November 1967 ushered in eerie puzzling events. Luminescent light tubes unscrewed themselves. Switches went on and off without human hands. The four office telephone’s bells rang at the same time, but there was no caller at the other end of the lines. Copier liquids mysteriously spilled over other objects, dampening them with thick liquid. There were thousands of calls to the number for the current time. Activity increased during the ensuing investigation. Calls not made were billed to the law practice. Paintings and hanging lamps swung. Heavy furniture moved. Drawers opened on their own volition and spilled their contents. Fuses blew. Light bulbs shattered. Banging sounds were heard.
All of this activity happened only when Annemarie also referred to as Miss Sch., Anne S. and Anne-Marie in different sources, a secretary in her late teens, was present. When she was on leave, the phenomena ceased.
Investigations
Initially, a member of the firm called the electric company and Siemens, a company with divisions that specialize in lighting, communication and information, power and automation and control to investigate. German television networks presented shows about the phenomena.
Mr. Adam, the managing partner, filed a criminal complaint with the police who also investigated. They found that the phenomena were genuine. Fakery was not a factor.
Finally, Dr. Hans Bender, a highly respected parapsychologist and director of the Institute for the Study of Border Areas of Psychology, was contacted. Drs. Karger and Zicha, physicists, also investigated.
It was Bender who correlated the activity with Annemarie’s presence. The luminescent tubes were replaced with incandescent bulbs which burst. A filing cabinet weighing almost 400 pounds moved twelve inches from the wall. Drawers opened by themselves. The fact that the phenomena occurred is amazing. What is more amazing that the activity happened while the paranormal investigators were present as if the poltergeist wanted to please them. In the majority of cases of investigating recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis, RSPK, activity ceases when investigators are present. PK, psychokinesis, is the ability of the mind to affect matter.
Scientific instruments revealed the poltergeist absorbed electrical power. It also called the correct number for the time five times every minute, without Annemarie touching the telephone.
Epilogue
During the investigation, Annemarie felt sick and took leave. The same activity happened at home. She resigned from the law office and found a new job. The poltergeist accompanied her, creating residual identical phenomena, then the activity ceased
HAPs have a psychological profile. Usually, these agents are given psychological evaluations and are tested for ESP, extrasensory perception and PK, psychokinesis. Annemarie experienced unpleasant emotions. This fits the profile of the HAP. She was not happy with her work at the firm and was involved in a stormy romantic relationship. Her behavior exhibited symptoms of hysteria. Annemarie scored exceptionally high in the ESP testing, but poor in the tests for PK, which is unusual for HAPs. In the vast majority of cases the agent scores high in PK and average or low in ESP.
The investigators concluded that the psi couldn’t be explained in terms of conventional physics. It didn’t appear to involve pure electrodynamics and included complex and simple events which appeared to be controlled by a form of intelligence that tended to evade investigation.
Related topics:
Poltergeists! The Reality, Not the Movie
The Baltimore Maryland Poltergeist
Sources:
Rogo, D. Scott, On the Track of the Poltergeist (Prentice-Hall, 1086)
Rogo, D. Scott, The Poltergeist Experience, (Penguin Books, 1979)
Uphoff, Walter and Mary Jo Uphoff, New Psychic Frontiers, (Colin Smythe Limited and New Frontiers Center, 1980)
