Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - The Enfield Poltergeist True Paranormal Events That Shook a North London Family #47

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #poltergeist #paranormal #ghoststories #hauntedhouse #supernatural   This story dives into the terrifying events experienced by the Hodgson family in Enfield, including furniture moving, strange noises, and apparitions. Investigated by paranormal experts and skeptics alike, these true occurrences challenged explanations and remain one of the most famous hauntings in modern history.  #horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #scarystories #horrorstory #creepypasta #horrortales #enfieldpoltergeist #ghost #haunting #supernaturalactivity #paranormalinvestigation #trueghoststory #haunted #psychicphenomena #spirit #ghostencounter #hauntedhouse #creepy #urbanlegend #trueevents

It was just another quiet night in August of 1977, in a regular, modest council house tucked away on Green Street, Enfield, North London. Nothing about this night screamed anything out of the ordinary, until Peggy Hodgson was jolted awake by something that would change her life forever. She heard the screams coming from the room she shared with her two daughters, Janet and Margaret. The house was quiet for most of the day, but suddenly, there was this chaotic noise. Peggy ran to the girl's bedroom, her heart pounding, expecting maybe a nightmare or a fight. But what she saw was chilling. The girls were clinging to each other, wide-eyed and terrified, insisting their beds were shaking violently. Now, Peggy took a good look around, no wind, no nearby train, nothing that could shake beds in the middle of a peaceful night.

But the beds? To her eyes, they seemed perfectly still. her first thought maybe the kids were just having bad dreams or pulling a prank on her but something about the fear in their eyes made her doubt it was just pretend and this folks was just the beginning over the next few days the weird stuff started piling up it was like their home had suddenly become the epicenter of some strange supernatural activity imagine this you're in your own house the place where you're supposed to feel

safest, and suddenly, the furniture starts shifting all by itself. Droars sliding open and shut, chairs moving a few feet away without anyone touching them. That's just the start. Then, the knocking started. Not a polite knock like you'd expect at a front door, but strange, persistent knocks coming from the walls, sometimes loud, sometimes barely audible. And here's the kicker, when Peggy or anyone else checked, no one was there. The house was empty in those rooms. No person, no animal. Just those eerie knocks that seemed to come from nowhere.

If you were Peggy or anyone living in that house, wouldn't that just send chills right down your spine? One evening, things escalated even more. The family was all sitting in the living room, trying to go about their normal routine when suddenly, a heavy set of drawers started to slide across the floor. No one was near it, and the thing just kept moving like it had a mind of its own. Peggy got up and started pushing back against it, as if physically trying to push away whatever force was behind it.

At that point, there was no doubt left, this wasn't some kids' game or a weird coincidence. Now scared and desperate, Peggy reached out for help. She told the neighbors what was going on, and they started witnessing some of the strange happenings themselves. You know things are getting serious when people out of it. outside the family starts seeing this stuff too. Eventually, the police got involved. Can you imagine? Police officers walking into a house expecting maybe a domestic disturbance or something, and instead, they see a chair sliding across the room like it's got a life of its own.

One of the officers later said he witnessed this firsthand. They couldn't explain it, so they suggested getting the media involved. And just like that, the haunted house on Green Street became a front-page story. Enter Maurice Gross and Guy Lyon Playfair, two investigators from the Society for Psychical Research. These guys were professionals, armed with cameras, tape recorders, and a genuine curiosity about the paranormal. When they stepped into the Hodgson House, they didn't have to wait long to experience the unexplainable themselves. Objects moved on their own right in front of their eyes. Doors slammed without a gust of wind. There were eerie voices caught on tape, whispering and growling. The scariest moment. Watching Janet, the youngest Hodgson daughter, levitate off her bed like

she was floating on air. Janet was only 11 at the time. But suddenly, she became the focal point of all this madness. The strange phenomena seemed to center around her more than anyone else. And it got weirder, she'd sometimes speak in this deep, gruff voice, claiming she was a man named Bill Wilkins, who had apparently died in the house decades earlier. Here's the truly creepy part, when Janet spoke in Bill Wilkins' voice, she would say things she simply could not have known. Details about the house's past, about the family who used to live there, things that no one had ever told her. It was like she had become a medium channeling some spirit. For more than a year, Maurice and Guy stuck around, documenting everything. They recorded hundreds of hours of audio, took photos,

and even managed to capture some really wild moments, like a shot that looked like Janet being flung across her bedroom. It was like a real-life horror story unfolding before their eyes. Of course, the media descended on the house. Neighbors, curious onlookers, and skeptics all came to see if the rumors were true. Some saw things that defied explanation, while others were more cynical. And speaking of skeptics, not everyone believed the story. Some accused Janet and her family of faking it all. There were moments when Janet was caught bending spoons or making noises herself, leading some to argue that maybe the whole thing was an elaborate hoax by a kid looking for attention. But here's the thing, while some incidents were questionable, there were just

too many witnesses and too much recorded evidence for the whole thing to be fake. The volume of unexplained phenomena made it impossible for a lot of people to just write it off. So, what was it? Was the Hodgson House genuinely haunted? Was it some poltergeist feeding off the energy of the family? Or was it a carefully crafted hoax that fooled an entire neighborhood, the police, and experienced paranormal investigators? No one has been able to fully agree. In the decade since, the Enfield Poultergeist story has been immortalized in books, documentaries, and even movies, most notably the 2016 hit film, The Conjuring 2, which brought the tale to a whole new audience. Peggy Hodgson, the woman who lived through it all, never changed her story.

She stood by what happened in her home her entire life, even as some people doubted her. She passed away at age 73, leaving behind a legacy of one of the most chilling haunting stories ever recorded. Her daughter Janet, now grown, has admitted that some parts were probably exaggerated, but she insists the haunting was very real, and that the experience stayed with her, haunting her own memories, even to this day. Okay, so that's the short version, but you wanted about 4,000 words, so let's unpack it all more deeply. Get comfy. Setting the scene, Enfield in 1977. Let's rewind to Enfield, a borough in North London, back in 1977. This was no glamorous part of town, but a working-class neighborhood with a tight-knit community. People knew their neighbors,

and council houses were pretty normal, basic, affordable homes for everyday folks. The Hodgson family lived in one of these council houses on Green Street. Peggy Hodgson was a single mom, raising her four children on her own after separating from her husband. Life wasn't always easy, but she was doing her best. Peggy's daughters, Janet, 11, and Margaret, 13, were just regular kids, school, friends, homework. Nothing special about them that would attract paranormal activity, or so you'd think. The first night of terror, it was a typical summer night when everything changed. Peggy woke up in the dark of the early morning to the terrified screams of Janet and Margaret. She raced to their room, heart pounding, adrenaline kicking in. What could be wrong?

Janet and Margaret clung tightly to each other, eyes wide with fear, whispering about their beds shaking violently. Peggy looked around and saw nothing unusual. No earthquake, no dogs, no prankster siblings. She assumed it was just a bad dream, but the fear was too real to ignore. The girls kept insisting something was shaking their beds, something invisible and terrifying. Strange things begin to happen. What happened next was beyond any reasonable explanation. In the days following that first night, the Hodgson House became the center of strange phenomena. Furniture started moving on its own, cupboards opened and slammed shut, drawers slid across the room without a hand pushing them. There were mysterious knocking sounds that echoed through the walls, but when

Peggy or anyone else checked, no one was there. The knock seemed to come from empty rooms, from walls, from nowhere at all. Things even started flying through the air. Small objects, pens, coins, even pieces of paper, would suddenly levitate and dart across the room like they were being thrown by an invisible force. The house, which was supposed to be a safe place, had suddenly become a nightmare. The police get involved. After weeks of escalating incidents, Peggy called the police. Can you imagine how baffling that must have been for the officers? They came expecting maybe a domestic disturbance or a prank gone too far, but what they found was something they couldn't explain. One officer even reported seeing a chair move across the room all by

itself. They witnessed enough strange occurrences that they suggested the family contact the press. Media frenzy and paranormal investigators. Before long, the story exploded in the newspaper and on TV. Headlines screamed about the haunted house in Enfield. It captured the imagination of the nation. This caught the attention of Maurice Gross and Guy Lyon Playfair, two paranormal investigators from the Society for Psychical Research. They showed up at the Hodgson home loaded with equipment, cameras, tape recorders, EMF detectors, you name it. Almost immediately, they experienced the bizarre events themselves. They caught objects moving without anyone touching them, voices whispering and growling on tape, and even the sight of Janet levitating off her bed. Janet, the focus

of the haunting. Janet Hodgson, the youngest daughter, became the heart of the haunting. The phenomena seemed to follow her everywhere. Sometimes she would speak in a strange, deep voice, claiming to be a man named Bill Wilkins, who had died in the house years before. What made this eerie was that Janet would reveal things Bill supposedly knew, details about the house and the family that Janet had no way of knowing. Evidence and skepticism. For over a year, Maurice and Guy documented what was happening. They took photos, hours of audio recordings, and detailed notes. One famous photo seemed to capture Janet flying across her bedroom. But skeptics weren't convinced. Some caught Janet bending spoons or trying to fake phenomena.

Some thought it was all a big act for attention or money. The legacy of Enfield Poltergeist. Despite the doubts, the sheer amount of witnesses and evidence made it impossible to dismiss entirely. The Enfield haunting became one of the most famous ghost stories in modern history. It inspired books, documentaries, and movies, like The Conjuring 2, bringing the story to new generations. Peggy Hodgson never wavered in her story. Janet later admitted some events might have been exaggerated, but insisted the core haunting was real and unforgettable. Final thoughts. The Enfield Poultergeist remains one of the most compelling and mysterious cases of the paranormal.

Whether you believe in ghosts or not, it's hard to deny that something strange happened on Green Street in 1977. A single mother, two terrified daughters, skeptical neighbors, baffled police, and dedicated investigators all came together to create a story that still debated today. Was it real? A hoax? Something else? That's for you to decide. But one thing's for sure, it's a haunting story that won't be forgotten any time soon. The end.