Photographer who took famous Enfield poltergeist ‘levitation’ image says ‘possessed’ girl girl Janet Hodgson, 11, ‘just jumped’

By James On Oct 23, 2023

The story of the Enfield Poltergeist captivated the nation some fifty years ago, confusing police officers, psychics, experts in the occult, and seasoned reporters alike.

A series of eerie events are said to have taken place in a council house at 284 Green Street, Enfield, North London, in the 1970s.

Perhaps most horrifying of all, however, was the voice of a dead man, coming from an eleven-year-old girl, Janet Hodgson, who appeared to be possessed as she floated in her bedroom.

The events, which took place behind the door of an ordinary-looking semi-detached council house for over a year, still resonate and are the focus of a brand new TV miniseries.

However, the latest update in the Enfield Poltergeist saga comes at an inopportune time for Apple TV, as Graham Morris, a Daily Mirror photographer who worked on the case, claimed that Janet’s levitation footage only showed her jumping, according to The times.

‘She was scared to death and almost broke her neck. She put her own life in danger every time, so I don’t understand why she would want to do that,” he explained.

Daily Mirror photographer Graham Morris told The Times that Janet Hodgson (pictured) was just jumping into the famous ‘levitation’ footage from the Enfield poltergeist case

The raspy male voice that emerged from Janet’s hanging body likely conveyed a message from beyond the grave, describing the moment of death in graphic detail.

“Just before I died I went blind, and then I had a ‘bleed and fell asleep, and died in the chair in the corner downstairs,” she was heard saying.

The eerie voice – which can still be heard on audio tapes today – is reportedly that of Bill Wilkins. It was recorded in Enfield, North London, in the 1970s, several years after his death.

The young girl at the center of events apparently acted as a mouthpiece for Bill Wilkins, a foul-mouthed, grumpy old man who had died in the house many years earlier. His son contacted investigators to confirm the details of his story.

Naturally, many wondered if it was all a hoax – but until last week, no explanation other than the paranormal had ever been convincingly put forward.

Graham Morris, a former Daily Mirror photographer who captured the images of Janet during the alleged paranormal incidents, said the young girl was only jumping.

Speaking to The Times, when asked if Janet was floating, the 69-year-old said: ‘No. But then I live in a house with a member of the Association for Psychical Research.

“They said, ‘Oh, she’s floating.’ I just stared back. I wasn’t there to say anything.’

The series of paranormal events are said to have taken place at a house on Green Street in Enfield, North London (pictured above in 2011)

Graham reasoned that the so-called paranormal activity was Janet simply jumping across the room.

The photographer operated his camera remotely from a downstairs room in the house in Enfield, with his equipment taking a frame every second.

According to the photographer, these images did not support the theory that Janet floated off the floor and remained suspended in the air.

Yet Morris’s images are at the heart of the claim that Janet was subject to the presence of a poltergeist.

Graham further discredited claims that Bill Wilkins’ voice was channeled through Janet’s body as “a load of nonsense.”

He added that the family was under enormous stress, which was only exacerbated by the presence of members of the Society for Psychical Research.

Apple TV has recreated the grisly events in a new drama called ‘The Enfield Poltergeist’, due out on October 27

Apple TV’s retelling of the Enfield Poltergeist, out this month, follows the story through original footage shot indoors.

The show aims to recreate the story as the Hodgson family told it, which began in 1977. Peggy Hodgson was unusual at the time in that she was a single mother of four children: Margaret, 12, Janet, 11, Johnny, ten. , and Billy, seven – separated from their father.

The Enfield Poltergeist: Sisters haunted by a ghost

Janet Hodgson, who was eleven at the time, was convinced that she had been possessed by a former resident of the house in Green Street, Enfield, a man called Bill Wilkins who had died there many years earlier.

The case of the Enfield Poltergeist also involved levitation, furniture moving through the air, and flying objects whirling toward witnesses.

There were cold breezes, physical attacks, graffiti, water appearing on the floor and even claims of matches spontaneously catching fire.

It became the center of a media storm, but many reports of poltergeist activity were ultimately proven to be hoaxes.

While believers say adolescents are “more sensitive” to hauntings, even paranormal investigators have put forward the “naughty little girl” theory, saying the activity affects teens because they crave attention.

According to research in anomalistic psychology, activity can be explained by psychological factors such as illusion and memory loss.

There have also been attempts to scientifically explain poltergeist disturbances that are not apparently fraudulent.

Skeptic and magician Milbourne Christopher discovered that some cases can be attributed to unusual air currents, such as a 1957 case on Cape Cod where the downward draft from an uncovered chimney became strong enough to blow a mirror off a wall, knocking over chairs to throw and knock over objects.

It was the evening of August 30, 1977, and Mrs. Hodgson was eager to get her children to bed. She heard Janet from upstairs complaining that her and her brothers’ beds were wobbly.

Mrs Hodgson told her daughter to stop messing around. The next evening, however, a much more bizarre disturbance occurred. Mrs Hodgson heard a crash from upstairs. Cross, she went to tell her children to settle down.

As they entered their bedroom, with Janet’s Starsky & Hutch posters on the wall, Mrs. Hodgson saw the dresser moving. She pushed him back, only to find him being propelled toward the door by an invisible force. It seemed as if a supernatural presence was trying to lock the family in the room with the heavy oak coffin.

The family enlisted the help of their neighbors, Vic and Peggy Nottingham. Vic, a burly builder, went to investigate.

He says: ‘I went in and couldn’t make out these sounds – there was a knock on the wall, in the bedroom, on the ceiling. I started to get a little scared.”

Margaret added: ‘He said, ‘I don’t know what to do.’ I’ve never seen such a big man scared.”

The Hodgsons called the police, who also appeared to be baffled. WPC Carolyn Heeps saw a chair moving.

She said at the time: ‘A large armchair moved four feet across the floor without assistance.’

She inspected the chair for hidden wires, but could find no explanation for what she had seen.

Eventually, the officers left and told the family that the incidents were not a police matter because they could not find anyone breaking the law.

The Hodgsons then contacted the press, and then Daily Mirror photographer Graham Morris visited the house.

The BBC also went to the house, but the crew discovered that the metal parts in their tape equipment had been twisted and the recordings had been erased.

The family then sought help from the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). It sent investigators Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair, a poltergeist expert who subsequently wrote a book, This House Is Haunted, about the affair.

The investigators found themselves in a maelstrom of seemingly paranormal activity, with every poltergeist trick thrown their way.

Most of the activity focused on 11-year-old Janet. She fell into violent trances, which were horrible to watch. Once, the iron fireplace in her bedroom was ripped out of the wall by unseen forces.

Family members also claim to have seen her floating around the room.

She told Channel 4: ‘I felt used by a force that no one understands. I actually don’t like to think about it too much. I’m not sure if the poltergeist was really ‘bad’. It was almost like it wanted to be part of our family.

“It didn’t want to hurt us. It had died there and wanted to rest. The only way it could communicate was through me and my sister.”