1977: The ENFIELD POLTERGEIST | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive

[@simoncumming2124]

I remember seeing this go out live, properly terrifying stuff. It gave me sleepless nights then, and it's still hard to watch now. People nowadays don't realise it, but it was the believability of it back then. People really did have moustaches like that.

[@tonyhancock3912]

But with all the camera phones and stuff around now and no one has managed to take a picture or video of a moustache like that. They don't exist full stop

[@darkdogstudios]

😂

[@xfactor3000]

I was quite perturbed by the severe lack of hygenic care they paid to their teeth.

[@acidmack1041]

I suppose this had the same effect on the kids of your generation as what Ghostwatch had on the kids of my generation in 1992 lol

[@incredibleflameboy]

​@@acidmack1041ghostwatch buddies!

[@yaosio]

It was very dark in 1977.

[@joedge6142]

We used up all the sunlight the year before in the great drought 😆

[@wisteela]

I was born then.

[@CarlStJohn-x9w]

It was all true 😮

[@jafwilding]

I think Maurice Grosse is one of the coolest guys ever. Great moustache, and drove an E-Type Jaguar.

[@JJONNYREPP]

1977: The ENFIELD POLTERGEIST | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive 0855am 22.8.24 who was the dude in that back bedroom with his moog? he was making a right racket.... i dont believe in ghosts and yes it's a effin mare trynna tell folk who do that they do not exist... no common ground, y'see......... they'll all have to top themselves and come back to confirm the notions either way.... good luck!!!

[@incredibleflameboy]

The dude was a self made man. He invented a load of stuff but his money maker was those billboards that periodically rotate to show a different ad. I've read "this house is haunted" and he comes across as a really nice guy too. Everyone I've ever seen mention him holds him in high regard

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@incredibleflameboy Comments on ‘1977: The ENFIELD POLTERGEIST | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive’ 0713am 5.9.24 i dont do ghost hunting. dont even belivein them... i have been told that if you live in a home with a breakfast bar sit at that and your local ghost will manifest for you... so they say.

[@incredibleflameboy]

@@JJONNYREPP ok?

[@JJONNYREPP]

@@incredibleflameboy no.... You?

[@blastfromthepast-o1d]

Some great posters in that room. Those were the days...

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

Even the Jimmy Saville one?

[@alancawfield6549]

12 comments at the time of posting and nobody mentions the incredible moustache the guy in the thumbnail has.That's by far the most impressive thing about this video.

[@maquisarddouble6342]

Some people just don’t appreciate style.

[@READYTEDDYBEAR]

That moustache is possessed by a poltergeist itself!

[@darkdogstudios]

It’s a disguise that you can buy in joke shops! 😂 this whole thing is a joke! Kids having fun and games. Unsophisticated times…

[@alililley5697]

The first thing I said when I saw it!!! So sexy!

[@richieferguson3610]

His moustache is possessed by the Enfield poltergeist

[@Chillmax]

Does anyone remember this - I recall seeing a short film documentary in the 1980's, could've been part of a news programme. It was on the BBC in the afternoon and about a haunting at a particular old house. The investigators said that they left a recorder running at the bottom of a supposedly haunted staircase, and when they ran the tape back, they heard a ghostly conversation, where the ghosts acknowledged that they were being looked at and recorded, one ghost saying 'Yes, they're looking at us'. Does anyone else remember this, I've never forgotten it, but it's just vanished from history?

[@HaileyHdokenHarmon]

Thank you for uploading in high quality.

[@AlexMitchell-sj4sb]

I dont know about ghosts but that wallpaper the neighbours had was definitely frightening!

[@WindyWoman-b1n]

Fascinating. I think it was genuine.

[@JohnShields-xx1yk]

I always felt bad gor the family, its so rare we dont know how to react or deal with paranormal activity.

[@AnthonyMonaghan]

I remember watching this as a seven year old...completely terrifying. It all seems a bit comical now. How did my Mum let me see this!?

[@johndaarteest]

Hey, great avatar you're using - dig the Captain. 👍👍

[@MrDastardly]

Many years ago, a friend of my sisters (who lived alone) had similar occurrences: a. Two bedside lights in a spare room, which were plugged out, went on fire at the same time. b. For weeks and weeks, the occupant of the house would arrive home to find all of the back doors and windows open. c. Regularly hearing floor boards creak. d. Whilst the friend was downstairs, furniture was being overturned upstairs. Through the Estate Agent, the friend contacted the two previous tenants of the house. The two previous tenants said they rented the house for only a short time as there were many unusual occurrence’s. Through investigation, it was found that in the 1990’s the house was rented to a family who did ‘strange things’, which included ‘animal sacrifice’ and an Ouija Board. The police got involved and the council moved the family. A local priest was contacted and he was aware of the history of the house. The last I heard of this, was when the priest visited the house and I am told after which, no more ‘strange happenings’ took place.

[@davidbeazley1958]

Lol... Good one. 👍🏾

[@FART-REPELLENT]

JOKE: What do poltergeists and farts have in common? ANSWER: Neither can be seen yet one can sense their presence in a room.

[@johnwilson1549]

​@@FART-REPELLENTThats a good one 😁😅😂🤣👍🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@Sheblah1]

"don't throw those bloody lego pieces at me!"

[@tjfSIM]

😂 Glad it’s not just me, that guy sounds exactly like Michael Caine

[@VeggieGamer]

When you get Brian Murphy to deal with your poltergeist problem.

[@DaraM73]

More please. Isn’t there a longer form BBC programme too?

[@michaelbruns449]

Fascinating and terrifying contemporary footage, seriously disturbing.

[@FART-REPELLENT]

Not much more disturbing than a flea-fart

[@fritzdrybeam]

Disturbing that people believe this nonsense.

[@joemcconnell2674]

Yep the footage was seriously fake.

[@NoosaHeads]

Maurice Gross - sounds just like Michael Caine.

[@Dan23_7]

I thought that too.

[@KD400_]

Why because hes cockney lol

[@vermilliongecko]

Not a lot of people know that.

[@Seminal_Ideas]

She was just fifteen years old. Fifteen years old when the bloody poltergeist started.

[@fritzdrybeam]

Both actors.

[@No2theBS]

Not the dead you need to be scared of it's your government

[@theram4320]

Sounds like Michael Caine was hit by a slipper at one point!

[@pauladaniels-bc7rj]

We have a poltergeist in our Victorian terraced house but it is is benign & we're quite used to it,what does it to you may ask- it has thrown bread all over the kitchen floor,crossed cutlery after the table has been set,moved things round & round & a few times spoken memorably shouting dad up the stairs when my husband was in the bathroom & when i was in bed asking me'who are you' we arnt scared & there are sometimes months without any activity x

[@fritzdrybeam]

Sure you do.

[@fritzdrybeam]

No you don't. Behave.

[@TheGrimStoic]

Either that, or you're just typical British parents.

[@Kill--alllll---IDF]

​@fritzdrybeam ur only belief is ur pints and lagers. Without ur drink u wud jump of a cliff ..... dumb sOb the universe is so big it's beyond ur imagination do u really thinks it's just humans and animals on universe 😂😂😂

[@joedge6142]

I love the neighbour's wallpaper.

[@squizzel8938]

How well kept the houses were in 1977 - Now it is a different story!

[@paulwhelan7123]

Nowadays there are worse occupants of houses.

[@frogtastic1000]

One of my favourite stories

[@Mistydazzle]

More importantly, the girls were Bay City Rollers fans...

[@johndaarteest]

It's understandable why they were possessed then.

[@klisher]

The music is from BBC sound effects “death and horror “ volume 1. I used it for a Horror film I made in 1992 ( which is on KZbin but I changed the music for KZbin as there were other copyright songs in it)

[@magdawszeborowska]

Probably I missed something in the last ep of the documentary of Apple TV+…. But can someone explain to me how the ghost eventually went away? It left when Janet was in the children’s home and later hospital and then never came back when she came back home?

[@davidmoriarty3606]

They were told to ignore it. Eventually, Bill(?) left them alone.

[@Chillmax]

I believe the family, or just the mother lived there until her death, and they said that strange things still happened, but not to this extent.

[@gil-l8n]

The footage during the 1970s made it all more eerie similar to Billy Friedkins approach in his master piece movie. The 16mm footage makes it wierd

[@garrybaldy327]

The levitating photograph is clearly the girl jumping off her bed (her knees are bent) and both girls admitted they'd messed with Maurice's tape recorder and were also caught banging on the floor. If supernatural things really were happening, why the need to make things up?

[@catholic3dod790]

I noticed her bent knees.

[@Kindcaringsoulgentle]

or stay there....

[@Chillmax]

If you listen to the stories about Enfield over & over again, there are so many versions, including this pretty serious piece from the Beeb, what seems clear, is that something odd, possibly supernatural was indeed happening. But, the girls were augmenting it, either for fun, or to help the story along when not much was happening, or just kids being naughty. As the reporter says here, could 17 people, including the police all be lying or delusional?

[@JJONNYREPP]

1977: The ENFIELD POLTERGEIST | Nationwide | Weird and Wonderful | BBC Archive 0904am 22.8.24 something more than a "haunting" i feel.... still, Amityville horror is still a fine film... a large distant father brought down to earth b a convenient haunting - bringing him closer to ho he actually feels about.................................................................... stuff.

[@andrewmcdonald793]

Yes you are right, i remember when the girls were being interviewed at the time, the man asked the youngest girl what it was like living with a poltergeist and she said but we don't have a poltergeist, the older girl sitting next to her nudged her on the shoulder and told her to be quiet, so while I believe some of it was not all fake, i do believe some of it was done by the girls at the time and what amazes me is they stayed in the house during the events, if that was me i would have wanted to get out that house as fast as i could and never enter it again, over 40 years on and still a lot of unanswered questions about it.

[@rayrussell1519]

love all the old posters

[@dogbreath8396]

The dunlop flying towards his boat 😂

[@mikethespike7579]

One of my teachers had a moustache like that. Didn't drive an E-Type though.

[@TheFlixFiles]

I didn't see Vera Farmiga anywhere?? 😕

[@spiderprint]

Guest appearance by Michael Cane 0:58

[@MrSimonmcc]

I was expecting, 'You were only supposed to throw the bloody Dunlop!'

[@whetphish]

@BBC: Would it be possible to make the whole episode available on iPlayer? I think it would be highly amusing to see how credulous people were in 1977.

[@Chillmax]

If this was from Nationwide as stated, what you've seen here would be the entire piece. Whether they would have discussed it when it went back to the studio is unlikely, they probably just went to another topic - 'All very spooky, now here's a dog juggling cats in Wigan' etc.

[@whetphish]

@@Chillmax now that's something I would like to see! 😂

[@somethingfromnothing8428]

Most of the things reported to have happened probably have explanations. I think it was probably a hoax that several people were in on, however the chair moving infront of two police officers and the two journalists seeing lego flying are the only two things i’ve heard that i cant figure out an explanation for

[@7366-HSGG]

It was the children fooling this guy and was proved to be utter tripe, the money from the papers kept them all in on it. Great scam.

[@Barnaby_bo]

Howcome bullrush was a thing in the 70s?

[@joedge6142]

Everyone had them, and pampas grass and carved African figures of antelopes and elephants.

[@haroldmclean3755]

Never a Dull moment ✨

[@MichaelBosley]

You had to pass the time somehow in the 70's.

[@ih8hertz1]

That cardboard box wasn't thrown by a person off camera.. the way it was lifted is quite unnatural

[@GrouchoMarx-MaGeorge]

Youre only meant to blow the bloody doors off !!

[@Dan23_7]

People believed any old poppycock in those days.

[@LarryFleetwood8675]

Especially people called Dan.

[@roasty80]

This is nothing more than the 70s version of most haunted. Total nonsense

[@elysiumsexsmith]

But entertaining nonsense...and isn't that what really matters?

[@acidmack1041]

Ahhh thanks for finally clearing all this up

[@Kev-lfc10-163]

​@@elysiumsexsmithNO

[@Kill--alllll---IDF]

Universe is so big it's beyond ur imagination so u think it's just humans and animals 😂😂 ur pints and lagers are ur only belief

[@nellyfett2681]

I take it this is a forerunner to the Parkinson and Sarah Green ghost watch thing?

[@thephilpott2194]

Nope. In some respects it rivals the Doris Bither/Barry Taff case as regards multiple and credible witnesses to the phenomena. The Ghostwatch production some years later was entirely fabricated, although it spooked many of the more gullible viewers, to the extent that many of them 'phoned in. What they expected to gain by that is anyone's guess, but then again you can't cure stupid.

[@Highland_Moo]

I want a moustache ride😂

[@theaylesburycyclist8756]

70s chavs. We called them ‘ennits’ at the time because they used to say “ennit” instead of “isn’t it”.

[@bigcahoonaburger8550]

So what happened. Did it just disappear? Not heard of anything now?

[@Chillmax]

I believe the family, or just the mother lived there until her death, and they said that strange things still happened, but not to this extent.

[@mushroomhead3054]

Now that's a tash 👌

[@johndaarteest]

Hides the stretch marks.

[@GrouchoMarx-MaGeorge]

It turns out that his moustache was possessed by a poltergeist 👻

[@peterteagleteagle9958]

Anybody know about a house near Ipswich the people just moved out,left everything , just moved out

[@raycathode]

Yes they got a new house.

[@londonroulette]

You can’t record Father Christmas and Loch Ness if they don’t exist, problem solved

[@kattysat]

That E-type is still road legal

[@Peter-cz8hx]

I bet you check up on all your neighbours too😮.

[@MrSimonmcc]

Maurice is driving my car.

[@TheGrimStoic]

You passed in their inhaling monoxide, dear - he just picked it up at the auction afterwards.

[@Jaygazzilli]

Better focus on the lamp before the lights go out while the kids are laughing, better turn the camera away when the shoe is thrown while the kids are laughing. Then get someone to knock on the ceiling.. then get first hand accounts of nothing that happened ever.. how this ever took off is beyond me, different time i guess. They all lied ffs and as for "the voice" in the young lass 😂 get a grip

[@JohnDoe-yr4wc]

Bit early for April Fool's isn't it?

[@plastique45]

😂😂😂 Can't believe the idiots who thought this was real.

[@andrewbashford9786]

Hollywood made a film about it The Conjuring 2

[@BalearicBeatnik]

this house is prob worth a million quid in todays money

[@Raulski78]

Are you having a game with me,smack 😂😂

[@digitaldobbie]

I laughed so hard I fell off my rocker and lost my marbles. Even now days where everyone has cameras on their smartphones, nobody has managed to record any supernatural footage including the lock ness monster or Father Christmas. Maybe it’s not a spectre, it could be someone trying to contact them from another dimension, or even more unbelievable it could be a load of bollocks.

[@roasty80]

Because they don't exist. Pure psychological delusions influencenced by movies or personal trauma

[@lls6001]

Well people do record stuff, but if you don't believe you'll just assume it was faked.

[@acidmack1041]

Maurice arguing with the ghost at the end is the best thing about this 😂 You must go away No Well, yes you must No You have to its essential you go away now No Yes, youve had a good time now its time to go No 😂😂😂😂

[@brocktoon8]

It made me wonder if the ghost is a child!

[@lls6001]

Definitely the best part of the whole video 😂😂😂

[@bradz007]

If ghosts existed, Everybody would see them everyday, in supermarkets , in the streets , in the office , not just in some old house with creaking doors , why don't people see neanderthal ghosts ? Oh yea they didn't have a soul I forgot 😂

[@nicksb68]

How do you know you're not?

[@TheGrimStoic]

@@nicksb68 cuz he saw The Sixth Sense

[@brocktoon8]

That's not true, only sensitive and receptive people may be able to interact with them. And maybe there just aren't that many ghosts. There's not rule that says every dead person becomes a ghost, maybe there are particular circumstances.

[@moderntart-nr2bu]

Apparently the poltergeist did a poo on top of the wardrobe. Absolutely ghastly, repugnant and abhorrent.

[@edwardwolf2766]

more truth in this report then in the last 30 years of bbc

[@TheGrimStoic]

Well, we're all sharing diggings with all sorts now - have you noticed the rents lately? And don't you get me started on the bills...

[@Barnaby_bo]

Funny how the rise in poltergeist and ufo sightings coincided with the rise of Hollywood.

[@davidbeazley1958]

Excellent documentary for the feeble minded.

[@grahammcdonald]

I reckon Michael Caine could play the dad.

[@bid84]

Paul MCCartney could play the wife

[@Seminal_Ideas]

​@@bid84Someone knocking at the door Somebody ringing the bell

[@dweston76]

Oh Crumbs!

[@glennparrington7292]

This case is real, sure there was some bullshitting and exaggeration but the copper seeing the chair move, the slipper hitting the door - they were authentic reactions to supernatural phenomena. It's not ghosts though, I really can't believe in spirits roaming free after death - I think it's something to do with space, other dimensions, we don't know much really, loads of great Theories which solve part of the puzzle but huge gaps in our understanding of the universe still. The best thing is, if this was real then there must surely be other cases that are real.

[@thephilpott2194]

True, some of these things did happen. Highly likely to be the mind's interaction with matter- but we don't know how. Poltergeists haunt people, not houses; but it's not a haunting in the conventional sense.

[@brocktoon8]

Agreed. Cops don't tend to go around lying about this stuff.

[@coolmacatrain9434]

The Enfield Load of Old Bollocks, more like!

[@barclayhollands3313]

Snip snell Bori Gore 😢

[@robbflynn4325]

These same people today would be on the jeremy kyle show.

[@thewotsit]

Don’t be daft. The Jeremy Kyle Show was axed 8 years ago.

[@detectingadventuresscotlan6177]

Been watching this

[@rayrussell1519]

this guys wearing flars well next door did bill go there

[@frankjamesbonarrigo7162]

It was the nun the whole time

[@redfraggle77]

I think this is going to the subject of a musical with Catherine Tate.

[@italianjesus99]

How dull.

[@scotmorley8526]

April 1st by any chance?

[@SuperCee80]

The scariest thing about this film are the 1970's British teeth ☠️

[@barclayhollands3313]

Snip snell Bori Gore 😢

[@londonroulette]

But no proof it’s real

[@missbunty]

Valek!!!!

[@EErail26]

Classic 70s spooky bollocks!!

[@moderntart-nr2bu]

Maurice Gross was an inventor......... an inventor of BS

[@rayrussell1519]

in the year 200 something fell off our shelve in our house it was just after father funeral surely the dead still with us in sprit

[@gaynortension2032]

Say what you like about Maurice he drives a tasty motor.

[@thephilpott2194]

'You're only supposed to flush the bloody toilet'

[@nikanoru13]

Hoax duh

[@Kindcaringsoulgentle]

so this was all faked?

[@fritzdrybeam]

Fake.

[@pkz5800]

This is crazy, was this real or was it proven to be a hoax?

[@hoptop77]

Recently the kids who are now adults said they made the whole thing up.

[@theeggtimertictic1136]

​@@hoptop77I dont think so ... where did you see that. How do you explain the police and the chair?

[@original.dwornboy]

@@hoptop77 I think you are getting mixed up with The Cottingley Faires. Oh, and thanks for telling us the kids are now adults. I never would have known some 46 years after the event.

[@francesco245]

*What the hell do you mean "proven to be a hoax"?* *You don't need to prove it's a hoax because **_ghosts are not real,_** so obviously these stories are just that, stories!*

[@francesco245]

🙄🙄🙄🙄