The House of Flying Objects: The Popper Poltergeist | Morbid | Podcast | Forensic Files

hey weirdos I'm Alina and I'm Ash and this is [Music] morbid what is up [ __ ] what is
up so we're doing something foreen I won't say what it is it's a special surprise but part of it does involve
Elena wearing a weird contact in her eye and I'm wearing it right now and she's wearing it right now and it's it's
throwing me off um it threw John way off John [ __ ] hates it he hates it John said get that out of your eyeball he
literally went oh no I was sitting in the office and he was in the other room when she showed him and I literally just
hear oh oh God no no no he hates and it freaks him out I love it I think it's great he knows now he was like oh no
this is going to be like you're just going to pop that in on like a random Tuesday and just walk downstairs aren't
you you should just like wake him up one morning wearing both of them and just stare at him yeah oh but you're afraid
to put one in the other eye I am I have like one eye that I had like it it's just a problematic eye didn't some the
kids like scratched it when they were babies yeah when they were like babies one of my kids accidentally poked into
my eye and then like ripped and literally T my cornea open like like it wasn't like a scratch on the cornea like a flap
was like literally the worst pain I've ever felt in my entire life it wasn't immediate I know we're getting off track
but you know it's the beginning it's always off track in the beginning this is just you know it's important for you
know from the eyes because it was bad like it was a bad poke and you were like oh my eye was like wateringly crazy and
it was rough but I was able to go to sleep that night whatever and then what happened was my eye dried out in the
middle of the night and I woke up and I opened my lid and my lid tore the remaining piece of my cornea up no and
that was the worst pain I have ever experienced in my life and I have had three children yeah and I'm saying that
confidently cuz I literally started to sob immediately but didn't want to wake anyone up because that's who I am and I
went down stairs and just paced around crying into pillows and contemplating whether I should run full force into a
wall and knock myself out that's how bad that pain was and I'm not saying that to
be funny that is the reality of what happened I literally looked at a wall and I said should I run into it I'm just
picturing a quiet still house like 4 a.m. yeah and then everybody just hears like just like what's that I'm just
picturing the cartoon birds above your head the stars no I literally did they we had to go to the ER I remember and
they had to give me like the the numbing stuff like the lidocaine drops but they
can only give you that once cuz they'll [ __ ] up your eye oh my God so they give
you it and the relief is immediate and you go it goes away oh God this is amazing and then they send you home and
they well you need to get you know you need to have an appointment you need to get
all this stuff done you have to get a permanent or like like semi-permanent cont um a contact like a healing contact
put on it because they had to like do something to it to like repair it reop so it wouldn't keep tearing open damn so
I had to wear a hard contact for like a week and I had to wear sunglasses for a week I couldn't be outside in the cuz
there was so exposed that I couldn't be in the Sun burn your eye my eye story so
the story at the end of that story is just that I I don't want to put a contact yeah moral of the story I don't
blame you I'm just very scared of that eye one time I think it was no it was eighth grade I laughed into a pencil and
you heard that right um I was Ling with my girlies in class and I was holding a pencil and I literally went oh and like
like T tilted my head back and then fell forward and scratched my cornea which that in and of itself hurts so bad I
can't even imagine tearing my open and I was on crutches at that point because that summer I had broken my
pelvis um and then to add insult to mother [ __ ] injury 14 years old 8ighth grade like always the greatest
Time of Your Life AB except not at all the worst i' wear an eye patch so you're wearing an eye patch while on crutches
an eye patch and I was on crutches I did not wear the eye patch as long as they told me to because I said honey my
reputation will never recover I said I'm sorry doctor I be damned I I don't a [ __ ] I'll go blind before I walk theall
damage my reputation with an eye patch and crushes oh my God I was on crutches for so long that people started to say I
was faking even though I mean I was like I broke my [ __ ] pelvis like it's going to take me a while to heal here
yeah it's like pretty big bone so then adding an eye patch to that it was was not good it's not good no good damn you
know that as Ash is a Lawler when she laughs she laughs with her whole body one thing about me is I la she's a
Lawler so I'm in it for the lws well this one um will not make you L I don't think but
it'll make you go huh so you'll ha in L this is um this is the house of flying objects known I know isn't that kind of
beautiful kind of love it it's also known as the popper Poltergeist it almost was like
Poltergeist that's silly the popper Poltergeist that makes me also L this one is one of those cases where there
isn't an answer to this day they were not able to debunk so it's a haunt but there's a theory but this Theory again
is a theory and it has not been proven and the person who the theory is against vehemently says not me they did not
cause this to happen all right so I'll I'll leave it to you at the end you decide so this is the family was the
Herman Family um and it's this case is considered by many to be the first modern investigation into Poltergeist
disturbances it was in the 50s oh [ __ ] and it was actually the inspiration for
Steven Spielberg's 1982 in Toby Hooper's horror film uh Poltergeist oh now despite all the attention it got the
case like I said is still unexplained they have not been able to figure out what the [ __ ] was going on in this house
it's really hard to look at you right now I know this is really fun to tell a story serious too so it's like I'm
serious and I have this really scary eye yes but it's so kind of goofy cuz you're
just in like regular clothes you know and like you have your hair extensions too so you're just like I'm pretty my
eyes scary so you just have like a blowout it's like you in the haunted house I was just going to say that it's
you in the haunted house a big blonde blowout listen that's like their s yeah can always be spotted so as far as
anyone could remember the disturbances in the Herman house started on Monday February 3rd
1953 uh 43-year-old James Herman man was at work and his wife 38-year-old Lucille
and their children Jimmy and Lucille uh were home alone at their home in Long Island New York Long Island Long Island
I love when a woman names her daughter after herself I think that's a [ __ ] power move in a yeah Laura and Rory cuz
guys do it all the time but you don't hear of it with women often and I love that both the kids are Juniors
yes James and Lucille that was lost on me yeah see they both did check it good for them uh Mrs Herman was finishing up
some chores on the first floor of the house and she suddenly heard some popping noises coming from the second
floor and when she went up to look Lucille found that a small holy water bottle on the dresser in the main
bedroom you know like everyone has I was going to say whoa like just like okay just their holy water that they had on
their nightstand okay um its cap was unscrewed and the bottle was laying on its side with the contents all spilled
okay now in Jimmy's bedroom like I'm going to call James the father and Jimmy the son so you can okay differentiate in
Jimmy's bedroom Lucille found that the head of a ceramic doll had been broken and several pieces of a model ship he
had been working on had snapped off H and in other places in the house Lucille discovered several other bottles where
the Caps appeared to have simply popped off okay with no explanation pop off just popping off now although there were
some minor disturbances in the house in the days after that mostly witnessed by the children Lucille and Jimmy the
problem didn't escalate until the morning of February 9th that morning a little after 10:00 a.m. the whole family
was gathered in the dining room just eating breakfast and they heard the popping noises again this time they all
heard it m Lucille ran to the main bedroom and discovered that the cap on the holy water bottle again had come off
and the contents was spilled on the on the nightstand and a bottle of expensive perfume that was also on her dresser had
spilled top [ __ ] that you mess with my perfume you die I figured you were going
to be pissed about that so pissed so she's examining these bottles being like what the [ __ ] is going on here and she
heard more popping noises as this was happening she went in the bathroom and a shampoo bottle and a bottle of liquid
medication their cops had popped off and they were tipped over and the contents was spilling everywhere what and again
the kids are downstairs right so and it's not like it like like these bottles are like popping like she hears hear the
pop sound like like someone's unscrewing things and tipping it over there's a pop
happening and the cap is like flying off like this doesn't sound like a child's behavioral problem no and so it's weird
so in the kitchen also a bottle of cooking starch exploded damn and in the basement a bottle of paint thinner
popped open and began spilling the contents oh no so like what the [ __ ] is going on what is going on yeah so
they're all clearly alarmed by what's happening so Lucille was like I'm calling the police I don't know what's
going on like is our house like about to explode like what's I would freak out too I wouldn't know who to call yeah I
mean you call Ghostbusters like what do you do well and weird things like that happen and like it could be like a gas
sleep or something like exactly yeah which like when you really think about it you're like clearly it's not but like
you would think like I can't determine what is happening here so like I'm afraid my house is going to explode yeah
so she called the police and patrolman Jay Hughes was dispatched to the house okay so Hughes sat with the family in
the living room to take their statement and the officer heard popping noises coming from the bathroom and they all
went in there to look at what happened and the officer found that both the medicine and shampoo bottle had spilled
again and had popped their caps I love that the ghost was like I'm not going to hide yeah he was like oh hey officer
I'll do this in front of the cops call them so Lucille and James senior explained to Hughes at the time of the
occurrences there were no Tremors in the house and no loud noises or disturbances
of any kind that could be noticed okay a few days later on February 11th the whole thing repeated itself in the house
and Lucille called the police again and was like it's [ __ ] happening again so detective Joseph totsy arrived at the
Herman's house and uh very quickly and sat down to take their statement again and he labeled this report I love it
local investigation broken bottles think that's it no put this one top of shelf guys broken bottles
according to Lucille since the last officer had been at the house a few days earlier quote the disturbances appeared
to be increasing in both number and magnitude huh so of course tot's first thought was I think your children are
playing a prank on you yeah uh maybe you know and so he warned the children he said to the children if they were in any
way connected with this case and that they were causing the disturbances in some way that is a serious matter yeah
cuz you're taking up our time yeah he was like you have to know that like if police are being called and you're
playing playing pranks you're going to be in trouble yeah like stop it cut it out so Jimmy and Lucille the kids were
like we did not do this like I promise and totsy said he was very convinced of their innocence like they did not seem
to have anything to do with this later that day and much to the surprise of James and Lucille Herman their story
made its way into the Evening Edition of the local papers oh no and they're probably like please don't do that oh no
they loved it oh okay and one reporter wrote the Revolt of the bottles today gripped the once tranquil Home of James
Herman I can't imagine listening to that and it wrote it probably wouldn't have seemed out of the ordinary to readers a
few bottle caps popped off unexpectedly and then it said but the article was quick to point out all the bottles that
flipped their Lids had screw type caps and the Caps were not bent or distorted they just came off which is weird which
is weird now out of concern that there might be some sort of like we said gas leak something weird something dangerous
that's happening some unseen hazard in this house James called Dr Donald Hughes which was an acquaintance of his who
worked at the Brook Haven National Laboratory which was a was a local atomic energy lab he's very smart guy
casual and he asked like is my family in danger should I get my family out of this house what's going on are we all
going to explode yeah and Hughes told him I cannot think of any cause for all of this it's certainly possible that
some bottles might explode from overdevelopment of gas but it would have nothing to do with radioactivity okay so
he was like I don't think you're in danger but like I can't explain to you what's happening I don't think you're in
danger but I also don't know actually know I don't rightly know sir to summarize here I don't rightly
know so by the next day more news outlets had picked up this story and they were calling it The Revolt of the
bottles I'm kind of obsessed with that I love all of this like I love that the report was called local investigation
broken bottles I love that all the articles are calling it The Revolt of the bottles I'm into it like the bottles
are revolting against this family for some weird reason they're like you know what we've had enough yeah and like I
said the hermans actually like loved it they were enthusiastically responding to
press inquiries okay on February 12th detective totsy returned to the house in response to another complaint this time
they said additional bottle lieds were popping off and a plastic Angel ornament had a wing snapped off of it oh that's
sad yeah so totsy took the bottles and the angel as evidence but didn't really have anything else for them he was like
yeah I don't know what's going on here but I'll take them as evidence okay so as he left that afternoon there were
like a ton of reporters photographers camera Crews that had started to gather on the front lawn of the house of course
they were all interested to learn like this must be paranormal what's going on so Mrs Herman led the group through the
house she said check all this said sure pointing out where the various disturbances had occurred and a
man that nobody knew worked his way to the front of the crowd and introduced himself as quote a holy man from Center
more riches I'm [ __ ] obsessed with that said hello I'm a holy man I love it it gets even funnier because immediately
after introducing himself the man just dropped to his knees dropped to his knees in the dining room and started
praying loudly and excitedly for about 10 minutes straight okay so I don't really love that but when he was
finished he turned to Lucille Herman and said everything's all right you've been
forgiven and then he just walked out of the house got in his car and drove the [ __ ] away and no one saw him
again that's the kind of energy I'm looking for minus the prayer like just he's like hello I'm a holy man and then
he's just boom prayer 10 minutes and then he just gets up and he's like you good you've been forgiven and then he
just leaves and never comes back what the [ __ ] but this is very early on in the story so it seems like it didn't
work but honestly the star of the story in my opinion just just introduce yourself and
then go for it also way to like feed the rumor mill by looking directly at Lucille and being like it's all good and
like you've been forgiven you did like what the [ __ ] did she do yeah now this supposed holy man from Center moices was
just the first of many unusual characters to appear in the lives of the hermans to give Solutions some kind of
explanation for what was going on in their house that same day the family was visited by Dr Norman foder uh who was a
New York City psychoanalyst who had been studing studying studding studding study
studying the phenomenon of ghosts for DEC decades at this point I don't know why I can't speak it's hard according to
Dr Norman uh the destruction in the Herman's house was being caused by a poltergeist hey which he described as
quote a kind of biological life force that in some admittedly unknown manner leaps out of a person's body and
physically affects objects at a distance okay so Dr Norman explained that Poltergeist activity and this is a
thing related to Poltergeist activity it was it's commonly associated with adolescence undergoing puberty I did
know that yeah and it's speculated that the Poltergeist energy was likely coming
from 12-year-old Jimmy okay now to the hermans and the press and the public honestly the explanation seemed as
plausible as any at this point they were like sure why not I love that the public
is like down for this yeah the public was like yeah cuz usually they're like they like ostracize the family and
they're like oh my God they're [ __ ] crazy I think in the 50s they were just like sure what else are we going to talk
about why not but they still welcomed any advice or any alternative explanations they were just like sure
we'll we'll pin that one on the board yeah the detectives at the seventh precin for example instructed Lucille to
try an experiment they said fill 10 bottles with water and watch them throughout the day to see if they were
affected but by the end of the day they were still intact okay so that's interesting MH meanwhile an electrician
from the Long Island Lighting Company visited the house and inspected all the circuitry top to bottom he found no
faulty wiring no issues that could be causing disturbances and the technician went as far as setting up a device
capable of detecting the slightest vibrations and detected nothing that's really cool other more Supernatural
explanations were definitely offered by the public including those relating to the positions of you know the stars and
the planets in the sky or something like that yeah which I'm like I don't think that had to do with this I don't think
it had to do with this you know things related to high frequency vibration um the erosion of a stream under the house
causing the ground to shift in subtle undetectable ways people were really really reaching for anything they could
tap into here now all the media attention surrounding what they were now referring to as the house of flying
objects eventually extended Beyond just New York and it ended up reaching JB Ryan who was the founder of Duke Le
University's Paras psychology lab in Durham North Carolina oh cool um Ryan was a botanist by training but he had
also maintained a very serious interest in the Paranormal for decades he was very very into it uh he was introduced
to the concept in the 1920s actually Wow when he and his wife attended a lecture
by um a man you might know the name of a world-renowned author and paranormal Enthusiast um Sir Arthur coronan Doyle
do we know him Sherlock Holmes he wrote Sherlock H I don't actually know who that is
Arthur Conan Doyle uh within a few years of that lecture Ryan in a small number of research assistants started
investigating because he was very like interested in what he had to say and they started investigating the potential
for extra sensory perception ESP by testing students at Duke University and officially starting the lab in 1930 so
you really got into that's really cool and very like um like ahead of his time yeah truly so Ryan and his Institute at
Duke were dedicated to the scientific pursuit of the Paranormal so from the outset he hoped to apply the scientific
method to researching the Paranormal and he enthusiastically rooted out frauds and charlatans in the Paranormal world
he was going to call your ass out he was going to debunk your [ __ ] cool that's
his job yeah if he can't if he can't explain it cool but if he can explain it he's going to expl he's like Ghost
Hunters internet you know yeah like um like Taps yes yes yes they debunk so among the most notable achievements that
he had was the debunking and defaming of mina Crandon who was a notorious psychic
median who had been defrauding and exploiting people for years through her sances Mina that's me said get [ __ ]
Mina like that's one of his notable achievements was proving that she's a charlatan hate that I love the word
charlatan I do too uh but he had also been looking for an opportunity to begin exploring the Poltergeist phenomenon
because that had become a thing in the Paranormal world at this time and he told a reporter of his learning of the
Herman case we are always glad to be informed of puzzling phenomena either human or animal we don't have any record
that has been adequately proved so for the time being Ryan asked a colleague in New York to look into the case and just
kind of report back as to whether it was even worth investigating he was like take a look let us know if we should get
involved in the meantime the activity of the uh Herman house I I had to take a deep breath after covid I don't know if
anybody else I'm still like my run out of breath like very easily that's not great yeah it's well I still have a so I
think it's not helping so in the meantime the activity at the house escalated in frequency and intensity a
few days after tot's last visit on February 13th the family continued to get experience the whole like bottle caps
you know popping off of their bottles yeah uh all the contents spilling and now the incidents were accompanied by
objects flying around the room okay hate that in Jimmy's bedroom a plastic Angel
ornament flew from its position on the nightstand and crashed into a statue of Davey Crockett 4 feet away that is the
most iconic thing I've ever heard period angel statue launching itself into Davey
Crocket like that happened she said [ __ ] you Davey and there were several literally [ __ ] you Davey Crockett and
there were several other instances where things were flying at the family essentially interesting that there's
been a couple instances of angels too like breaking like uh oh do you have a diamond now later that afternoon a water
bottle and another perfume bottle in the main bedroom lost their Lids the contents Spilled Out but this time the
bottles were reported to be hot to the touch okay now Herman said I had just gone into the room with my son and
daughter and we noticed that another bottle had fallen it was hot as if lukewarm water was in it this was the
first time I had noticed that like that particular thing and what I say to that is the those are two conflicting ideas
um how is it hot if there's lukewarm water in it thank you because when I have lukewarm water it does not make the
outside hot no it makes it lukewarm correct so I'm confused by that yeah but if it's hot to the touch it's like was
it like heated up somehow on the outside and like press and then like got pressurized and that's why the bottles
are popping off and it's like somebody walking around with like a lighter yeah and it's like remember this is the 50s
so it's like did they have lighters in the' 50s I don't we matches and what and I think that's what's important is like
there's so many things in here where you're going to go well it's that but then you have to be like wait it's the
50s would they even know how to do that you know you mean like there's so you got to like bring it back to there and
be like wait a second right not impossible like all these things that we're going to come through but like
interesting at the very least like what you learned in science at Jimmy's age I know cuz he's 12 remember so not he
wouldn't have like super advanced yeah you shouldn't have I mean scienic knowledge yeah unless he's like really
into science which he could be mhm his dad was friends with Scientists like so yeah it's obviously you know but a few
days later the intensity of the attacks appeared to increase okay bottles were now
shattering which is interesting ink was being thrown across the walls damn and more ornaments and figurines were flying
from the shelves and smashing on the floor or against the wall to this point was the hermans alone who'd experienced
all this like no one else was in the house but on February 21st detective totsy was in the house when in an
adjoining room he saw a porcelain figure shoot 10 ft across the room and smash itself against the wooden secretary
putting a sizable dent in the wood wow so it had to have been launched hard yeah and he saw that nobody was in that
room like he said it launched itself all he saw was this thing launch itself across the r and it's it's a porcelain
figure and it hit that wooden thing so hard that there was a sizable D which is crazy which takes Force yeah absolutely
so totsy documented this and returned to the precinct but less than an hour later
he was called back to the house by Lucille and when he got there he found Mrs Herman and the children huddled
together in the hall saying she figured that would be the safest place oh cuz she was saying like everywhere flying at
us like I'm afraid one of the kids is going to get hurt yeah so according to Lucille not long after detective totsy
left the house it went crazy like things the ferocity and directness was something they had not experienced like
that it was things were being thrown hard and they were being thrown directly at them like and that hadn't happened
before before it was kind of flying across the room maybe near them well and that's kind of like what happens with
Poltergeist activity like gradually exactly and in fact whatever was you know Popp and caps I knew you'd like
that one I'm obsessed popping caps like literally popping caps off bottles and hurling objects seem to now be doing so
with the kind of like aggressiveness and malevolence that implied sentience like it implied that they this
thing was angry at the hermans themselves I kind of [ __ ] love that right like it it imp implied that they
are this thing is trying to hurt them like I don't want it to hurt them I don't love that but I just I love a
sentient being yeah like a this is seems like a sentient like it's making a choice interesting that that guy looked
at Lucille before diping off into the sunset and said they forgave you maybe they didn't maybe they just told that
guy she was forgiven yeah exactly yeah no it wasn't enough to alarm the family with like you know when it was like a
few bottles popping off here and there like they were more just confused by that they weren't like super scared cuz
was hurting them under attack but that's the thing now it's destroying their property and H objects at them and think
like of like the sentimental things that you have that probably got D they're worried that this is going to hurt the
kids so the disturbance on the night of the 21st was so intense that the next day James and Lucille thought it was
best to go stay with family members nearby um just to get a break like they were like we don't want to deal with the
media anymore we don't want to deal with what's going on in the house yeah it seems like very overwhelming James
Herman told a reporter my wife has lost sleep during the last days and the kids are getting behind on their homework oh
no so while they were staying with relatives Lucille received a call from Helen Connelly who was a 74-year-old
widow in Rivier Massachusetts R Ria in Rivia oh yeah we got Helen oh honey Rivia Here Comes Helen from Rivia my
sister was thinking about moving to Rivier and I was like you going to live in Rivier and she said no not anymore
she said never mind so Helen from Rivia called and she and also 74 yearold Helen
I just have to do like a quick side note here I had a client from Riv when I still worked at the hair salon and her
name was Tony and she had red hair and she was like an older lady and she was the coolest [ __ ] broad I've ever met
I love that and I love Tony and Tony if somehow for some reason you're listening
to this I miss you I love you you're phenomenal Tony from Ria she was the coolest well you know what Helen also
Helen just wanted to help so was she cool so Helen called and she had read about the experiences in the paper Okay
and she wanted to offer some advice okay I'm I'm help from Riv I got something to
tell you she said we had the same thing in April of last year she told them tables chairs ashtrays dishes lamps even
an artificial fireplace was lifted like paper an artificial fireplace an artificial fireplace was lifted like
paper paper she said hel oh my God according to Helen a building inspector looked over the home and determined the
cause of the problem was builtup gases trapped in the chimney we had the inspector come out he searched around
my God we had an inspector Sully come out and he told us that it was just built up gases trapped in the chimney
it's just gases and when it was freed back into the house it would blow items around the house okay yeah and while
they were away detective totsy was like all right cool like that sounds valid like thank you Helen from Riva she she
was like that's all I just wanted to help I think it might be gases and you [ __ ] do you have an artificial
fireplace Queen queen queen so while they were away staying with family detective totsy arrived arranged for the
home to have a turbine style ventilator installed on the outside of the chimney and that would prevent any downdrafts
from entering the house that way cuz he was like let's debunk that like let's get that maybe that's it maybe so it did
seem a little uh unlikely that drafts were the problem in this house I don't know if drafts are causing objects to
fly with such force that they're denting wood trying to debunk but yeah go for it
it was just again totsy said I just want to rule out any potential explanation and in response to a request for comment
from a reporter John ditri a chairman of science at the Merchant Marine Academy refuted this gases theory he said
activity like that as the result of just the free movement of gases doesn't sound
plausible okay the idea sounds rather Fantastical to me that's funny cuz my response was that sounds plausible I
know and it's and he was like that does not sound plausible now if the Herman's temporary stay with relatives was
supposed to give them a break from the media attention and the disruptions it wasn't exactly successful at least in
terms of the media attention in fact them fleeing their home in desperation really only generated more interest in
the story makes sense uh and it didn't seem like the hermans minded it like too much they weren't like super put off by
it um they definitely like entertained the Press when they needed to like I think they just kind of kept them on
their side yeah which is smart I was going to say you um on February 24th Dave Khan a reporter from the Long
Island newspaper news day actually moved into the Herman's home while they were living with the family wow to cover the
story from a firsthand perspective he wanted to experience it that's cool and in his first report from the house Khan
referred to his initial night as a frightening experience really according to him the activity began the evening of
his first night a little after 8:00 p.m. as he and James senior were sitting in the dining room having coffee out of
nowhere KH heard a loud crash from the living room and rushed in and found a figure had smashed against the wooden
secretary interestingly Conan notes that just after he heard the crash he jumped
out of his chair and ran into the living room and he said but Jimmy got there before
us H now a short time later after the reporter had settled back in the dining room they heard a quote low Rumble come
from upstairs and when they went to investigate they found that the dresser in Jimmy's bedroom had inexplicably
tipped over and he said I tried when I heard the noise like he tried to move it Jimmy told his father and con but he
said and a part of the dresser landed on my foot I only saw it fall the last few
inches ouch so he was like in the room uhhuh when it happened and it was actually like very near the dresser in
fact he said it fell on his foot mhm now that would lead you to believe that maybe Jimmy's doing these things well
yeah I'm I'm questioning can you not there's that or there's the possibility like they said Poltergeist activity uh
can emanate from a somebody in puberty going through an adolescent going through puberty so maybe it's because
he's around that that's why it's happening near him or maybe two things can be true at once these things are
happening but also Jimmy's having a little bit of fun at the same time because this is a little exciting and I
think that's the most valid explanation I think so I think this is not all Jimmy
I don't think it's all him partially you think maybe maybe I'm not accusing him allegedly allegedly maybe he had
something to do with it now after the dresser fell James Herman promptly called detective totsy who came out to
the house but could not figure out what the [ __ ] happened he said there was something especially strange about the
noises or excuse me toy didn't say this Khan said this okay uh the reporter there was something especially strange
about the noises accompanying both disturbances it was almost explosive which is that's interesting he said and
the low Rumble lasted an abnormally long time and both noises seemed to elude the
immediate location mhm later that night other objects flew from their locations including a large bookcase in Jimmy's
bedroom that was seemingly pushed away from the wall by unseen hands most baffling of all at least for KH was an
incident that occurred the next night it was a little after 9:00 p.m. and he said
as I sat alone in the corner of the living room a 10-in cardboard globe of the world flipped silently out of out
from Jimmy's darkened bedroom in my direction and boun bounced into the opposite corner of the living room I
jumped up ran into Jimmy's room and snapped on the light the boy was sitting up in bed the covers over his legs
naturally I tried to discover whether Jimmy had thrown the globe I found that it was possible but improbable the globe
could not have landed where it did if it had been thrown from the bed but could he have just huddled into bed really
quickly he could have but they said it he would have to be very quick to get back in there which he could okay now
when he noticed all the incidents that occurred at the home he noticed that they all had one thing in common the
same situation with Jimmy has existed in every one of these strange occurrences since February 3rd when they started
tormenting the family uhhuh um he noted that in every case Jimmy was near the affected object when it moved and in all
cases he possessed the strength to move the object himself okay however he did have difficulty accepting that Jimmy
could have been the real cause for all the disturbances he said there is the physical improbability of him having the
speed to say get back in bed fast enough after slow throwing that globe or the strength to throw figurines with the the
explosive force they display like denting the wood so he ended up being driven to the theory quote unquote that
had become the most popular and common at the time they had a poltergeist and that it might be emanating from Jimmy
yeah now after following the story in the press and speaking with the hermans and detective to
JB Ry our our scientist from before was convinced that whatever was happening in
the house was at least worth investigating at this point so in early March Ryan sent his trusted longtime
assistant Jay Gaither Pratt to Seaford in Long Island along with a relatively new member of his research team William
R William R was a German psychologist who'd been with the institute for like a little less than a year the two
researchers moved into the house and started investigating um and they consulted with experts from RCA
Communications who were brought in to determine whether the house was being affected by radio waves or other
disturbances in the electromagnetic fields damn they really tried to debunk everything here while the RCA scientists
evaluated the house Pratt and roll said out out interviewing the members of the Herman Family about like the beginning
the beginning till now according to James he became convinced they had a supernatural problem on the morning of
February 9th he said he was talking to Jimmy who was in the bathroom brushing his teeth and he said I was standing in
the doorway of the bathroom while Jimmy was brushing his teeth and he said he told investigators all of a sudden two
bottles were that were placed on the top of the vanity table were seen to move both bottles moved at the same time okay
that's weird he insisted that both bottles had previously been under the sink and were recently put on the table
so he concluded the Caps had become unscrewed while they were under the sink okay he was witnessing the bottles
move on their own at that time so he said that's what made me think okay this isn't like gases or something I'm
something paranormal is happening here right so since the phenomenon began in early February the activity in the house
really escalated day after day um and again it became really aggressive especially in the presence of non-family
members in the house but now that Pratt and role to trained experts were in the house the Poltergeist activity went
completely quiet uhhuh the equipment set up by the RCA technicians registered no change in
the electromagnetic activity in the home didn't pick up any unusual radio waves so Pratt made it pretty clear going into
this investigation one of the researchers that their objectives were very clear it was to decide whether one
Jimmy is deliberately causing these things to happen and cleverly concealing them because it is pretty CL how he's
concealing them yeah it is two that Jimmy is the agent for a poltergeist or three Jimmy I'm thinking of Jimmy just
like signing a polter like being an agent like an actual agent signing him on like let's go getting him some
opportunities you know we have an ad coming in for you Jimmy it's time to tour let's go um so it's like Jimmy from
hack there you go Jimmy's the agent so he's like Poltergeist it's time to tour let's take this show on the road um or
three that there's a a mixture of both that he's involved somehow but not not in the way we might think okay now
within a few days pratton roll had all but ruled out the involvement of James and Lucille the parents and they ruled
out Lucille the daughter okay um Lucille the daughter was often out of the house
or was fully asleep when most of the incidents occurred she said baby I'm catching up on
my uh but the two identified Jimmy as the thing connecting all the events okay though they did draw they stopped short
of drawing any conclusions about how previously you know previously how he was involved but their suspicions caused
everyone in the house parents researchers con the reporter to keep an extra close eye on Jimmy yeah now since
the onset of the Poltergeist activity like we said it was everywhere it was in the local Regional National papers all
the time um readers had a really close look in on this family and the disturbances happening
and the level of awareness that this caused was kind it kind of brought in like amateur sleuths like what we would now
has have as Internet sleuths yep um even back then in the 50s but these had to write into the papers and call the
police department with their [ __ ] um and that this type of Engagement can be interpreted as a kind of support which
was typically accompanied by explicit support from those following the story but when the narrative shifted towards
suspicions that Jimmy might be the cause of some of these disturbances the public
sentiment about the Herman's Poltergeist by then referred to as the popper Poltergeist uh you're so Boston every
time you say it's especially when you say popper Poltergeist I I can't say two s yeah it's like I can get one out but I
can't get and you just say stop yeah it allows one it won't allow more it says you can park the car I know I can't say
it right that's funny popper Poltergeist I actually don't like it that way poer Poltergeist um so they were uh less
sympathetic yeah at this point I would be which also like remember this kid is 12 everybody that's true I mean I
wouldn't I would just be like Jimmy what a turd like it's excited about need the
whole world bullying him weigh um but as public criticism of Jimmy this 12-year-old boy grew James senior did
what any parent would do and took to the press to defend his son and emphatically
rejected the belief that Jimmy had anything to do with the activity in the house yeah he said because the
scientists of this country can't come up with an answer to this people are trying
to make a scapegoat out of a 12-year-old boy who can't fight back I mean yeah but
James didn't stop there oh he went on to say he he threatened to Bar anyone from
his home who openly questioned Jimmy's intentional involvement in this phenomenon I understand the dad and him
wanting to do that cuz I'd be like [ __ ] you don't come for my kid that's the thing I can understand his role as a
parent being like [ __ ] you you're not questioning my kid but at the same time you also want to figure out what's going
on in your house well and it put Pratt role and to a lesser extent Dave Conan into like a a difficult position yeah
cuz they're like what if it is him because if they want to find out what's happening here if they want to remain in
the home and continue to do their work they have to ignore the idea the theory that Jimmy is doing it you really can't
do that that's not how the scientific method works exactly and so which is not good so despite the growing skepticism
and near total lack of activity in the house at this point Pratt and R continued the investigation um so Pratt
said I draw no conclusion whatever whatsoever from the fact that there was no unusual occurrences after I came
because there was so much turmoil in the house at that time M he said you know but nevertheless the lack of activity
made it unnecessary for the research just to stay in the house for very long while they were conducting the
investigation right so they just returned to Duke and continued the research from afar they were like we
don't need to be in the house we didn't see anything right now less than one day
after Pratt and roll left Long Island it all began again huh a table in Jimmy's room crashed to the floor breaking a
crystal table lamp among other things it's interesting now that it like a lot of it is happening in Jimmy's room yeah
and the incident prompted another call to detective totsy who rushed to the house as soon as he was called and
according to totsy James reported that at the time his son was quote flat on his back in bed with the covers pulled
up to his chin mhm so he couldn't have possibly caused the table to fall that's according to father now despite the
convenient timing of the return of the activity it does appear everyone involved remained unwilling to consider
seriously whether Jimmy was causing the activity in the house that's not great R
said and this was one of the researchers Ro um the fraud hypothesis would be easier to accept and I get this the
fraud hypothesis would be easier to accept if it could be supposed that the other members of the family were acting
as Jimmy's accomp right like the parents um that is to say that you know pratton roll would be more
likely to accept the idea if it was a hoax if it wasn't a child that was perpetuating this entire thing yeah uh
Pratt was equally emphatic in his rejection of the fra uh fraud Theory saying I don't believe for a moment that
there is any colossal hoax behind this and these are two like very well respected well respected researchers and
they don't need to be in the house anymore so they don't need to [ __ ] right right like so they're at least
saying that that they believe if there is a hoax happening involv and we can't seem to connect that
right and the other one is saying I don't believe that there's a whole hoax here I think there's something happening
now while the return of the activity was you know an exciting development for Pratt and roll uh others were less
enthusiastic um tot family well in detective totsy who's probably a little sick of this yeah he's like I have
actual crimes to investigate he literally said it's the damnedest case I've ever worked on I it's beginning to
go on forever and it's true because for what had been started as a call about like
you know a weird disturbance about a month earlier the case had exploded and started attracting all this attention
from all over the world and all of it was rooted directly through Detective Joe totsi uh by March totsy was spending
a significant amount of time combing through the correspondences received by the seventh
precinct on behalf of the hermans like people writing in to say this is what I think is happening this is what you
should do blah blah blah and that's a lot of [ __ ] to come through and was a lot of letters on how to deal with the
problems with suggestions ra ranging from kill your house what does that exactly mean I like that one I kill your
like stab it kill it shoot your house down um and another one was burn sulfur in every room oh God yeah another one
was wave a white silk hanky in every room wave a white flag so you know what poter you know what poter guys this is
you I like that one I will go to this one's my favorite this one's my favorite buy a
horse that's it you that's the Tweet horses have mysterious Powers so just buy one I agree that hes are mysterious
pretty mysterious kind of like adding a lot of expenses in and as much as detective totsy would have liked to move
on to uh more pressing matters He was ordered to keep a close eye on this now wildly popular story yeah um he said the
brass doesn't like anything to happen around here they don't know about he's like so now I'm stuck here I am so by
mid-march it seemed even the Poltergeist had kind of grown tired of the whole thing yeah um as six days then 10 then
20 passed in the Herman house without a single incident okay despite the quiet in the house enthusiasm and interest in
the case definitely remained uh members of the public were still calling sending
letters even dropping by the house oh I don't like that stay out stay out of my house James told a reporter on March 7
two couples were over here with Ouija boards I'm not sure what they were trying to do but I didn't let them in do
you think I want the whole house to fall down around our ears he said he has Papa energy he's
like get the [ __ ] out of here get the [ __ ] out of here get a life so the sudden end to the activity was
surprising to James and Lucille her which is all of a sudden was done yeah it was just done who'd been dealing with
daily destruction of their home for over a month yeah but Pratt explained that in
his experience some things such things tend to end that way um Lucille said he said that whatever Force had been
causing it just goes away and usually they don't come back while the hermans were certainly happy to have some peace
and quiet in their home the abrupt and like unceremonious end to the situation public doesn't like that no we don't we
don't like things just yeah we need to know what's going on cuz they've been closely following the case and they
wanted an explanation explanation so a short time later Pratt and roll provided the family
with their report finally okay the researchers counted a total of 67 incidents wow 64 in which an object
moved on its own okay and three in which unexplained thumping could be heard somewhere in the house okay um the so Ro
wrote Gaither and I spent 10 days with the family under circumstances which we felt gave us qu close acquaintance with
all of its members and we were unable to accept the family hoax hypothesis as a reasonable one okay interesting yeah the
researchers concluded that after to ruling out fraud and other possible explanations the rspk hypothesis had to
be taken seriously for this case rspk is recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis um it was a popular Theory
among those at the Duke lab for explaining the decidedly unscientific oldw World explanation of ghosts and
Poltergeist yeah in rolls Theory a person and in many cases children can produce a discharge of psychic energy
strong enough to disrupt the Z Z Point gravity of an object that's really [ __ ] awesome the thing that keeps it
in place it's Matilda which there you go which exactly which causes it to appear
as though it has flown across the room on its own huh this is more commonly observed in cases where the individual
is in a highly aroused or unsettled emotional or psychological State AKA puberty such as adolescence going
through puberty yep um Ro wrote the Poltergeist has a reputation of being elusive if not plain evasive this was
not true in Seaford things sometimes happened in full view of people and when Outsider visitors were present yeah so
while the researchers were unable to conclusively prove a cause of the activity they were inclined to believe
it supported the theory of rspk yeah um they were satisfied that that the activity was most likely unintentionally
caused by Jimmy okay this seemed an adequate explanation for some people made sense I'm happy especially those
who are eager to just like move on with the stor yeah you get bored of a story after a while when you're experiencing
it but not everyone found the rspk theory to be satisfactory you're never going to satisfy everyone as hard as you
try nope in their own report on the incident the Paras psychology Foundation of New York concluded that Jimmy was
most likely the culprit everyone leave Jimmy leave Jimmy alone and they noted that he might have caused the
disturbances by normal means if he so wish well you know what maybe he was just vibing in these streets maybe what
the [ __ ] else are you going to do at 12 years old I don't know so you know although they were unable to prove their
belief that Jimmy had intentionally caused the disturbances that group the Paras pychology group um was headed by
former Duke Paras pychology lab researcher Carlos osus I really love that name um they pointed out to the
suspicious timing of the events which this will give you a little bit of a pause oh no they wrote disturbances
during school hours occurred only on weekends in the evenings after 8:30 p.m. when according to Mr Herman Jimmy had
gone to bed the the phenomenom occurred at that point either in his room or in places near his bedroom door Jimmy in
the hours When the Children might definitely be assumed to be asleep nothing happened well this was their working
theory osus was quick to add of course this is not an accusation but merely one possible explanation yeah the presence
of James Herman Jr Jimmy in all likelihood was a necessary condition for the occurrence of the phenomena so
they're not necessarily saying this but he's got to be awake and in the house his presence is needed we're not
saying he did this intentionally but we're not not saying he did this intentionally we're saying it's a
possibility while osus and the Paris psychology Foundation may have uh kind of hedge their Bets with that one um
they they definitely avoided blaming Jimmy outright which is nice yeah that is nice uh skeptical investigator Joe
nickel had no problems placing the blame where he thought it belonged in his review of the evidence years later
nickel wrote taken as a whole the evidence strongly points to 12-year-old James Herman Jr as having been the
deliberate cause of the Seaford Poltergeist Outbreak The motive means and opportunity were his and the case
was unwittingly prolonged by the credulousness of adults so nickel points to the efforts
made by magician Milbourne Christopher to explain the phenomena in 1958 which incl included an extensive Recreation of
the bottle popping and other incidents that he performed for roll in Pratt MH so he was like this can be done right
but by a 12-year-old yeah po possible yeah but it's just like whoa you know like that's
a lot yeah it's Advanced he said Pratt had no idea of the Simplicity with which the effects were accomplished and Ro
imagined that James's tricks would have had to have been produced by special devices which would have been installed
operated and removed in the presence of adult Witnesses so he was saying like rat and roll were under the impression
that whatever was happening here would have been very Advanced and something that he would have had devices to do but
not necessarily but then nickel was able to show him like some kind of like magician [ __ ] like kind of like slight
of hand thing that he was like you really don't need that advanced of yeah you know but like did Jimmy know about
this does a 12-year-old know how to do that I don't know could if he's into magic and [ __ ] but it's interesting and
like you said like the family was connected to scientists who knows what conversations he sat in on yeah or he
dropped on even and it's worth noting again too that the only reason Pratt and roll really ruled out the hoax theory
was that they couldn't fathom any of the adults in the house having been involved
they really didn't believe the adults were involved in this and they couldn't accept the fact that Jimmy would have
been able to execute this entire hoax on his own but then nicholl's kind of showing them like he might have been
able to yeah U but he's also not proving inconclusively like conclusively that he
could do all of it he's just saying like some of the stuff you're a little like iffy on
could done that right now those who uh have investigated the case during and after the incidents they agreed on very
little it there was a lot of different theories going on everyone's kind of yelling at each other but most do appear
to be of one mind when it came for the motive for the activity like we said like Pratt and R and a couple of other
people said the psychokinesis that they were talking about how it can happen when somebody's in like a very highly
emotional or disturbed State yeah um so they figured that the destruction was caused unintentionally maybe or
intentionally but they said either way they think the motive might have been Jimmy's allegedly poor relationship with
what they refer to as his demanding and generally unsupportive father oh that's a bummer um but again I didn't expect
that yeah and in the psychological evaluations of Jimmy and Lucille the kids at this time the child psychologist
concluded that Jimmy demonstrated passive demandingness hostility to father figures imp personal violence and
isolation of effect oh wow lot for a 12-year-old they took to believe to be repressed feelings of anger towards his
father that's really sad so that is that can go either way that can go with did he intentionally do this for attention
was what was that or was it subconsciously was this some kind of strange um like Poltergeist phenomen
that happens because of his highly agitated and emotional state like almost like Carrie yeah yeah like could it be
there sure yeah I could see both oh that makes me so sad when the dad came out and said you know like nobody is like
allowed to uh accuse my son I was like yeah well that's why like I don't know a lot about their relationship so I don't
want to sit here and like speculate that they had this awful relationship and remember that so I don't know if
anybody really had like the ideal relationship with their father back then no um he did come to bat for Jimmy
during this whole thing but I don't know what their relationship was before that
and we do have a child psychologist who's saying he seems to have anger towards his father yeah so take with
that you will but again we don't have all the facts of that so allegedly um there were of course other
theories as to the cause of the disturbances and the most interesting and outlandish were definitely offered
uh interestingly by younger readers of the papers who'd been following the story and wanted to weigh in okay one
14-year-old reader wrote in it's the pressure in the bottles that's what's making them
pop I mean okay ging but then the reader went on to say I can also tell you what
isn't the cause of these events what's not it isn't martians or things on other planets as some seem to believe don't
blame it on the Soviet Union or any other country either huh another reader though
15-year-old Sandy she said the Soviets might have done have something to do with the events but
why it's only happening in only one house well that's a great question Sandy babe Sandy grew up to be a conspiracy
theorist so Jesus Christ so we must ask was it was it a poltergeist recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis the Soviets or
a childish prank that caused the Herman household to explode for one month in 1950 will never [ __ ] no I'm willing
to bet it wasn't the Soviets to this day we don't know I know it's not martians and I know it's not
the Soviet we don't know whether it's a poltergeist recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis the Soviets or a childish
prank it could be any of them based off like what I I've heard today I would like to think that it was Poltergeist
and maybe influenced and like put on a little bit longer by Jim Jim I could see that by Jim Jim Jim Jim now after the
media interest in the story died down they just kind of like the family just settled back into their lives like um
James senior you know s unsuccessfully ran for public office before retiring from his job okay uh Lucille got a
part-time job as a school nurse after the kids moved out of the house okay um and Jimmy maintained that he had
absolutely nothing to do with the activity in the house all right he did not intentionally do it or intentionally
I should say he said maybe it was my vibes but it wasn't me maybe my vibes were off but it wasn't my vibes it
wasn't my fault um he said I did not do that um and according to the hermans they never had another experience like
those in 1958 wow um James told a reporter in 1987 not a thing is H is happening around the house now
everything's been peaceful and quiet every day since it stopped in 1958 interesting Jimmy graduated from college
and went on to become the president of an electronics company in North andova Massachusetts jimy yeah wow where was
the house of flying objects it was in Long Island Oh Long Island right of course um although the hermans
themselves may have like kind of just faded back into Domesticity you know bye I love Dom which good for them uh their
story definitely lived on past past those that one year here we are um it be it was the subject of everything from
you know TV talk show fod because remember that back then it was like all about that [ __ ] oh hell yeah like Ed and
Lorraine were on talk shows like um there was TV movies plots and even again one of the biggest ones the main
inspiration for Steven Spielberg and Toby Hooper's 1982 horror film polter pist pist um there definitely like since
then since 1958 there's obviously been some like way more frightening and intense phenomenon that we can't explain
but the story of seaford's House of flying objects is definitely going to always have the distinction of being
really the first modern paranormal investigation in the United States it's really cool and the first obsessively
documented and like and handled by the American press this this is the one that really was the first one to get the
attention of the American Press and just take it it really popped off it really popped off so whatever you think is what
you think and that's fine because I don't have a [ __ ] clue but I think um I think the Vibes are off so I think the
Vibes were off I think we can all agree that The Vibes were off I think I don't think I don't think 12-year-old Jimmy
meant any harm and I don't think he did all of it yeah I really well intentionally I really don't think he
meant any harm if he had anything to do with it I don't and it seems like the family recovered after that and they
went on to live peacefully and quietly so good for them and hopefully his relationship with his dad if it wasn't
great I hope it got better allegedly yeah perfect me too you know what an interesting story a very interesting
story I liked that one cuz it's got a little spooky to it but it's more just like an interesting look at
like like the hoax of it all and the scientific investigation of it all I liked that part like the scientific
investigation cuz they took it really seriously and they didn't get I like when they actually like genuinely
scientifically investigate versus like the Ed and Lorraine kind of Investigations I think those are cool
but like we've talked about them a lot so it was interesting to hear like a different kind of Investigation straight
up look at it using the scientific meth like I I like that they do that cuz that's why I love um I I think it's
Ghost Hunters Taps right yeah I always confuse Ghost Adventures Ghost Hunters ghost whatever I'm I'm like 99% positive
that Ghost Hunters is Taps and then Ghost Adventures is Zach B yes precisely the Ghost Hunters uh Taps I really love
that's why I always loved that show because I just love the spooky Vibes of and the apprach and it's like they from
Rhode Island so it's like they're Island and but they go about it intentionally going into debunk and then they let
things take it from there but they don't go in being like I think this is a ghost
they go in being like I think something is up here and I'm going to figure out what it is it's like Scooby-Doo I like
that but different that's a good way to go into in my opinion personally that's how you would do a paranormal
investigation is to go in with the intention of debunking and be surprised if you're surprised I think a lot of
paranormal happenings are related to science yeah like in some way shape or form
it's all energy it's all energy you know drink every time I say and you know what
one of the real stars of this is Helen Connelly from Ria I everybody pul went out foren 74 year-old Helen was just out
here being like you know what you know what I had the the same [ __ ] thing happened to me in April she said it was
crazy it was crazy my artificial fireplace like paper what is an artificial fireplace I think it's like
one of those like literally fake little fireplaces like a movable fireplace like
a what's that [ __ ] called that's I yeah almost like a space heater but I think it like looks like a little fire
place oh okay it's got the aesthetic of a little fireplace but that [ __ ] like paper that's terrifying those things are
also so dangerous be careful with be very careful around those things especially as we get into the winter
months be careful about your space heaters um but yeah interesting Helen forever Helen I really lik that case I
hope Jimmy's I hope Jimmy's doing well me too he seems to he's the president of electronics company I hope he's killing
It Go Jimmy you know so well I hope you guys are doing well too we also hope that you keep listening and we hope you
keep it we but not so weird that you don't sign off in your Riv accent I know bye
[Music] [Music] [Music]

On the afternoon of February 9, 1958, a complaint was called into Long Island’s seventh police precinct regarding a series of “strange occurrences” taking place in the caller’s home. According to the caller, Lucille Herrmann, for nearly a week the caps and lids of bottles in the basement had been popping off inexplicably, while other bottles and containers were tipping over and spilling their contents for no obvious reason. Elsewhere in the house, items were flying off shelves without the aid of human hands, and toys were breaking without explanation. Not only were the disturbances destructive to the Herrmann’s home and property, but they were also psychologically upsetting, since they seemed to be happening on their own.

Lucille Herrmann’s call to the Seaford Police Department kicked off a two-month-long fascination with what many came to believe was genuine poltergeist activity in the Herrmann’s Long Island, NY home. What began as a simple call to the police for assistance quickly escalated into near daily media coverage and interest from a variety of paranormal investigators and skeptics, all determined to identify and explain the cause of the ostensibly supernatural occurrences in what became known as “the house of flying objects.”

The Herrmann’s case of poltergeist activity is considered by many to be the first modern investigation into poltergeist disturbances and would serve as the inspiration for Stephen Spielberg’s 1982 horror film, Poltergeist. Despite the considerable attention, however, the case remains unexplained to this day.

Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!

References Allen, Tom. 1958. "A haunted house is not a home." Daily News (New York, NY), March 9: 30.

Aronson, Harvey. 1958. "Expert sees no hoax in bottle-popping." Newsday, March 7: 3.

Associated Press. 1958. "Bottles--all kind--flip their tops." Democrat and Chronicle , February 11: 1.

—. 1958. "Bottle tops rout pop." Elmira Star-Gazette, February 23: 1.

—. 1958. "Bottles pop, Davy falls for angel." Press and Sun-Bulletin, February 17: 11.

Dorman, Michael. 1987. "Ghost stories." Newsday, October 25: 9.

Elmira Advertiser. 1958. "Herrmanns' house quiet." Elmira Advertiser, March 27: 4.

Kahn, Dave. 1958. "Bottle-popping force shakes our reporter." Newsday, February 24: 3.

—. 1958. "Bottle-popping report points to Jimmy." Newsday, May 15: 5.

—. 1958. "Experts are working, bottle-pop force isn't." Newsday, February 27: 4.

—. 1958. "Flying figurines drive family out of Seaford home." Newsday, February 22: 5.

—. 1958. "Has the LI bottle-popping force popped its last." Newsday, March 17: 7.

—. 1958. "Jimmy a bottle-popper? No, sasy father." Newsday, February 28: 5.

—. 1958. "Our bottle-proper's decision: he's baffled." Newsday, February 25: 5.

—. 1958. "'Spirit' gets rough, starts hurling things." Newsday, February 21: 5.

—. 1958. "Two more bottles blow tops at LI house." Newsday, February 12: 4.

Newsday. 1958. "All's quiet on the bottle front." Newsday, March 3: 5.

—. 1958. "Clues remnmain cold in bottle mystery, but bottles get hot." Newsday, February 17: 5.

—. 1958. "Expert ponders bottle popping." Newsday, February 15: 10.

—. 1958. "Look out! Things are popping again." Newsday, March 4: 5.

Nickell, Joe. 2012. The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books.

Roll, William G. 1976. The Poltergeist. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

United Press. 1958. "Boy likely was spook, says expert." Press and Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton, NY), May 15: 25.

Ziaman, Ronald. 1958. "Teen interviews." Brooklyn Daily, June 26: 14.

Connect with Wondery http://wondery.com/shows http://facebook.com/WonderyMedia http://twitter.com/WonderyMedia http://instagram.com/WonderyMedia

Brief Summary

The episode covers the Herman family's poltergeist case, exploring unexplained disturbances and police investigations in 1953 Long Island.

Key points

The Eye Injury. Alina shares a harrowing story about her eye injury that left her in agony.
The Revolt of the Bottles. The Herman family's home experiences unexplained popping noises and broken bottles.
A Holy Man's Visit. A mysterious man claims to be a holy man and prays in the Herman home.
Ryan's Paranormal Pursuit. Ryan, a botanist turned paranormal investigator, aimed to apply scientific methods to the supernatural.
Escalating Disturbances. The Herman family's experiences intensify, with objects flying and bottles shattering.
Media Attention Grows. The family's plight attracts media interest, complicating their situation further.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I literally looked at a wall and I said should I run into it?

Alina describes the pain of her eye injury.

2:51WatchOct 24, 2024

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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