It was as if the poltergeist had simply been waiting

498
00:42:15.239 --> 00:42:20.480
for them to leave, only to decide begrudgingly to put

499
00:42:20.519 --> 00:42:26.320
on one last show, even with the scientists present. The

500
00:42:26.400 --> 00:42:32.280
grand finale came on March tenth, nineteen fifty eight. That evening,

501
00:42:32.360 --> 00:42:36.159
Missus Harman and the two children were preparing for bed.

502
00:42:36.800 --> 00:42:40.679
Mister Harman was away on business, while doctor Pratt and

503
00:42:40.760 --> 00:42:46.360
doctor Roll remained on hand in another part of the house. Suddenly,

504
00:42:46.880 --> 00:42:52.079
a sharp popping sound rang out from the basement. Everyone

505
00:42:52.239 --> 00:42:57.000
rushed downstairs together. In the cellar, they discovered that a

506
00:42:57.039 --> 00:43:00.719
bottle of bleach, which had been sitting and knockuously in

507
00:43:00.760 --> 00:43:05.159
a cardboard box, had somehow blown off its plastic cap

508
00:43:05.519 --> 00:43:10.199
with force. The bottle itself had tipped over, and bleach

509
00:43:10.360 --> 00:43:14.320
was trickling out into the box. There were no witnesses

510
00:43:14.360 --> 00:43:18.199
to the exact moment it happened, only the loud report

511
00:43:18.280 --> 00:43:22.360
had been heard, but this incident fell perfectly in line

512
00:43:22.440 --> 00:43:26.679
with the others. Pratt and Roll carefully noted the time

513
00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:31.920
and circumstances. Unbeknownst to them at that moment, this would

514
00:43:31.960 --> 00:43:37.920
be Popper's final gasp. For reasons still unknown. After March tenth,

515
00:43:38.400 --> 00:43:44.000
the disturbances simply ceased completely. The Herman home returned to

516
00:43:44.079 --> 00:43:48.400
an eerie silence, as if the mysterious energy had expended

517
00:43:48.440 --> 00:43:54.159
itself and finally departed. In total, the Hermans had endured

518
00:43:54.199 --> 00:43:58.719
over two months of intermittent terror, with sixty seven separate

519
00:43:58.800 --> 00:44:05.519
documented disturbance between early February and March tenth. In that time,

520
00:44:05.599 --> 00:44:10.679
they had been trailed by detectives, swarmed by journalists, prayed

521
00:44:10.719 --> 00:44:15.519
over by priests and self styled mystics, and scrutinized by

522
00:44:15.599 --> 00:44:20.719
scientists and skeptics alike. When it was over, the family

523
00:44:20.840 --> 00:44:25.480
was left exhausted, but grateful that their lives could return

524
00:44:25.559 --> 00:44:29.800
to normal. In the weeks that followed, investigators of all

525
00:44:29.880 --> 00:44:34.599
stripes continued to knock on the Herman's door, from academic

526
00:44:34.679 --> 00:44:40.280
researchers to professional debunkers, each eager to analyze the case

527
00:44:40.880 --> 00:44:45.280
now that it had wrapped up. By August nineteen fifty eight,

528
00:44:45.920 --> 00:44:50.159
five months after the last incident, even doctor Rhine's Duke

529
00:44:50.280 --> 00:44:53.519
team had to admit they were no closer to a

530
00:44:53.559 --> 00:44:58.719
definitive answer. They had piles of data and eyewitness accounts,

531
00:44:59.159 --> 00:45:03.559
but no singer theory that could fully account for what happened.

532
00:45:04.519 --> 00:45:08.079
The Hermans had grown tired of the spotlight and the

533
00:45:08.199 --> 00:45:13.239
endless questioning. I don't think there is a definite solution,

534
00:45:14.239 --> 00:45:19.719
Missus Lucille Herman told an Associated Press reporter that summer.

535
00:45:20.280 --> 00:45:22.840
It was just one of those things with no rhyme

536
00:45:23.280 --> 00:45:26.800
or reason to it, but there was a definite physical

537
00:45:26.920 --> 00:45:31.960
force behind it. Her husband, James echoed that sentiment. It

538
00:45:32.039 --> 00:45:35.559
no longer mattered to him why it happened, only that

539
00:45:35.599 --> 00:45:40.199
it was over and his family was safe. In the

540
00:45:40.239 --> 00:45:44.840
wake of the Hermann poltergeist, numerous theories have been proposed,

541
00:45:45.440 --> 00:45:50.519
but none fully settles the matter. Investigators in nineteen fifty

542
00:45:50.559 --> 00:45:54.960
eight and later poured over the evidence, splitting into roughly

543
00:45:55.159 --> 00:46:01.760
three camps of explanation fraud or hoax, cycle, logical, psychokinetic

544
00:46:02.599 --> 00:46:09.119
or paranormal entity. Skeptical investigators have long suspected that the

545
00:46:09.159 --> 00:46:13.880
cause might have been a human trickster, most likely young

546
00:46:14.079 --> 00:46:19.559
James Junior. As early as the incidents themselves, Detective Tazzi

547
00:46:19.639 --> 00:46:25.000
and mister Herman had considered that possibility. Indeed, Jimmy was

548
00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:28.760
at the scene of the action over seventy five percent

549
00:46:28.880 --> 00:46:32.320
of the time. Could a clever twelve year old have

550
00:46:32.440 --> 00:46:38.880
staged all this stage Magician Milburn Christopher, a prominent skeptic,

551
00:46:39.559 --> 00:46:44.000
later examined the case and argued that many of Popper's

552
00:46:44.000 --> 00:46:49.199
feats could be replicated with sleight of hand and misdirection.

553
00:46:50.400 --> 00:46:54.400
Christopher even offered to come to the Herman home during

554
00:46:54.440 --> 00:46:59.159
the disturbances to investigate, but mister Herman refused to let

555
00:46:59.159 --> 00:47:03.639
a magician in perhaps fearing such an offer, implied his

556
00:47:03.800 --> 00:47:11.199
family was deceitful undeterred. Christopher demonstrated for reporters how hidden

557
00:47:11.239 --> 00:47:17.239
accomplices and simple tricks could mimic poltergeist effects. In one stunt,

558
00:47:17.639 --> 00:47:21.880
he had his wife secretly flip bottles and create popping

559
00:47:21.960 --> 00:47:27.199
noises in another room, fooling onlookers into thinking bottles were

560
00:47:27.280 --> 00:47:33.000
moving by themselves. He also described using invisible threads to

561
00:47:33.119 --> 00:47:37.199
tug objects from a distance and make them topple with

562
00:47:37.320 --> 00:47:43.599
no one nearby. Decades later, skeptical researcher Joe Nickel obtained

563
00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:48.519
the original sixty page police case file and noted telling patterns.

564
00:47:49.400 --> 00:47:53.119
Almost no incidents occurred when Jimmy was known to be

565
00:47:53.239 --> 00:47:56.119
out of the house or even just out of the

566
00:47:56.159 --> 00:48:01.880
immediate room, and when detectives tried pro groactively testing certain

567
00:48:01.920 --> 00:48:08.599
objects like dusting bottles with fluorescent powder, those particular items

568
00:48:08.719 --> 00:48:14.679
curiously never moved, implying that a conscious perpetrator might have

569
00:48:14.800 --> 00:48:19.960
been avoiding traps. Nickel concluded that every single incident could

570
00:48:19.960 --> 00:48:24.800
be explained by simple trickery, such as a boy could

571
00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:29.559
effect given moments of distraction and the chaos of the

572
00:48:29.599 --> 00:48:34.920
situation Skeptics point out that adolescents can bring not just angst,

573
00:48:35.480 --> 00:48:40.679
but also boredom and a desire for attention. Perhaps Jimmy

574
00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:45.400
started with a few prank bottle explosions using some unknown method,

575
00:48:45.960 --> 00:48:50.239
and then felt unable to stop as the situation snowballed

576
00:48:50.280 --> 00:48:59.920
beyond his control. It's important to note, however, that no

577
00:49:00.360 --> 00:49:05.119
evidence of fraud was ever found. During the events. The

578
00:49:05.199 --> 00:49:09.599
boy was closely watched by police and family, even being

579
00:49:09.679 --> 00:49:14.599
subjected to stern interrogations at times, and he consistently denied

580
00:49:14.800 --> 00:49:21.360
any involvement, sometimes to the point of tears. The Herman parents,

581
00:49:21.880 --> 00:49:26.159
detective Tazzi, and later doctor Pratt and doctor Roll, all

582
00:49:26.320 --> 00:49:30.360
ultimately concluded that Jimmy did not appear to be consciously

583
00:49:30.760 --> 00:49:36.760
behind the disturbances, and crucially, multiple incidents were witnessed by

584
00:49:36.840 --> 00:49:42.840
reliable third parties reporters, officers, cousins, while neither child was

585
00:49:42.960 --> 00:49:47.719
near the affected object. These make the hoax theory plausible

586
00:49:48.159 --> 00:49:53.000
in some instances, but difficult to extend to every occurrence

587
00:49:53.719 --> 00:49:59.199
without invoking an almost superhuman level of trickery and timing

588
00:49:59.360 --> 00:50:04.639
by a pre Another school of thought views the Hermann

589
00:50:04.760 --> 00:50:09.119
case not as a deliberate prank, but as a psychological phenomenon,

590
00:50:09.800 --> 00:50:17.440
specifically a manifestation of subconscious psychokinetic ability. Doctor Pratt and

591
00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:23.440
doctor Roll of Duke's Parapsychology Lab favored this explanation. They

592
00:50:23.599 --> 00:50:27.920
categorized the events as a classic case of recurrent spontaneous

593
00:50:27.920 --> 00:50:34.760
psychokinesis r s p K. According to this theory, Jimmy

594
00:50:34.800 --> 00:50:39.719
Herman himself was the unwitting source of the kinetic disturbances.

595
00:50:40.480 --> 00:50:45.719
In times of emotional stress, such as puberty, some individuals

596
00:50:45.840 --> 00:50:50.840
might unconsciously release pent up psychic energy that can physically

597
00:50:50.880 --> 00:50:56.360
affect objects in their environment. Pratt and Role noted suggestive

598
00:50:56.480 --> 00:51:01.960
clues the poltergeist's focus on bottles of household products used

599
00:51:02.000 --> 00:51:05.960
by Missus Herman and on items belonging to the parents,

600
00:51:06.519 --> 00:51:12.440
furniture in their rooms, religious objects, etc. Could symbolically reflect

601
00:51:12.599 --> 00:51:18.239
Jimmy's inner feelings, perhaps anger toward his strict father or

602
00:51:18.360 --> 00:51:23.239
dependency needs relating to his mother. In a two thousand

603
00:51:23.400 --> 00:51:29.480
three retrospective analysis, doctor William Roll pointed out that psychological

604
00:51:29.519 --> 00:51:35.559
evaluations of young James indicated he harbored strong repressed anger

605
00:51:35.679 --> 00:51:40.320
toward his father and the pattern of targets mother's holy

606
00:51:40.440 --> 00:51:46.920
water father's furniture might represent an unconscious outlet for those emotions.

607
00:51:47.840 --> 00:51:53.239
The Duke researchers also observed a tantalizing physical correlation. The

608
00:51:53.360 --> 00:51:57.480
closer objects were to Jimmy, the more frequently they seemed

609
00:51:57.519 --> 00:52:03.440
to move, with effects diminishing at greater distances. This distance

610
00:52:03.519 --> 00:52:08.360
decay of force fits a model proposed by parapsychologists that

611
00:52:08.480 --> 00:52:13.760
psychokinetic waves emanating from a person might weaken with range.

612
00:52:14.760 --> 00:52:19.199
Role even speculated in theoretical terms that perhaps these psychic

613
00:52:19.320 --> 00:52:24.199
forces interact with quantum level energies like zero point field

614
00:52:24.239 --> 00:52:29.880
fluctuations to momentarily suspend the normal laws of inertia and gravity,

615
00:52:30.320 --> 00:52:35.760
allowing objects to move without visible cause. Though such ideas

616
00:52:35.880 --> 00:52:41.119
venture far into the speculative, the psychokinetic hypothesis does align

617
00:52:41.199 --> 00:52:47.159
with one key fact. Similar poltergeist cases have occurred worldwide,

618
00:52:47.599 --> 00:52:52.840
often involving adolescence under stress, with no apparent fraud. In

619
00:52:52.960 --> 00:52:59.000
some well documented instances. The Herman case itself spurred parapsychologists

620
00:52:59.320 --> 00:53:05.559
to investigate other contemporary incidents, and the patterns were often alike. Still,

621
00:53:06.079 --> 00:53:12.000
mainstream science remains highly skeptical of RSPK, as no controlled

622
00:53:12.039 --> 00:53:17.719
experiment has ever conclusively demonstrated a person's mind moving objects

623
00:53:17.760 --> 00:53:24.039
at will, let alone unconscious teenage angst doing so spontaneously.

624
00:53:24.559 --> 00:53:29.679
Pratt and Roll conceded that RSPK was a working hypothesis

625
00:53:30.079 --> 00:53:34.039
rather than a proven mechanism. It was simply the explanation

626
00:53:34.239 --> 00:53:39.159
that best fit the peculiar constellation of evidence once outright

627
00:53:39.239 --> 00:53:45.639
trickery seemed less likely. Finally, there are those who hold

628
00:53:45.760 --> 00:53:51.039
that the Hermann family truly experienced a paranormal entity, a

629
00:53:51.119 --> 00:53:56.760
genuine poultergeist or spirit. The very word poltergeist comes from

630
00:53:56.880 --> 00:54:01.960
German for noisy ghost and his Historically, such hauntings were

631
00:54:02.000 --> 00:54:07.360
often attributed to troublesome spirits or demonic forces. The Hermann

632
00:54:07.440 --> 00:54:12.079
case occurred in a devout Catholic household, and even Time

633
00:54:12.159 --> 00:54:17.119
magazine mused that a diabolical force might be at play.

634
00:54:17.920 --> 00:54:22.239
Many observers pointed to the pattern of religious items being targeted,

635
00:54:22.880 --> 00:54:26.679
for example, the Holy water font and the Virgin Mary

636
00:54:26.800 --> 00:54:31.840
statue being flung, as if an unholy presence was intentionally

637
00:54:31.960 --> 00:54:36.920
desecrating sacred objects. Some local clergy and lay people indeed

638
00:54:37.000 --> 00:54:41.360
felt the family was under demonic oppression, hence the calls

639
00:54:41.719 --> 00:54:48.760
for an exorcism. However, nothing overtly supernatural like apparitions or

640
00:54:48.840 --> 00:54:55.480
voices ever accompanied the disturbances. The phenomena were entirely psychokinetic.

641
00:54:56.159 --> 00:55:00.800
In classic parlance, this case had all poltergeist and no ghost,

642
00:55:01.519 --> 00:55:06.840
loud physical activity with no clear message or ghostly identity attached.

643
00:55:07.480 --> 00:55:10.880
If a restless spirit was present, it kept itself to

644
00:55:10.920 --> 00:55:15.400
wraps on walls and chaotic pranks rather than delivering any

645
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:20.920
intelligible communication. The Catholic Church never formally declared it a

646
00:55:20.960 --> 00:55:26.119
demonic case, and Father MacLeod's attempted blessing did not drive

647
00:55:26.159 --> 00:55:32.000
it away. Still, some paranormal researchers argue that a discarnate

648
00:55:32.159 --> 00:55:36.360
entity could have been the cause, essentially a ghost playing

649
00:55:36.400 --> 00:55:41.280
poltergeist tricks. They note that the occurrences stopped as abruptly

650
00:55:41.679 --> 00:55:46.199
as they began, after about five weeks, perhaps when the

651
00:55:46.239 --> 00:55:51.079
spirit decided to move on. A spiritual explanation is inherently

652
00:55:51.159 --> 00:55:54.880
hard to prove or refute. It boils down to one's

653
00:55:54.920 --> 00:56:01.079
belief framework. To skeptics, invoking a ghost is unness when

654
00:56:01.119 --> 00:56:06.199
a teenager or trickery could be the source. To believers,

655
00:56:06.320 --> 00:56:12.159
the very inexplicability and mischievous intelligence of the events suggests

656
00:56:12.519 --> 00:56:24.960
an unseen spirit is at work. The Hermann family poltergeist

657
00:56:25.039 --> 00:56:29.519
case remains one of the most famous and well documented

658
00:56:29.559 --> 00:56:34.280
American hauntings of the twentieth century. In the words of

659
00:56:34.360 --> 00:56:40.480
magician Milburn Christopher, it was the most discussed poltergeist case

660
00:56:40.559 --> 00:56:47.320
of the century, generating countless newspaper stories, radio and TV broadcasts,

661
00:56:47.360 --> 00:56:51.679
and magazine articles in many languages. It also had a

662
00:56:51.800 --> 00:56:56.360
lasting influence on popular culture and the scientific study of

663
00:56:56.400 --> 00:57:02.280
the paranormal. The intense media coverageage, and public intrigue surrounding

664
00:57:02.360 --> 00:57:10.119
the Seaford happenings spark new interest among parapsychologists in investigating poltergeists.

665
00:57:10.840 --> 00:57:14.519
Doctor Roll, for instance, went on to study several other

666
00:57:14.679 --> 00:57:19.400
high profile cases with similar patterns in the nineteen sixties

667
00:57:19.440 --> 00:57:24.639
and seventies, including a Miami warehouse poltergeist in nineteen seventy

668
00:57:24.679 --> 00:57:29.639
one and the famous Columbus, Ohio case of nineteen eighty

669
00:57:29.760 --> 00:57:34.719
four involving a teen girl. Each time, echoes of the

670
00:57:34.760 --> 00:57:39.239
Hermann case were seen, and researchers continued to refine theories

671
00:57:39.519 --> 00:57:44.960
of RSPK and environmental triggers. It's widely noted that the

672
00:57:45.039 --> 00:57:50.639
nineteen eighty two Stephen Spielberg film Poltergeist took inspiration from

673
00:57:50.719 --> 00:57:54.920
the Hermann case, transplanting the idea of a household under

674
00:57:55.000 --> 00:58:02.400
supernatural siege into cinematic history. Despite all the analysis and speculation,

675
00:58:03.079 --> 00:58:08.519
the core mystery of the Hermann Poltergeist remains unsolved. What

676
00:58:08.719 --> 00:58:12.800
really set those objects in motion? We know for certain

677
00:58:13.280 --> 00:58:18.880
what was observed. Bottles popped open by themselves, furniture overturned,

678
00:58:19.360 --> 00:58:23.360
objects flew through the air in the presence of credible witnesses,

679
00:58:23.920 --> 00:58:27.440
and all of it centered around a perfectly ordinary family

680
00:58:28.039 --> 00:58:33.360
with no apparent motive to fake such chaos. Decades later,

681
00:58:33.559 --> 00:58:37.079
no definitive evidence has emerged to prove it was a hoax.

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00:58:37.599 --> 00:58:41.760
Yet no scientific mechanism has been identified to explain how

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00:58:41.800 --> 00:58:47.559
these events could occur naturally or via psychokinesis. The case

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00:58:47.599 --> 00:58:52.679
stands as a tantalizing example of a boundary phenomenon hovering

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at the edges of belief where psychology, physics, and folklore intersect.

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Hermann family eventually reclaimed their normal life and rarely spoke

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00:59:04.719 --> 00:59:09.960
publicly of the ordeal again, but for those tumultuous weeks

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in nineteen fifty eight, their modest Long Island home was

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the site of something truly extraordinary. The Popper Poltergeist case

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00:59:21.440 --> 00:59:25.719
forces us to confront the limits of our understanding, a

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00:59:25.800 --> 00:59:29.400
reminder that there are events recorded in our own time

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00:59:29.519 --> 00:59:34.880
and place which still elude explanation, and so the Hermann

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00:59:34.960 --> 00:59:40.320
Poltergeist lives on in legend as enigmatic now as on

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00:59:40.440 --> 00:59:43.960
the day it rocked the walls of a quiet house

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00:59:44.719 --> 00:59:51.119
and then vanished into thin air. Terrifying and True is

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00:59:51.280 --> 00:59:55.199
narrated by Enrique Kuta, its executive produced by Rob Fields,

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00:59:55.199 --> 00:59:59.639
Markshields and bable Topia dot com, and produced by Dan Wilder,

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00:59:59.719 --> 01:00:02.559
with a original theme music by Ray Mattis. If you

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01:00:02.679 --> 01:00:05.280
have a story you think we should cover on Terrifying

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01:00:05.320 --> 01:00:08.679
and True, send us an email at Weekly Spooky at

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01:00:08.679 --> 01:00:10.960
gmail dot com, and if you want to support us

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for as little as one dollar a month, go to

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Weeklyspooky dot com slash Join. Your support for as little

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01:00:16.360 --> 01:00:18.800
as one dollar a month keeps the show going. And

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01:00:18.920 --> 01:00:21.000
speaking of I want to say an extra special thank

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01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:23.920
you to our Patreon podcast boosters, folks who pay a

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01:00:23.960 --> 01:00:25.639
little bit more to hear their name at the end

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01:00:25.679 --> 01:00:28.920
of the show, and they are Kate and Lulu, Jessica Fuller,

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01:00:29.039 --> 01:00:32.719
Johnny Nix, Jenny Green, Amber Hands for Brent McCullough, Karen

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01:00:32.760 --> 01:00:35.559
we Met, Jack Ker and Craig Cohen. Thank you all

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01:00:35.599 --> 01:00:38.039
so much, and thank you for listening. We'll see you

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01:00:38.079 --> 01:01:13.039
all right here next time. On Terrifying and True