In 1958 a series of strange paranormal activity would occur to an everyday family in Long Island NY. While many paranormal cases play out over years or decades, this case is truly unique in that 67 incidents occurred just over a 5-week period. The case drew national media attention with many of the strange events being filmed on television in what many say is the first paranormal TV show in history and this case also inspired the 1982 horror classic “Poltergeist”. After much strange activity and a variety of investigators researching the home during the activity, no one could solve the mystery. Then as quickly as it started, all activity ceased. In this article we will examine Popper the Poltergeist, a name given that will soon be self-evident.
On Feb 3, 1958, Lucille Herrmann, a registered nurse, was home from work and cooking dinner for her family. Around 3:30 pm, her children, Lucille who was 13 and Jimmy who was 12 arrived home from school, and as they entered the kitchen, chaos would ensue. In the next moments, the tops of different liquid bottles began popping off all over the house by themselves. The family didn’t see the bottles popping but heard them.
As they went to investigate, they later discovered an opened bottle of bleach in the basement, bottles of shampoo and medicine and a bottle of holy water that had been opened in the master bedroom. All the caps had seemingly exploded off by themselves. It’s important to point out all the bottles were sealed with twist off metal or plastic caps.
Confused, Lucille Herrmann called her husband, James Herman, who was at work and told him the story. James was perplexed as well, but since no one was hurt he decided he didn’t need to leave early. On the train home from NYC, James thought about the issue and was sure that it had been the result of some chemical reaction that made the lids blow off.
However, when he arrived home, James was baffled as many of the tops were screw-top lids.
Still, as busy as the family was and since no one was hurt, the family decided to let it go. Two days would pass without incident. Then, around the same time, the time kids arrived home from school, around 6 bottles would bust. This included a bottle of nail polish, a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a bottle of bleach, detergent, starch and s bottle that contained holy water on Mrs. Herrmann’s dresser.
The next day on Friday night, bottles burst again. At this time, James Hermann started to believe that this was a prank and being done by his son Jimmy, who loved science. He hypothesized that his son had put some type of carbonated pill in the bottled and he had timed them to explode at the same time. He spent that entire weekend watching his son, but Sunday bottles began popping again.
Frustrated and still perplexed, James went into the bathroom where Jimmy was brushing his teeth. James yelled at Jimmy and accused him of pulling the prank. Jimmy was adamant though he didn’t tamper the bottles. As this was occurring, James was shocked to see a medicine bottle move across the sink by itself. A second later a bottle of shampoo slid across the sink and fell on the floor. It was as if the presence was trying to let James know Jimmy wasn’t pranking them.
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Frustrated and confused, James decided to call the Nassau County Police Department. He spoke with Lieutenant E. Richardson who was skeptical of the story but promised to send someone over.
Officer James Hughes was assigned to the case and went to the house wondering how he got it. Hughes was extremely skeptical of what James reported, but after a few minutes in the home, would have a change of heart as several bottles began popping by themselves in the bathroom and the caps shot in his direction. Overwhelmed Officer Hughes decided this incident needed further investigation and Detective Joseph Tozzi was assigned to the case.
Tozzi believed after reading the report that these events were caused by some natural phenomena or perhaps it was a prank.
On February 11, Detective Tozzi would begin his investigation at the house. His first night there, a perfume bottle fell over by itself in the bedroom of the daughter Lucille. The next several days, most of the unexplained activity would happen around the holy water in the parents’ bedroom. The lid of the bottle would pop up by itself and when Lucille ran in the bottle was on the floor. When she picked it up, it was warm. That same day while the family was watching TV in the living room, a porcelain doll began to shake by itself and flew through the air and landing on the floor.
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Afte this event, the family called Father William McLeod of the Church of St. William the Abbott. The family were devout Catholics and Father Mcleod would come to the house and sprinkle water around. Unfortuntaley, this didn’t deter the Poltergeist.
As word began spread about the poltergeist, major news outlets picked it up and the family would begin to receive letters and suggestions from people regarding what to do. Some were downright ludicrous such as Martians landing nearby or Russian’s tunneling under their house.
Others were legitimate attempts to explain it. One for example, was physicist Robert Zider. He thought the property had underground streams under the house and these were causing Freak Magnetic Fields. Detective Tozzi would entertain this and even investigate it; however geological surveys would show these streams didn’t exist.
The family would get a letter from a woman with a seemingly legitimate explanation. Helen Connolly wrote that there were odd events that happened in her living room, where chairs and furniture seemingly moved around by themselves. After investigating, she discovered they had a heavy downdraft through her fireplace. Helen said when the chimney was capped, the strange activity stopped. After reading this Mr. Herrmann was convinced this was the issue and had a cap installed on his own chimney.
However as soon as the workmen completed the installation, a porcelain figurine flew across the room more than 12 feet. This incident was recorded and broadcast to people watching on television.
On February 20, the Poltergeist became more violent. A figurine was smashed against the desk, a bottle of ink popped and flew across the room splattering against the wall.
That night needing a break, the Herrmann family decided to stay with a relative. Tozzi stayed in the house, but no activity occurred.
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Tozzi had been working and documenting the events since he started. He had contacted the Air Force , engineers and checked radio waves but none could explain the activity.
One scary event happened when he and Jimmy Hermann were going down to the basement. A bronze status weighing over 100 pounds flew across the basement room and hit the detective in the legs. Jimmy wasn’t anywhere near the statue and no one else was down there at the time.
The family would then return from their relative’s home.
On February 24, Tozzi heard a loud sound from Jimmy’s room. The room was empty and when Tozzi went in he saw a large bookshelf had fallen on the floor. The following evening, when Jimmy was in the room record player levitated and moved 15 feet across the room. Moments later a small statue of the Virgin Mary flew 12 feet into a mirror in the parents’ bedroom.
More violent activity occurred such as bookcases falling over and the dining room table levitating. At this point detective Tozzi was concerned over the uptick in violent behavior.
The poltergeist also seemingly was also trying to communicate as it was knocking on the walls.
Around this time, scientists at the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, North Carolina, became interested. The group had a theory of what might be happening. They believed it was a case of Psychokinesis. Psychokinesis is the theory that certain people, under the right circumstances, could influence the behavior of objects without touching them. The scientists had gathered evidence that this phenomenon does exist and could be occurring in the Hermann home.
Dr. J. Gaither Pratt from Duke came to New York and arrived at the Herrmann house on February 26. Pratt thought that someone in the house was unknowingly causing the strange events to occur.
Pratt would observe the situation for several days and it remained quiet until March 2. Then, the Herrmann family and Pratt witnessed several strange events. A dish fell on the floor by itself, a night table flipped over. A few days later a bookshelf would turn over by itself.
On March 10, Popper the Poltergeist would perform his last act. The family would hear a loud noise from the basement and found a bleach bottle popped and lost its plastic lid.
Between February 3 and March 10 There had been 67 strange events recorded. A variety of specialists had come and investigated the home, but no one could find an explanation. This included plumbers, firemen, the Duke Parapsychologists and various engineers.
The Hermann’s would go on to live their lives and never reported abnormal activity again.
While there’s many theories out there, the Poltergeist theory seems to be the most likely. It’s reported about 80 percent of the activity that happened was around or witnessed by 13-year-old Jimmy. Poltergeists are known to target people, especially teenage girls. We should also point out that the increase in activity, especially the violent activity, may have been caused by all the people coming in the house. This might have agitated and frustrated the poltergeist. Also, the behavior and events reports are consistent with other poltergeist hauntings as well as poltergeists tend to be known as pranksters.
Skeptics point out that the family might have been doing this for money. They did receive a TV deal and much press. However, in the 1950’s this type of activity wasn’t generally accepted to report. Also, all the investigators reported that the family seemed genuinely scared.
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The theory of Psychokinesis is an interesting one and certainly an interesting one. However, it’s not clear why other bottles didn’t pop and why certain things in faraway rooms moved. The concept of psychokinesis and telekinesis are still being explored and learned, so it can’t be completely ruled out though.
We will never know for certain what happened over those 5 weeks, but perhaps with better technology today we will solve it when it happens again.
Awesome!