IT’S one of the world’s most famous hauntings and inspired a Hollywood movie – and now the woman ‘possessed’ by the Enfield Poltergeist has claimed it’s “never left her”.
Strange goings-on began occurring at Janet Hodgson’s family’s council house in Enfield, North London in August 1997.
Graham MorrisPictures taken by a photographer appear to show Janet Hodgson levitating[/caption]
Janet speaks out in the new Apple TV+ series
The family started hearing knocking noises, furniture would move and items would fly through their air.
Janet, then 11, at one point appeared to be possessed by the spirit of a man who had lived and died in the property prior to the family moving in.
A photographer famously captured the bizarre moment she appeared to ‘levitate’ in her bedroom.
Janet was eventually moved into a children’s home, and the hauntings stopped. As a result her mum claimed it was “better” for her daughter to stay away from the family.
Speaking about her harrowing experience in new Apple TV+ docu-drama series The Enfield Poltergeist, which streams from today, Janet says: “I’ve not really said this to anyone, but you never really feel completely yourself. What is myself, you know?
“It’s something you never forget. It’s something you just think of, it just comes flowing back.
“You never feel like you’re free of it. I don’t like to say this, you know, but I feel it even now. It’s never left me.”
The new four part-series features original audio recordings made inside the house while the petrifying events took place.
Graham MorrisPictured here with paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse, Janet would often slip into bizarre trances[/caption]
Janet Hodgson was 11 when her and her family were plagued by an apparent poltergeistRex Features
The tapes were made by Maurice Grosse, a paranormal investigator from the Society for Psychical Research who spent two years virtually living with Janet, her mum Peggy, sister Margaret, 12, and brothers Johnny, ten, and Billy, seven.
In one clip, captured in December 1977, Janet speaks in a gruff voice identifying itself as Bill Wilkinson, who died in the house aged 72.
The voice described exactly how he died – and these details were later confirmed by his son.
Around the same time Peggy found Janet with a curtain wrapped around her neck and just managed to save her from being strangled.
Janet, who features in the final episode of the series, says: “I never used to like going upstairs on me own.
“It was like there was something there. It was a feeling like it was behind me.”
You never feel like you’re free of it. I don’t like to say this, you know, but I feel it even now. It’s never left me
Janet Hodgson
She also admits she “blamed” herself for the ordeal because she appeared to be the “epicentre” of the paranormal activity.
“Looking back now, something had come into our lives, our house,” she says. “Could it have been something that grew energy from me?”
Janet, who spent time in a children’s home as a result of the ordeal, adds: “I blamed myself a lot. The fact that I went into care alone and Margaret and Bill were still there.
“It was my fault because I was the epicentre. Why me? Why did it happen to me? Our family, why?”
Janet admits she hasn’t done many previous interviews because it brings back “all the emotions that I’ve tried to escape all my life”.
‘Hysterical and scared’
Janet Hodgson’s cousin Paul Burcombe says he saw Janet move across the room and witnessed a sofa flip overApple TV+
Story FilmsA bed seemingly flipped over for no reason in the children’s bedroom[/caption]
The series also features Janet’s cousin Paul Burcombe, now 59, who lived up the road from them and visited after the strange things started happening.
Paul says he witnessed Janet suddenly “move across the room” while sitting in a chair in the living room, adding: “There’s no way she could have done that.”
And he recalls Janet sitting on a two-seater sofa which then “flipped over”.
“I remember the knocking and the voices. I think it was proved it wasn’t coming from Janet,” he says.
Speaking to The Sun, Paul, who was 13 at the time, recalls: “We wanted to support the family.
I remember the knocking and the voices. I think it was proved it wasn’t coming from Janet
Paul Burcombe
“We were wondering what was going on because when we arrived, they were hysterical and scared.
“We just wanted to help our family and then lots of people got involved.”
He has only spoken publicly a handful of times about the bizarre case, which inspired Hollywood film The Conjuring 2.
Paul, a nurse who now lives in Chelmsford, Essex, says: “The reason I am doing this is because I feel it’s an accurate record of what occurred.
“People can be sceptical. When you talk to people they want snapshots. We are human beings that went through a very traumatic time.
“It’s for people to make up their own minds. I can only say what I saw and felt.”
Disowned by mum
The family lived at 284 Green Street in Enfield, North London and cousin Chris lived eight doors awayRex
AlamyThe Hodgson children were raised by their mum Peggy after their dad left two years before the haunting started[/caption]
As well as real life testimony from Paul and Janet, the series features a painstaking reconstruction of the family home and the tapes are dubbed onto scenes performed by actors.
Paul, who lived in an identical home eight doors up from the Hodgsons, says: “It was very life-like. They did an amazing job.”
He says he had a “good relationship” with Janet growing up, adding: “We’d play a lot, go swimming. We were just normal children in the 1970s from a working class background.
“We were living in council accommodation. By today’s standards we were very poor. We were growing up as best we could.”
Janet’s parents divorced two years before the hauntings started, with her dad leaving the family home.
She says: “It did really affect me… my daddy was hotheaded. He had no patience, but then I cried when he left.
“It was like there was absence, something was missing. It hit me hard… Looking back now there was a lot of stress and tension in the family.”
When things became too much, Janet was moved to a children’s home run by nuns where she stayed for several weeks.
Janet was then admitted to The Maudsley Hospital in London in July 1978 under the care of Dr Peter Fenwick, a neuropsychiatrist.
Paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse spent two years with the family and made more than 200 hours of audio recordingsApple TV+
AlamyThe siblings were close and at one point the whole family moved into the same bedroom in a bid to contain the haunting[/caption]
She recalls: “They wanted to see what was going on in me brain. When you’re that young you think, you know, what is psychiatry? What does that really mean?
“People think, ‘Oh it’s madness. They’ve got into there because they’re mad.’ But there’s different reasons.
“Is there something in the brain or the body or something that happened in the past?”
No expert could find a definitive explanation as to why these things were happening.
The hauntings appeared to stop while Janet was away, and an audio recording of mum Peggy reveals how she thought it was best her daughter stayed away.
Mum didn’t really want me because I was trouble. I was part of the problem, why it was happening
Janet Hodgson
Listening to the clip, Janet becomes tearful as she says: “I was the black sheep.
“She didn’t really want me because I was trouble. I was part of the problem, why it was happening.
“When I came out the Maudsley, I was picked up by the social worker and he was taking me round children’s homes, trying to find another children’s home for me.
“He couldn’t find one, they were all full. In the end he took me back to mum, and mum’s face, I could tell she didn’t really want me home.
“I think she was really fearful that it would all really start back up again because I was back there.”
Bullied
Janet is seen listening back to the tapes in the series
Janet was bullied at school and nicknamed ‘ghost girl’. She left home aged 16 and married young.
Reflecting on her experiences, Janet says: “I was glad to get out of it, I left home as soon as I could.
“It’s something not many people experience and I’ve had to get strong from a pretty early age and build on that.
“It used to upset me when they used to say, ‘Oh she’s faking it.’ I know what I experienced and I know what was real. It had such a devastating effect on me.”
Paul, who has remained close to Janet and Margaret, who also features in the show, says he is proud of them for dealing with want they went through.
He adds: “For me personally, it’s not really followed me. I’m not someone who really talks about it. You just move on with your life.”
But for the two sisters, it seems they will always be haunted by what happened.
Margaret says on the show: “I used to go back regularly just to look at that house. About two years ago, we went in the car, my husband drove us. We got the feeling no one was really in there.
“We just had a look and then all this flashing started in the living room. All the lights started going on and off, flashing on and off. I felt like something maybe had recognised me.”
The Enfield Poltergeist is available to watch on Apple TV+ from Friday October 27.
Apple TV+The Apple+ docu-drama series The Enfield Poltergeist features the real-life audio recordings dubbed onto scenes performed by actors[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
