This Paranormal Life - #275 Project Poltergeist - Scientists Study Possessed Boy

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

In 1961 a haunting gripped a quiet housing project in Newark, New Jersey. The strange phenomenon would lead to scientists studying the boy in question for paranormal abilities - was he controlling the supernatural or was it controlling him? What combination of Subway sandwich fillings keeps Rory awake at night? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life.VOTE FOR THIS PARANORMAL LIFE IN THE IRISH PODCAST AWARDShttps://www.theirishpodcastawards.ie/vote/ Support us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! -  thisparanormallife.com/storeMedium articlehttps://medium.com/truly-adventurous/project-poltergeist-745f2d498849Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunityAdvertise on This Paranormal Life via Gumball.fmResearch by Amy GrisdaleEdited by Louis BlatherwickIntro music by www.purple-planet.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What color is light? What dark forces can compel a being to jump? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello! Yo, yo, yo! Welcome back to This Paranormal Life. It is Tuesday, that means it's the time of the week when this here comedy paranormal podcast drops a new investigation. From investigators Kit Grimmelvenna, me, and rory powers who's sitting across from me oh yeah how you doing today rory i'm doing fantastic kit i'm so excited to be back in the studio investigating a brand new paranormal tale not gonna lie old rory was out last night and he had a couple drinks yeah shades on you're still wearing the hawaiian shirt from presumably last night yeah it started slow had a guinness had a rock shore that's not that slow it's okay then i had a martini then i had a pina colada an espresso martini to keep me

going and then back to another and i passed out because i blacked out and this morning i was thinking hey how am i gonna how am i gonna hey, how am I going to do this? How am I going to put on a brave face and investigate the paranormal? But then I drank an entire can of Monster Energy, ate two ice cream sandwiches, and now I'm back in top form. How are you alive? How are you living, breathing? You don't deserve it. You treat your body like a roller coaster.

My diet is the same diet as the kid from home alone whenever he's left to his own devices. It's just a family pack of mac and cheese. Yeah, you've been doing that since the day you moved out. The day you went to university, you just walked to the nearest ice cream shop, shoved your head underneath the Mr. Whippy machine, and just guzzled and guzzled. And set up booby traps in my university halls. Hey, it's working for you so far. So I think at this point, you're like Lemmy from Motorhead.

If you change your ways, you'll die. Yeah, I should release like a book or something. Well, now I mention it, Lemmy did die. Oh, okay. Change your ways. Whilst it is bizarre and paranormal in itself, Rory's diet is actually

not the subject of today's investigation. We do have a paranormal tale to dive into. Let's do it. Rory, it was the 6th of May, 1961, and little Ernie Rivers was in his bedroom all alone.

Okay. It was the eve of his 13th birthday. Oh, no. Hey, it's the eve of my birthday today. Oh, shit. We're recording this, so this really hits close to home. Wow, when you hear the rest of this story, you're going to hope not. Uh-oh. Ernie was used to being by himself though even on special occasions

his parents were pretty much both out of the picture so he lived with his grandmother Mabel Clark in the Felix Fudd housing project in Newark, New Jersey as much as she adored him she worked hard and didn't always have the time to entertain him this evening Grammy Mabel was getting some housework underway in her bedroom, and something peculiar happened. A glass jar that stood atop her dresser suddenly smashed to the floor,

splintering into tiny shards. Hmm. Mabel paused for a second, confused. If she didn't know better, it almost looked like it had moved by itself. But she shrugged and cleaned up the mess, telling herself it must have been balanced right on the edge, and finally succumbed to gravity. We've all been there before.

We heard a crash in the night, had a plate smash, and we can't really explain it, but our lives move fast. We're busy people. We just move on. It sounds like that's what Mabel's doing too. It's absolutely right.

You know, out of nowhere, a plate smashes out of nowhere, a glass smashes and you realize you're six espresso martinis deep. You are vibrating and just stumbling all over your kitchen, smashing everything in sight. Everyone at the party is saying, it's you, it's you, you have to leave. But we're just men with busy lives and we can't really stop to question why the glasses are smashing. We're men with busy lives screaming it's the eve of my birthday. Ernie heard the tinkling of breaking glass but thought nothing of it. But the memory surged back just two days later when something else happened they couldn't explain. They were eating breakfast in the kitchen when a crash was heard from the lounge. Then another. And another.

The pair rushed through the doorway into the living room only to see the last of a set of six cups hit the ground and break. That's getting harder to ignore. You basically have a spirit of some form in your house wrecking your shit. No one said spirit yet. No one said spirit. Grammy, what's going on? But Mabel didn't answer. She couldn't get her head around it. All six of the hooks that were holding the cups were firmly screwed into the wall. One falling could be accidental, but six was weird. Yeah, especially in the context of having

something break just days before. Mabel was a no-nonsense woman, but for the first time in his life, Ernie saw his grandmother's steadfast demeanor falter and things were only just getting started. Mabel was usually a pretty calm lady, but for the first time, he saw her granny dip her fists in holy water and start swinging in the living room. Praying she'd connect with something.

Grammy, I didn't know you could speak Latin. For the rest of the day, unattended objects hit the ground and broke into pieces. Glass bottles smashed on the bathroom floor. A bottle of antiseptic soared clean out of the bathroom and broke into smithereens

on the living room floor. Mabel walked up to it. What? This was inside the locked cabinet. How did it end up all the way out here? That's what she's wondering? How it got outside the cabinet? You're in a ghost twister. My steadfast amina is beginning to falter. Granny, you are 24 hours away from a ghost wedgie. Don't question anything. Just leave. Hold on to your goddamn undies.

She marched into the bathroom, her eyes darting back and forth, looking for anything out of the ordinary. She knew it wasn't Ernie messing around. She was feeling very on edge when that evening their neighbor, Yetta, came over to hang out. I mean, definitely don't invite more people into the mix. That sounds like a bad idea. Yeah, Yedda, bring cups. Bring plates. We're running low. You know, they kept it low-key for a while, but when the glass wine decanter started sliding across the table slowly by itself, the gig was up. Yedda reached out to catch it as it slid off the table, looking back at the others in astonishment. Mabel sighed, realizing she had to come clean about the spooky goings-on.

It's been happening for days. I'm starting to think something sinister might be going on. At that very moment, the living room lamp borderline exploded, sharring them all with shards of ceramic. All right, f*** it. That's it, we're getting out of here Ernie, go get your toothbrush and pajamas, let's go! Holy shit When stuff start exploding, I think that is fair play That is get out of Dodge

Yeah, I think I definitely have talked about it on the podcast before About the closest experience I had to something like this, which was once a light bulb just falling out of the socket in my house and smashing on the floor. That was pretty good. Which freaked me out a lot, left it up to chance. And then I think the next day or a few days later, I heard another smash downstairs really late at night when I was the only one in the house. So I grabbed my autographed Chipper Jones baseball bat and kept downstairs. I was going to kill a man.

I was going to kill whoever was in the house. I was so scared. And I went in to the kitchen and it was my cat on the counter, basically just caught red-handed, just pawing shit off of the countertop, being a sneaky little bastard. You do, as a person who doesn't own cats,

you do forget that cats do this. They love to do this shit. And I'll be honest, it's actually kind of adorable. When it's something that can't smash on a hard floor, it's really funny to watch them just like paw at a cup until it eventually gets knocked out. And you're like, no, no. And then they kind of look at you for a second and then bring the paw to the glass. You're like, no. And they just slap it off. And you're like, I can't be mad at you. The comedic timing is too good. They're great. They're basically

little entertainers. But it really shows you the level of privilege that cats enjoy over humans uh where if that had been a man pawing things off your counter you would have killed him as you said yes but a cat pawing things off a counter even if it wasn't your cat it's adorable yeah like sometimes like i'll go to the Subway sandwich restaurants and like hop behind the countertop. And yeah, if you eat in, it technically is a restaurant. I bring like candles and shit and I actually make it really classy. Sometimes I hop the counter and I'll just like start making my own sandwiches, putting shit together that shouldn't be together. Like turkey and I don't know, lettuce and cheese not that weird uh that's on the menu

then at the end i'm like i got the this like borderline 14 foot sub why bring the candles and the the manager is just like no no and i'm i'm doing like the cat thing but he's like he's like no don't do it i'm calling the police of course we're gonna arrest you uh somebody please get uh the baton chipper jones himself walks out of the back room with his own bat ready to beat your ass they had to hire him for security because i'd hit the joint so many times uh yeah not as cute when a grown man misbehaves. Subway's really affordable. Like, you don't need to steal sandwiches. I'd do it because I know that there's no way in hell they'd let me mix those meats.

It was turkey and lettuce, man. And cheese! And cheese, too! What kind of site I'd get? Put an institution for ordering something that wild. Read the menu. Read the menu. Hard cut sorori in a fancy restaurant.

Discovering the existence of surf and turf. What kind of insane asylum escapee is running this kitchen? Beef and shrimp? You've gone mad. Turkey lettuce cheese for me, please. Something civil. Yeah, that gave you the cojones to order what you really wanted. That's how you're running things here. I'll take a pineapple pizza.

Let me tell you, mad respect to the guy who coined the phrase surf and turf. Right. I just went for it. Because if you ordered beef and shrimp, someone probably would throw you out of the restaurant. But as soon as you give it a cool name like Surf and Turf, it sounds legit, right? Yeah. I didn't know what it was for a long time. I assumed it was like a flavor of Doritos. I didn't know it was like a fancy restaurant thing. It sounds so radical, doesn't it? Doritos, cool, Surf and Turf. Yeah. I think if you want to have weird, order weirder things at restaurants, you just need to come up for a name for it and then maybe you could get away with it right so your turkey lettuce cheese could be like the gobble

gobble milky salad or something yeah yeah or if you want like something catchy i don't know just workshop it if you want like a mickle which is like a pickle in a glass of milk they're gonna be like no we're not giving you that you're like're like, you guys don't serve nickels here? Nickels on the rocks? What the hell kind of place is this? And I'm like, oh shit. I mean, we have, yeah, I guess we have both those things. We could get you a nickel.

It's like, yeah, I do want a nickel. Ice cold, please. And they might give it to you. Something to think about. You're a terror to the restaurant industry. You can always tell on this podcast when i have said nonsense for 15 minutes because i always end it with something to think about i'm getting distracted here let's get back to our story i'm pretty sure you last said that when you pitched

arming dogs with jetpacks something to think about they could walk themselves to the moon. So, we last left Ernie and Mabel as they fled their house in a panic. Now, they stayed with relatives in the next town over, but unfortunately were not able to stay for long. Within a few days, they were forced to return home, where the paranormal activity continued to come thick and fast. They lost count after about 20 different incidents. Ernie saw a pepper grinder float into the air, then soar across the kitchen and land on the table next to him. On another occasion, he heard a squeaking sound from above and then looked up and saw the light bulb unscrewing itself before dropping to the ground. You're kidding me. That is literally what happened to me.

Within a few days, the word was spreading with neighbors and the local press started sniffing around for a story. A news reporter called Douglas Eldridge turned up hoping for an interview and Mabel reluctantly let him inside. She figured if this was really happening, then why not share it with the world or at least the greater Newark area? What year did you say this took place in again? 1961. So we do have easy access to cameras, but maybe not as easy access to video cameras if we're talking about evidence that this interviewer would want. Yeah, 100%. I think that's right.

This does feel like the kind of golden age of, I'll go ahead and say it, spirit encounters in houses, poltergeist-like activity. I can just kind of imagine the grainy Polaroid images of things floating. Ernie was in his bedroom with the door closed while the adults sat around the kitchen table. Mr. Eldridge took a good look around the house, trying to weed out any trickery that might be afoot. He thought the whole story was pretty laughable and might make a good filler piece in the paper. But their heads whipped around just in time to see a heavy tankard bouncing on the tiles.

The reporter was freaked out. Suddenly, it didn't seem funny anymore. Yeah, serves him right. This poor woman invited him into her home so she could tell her story of a haunting, and he's looking for wires and trickery, trying to call her out and expose her. I wish one of these little teacups cracked him in the back of the head, like a Chipper Jones baseball bat. Jesus, that's pretty hard.

I mean, that's a bit dramatic, all right? I saw that cup half an hour ago in the back of the shelf. He grabbed the shelf, giving it a shake, thinking a screw might have come loose, but it was solid as a rock. Mabel barely blinked. It's the fifth time today. We're getting used to it. A screw's loose in your f***ing head, mate. That's what's wrong. You need to calm down.

I'm sorry. This guy's just doing his job, man. He's being a skeptic. Yeah, well, I just, I wish more people would not be so cruel to believers in the paranormal. would not be so cruel to believers in the paranormal this person is going through something a pretty pretty dramatic poltergeist haunting i just wish it would be taken seriously one more line and he's out that's all i'm saying okay just tell him to watch himself i know it's not happening now but he's like uh i'm gonna take out a voice recorder here to ask you a few questions if you don't mind it's like of, of course I mind, you goddamn motherfucker. You came here to prove me wrong, you goddamn piece of shit.

Calm down. You're very stressed by the ghost. I have to use the bathroom. Is it upstairs? You're done. You're done. Get out. I said, what more request than you're done?

So the journalist left, unable to get out of his mind what he had seen. So the journalist left, unable to get out of his mind what he had seen. He dug through old newspapers, antique books and dusty encyclopedias for hours, making copious notes for research for his piece. By the end, he was ready to write his article. The headline read, Project Poltergeist, and outlined the events that had been unfolding. Rory, I guess I just said it. We've got a poltergeist on our hands. I love it. I love it. This guy changed his tune real fast, didn't he?

I mean, this is exactly what you want. You want someone in the news to take this case seriously so you can actually start getting people involved who can help you with the situation, whether that's a priest, whether that's a paranormal investigator, whether that is a news journalist who can just research the history of your house and figure out if anything tragic or grisly took place within its walls. Whether that is another rival, slightly brawnier poltergeist

that can celebrity deathmatch style have a fistfight with your poltergeist. You got a lot of options, but it sounds like they're moving in the right direction. You know, we've talked about poltergeists many a time on This Paranormal Life, but we don't always dive into the intricacies. Let's have a refresher.

It's a German word meaning knocking ghost. They tend to haunt children in particular, which is, I guess, where the horror movie trope comes from of like children are the ones to get possessed yeah not adults oh apparently affecting girls more often than boys oftentimes the haunted are suffering from emotional distress too as if the poltergeist can sense the vulnerability and uses it against them wow but generally we know what their behavior is like it's this kind of stuff think you know Enfield haunting.

Some of the most famous paranormal cases. Things flying around. Standard issue bumps in the night. Yeah, things being moved about the house. Your set of drawers is in the living room. Your grandfather clock is thrown down the stairs. And traditionally, in a lot of the cases that we've investigated, there is some sort of explanation as

to why this thing is kicking about and why it ain't too happy i mean we had some cases where point it the house was built on like a execution ground or like on top of a well where somebody was thrown down um there's usually some history there to give even a partial explanation as to why this thing is losing its shit. You're absolutely right. And on some level, you know, this is a comedy podcast. It's fun to talk about. But, you know, poltergeists are so intrinsic to the location they haunt the house, say that, you know, these things have a real impact on house prices. You know, if it's happened before where houses are sold and the new buyers didn't know that they were quote unquote haunted,

it's led to lawsuits and arguments over, hey, we should have known this before we moved in because it's going to be hard to sell again. Yeah. I will say that's a con, but it's also a massive plus because if you are like this family in today's case, being haunted by a poltergeist, you can just up and leave and he's pretty much stuck there. You know, you can't get away. It's not like, yeah, a different cryptid or paranormal beast that will follow you wherever you go.

Yeah, the vegetable man, he's in the back of your car wrapping his little corn fingers around your throat. Yeah, you don't got to worry about the resale value of your condo, but you got to worry about your vital signs because he's going to bleed you dry, literally. Needless to say, I just think we should do a quick PSA on how to defend yourself best against a poltergeist.

This is a good idea. We might even have listeners who have had encounters with poltergeists. So we got a quick three-step how to defend yourself, guys. Number one, crystals. All right. Obsidian is best, but tourmaline will also get the job done. The idea is you want a crystal that's so black that it absorbs the spirit's energy. Holy shit.

Is that a real thing? Yeah. Holy shit, is that a real thing? Yeah. I didn't, like, you always hear about crystals being used in sort of paranormal investigations, but yeah, I didn't really understand how they were being used. Like, do I throw it at the thing? Do I like put it in? Like a pokeball?

Yeah, do I put it in, try and ram it into the barrel of a gun and fire a crystal? But you're saying you use it to, yeah, essentially capture its energy or something like that. I believe so. I mean, I don't know the actual intricacies of how they work, but our researcher Amy did indicate that there's something you can do with, like, salting a crystal

which turbocharges it, and she said you need to be careful it doesn't get too powerful. What? Does it explode? I don't know. And then does it release poltergeist trapped within the stone like you i don't know no time to explain though on to number two display an evil eye around your home now whilst these things sound evil they are actually great for warding off spirits you're gonna have to elaborate on that one buddy display an evil eye what does that mean is that something i do with my own face like do a weird squint like

the people's eyebrow from the rock or is it like the eyes you find inside temples in the legend of zelda it's closer to the latter uh you know, this kind of thing. So these are ornamental evil eyes you could hang up. They don't look that evil. I'm going to be honest with you guys. All that does. That looks a little weird. That looks like a fish egg. Yeah.

They're intense looking. And I don't, I think to be honest, I think there's a pretty awesome deep ancient lore to these. I mean, just firing up the wikipedia page evil eye is translatable into turkish greek hebrew romanian italian arabic persian and i'm seeing the the term 1500 bc coming up here so i think they go back a long way holy moly maybe even to the eye of horus in ancient egypt um that's not but that is just off the eye of Horus in ancient Egypt. That's nuts.

But that is just off the top of my Wikipedia page. I will say there's quite a cool little piece of modern history in terms of, did you know this is partially where the rock and roll hand symbol comes from? The devil horns? No. What? You know when you, yeah, I'm just doing it for Rory, but when you put your uh two middle fingers down and put your index and pinky up in a rock and roll symbol

not to be confused with the spider-man hand gesture similar but different tuck those thumbs in um yeah i think you tuck your thumb right yeah and i believe this was popularized by rock legend Ronnie James Dio. And he allegedly got it from his Italian grandmother, who she would do this to ward off spirits. That is so cool. So there's probably some history there. She'd be like trying to ward off the spirits and he started doing it and then he would do it at concerts. And then it became a rock and roll thing. Wow.

Seems weird to ward off spirits with the devil horns. I don't think she intended it to be devil horns. Right. She wasn't like, be gone, spirits. It's like, wow. Blasting Metallica. She would play a wicked guitar solo. Have it a great time.

I have not seen this eye before but essentially what we're talking about here is an ancient cctv camera used to deter the malicious intent of spirits similar to how a thief perhaps would not break into a goddamn subway and make whatever kind of f***ed up sandwich they wanted because that would be ridiculous because they're c. It'd be crazy. Yeah, if there was a camera, they wouldn't do it. Similar to maybe in a house, if you're a demon and you're like, here we go, man, I'm going to throw some cups. I'm going to flip this old lady on her ass. I'm going to, oh, shit.

You see they got the eye up there and you're like, oh, God. Okay, I'm being watched. I'm actually going to be on my best behavior. There's a sign up in the corner. Oh, God. Okay, I'm being watched. I'm actually going to be on my best behavior. There's a sign up in the corner. Smile, you're on evil eye camera. Right, yeah. I don't know who's reviewing that footage.

God? The big man upstairs? Maybe just a different demon? But you're right. It's kind of a deterrent. It's almost similar also to having a plaque outside your house that says, you know, warning guard dog. Yeah. On premise.

Even if you don't have a guard dog. I'm all about that stuff, guys. Why risk it? You know, put eyes up in your house, put crystals up your ass. Whatever you think will help you not get cursed in this world. Just do it. No one said put a crystal up your ass, just to be clear. Finally, number three.

No one said put a crystal up your ass, just to be clear. Finally, number three, the nuclear option in this scenario is hiring an energy healer, such as a Reiki master. Since the pandemic, many are now working remotely. So for as little as $220 per session, they can mentally travel to your home and clear the space of spirits. They don't even have to come in person? Apparently. They can astral project themselves into your house? That is very cool and very COVID safe. I am very on board with this.

But you forgot to mention option four, which is Jimper Jones autographed baseball bat. Does it make a difference though if he's signed it? It doesn't, but I really think that Chip would get a kick out of it. Yeah, through the roof. So with that said, remember, guys, stay safe. We're about to get back to the story.

But first, a quick message from our sponsors. Okay, back to the story. When Mabel read the piece written by the journalist, she was struck by a line towards the end. Poltergeists usually feed on the psychic energy of adolescence, and young Ernie could well be the source of the unusual activity. Oh, shit. Pretty wild thing to write in a newspaper, by the way, about a little kid.

Blaming a child for the fact that ghosts is real. You did say, though, when you were describing a poltergeist, they're often known to haunt kids kids more than adults right that was a part of it it's true get your crystals ernie she knew spread those cheeks no no no crystals are coming she knew her little ernie wasn't responsible but she did suspect he was involved. In fact, she was desperately trying to hide the truth from Ernie, that the cause was actually Ernie Sr. Allow me to explain. Before moving in with his grandma, Ernie lived with his parents and an earnest senior. Their relationship was strained to say the least. Anne was a meek woman with endless medical problems. Big Ernie was a violent man connected to the mob. Jeez.

He refused to fork out any money for his ailing wife's medical bills, claiming he was saving it all to buy presents for his son. But Anne wasn't buying it. One night in late 1956, things reached their breaking point. Ernie Senior was fast asleep in bed. Anne was ill again, and as usual her husband refused to get her medical treatment. She couldn't sleep for the pain and sat up late into the night staring bitterly at her husband. She looked at the clock and saw it said 5am. She'd been up stewing all night. It was time to take action.

Ernest, are you tired of me? She said. Go to sleep, woman. You're nothing but a walking doctor's bill to me and a pain in my ass at that. Okay, Ernie Sr., I hope you're a Chipper Jones fan because you're getting the bat, brother.

You piece of shit. Wrong answer. Oh, shit! Rory's at the crime scene. Whoa! I was just gonna break his legs! I didn't know you- okay, you do you, I guess. Ernie Jr. lost both his parents in the blink of an eye as his mother was taken away

in handcuffs by the police. When questioned by detectives, she maintained her husband was going to kill her, so she had to strike preemptively. She may well have been right. Either way, she was given a 22-year sentence and Ernie went to live with his grandmother. That's a tough upbringing, man. That's got to be hard for a kid. Back to the time of our story, Mabel was of course worried that others in her building might start accusing her grandson of causing the paranormal events. So she reached out to various authorities to try and get to the bottom of this mystery. First, the director of the local housing division. He assembled a team and had them pour over every inch of the four-room apartment. But after finding no cause for the disturbance,

he was starting to think there was something unexplainable going on, because there was nothing to suggest it was trickery. Next up was an amateur exorcist called Edward del Russo. Oh. Which we went from, like, housing authority to the paranormal investigators real fast which i appreciate you got to try a little bit of everything when he arrived at mabel's apartment he was confident he could banish the vengeful spirit whoever it may be and be finished in time for dinner all he brought with him was a thick candle which he placed in the middle of the dining table and lit it that's

hardcore at this point he basically leaned back in a chair, put his feet up, his hands behind his head, and said, all we need to do now is let this burn down and then the poltergeist will be poltergone. This is where the family are like, you know he must be good because all he brought is a candle.

Actually, I forgot my suitcase. That had a lot of the shit I need in there. The candle was basically so I could see the contents forgot my suitcase. That had a lot of the shit I need in there. The candle was basically so I could see the contents of my suitcase. Really, it can't banish anything, but it does smell like coconut. You ever heard of this Yankee candle? Shit's f***ing delicious smelling. Oh my God, we're so screwed. Anyway, that'll be 50 bucks.

That evening, Mabel and Ernie sat quietly waiting to see if anything else would happen. There was no ghostly interference of any kind, and they slept soundly for the first time in weeks. Pretty hopeful. The next morning, however, things were worse than ever. This is the problem. If you're going to get an exorcist involved, you need to make sure you're getting someone who can do the job to completion. Because if you do it halfway. You just pissed them off. You're just poking the bear.

It's not going to make things better. That's why you have to make. Don't start with the amateur exorcist. Right. Start with the professional. That's like hiring an amateur surgeon to sort out your brain tumor, then eventually hiring the expert brain surgeon. Yeah, who has to fix a lot of the shit that the first guy did to your body.

Next, a newspaper article about the haunting made its way into the hands of university professor Charles D. Regé. Nothing to do with the music genre, I don't believe. Disappointing, but fine. He's like, yes, I am from the Caribbean, and sure, from time to time I do enjoy a rum and coke and some loud music through some bass speakers, but I can't say I enjoy reggae specifically. He listened to their entire story from start to finish, and was actually eager to see some poltergeist activity with his own eyes. And boy, did he. Before long, a heavy lamp soared into the air on its own and landed at his feet with a crunch. He heard Ernie cry out in pain in the background. He'd been hit with a heavy ceramic

salt cellar. It zoomed across the room and struck him like a missile. Things were moving around by themselves wherever he looked. The sugar bowl was hovering. An iron soared through the kitchen and only stopped because it got caught on its own plug and cord. What's left? What's left in this house? The three of them ran from the apartment as the TV fell to the ground behind them. Once they were a safe distance, he panted and told them his theory. Okay, I know Ernie isn't responsible. I've seen that with my own eyes.

Wow. But I believe he is wrapped up in this business. I think this is a case of RSPK, Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis. Under the right circumstances, unseen forces can interact with a human agent using a connection to affect physical items in the house. Under the right circumstances, unseen forces can interact with a human agent, using a connection to affect physical items in the house.

The conduit between the worlds of the living and the dead is often a teenager with a connection to the spirit. Just like Ernie. Hmm, alright, I... What university is this guy a professor from again? A university in the world of the dead. It only exists through the body of a teenager go to jail go to jail sir do not pasco do not collect two hundred dollars um hey he threw out a lot of big words there but it sounds like it is plausible i kind of understand at least the argument he's making whether i believe in it or not is one thing, but...

I guess if you've got nothing else to go on, this is as good a plan as any. He's talking very confidently, which is one thing. He wanted to experiment on Ernie, but needed to call in reinforcements first. Thankfully, there was a parapsychology conference, aka basically a paranormal investigator conference, happening in Manhattan at that very moment. Wow. So we called up his contact, Dr. William Roll, an Oxford-educated German psychic researcher

who set up an experiment at Duke University, North Carolina. You might be sensing this is somewhere we've been in this paranormal life before, which is the golden age of paranormal research. You can still be a professor and investigate the paranormal. Yeah. And this is an interesting subsection of the paranormal. We're not talking about UFOs or cryptids here. We're talking about very bizarre poltergeist activity and the connection between the living humans and the dead. And that's how they were able to, I guess, study this in university conditions because they weren't saying we're going to investigate ghosts.

They're saying this boy seems to have a connection. He seems to be able to move things around with his mind. Yeah. Yeah, this is some Stranger Things shit right here. It really is. You know, Eleven didn't have a very easy life up to this point either. It's true. Ernie went to the research

facility, joined by Sergeant Hopper. They entered the research facility at Duke University, and even as they walked the corridor to the lab, a book flew off a shelf nearby. Oh my god! The doctor muttered to himself, God, it is here. nearby. Oh my god! The doctor muttered to himself.

God, it is here. Okay. Just keep going. He's a German psychic researcher. What do you think he sounds like? I just wasn't expecting that. Ernie was placed in a room with a secret one-way mirror set up.

Scientists stood around and observed him closely. Within minutes, Ernie grabbed a tape measure and chucked it at the back of his grandmother's head. What? Dr. Rolls and the other scientists' hearts sank. He couldn't believe he'd been hoodwinked by a teenager. But the proof was right in front of him. Ernie had been caught throwing things around the room. No, no, no. I refuse to accept that as the explanation. You told me shit was like flying by itself in like in front

of the grandmother. Things were just being knocked off the countertop. There's no way she missed him pushing it like a cat. The plot is thickening at least. I can't believe they've gone to this length to get him into a laboratory to test him. This is insane. Just imagine Dr. Roll behind the mirror. Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. Jesus fucking Christ. I flew all this away from Germany for this.

They decided to, at least for the next step, subject Ernie to a lie detector test to be sure. They measured his brain activity, administered a Rorschach test, and a multitude of other psychological procedures. They concluded that, although he had potential, he was a daydreamer with below-average intelligence. Rude.

Very rude. But I heard it before, brother. Stay strong. Have you ever done a Rorschach test? Of course not. Are you Ernie? You're the daydreamer? Have you? Yeah.

I tried to do a few of them once, but they were still enough Subway sandwiches. They'll put a Rorschach in front of you. That's for sure. They hold up one inkblot, turkey. They hold up another, cheese, lettuce. Why are you showing me all the same images? It was time to take the polygraph.

They started off slow and simple. Did you get to North Carolina on an airplane? Yes. Do you go to public school at home in Newark? Uh-huh, yeah. But things took a turn when they got to the meat of the questioning. Have you been throwing objects around yourself, trying to fool us? Ernie looked horrified.

No, sir, no! The doctor looked down at the paper. He was telling the truth. What about those tape measures? Did you whip those at your grandma? I didn't throw anything, I swear! The needle didn't budge. Ernie was giving honest answers.

This left the researchers with only one conclusion. Ernie was being possessed. I was gonna say that is kind of the only if they see him throw the shit, he says he wasn't doing it. Unless he's lying, of course. Although, the test says he isn't. It's confusing.

Dr. Rohl, as you pointed out, Rory, already knew that he couldn't be responsible for faking all of it, right? He'd seen it himself. Objects flying from all angles, not from Ernie's hands. As they found out more about his hard life to date, how he suffered at school, how despite his meek personality he was worried that someday his own anger would bubble to the surface like his mother's, they were at a loss. He seemed genuinely unconscious during

his moments of possession. I mean it sounds like this kid needs a very different form of help from real normal adults. He shouldn't have been brought to a lab and asked if he's a wizard. He should get genuine help from social workers and the community. Did you fly here on a plane? I'm hungry.

Can I have a snack? Answer the questions, Ernie. I'm hungry. Can I have a snack? Answer the questions, Ernie. I'm cold. Can I have a jacket? The boy would not cooperate. They concluded that the poltergeist experiences were connected to the psychological distress of living through such terrible family turmoil. Unseen forces controlling objects around him appeared to evolve into unseen forces controlling him too. The scientists actually had more paranormal theories they wanted to explore to see if Ernie could harness the ghostly connection for himself. But unfortunately, once the rest of the scientists saw Ernie chuck a tape measure across the room, it's

pretty hard to get funding for the research. Yeah, and I think that's for the best. I don't think these men should be allowed to do anything else with this child. The study came to an end, and Ernie was sent to live with his aunt and uncle. But it wasn't exactly the end of the ghostly happenings. Whilst it never again reached the fever pitch it did while living with his grandma, they were still plagued by objects flying around the house. But at least Ernie got the family and stability he needed. At the age of 18, he joined the Marine Corps, and things pretty much tapered off after that. Ernie stayed in his home state of New Jersey, eventually got married, and started a family of his own. The tales of the poltergeist became family legend, although the angry Ernie Sr. seemed to rear

a spooky head from time to time. Ernie's wife claimed to experience some unusual phenomena in the house. An occasional glass would drop in the kitchen from time to time. There was one moment in particular she never forgot as long as she lived. She awoke in the middle of the night to glimpse what she believed to be a man sitting on their windowsill. Oh, I don't like that at all. Startled, she jostled Ernie to let him know what happened. Honey, wake up. I need you to see this. Ernie answered her as though he knew what she was seeing,

despite his eyes remaining shut. Just go back to sleep. Oh my god. Don't worry about it. That's a terrifying answer to get. Good Lord. Is that some sort of manifestation

of the poltergeist? I don't know what that is. Is it Ernie Senior? Is he the spirit? I guess so. Could be, yeah. Rory,

this concludes the tale of Project Poltergeist. A tale that has been around for years. As I pointed out, it started in the 60s and one that was documented at the time.

I believe it was largely popularized. At least I and our listeners came across it. It was published by Truly Adventurous. It looks like you can read their story on medium.com, written by Salaya Blancaflor. Probably one of the more interesting poltergeist tales we've covered. Yeah, and I know we kind of got to the point where they were basically doing experiments in a lab until it was shut down.

But all we know is we were told it was shut down. Project Poltergeist could be alive and well to this day. Absolutely. Poltergeist could be alive and well to this day. Absolutely. In some shadowy back alley, they're combining turkey with cheese, turkey with pineapple, turkey with God knows what next. Merging them all in a giant machine. And the German scientist is going, shut it down.

Shut it down. Of course. He's wearing a subway apron. Shut shut it down there's too much flavor there's too much flavor uh that is i'm getting off track but i think that is what the head office of subway looks like german scientists combining different flavors that was project blt that was project hearty italian bread controversial experiment to make a f***ing nut sandwich uh wow what a case i really enjoyed that one well done kit and of course to our researcher amy for pulling that one together what a great story yeah a really cool case i mean we do have to come to an agreement, or not, at the end of an episode, whether our paranormal case that we've mentioned

is truly paranormal or not. We've been butting heads recently. We have. We've had a couple close... It's almost come to fists, a few episodes. I was just reading today about a legendary podcast duo, Desus and Miro, splitting up having beef that the podcast has not ended is that the way this paranormal life is going to end we're going to

have beef over yeses and noes we might find out right now because it's time to come down pulling out the chip sign bat ready to chow down on my head uh i think for me personally, if we're looking at this case through the lens of a poltergeist incident, the only big problem with it, aside from zero evidence at all, is the fact that the poltergeist activity left the original site and followed alongside the boy. Which, again, that kind of breaks the rules of poltergeist hauntings. They're supposed to stay localized in one area, and I know the scientists had some explanations to justify why it could be traveling with this kid, but we also saw the kid basically hit his granny with the back of the head with a stapler. Right. So that is pretty damning.

I think if I was one of the scientists watching through the two-way mirror, I would probably be skeptical from that point onward as well. It's more than fair. You know, there's been a bunch of cases we've covered recently where it just feels like the modus operandi for many of these tales is just for there to be no evidence, which sucks. Like, this show that we make is based on having something for us to discuss, something for us to chew on, a picture here, a video there, a voice recording there.

Yeah. But even in this scenario, really, like you mentioned, even if it's a photograph, I don't know, something, something. We're on your side. We're trying to be convinced. I mean, Devil's Avocado, quite a lot of people did say they saw it between the journalist, the neighbor, the scientist, etc. Lots of different professions as well. Not just paranormal investigators who were wanting to see something. Talk about news reporters who thought they were going in for a joke.

It's true. You know, maybe we're just sheltered little armchair paranormal investigators. But I truly do believe, you know, we kind of, to put our stamp on it, I think we need to see more. And whether that means we need to track down Ernie in his old age now and see it for ourselves, I don't know. But otherwise, it's a no. It's a no from me too this week, unfortunately. I feel like a grump. I feel like a buzzkill. I feel like the guy at Subway Sandwich is shutting you down just for trying to do what you love best.

Yeah, man. But hey, sometimes you have to be the bearer of bad news and that is this week, unfortunately. But that doesn't mean we're not going to come back next Tuesday with another case and start all over again. You're damn right, Rory. And if you can't wait until Tuesday, people can actually check out a bunch of other paranormal cases before then. How do they do that, kid? Head on over to patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life. It's our official Patreon. If you don't know what Patreon is, I can't help you.

I can't help you. Well, maybe we could help them a little bit, right? I can't help you. We could tell them about what the service is. All right, old codger. All right, grandma, let's put you to bed. All right, how about that? I think we could probably at least tell them how it works or what they can get.

Oh, yeah, let's sit on the campfire and listen to your stories about World War II, you old codger. All right, really rude to a soldier who fought for your freedoms. Yeah, that's not fair. Thank you for defending our freedom and honor, but also get to bed. Yeah, old culture. Give me the iPad. If you don't know what Patreon is, I can't help you, granddad.

On our Patreon, we have a 50 plus full length bonus episodes available for just $5. That gets you instant access to that back catalog. We've also started a second bonus podcast.

This is the after party. Every Friday, it's behind the scenes, shooting the shit, stuff that doesn't make it to the regular feed. That means if you're only listening to the free This Part of My Life episodes on the main feed, you're getting less than half the whole pie, bud.

It's true. We make nine episodes a month. That's kind of crazy. Yeah, you're only getting half the foot long all the crazy shit is on patreon and that's not all we have over there isn't that right rory there's so much more you can get uh cool this paranormal life merchandise like our customized coin you can also get entered into a raffle where every month we give away an artifact from the actual show itself that we've used before. Will it be Rory's signed bat? Maybe.

Probably not. I want to hold on to that. I think people might like it. I think that's in an evidence locker in a police station. So I can't give that one away, unfortunately. And of course, one of the most illustrious and sought after rewards you can get on Patreon is for our top two Patreon tiers,

we will give you a custom shout out right here on the show, which is what we're going to do right now. So a special thank you to Tom Schlottig. Tom Schlottig's got a rig. This guy has a gaming rig, the likes of which I've never seen. Whoa.

We're talking 19 supercomputers. Do you know what? Now that I think about it, I think he might just be mining for Bitcoin. I think he told me it was a gaming rig, but actually he's pretty rich. Gamers can be rich. You know, maybe he's really good at video games. I don't know, man. I'm pretty

sure this is the computer that NASA used to send astronauts to the moon. I don't know if he's just gaming on that thing. Thanks also to Philip Surgener. Philip, star of the Free Philly campaign. It was a star of the Free Philly campaign it was a kind of loosely

Free Willy related campaign to try and get him out of jail early I don't know in retrospect I think he deserved

to be there what did he do a lot of bat related offenses oh I've been there before brother get out soon let us know

how we can help I'll bake you a cake with a bat in it so you can escape thanks to Molly Sieve Wright do you want a Sieve Wright? then head on down to Molly Sieve Wright where you can get everything

glasses, spectacles laser correction eye surgery that's cool can I get some sunglasses? what color do you want? black we're out of black so all right um i think you really want the laser eye correction surgery no i'm fine for now just a pair of ray bands of

any color we're out of those two really the surgery sir i think you're gonna want that this is a wild question do any sunglasses do you have any glasses of any kind left currently no oh but lasers many many many lasers and this is another messed up question but have you ever performed the surgery before once on a guinea pig okay that is now blind sure thanks to stephanie fill pot stephanie i really need you to fill my pot i'm down here on my hands and knees begging for just a coin. A single gold coin. To be tossed in the bucket of the paranormal peasants. The pot of the paranormal peasants.

I really would have appreciated it. Because it's getting a little... I saw a moth fly out of here recently. So I need a bit of coinage. Thanks to Jasmine Naswell. Go on down to Jazz Nas's Razzmatazz. This is the place you want to go to get all your wild costumes. It's a bad name for a shop. Jazz Naz's Razzmatazz. It's really

confusing. I don't know what they do. Costumes, you said? Yeah, it's a costume store. Any costume you want. Okay, okay. Can I have a sexy nurse costume? Let me just check the stock online here. Oh, no. Must be sold out. Can I get anything else? A sexy fireman costume. Anything sexy. What sexy costumes do you have? We do have sexy laser eye surgery.

Okay. Is that a costume or is that an invasive surgery? Let me just check. Judging by the price, which is $7,000, it does appear to be a service. Yeah. We don't have any costumes, but we have a laser and a blind guinea pig. Pick your poison. Thanks to Georgia Gibson.

Georgia Gibson barbecues the best ribs, son. They are 10 out of 10. Any animal you even want. The ribs are so good, you start talking in a southern drawl. We're talking pig ribs, beef ribs, gator ribs, swan ribs. Did you even know a swan has ribs? That's not okay. Whatever you want.

Thanks to Stephanie McCallum. If you have anyone that's kind of getting up in your grill, annoying you, bugging you, and you need to kind of leave them a threatening message just to get them to back off, Stephanie will call them. Stephanie will call them for you. I'll call them for you.

How threatening? That sounds borderline illegal. It's not. It's like an implied threat. So it's like, hey, don't come around. I wouldn't come around here anymore if I were you. I'd leave Rory alone if I were you. You're right.

That is pretty threatening. Well, but she didn't say anything. I wouldn't come around here anymore if I were you. I'd leave Rory alone if I were you. That is pretty threatening. But she didn't say anything. Imagine answering the phone. I wouldn't come around here anymore. What? She's been eating the ribs. She's got that, I wouldn't come around here anymore, son. Thank you, Stephanie.

Thanks to Owen Fairney. Owen Fairney doesn't play fairly. Whatever game it is, he'll find a sneaky little way to cheat. You know, if you're playing football with them and you score a goal against them, you just take out a penknife and just deflate the ball. Yeah, it really just ruins the day for everyone. It's not even cheating. Thanks also to Alex Moore.

Alex always wants a little bit more. More fun, more booze, more party. Let's go more, more, more. More life, more drugs. Let's go. He's less of like a human as he is like a black hole. Like he just all consuming like more. He takes, he doesn't give.

Planet stars, galaxies, more. He might be coming for us. I think he's Omnitron from Transformers. He's a planet-eating robot. Is that a real thing? It's not Omnitron, but he has a... That's so f***ing sick. A planet-eating robot?

Oh, my God. I'm paraphrasing for sure. I really hope that is a real, not like real in real life, but in the world of Transformers. Oh yeah. It was Unicron. He was a Transformer,

I believe the size of a planet. And he was voiced by Orson Welles. Whoa. That's badass. That's a big robot. That's what. That's a big robot. That's what they say when they saw him. I was just thinking of the COVID variant. Yeah.

Unicron. Also pretty deadly. Thanks also to Spencer Carter. When Spencer Carter found out that all of Lil Wayne's albums were like The Carter 3, The Carter 2, he was like, I'm Carter. Also, I'm going to make my own mixtape. I'm going to make my own rap album. That's cool. That Carter, whatever number.

It wasn't great, mate. I'll be honest. Yikes. It's just like, it's hard to make a mix. Whenever all the life experiences you're drawing on is like being a sandwich artist. It's like limited. Like, yes, he can rap about flavor combinations and stuff and i guess it was pretty exciting that time rory attacked him with a bat but

yeah like it's not quite i didn't get any royalties by the way i was featured heavily in those songs and i did sound of a bat is the subway floor tiles is actually a big sample in the mix. Thanks lastly, but not leastly today to Shan Stevenson. Shan has got a plan. Doesn't want to give too much away, but it involves a naive but caring grandmother, a stapler, and a German scientist. Okay. She's going to throw a stapler at an old woman in front of a scientist? Because it worked pretty well for Ernie. I'm pretty sure that turned it into a movie.

So, Shan, you know, I don't knock the hustle. Shan Stevenson threw the stapler and said to the scientist, Best are believing, son. Nice. That's right. She's been eating the ribs. She's been eating the ribs. Hey, thank you, Shan. Thank you to everyone scientists. Best start believing, son. Nice, dude. That's right, she's been eating the ribs. She's been eating the ribs. Hey, thank you, Shan.

Thank you to everyone else we've shanted out, shouted out on this week's episode. And we're going to pick them up next week on Tuesday after a brand new paranormal tale. Of course,

catch us the end of this month with a new bonus episode. And on Friday with a freaking deacon after party. Let's go see you soon guys thanks for tuning in bye