South Shields Poltergeist remains one of England’s most frightening paranormal manifestations, says RICK HALE
The poltergeist, without a doubt, is the most frightening and misunderstood phenomena in psychical research.
For centuries, individual people and entire families have claimed to be besieged by what they believe to be an angry spirit taking out its vengeance upon them.
In the northeast coastal town of South Shields, a young family claimed to be under attack by this mysterious force. And lived to tell the tale.
Terrible Toys
The terror that would come to be known as the South Shields poltergeist began in earnest in December 2005.
Up until then the young couple, and their three-year-old son, that resided in the house had never experienced anything they would consider otherworldly.
The house had always been quiet with very little trouble.
The activity began with the occasional door opening and closing on its own. As well as chairs seemingly moving of their own accord.
The couple being of sound mind dismissed this seemingly anomalous phenomena as nothing more than the house settling. Or, a strong breeze blowing through the house.
However, their dismissive attitude vanished on Christmas night when their son’s toys took on a life of their own.
As the couple lay in bed, the unthinkable occurred.
One of the son’s stuffed animals suddenly appeared by the door and then launched itself across the room, hitting the wife in the face.
For a moment, the couple sat in their bed trying to make sense of what just happened.
Suddenly, the couple found themselves in a tug of war as some unseen, phantom attacker tried tearing the bedclothes from their bed.
The encounter came to an abrupt end when the husband felt an unbearable searing pain that ran down his back.
When his wife inspected his back, terror gripped her heavily beating heart. Running down his back were 13 angry red scratches that burned like fire.
This was only the beginning of the terror that would envelop the young family and their once-quiet home.
Terror and Text Messages
Following the initial encounter with their phantom attacker, the activity wasted no time in progressing to a terrifying level.
Whoever, or whatever, was causing this used their child’s toys as it’s weapons of choice.
Two frightening incidents that involved their son’s toys stood out from among the rest.
One day while cleaning the house, they discovered a rocking horse hanging by its neck from a ceiling fan.
And the next day they returned from an outing to find a stuffed rabbit at the top of the stairs menacingly clutching a box cutter in its fuzzy arms.
The young couple felt threatened by these two instances and questioned whether or not this thing was capable of physically harming them.
Threats of bodily harm presented themselves when the couple began receiving threatening text messages on their mobile phones.
These texts couldn’t be traced back to any phone and read either, “You’re dead” or “Die bitch.”
The entity then turned its attention to their young son by hiding him in strange places about the house. And disturbing him as he slept.
The young couple began to despair, believing there was no end to their trouble. So, they did what some people do in a situation such as this do, they reached out to ghost hunters.
Ghost Hunters To The Rescue
Upon hearing the bizarre activity, the family was experiencing, local paranormal investigators, Mike Hollowell and Darren Ritson answered the call to investigate the haunting.
Typically, when paranormal investigators enter a house, the ghost may hide, ending its activity altogether. Not so with whatever terrorised the house in South Shields.
Whatever this inexplicable force was that haunted the house was by no means shy in presenting itself to Ritson and Hollowell.
The two men documented objects balancing at angles that defied logic and gravity.
They also witnessed threatening messages appear on paper and an Etch-A-Sketch.
The activity in the house appeared to be nothing more than out of control psychic energy on the loose.
But according to the investigators, an intelligence appeared to be at work behind the phenomena. An intelligence they would soon see.
The Shadow of the South Shields Poltergeist
On several occasions, Ritson and Hollowell caught a glimpse of a large black shadow lurking about the house.
They described it as being black as night and giving off a feeling of pure evil. As if something from the realm of nightmares gained access to our world.
Unfortunately, the duo was unable to catch the entity in film.
As with most reports of poltergeists, the activity in the home abruptly stopped just as it had begun.
The horror the young couple and their son were forced to endure was now over. But that didn’t stop them from selling the house and moving far away.
As with most tales as frightening as this, we must think sceptically on their story. People do make things up for attention.
Ritson and Hollowell defended the family, claiming every bit of their story was true.
They even wrote a book entitled, “The South Shields Poltergeist: One family’s fight against an invisible intruder.”
Today, the young family’s life and House appears to be free of any supernatural trouble. However, they remain ever watchful. Waiting to see if their son’s toys once again take on a life of their own.
Read more about The South Shields Poltergeist here.
