As a paranormal investigator I have had the fortune of investigating several cases of poltergeist activity and have read and researched many other cases. Putting Hollywood horror genre initiatives to the side for the moment. As far as current understanding goes there are a few distinctive features concerning Poltergeist haunting (or activity).
The first is that they do not harm people. Although people have had things thrown at them and indeed in one case I researched, a woman was dragged down her stairs by the hair. When she reached the bottom, she could find no bruises or other injuries on her body.
The second is that the paranormal affects that they produce are often prank-ful or childish, an example is that of moving objects that people are looking for. Teleportation (and seemingly object creation – apports) are quite a common indicator of Poltergeist activity.
The third is that in many (if not all) cases a pubescent child is involved, or someone who is going through emotional and physical struggles. This is a really good indicator of a Poltergeist as in many cases when the child (or suspect) has left the premises the effects stop occurring.
The fourth curious point is that the effects don’t follow the person if that person is sent to another home. Which would suggest that it is a combination of person and place.
The thought that an Energetic Double might be equated with Poltergeist came to me as I was pondering its child-like nature. The hypothesis that I will put forward is this…
A person (pubescent child) going through emotional/physical changes in an environment (home) that has a particular type of energy combines to release that child’s Energetic Double. This double then wreaks Poltergeist-ic havoc in the environment until the person’s emotional/physical state changes or the energy state of the home/environment changes.
I know that this is a pretty wild hypotheses but it would give an investigator a starting point when trying to deal with a Poltergeist.
Kal Malik – theorist
