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The South Shields Poltergeist: One Family's Fight Against an Invisible Intruder
In December 2005 a family began to experience poltergeist-like phenomena in their home. Slowly but steadily the phenomena escalated, and in July 2006 the authors were asked to investigate. This book is a chilling diary of an ongoing poltergeist case which the authors believe rivals any previously documented.
386 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 23, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 22, 2022
This will possibly be a long review.
Years ago, I was in a ghost group that investigated haunted buildings, mostly abandoned. It was fascinating until I was kicked out. Reason being that I opened a can of pop while it was supposed to be quiet time. There were mediums in the group who believed they were communing with spirits. As soon as my fizzy drink opened, the noise made everyone run. There was a near stampede while I laughed until I slipped off my chair. I wasn't being cruel, only thoughtless. It made me laugh so much because these people screamed and showed great fear.
I mention this because the investigators in this book were determined, as they should be, and also brave. They did not run.
Secondly, memory can be extremely fickle. Years ago again, I worked at an old country hospital, a few years before it was knocked down. Everyone claimed it was haunted but no one knew who by and why. It was more of an urban legend. One day on shift, it was hot and busy. I went down for a break and when I went back up the stairs, I sprayed body spray on myself, paranoid I might be sweaty and smell.
A housekeeper walked down after me and stopped dead. She could smell perfume quite suddenly and seemingly from nowhere. I said nothing. A week or so later I threw a pencil at my boss as he went down the very same staircase ( he was an idiot) and ran away. Rumours began to circulate of a ghost on the stairs. Rumour turned to facts and so on. Everyone claimed a spooky experience or claimed to feel cold spots, a presence etc. One 'true' story even appeared in an local article. A member of staff claimed a poltergeist was active and many people believed it. I kept quiet and watched the mayhem unfold with interest. After the hospital closed, there was even a seance conducted, specifically to communicate with the ghost on the stairs.
I mention this because experiences run away with people, events can be subjective and rumours become solid fact. Some people see what they need or want to see.
The one thing that prevents all this is evidence. Evidence that cannot be dismissed or cast aside.
The investigators in this book do a great job of collecting data without real prior judgement and I admire that. If, and for me, it's a big if, poltergeists exist, that's how the truth will be uncovered. Many people need to see to believe but evidence in most cases, does not lie.
Excellent job done by all and it really was refreshing to read about what might well be a genuine case without all the hearsay or urban legend type material added.
That can be corrupted easily, and exaggerated, which is why I mentioned the story I did.
Maybe someday, I will get to mention my brief membership with a UFO hunting group, it involved several soggy cheese sandwiches and an argument over a what was in fact, an plane.
Years ago, I was in a ghost group that investigated haunted buildings, mostly abandoned. It was fascinating until I was kicked out. Reason being that I opened a can of pop while it was supposed to be quiet time. There were mediums in the group who believed they were communing with spirits. As soon as my fizzy drink opened, the noise made everyone run. There was a near stampede while I laughed until I slipped off my chair. I wasn't being cruel, only thoughtless. It made me laugh so much because these people screamed and showed great fear.
I mention this because the investigators in this book were determined, as they should be, and also brave. They did not run.
Secondly, memory can be extremely fickle. Years ago again, I worked at an old country hospital, a few years before it was knocked down. Everyone claimed it was haunted but no one knew who by and why. It was more of an urban legend. One day on shift, it was hot and busy. I went down for a break and when I went back up the stairs, I sprayed body spray on myself, paranoid I might be sweaty and smell.
A housekeeper walked down after me and stopped dead. She could smell perfume quite suddenly and seemingly from nowhere. I said nothing. A week or so later I threw a pencil at my boss as he went down the very same staircase ( he was an idiot) and ran away. Rumours began to circulate of a ghost on the stairs. Rumour turned to facts and so on. Everyone claimed a spooky experience or claimed to feel cold spots, a presence etc. One 'true' story even appeared in an local article. A member of staff claimed a poltergeist was active and many people believed it. I kept quiet and watched the mayhem unfold with interest. After the hospital closed, there was even a seance conducted, specifically to communicate with the ghost on the stairs.
I mention this because experiences run away with people, events can be subjective and rumours become solid fact. Some people see what they need or want to see.
The one thing that prevents all this is evidence. Evidence that cannot be dismissed or cast aside.
The investigators in this book do a great job of collecting data without real prior judgement and I admire that. If, and for me, it's a big if, poltergeists exist, that's how the truth will be uncovered. Many people need to see to believe but evidence in most cases, does not lie.
Excellent job done by all and it really was refreshing to read about what might well be a genuine case without all the hearsay or urban legend type material added.
That can be corrupted easily, and exaggerated, which is why I mentioned the story I did.
Maybe someday, I will get to mention my brief membership with a UFO hunting group, it involved several soggy cheese sandwiches and an argument over a what was in fact, an plane.
December 10, 2021
This is possibly one of the most important books ever written on a truly bizarre phenomenon - poltergeist activity. I have been fascinated by this since I was a child, and all I will say is, I don't need anyone to 'convince' me that such activity does indeed take place. What I perhaps found most compelling about this immaculately presented book is the sheer volume of evidence logged and meticulously researched, which would give even the most hardened sceptic pause for thought. On par with the perhaps more infamous 'Enfield' case, everything that is presented in the South Shields Poltergeist stands up to the most vigorous exercises to 'debunk' the phenomena, and whilst it stands as a must-read case book for any paranormal researcher, it is also an extremely readable and compelling account of a superbly documented case, with real emotion invested in the care of those involved, by the authors.
The way the evidence is presented follows the disturbances from start to finish in forensic detail, but always with the human interest of the family involved at its core. That's possibly what sets it aside from some dryer, less compelling accounts of poltergeist activity that I have read, and the engagement with all the people involved - the family themselves, the researchers and others whose testimonies form this fascinating insight into one of the strangest of all paranormal activity, gives us a book which stands head and shoulders above so many others in its field. The humour and wry glimpses into some of the activity documented here, lifts it beyond a simple factual accounting of the case, and the genuine concerns for the family by the researchers themselves shines brightly in some very dark moments, where fear and distress are being recounted.
An absolute must-read for anyone even remotely interested in poltergeist activity, this very important and compelling work is a testament to the field of paranormal research, and is a superbly documented case that must stand right up there with some of its more 'infamous' publications. With so much dignity, respect, and lack of sensationalism, yet a completely unwavering commitment to documenting everything that happened here, this is one of the best books on poltergeist activity I have ever read, including Guy Lyon Playfair's 'This House Is Haunted' (which covers the Enfield case, with S P R parapsychology researcher, Maurice Grosse).
I should perhaps stress that I am not trying to make a case for the veracity of this account, because, quite simply, the facts speak so eloquently for themselves, I don't feel that anyone needs to. I would just add, read this book if you have even the slightest interest in parapsychology, as it is of itself also a text book to carrying out fundamental research in a fascinating field we have yet so much to still discover within its immeasurable boundaries.
The way the evidence is presented follows the disturbances from start to finish in forensic detail, but always with the human interest of the family involved at its core. That's possibly what sets it aside from some dryer, less compelling accounts of poltergeist activity that I have read, and the engagement with all the people involved - the family themselves, the researchers and others whose testimonies form this fascinating insight into one of the strangest of all paranormal activity, gives us a book which stands head and shoulders above so many others in its field. The humour and wry glimpses into some of the activity documented here, lifts it beyond a simple factual accounting of the case, and the genuine concerns for the family by the researchers themselves shines brightly in some very dark moments, where fear and distress are being recounted.
An absolute must-read for anyone even remotely interested in poltergeist activity, this very important and compelling work is a testament to the field of paranormal research, and is a superbly documented case that must stand right up there with some of its more 'infamous' publications. With so much dignity, respect, and lack of sensationalism, yet a completely unwavering commitment to documenting everything that happened here, this is one of the best books on poltergeist activity I have ever read, including Guy Lyon Playfair's 'This House Is Haunted' (which covers the Enfield case, with S P R parapsychology researcher, Maurice Grosse).
I should perhaps stress that I am not trying to make a case for the veracity of this account, because, quite simply, the facts speak so eloquently for themselves, I don't feel that anyone needs to. I would just add, read this book if you have even the slightest interest in parapsychology, as it is of itself also a text book to carrying out fundamental research in a fascinating field we have yet so much to still discover within its immeasurable boundaries.
September 10, 2025
I so wanted this to be a great read. It wasn’t.
A ‘factual’ account of paranormal activity in a house in South Shields.
But I didn’t feel this was written factually and much of it was sensationalised to try and convey a sense of rear impending doom. Reading this, I couldn’t help thinking that if any of the investigation and assumptions made were to be subject to any real scrutiny or if anyone where to question the reality of the occurrence's, it would result in real ridicule from those investigating. It’s clear thy don’t really like sceptics as they mess up the narrative. Non believers and the sceptics view is dismissed quite openly.
I felt disenfranchised as a reader and unconvinced. The real ‘terror’ was super sensationalised throughout and frankly verging on absolute ridiculous. It was more a case of ‘doth protest too much’ rather than a balanced report on the version of events. The so called paranormal occurrences are actually very repetitive, but yet the author still tries to curate a ‘but it’s about to get a lot worse’ tension through the book. But it just doesn't.
Some will find the story truly gripping and the reviews certainly suggested this when I purchased it. If anything did occur at this home, I’m not sure this is a good example of scientific investigation leaving far more questions than answers. This is a case of Apophenia at best.
Some of hypotheses are so open to such extremes of interpretation it rendered much of the so called factual evidence mute.
A ‘factual’ account of paranormal activity in a house in South Shields.
But I didn’t feel this was written factually and much of it was sensationalised to try and convey a sense of rear impending doom. Reading this, I couldn’t help thinking that if any of the investigation and assumptions made were to be subject to any real scrutiny or if anyone where to question the reality of the occurrence's, it would result in real ridicule from those investigating. It’s clear thy don’t really like sceptics as they mess up the narrative. Non believers and the sceptics view is dismissed quite openly.
I felt disenfranchised as a reader and unconvinced. The real ‘terror’ was super sensationalised throughout and frankly verging on absolute ridiculous. It was more a case of ‘doth protest too much’ rather than a balanced report on the version of events. The so called paranormal occurrences are actually very repetitive, but yet the author still tries to curate a ‘but it’s about to get a lot worse’ tension through the book. But it just doesn't.
Some will find the story truly gripping and the reviews certainly suggested this when I purchased it. If anything did occur at this home, I’m not sure this is a good example of scientific investigation leaving far more questions than answers. This is a case of Apophenia at best.
Some of hypotheses are so open to such extremes of interpretation it rendered much of the so called factual evidence mute.
November 14, 2023
Very descriptive account of poltergeist phenomena.
I,too, have been the victim of a poltergeist. I would like to speak to the authors if at all possible, to discuss my own case, as it’s similar to Marc’s except for one event. Since my own dealings, I’ve read many books about poltergeists and have studied that and other paranormal phenomena in general. I like that the family and investigators kept such meticulous notes. Does anyone know how I can contact Mike or Darren?
I,too, have been the victim of a poltergeist. I would like to speak to the authors if at all possible, to discuss my own case, as it’s similar to Marc’s except for one event. Since my own dealings, I’ve read many books about poltergeists and have studied that and other paranormal phenomena in general. I like that the family and investigators kept such meticulous notes. Does anyone know how I can contact Mike or Darren?
December 8, 2020
A very compelling read
I have given this book 5 stars because it held me from start to finish. If you are interested in the subject then I would high!y recommend it. The way the activity is described and how the investigators pursue all possible causes of the phenomenon is very interesting and enlightening.
I have given this book 5 stars because it held me from start to finish. If you are interested in the subject then I would high!y recommend it. The way the activity is described and how the investigators pursue all possible causes of the phenomenon is very interesting and enlightening.
March 8, 2022
very interesting and entertaining
This book is brilliantly described to the point you feel you’re witnessing the phenomena first hand yourself. Entertaining and thought provoking to say the least. A great read for anyone interested in the paranormal.
This book is brilliantly described to the point you feel you’re witnessing the phenomena first hand yourself. Entertaining and thought provoking to say the least. A great read for anyone interested in the paranormal.
December 30, 2023
Very interesting
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the supernatural and specifically the poltergeist phenomenon. Well written and informative.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the supernatural and specifically the poltergeist phenomenon. Well written and informative.
July 13, 2021
This book take you in to one of the most scariest poltergeist investigation in the past 50year,it starts when Darren is approached at work by a colleague saying her friends daughter has a ghost.
From there it gets worse and worse the family has a son which most of the active takes place in his room,from things being thrown,toys hanging from the loft hatch, physical marks on the male member of the family ect.
Highly recommended this book if you are into the supernatural
From there it gets worse and worse the family has a son which most of the active takes place in his room,from things being thrown,toys hanging from the loft hatch, physical marks on the male member of the family ect.
Highly recommended this book if you are into the supernatural
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews