Poltergeist

{{Paranormal}}
A '''poltergeist''' (German for "noisy [[ghost]]"), when not taking time out of its busy schedule to make TV shows and movies, spends most of its time lurking in castles, ruins, old [[the South|Southern]] plantations, attics, and basements.  Anywhere people like a good story, some scary noises, and the odd wind rustle or two.  

Poltergeists are very shy, so sadly, they have been reluctant to come out and play with [[science|scientists]] when they are visited by lab-coated intellectuals.  Nevertheless, they do exist. Just ask anyone who makes money giving tours through old [[war]] fields, [[slave]] ships and abandoned or disturbed graveyards. Tour guides will assure you that the breeze you feel coming from the dank depths of a 10 foot deep hole has nothing to do with atmospheric homeostasis, but with the disturbed or [[evil]] thoughts of the [[dead]], near dead, and tragically murdered.

==Evidence of poltergeist activity==
All of these descriptions come from people on the web or on sites that detail what standard poltergeist activity looks like.<ref>[http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/poltergeist_machine.htm Poltergiest woo]</ref><ref>[http://paranormal.about.com/od/ghosthuntinggeninfo/a/aa060704_2.htm About.com]</ref>
*Noises, generally at night (''totally'' not the wind, or animals, or the house settling)
*Changes in temperature (can't possibly be natural breezes)
*Illogical fear or panic in the mind of a logical person, when nothing happened to cause it (none of us has experienced ''that!'')
*Static or "foggy" images in pictures taken by auto-focus cameras (which never mess up, don'cha'no)
*Hissing or crackling noises in the background of otherwise straightforward home videos (all cameras always hyper accurately record footage and sound)
*The "feeling" of being watched or touched. (none of this has ever been observed in clinical settings, no)
*Unusual or unexplained smells (obviously, we know every single smell and where they come from)
*Children's toys being 'out of place' or broken ('cause we all know our child would never break his or her toy).

Less standard example:
*An old transistor radio assumed to be broken [[Michael Shermer#Spooky radio|unexpectedly coming to life]].

==Cause==
According to [[pseudoscience|scientific-sounding]] paranormal experts, 
<ref>[http://www.examiner.com/article/family-victims-of-poltergeist-activity Family victims of poltergeist activity] Examiner.com</ref> poltergeists are caused by "an abnormal amount of energy built up" at a location:
{{cquote|"Such energy build up can be released from active, hormonal preteens/teenagers. Typically, young physically active girls, age 12 to their 20's are believed to create this culprit of strange paranormal, poltergeist like, activity. However, preteen/teen boys can also give off energy in the atmosphere."}}

Considering how many emotionally/hormonally-charged adolescent teen boys and girls are gathered in secondary schools and universities all over the world on a daily basis, it's amazing that poltergeists allow any scholastic work to get done at all.

==See also==
*[[Enfield Poltergeist]]
*[[Hans_Bender#Poltergeists.21|Rosenheim Poltergiest]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]

Categories: Pseudoscience, Paranormal