American Hauntings: The True Stories behind Hollywood's Scariest Movies—from The Exorcist to The Conjuring: The True Stories behind Hollywood’s Scariest Movies—from The Exorcist to The Conjuring

by Robert Bartholomew

  113. Daniel Cohen, The Great Airship Mystery: A UFO of the 1890s (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1981), pp. 98–102.

  114. “Three Forms of Thought: M. M. Mangassarian Addresses the Society for Ethical Culture at Carnegie Music Hall,” The New York Times, November 29, 1897, p. 200.

  115. Karen Roggenkamp, Narrating the News: New Journalism and Literary Genre in Late Nineteenth-Century American Newspapers and Fiction (Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2005), p. xiv.

  116. Roggenkamp 2005, op. cit., pp. xv–xvi.

  117. “A Mammoth Potato,” Scientific American, September 18, 1895, cited in http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/archive/permalink/the_mammoth_potato_hoax_of_loveland_colorado, accessed November 23, 2013.

  118. Personal communication between Robert Bartholomew and Jack Cook dated November 27, 2013.

  119. Glass speculates that Ingram’s book may have been part of a plan to boost local tourism, in the tradition of the Silver Lake, N.Y., Sea Serpent hoax of 1855. Henry Faxon who worked on the Buffalo Daily Republic at the time, claimed to have created the Silver Lake hoax, which generated a tourism surge. In 1869, Henry’s older brother Charles, was hired by Ingram to work on The Clarksville Tobacco Leaf.

  120. See, for example, The Nashville Banner, November 3, 1893; the Clarksville Tobacco Leaf, June 5, 1894.

  121. “Robertson County: An Interesting Trip and Its Incidents,” Semi-Weekly Tobacco Leaf-Chronicle, July 15, 1892.

  122. “Adams Station: Tobacco Season Over—The Old People and Their Hospitality,” Semi-Weekly Tobacco Leaf-Chronicle, July 22, 1892.

  123. Thanks to Jesse Glass for this suggestion.

  124. “Cream of News,” Hopkinsville News, March 12, 1895, volume 16, No. 20, p. 1.

  125. Robert Talley, “America’s No. 1 Ghost Breaks a Date Made 110 Years Ago,” Arizona Independent Republican, December 19, 1937, p. 6.

  126. Both Jack Cook and Jesse Glass found no record of this alleged trial from searches of local newspapers for 1875.

  127. “The Old Bell Witch” (commentary by “an old reporter”), Rocky Mount Evening Telegram, December 29, 1955, p. 4A.

  128. “Tennessee’s Bell Witch Makes Believers of the Skeptics,” The Frederick Post (Maryland), October 27, 1986, p. E8.

  129. “Tennessee’s Bell Witch Makes Believers of the Skeptics,” op. cit.

  130. “Tennessee’s Bell Witch Makes Believers of the Skeptics,” op. cit.

  Chapter 2

  1. Arthur Conan Doyle, The Treasury of Sherlock Holmes (Radford, VA: Wilder, 2013), p. 117.

  2. James C. Bozzuto, “Cinematic Neurosis Following ‘The Exorcist’: Report of Four Cases,” The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 161(1) (1975): 43–48.

  3. “The Exorcist Haunts M.D.’s at Georgetown,” American Medical News 17(9): 14 (1974); “Behavior: Exorcist Fever.” Time 103: 53 (1974).

  4. M. A. Ingall, “Psychiatric Casualties of The Exorcist,” Rhode Island Medical Journal 57(11) (1974): 472–473, 479–480; James W. Hamilton, “Cinematic Neurosis: A Brief Case Report,” Journal of the Academy of Psychoanalysis 6(4) (1978): 569–572; Bruce Ballon and Molyn Leszcz, “Horror Films: Tales to Master Terror or Shapers of Trauma,” American Journal of Psychotherapy 61(2) (2007): 211–230.

  5. William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist (New York: Harper and Row, 1971).

  6. Carl DiOrio, “‘Exorcist’ Turning Heads Once Again,” Variety 381(3) (2000): 9, 82.

  7. Bill Brinkley, “Priest Frees Mt. Rainier Boy Reported Held in Devil’s Grip,” Washington Post, August 20, 1949, p. 1.

  8. Thomas B. Allen, Possessed: The True Story of an Exorcism (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com, 2013), pp. viii–ix.

  9. Alan Brown, Ghost Hunters of New England (Lebanon, NH: University of New England Press, 2008), p. 156.

  10. “‘The Exorcist’ Fairly Close to the Mark,” National Catholic Register, September 1, 2000, p. 7.

  11. William Peter Blatty, William Peter Blatty on The Exorcist (New York: Bantam, 1974), p. 24; Paul Meehan, Cinema of the Psychic Realm (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2009), p. 80.

  12. Raymond J. Bishop, typescript diary of an exorcist (1949), 26 single-spaced pages, reprinted in Allen 2013, pp. 245–291.

  13. Allen 2013, op. cit., pp. 2–3.

  14. British psychologist Chris French observes that Ouija boards are easily explained using mainstream psychology and without recourse to the paranormal. He says that as the participants attempt to answer a question, they put their finger or fingers on the glass or wood, which appears to answer the question by sliding the object to a series of letters that spell out certain words, or over the words “yes,” “no,” and “maybe.” French says the responses are often coherent but result from the idiomotor effect, where those using the board do not realize that they are pushing the glass or board unconsciously. This effect is easily demonstrated and verified: when the participants are blindfolded and attempt to answer the questions without seeing where they are pushing it, inevitably they end up with garbled, incomprehensible messages. See http://www.videojug.com/expertanswer/debunking-the-paranormal-2/how-does-a-ouija-board-work, accessed January 15, 2014.

  15. Allen 2013, op. cit., pp. 4–6.

  16. Bishop 1949, op. cit., p. 246.

  17. Bishop 1949, op. cit., pp. 246–247.

  18. Bishop 1949, op. cit., p. 248.

  19. Allen 2013, op. cit., pp. 9–10.

  20. Allen 2013, op. cit., pp. 14, 17.

  21. Allen 2013, op. cit., pp. 19–21.

  22. Charles Vanderpool (director), In the Grip of Evil (Discovery Channel Pictures and Henninger Media Development, 1997), interview with Thomas Allen.

  23. Howard M. Norton, The Sun (Baltimore, Maryland), January 9, 1949, p. 1.

  24. Vanderpool 1997, op. cit., interview with Elizabeth Bowman.

  25. Specifically, between February 27 and March 6.

  26. Vanderpool 1997, op. cit., interview with Father Hughes’s former colleague Father Frank Bober, who worked under Father Hughes as an associate pastor; Allen 2013, op. cit., pp. 36–37.

  27. Vanderpool 1997, op. cit., interview with Thomas B. Allen; Allen 2013, op. cit., p. 223.

  28. Allen 2013, op. cit., p. 223.

  29. Bishop 1949, op. cit., p. 247.

  30. Allen 2000, op. cit., pp. 61–76.

  31. Bishop 1949, op. cit., pp. 255–257.

  32. Vanderpool 1997, op. cit., interview with Walter Halloran.

  33. Bishop 1949, op. cit., p. 258.

  34. Bishop 1949, op. cit., pp. 257–262.

  35. Bishop 1949, op. cit., pp. 262–269.

  36. Allen 2000, op. cit., p. 46.

  37. Allen 2013, op. cit., p. 162.

  38. Allen 2013, op. cit., p. 161.

  39. Bishop 1949, op. cit., p. 282.

  40. Bishop 1949, op. cit., p. 291.

  41. Allen 2013, op. cit., p. 210.

  42. Susan Saulny, “Historian Exorcises Mount Rainier’s Past,” The Washington Post, March 24, 1999, p. M13.

  43. Mark Opsasnick, “The Haunted Boy of Cottage City,” Strange Magazine 20 (2000), serialized in four parts at http://www.strangemag.com/exorcistpage1.html, accessed January 14, 2014.

  44. Opsasnick 2000, op. cit.

  45. Opsasnick 2000, op. cit.

  46. Opsasnick 2000, op. cit.

  47. Opsasnick 2000, op. cit.

  48. Quoted in Edward Brent and J. Scott Lewis, Learning Sociology (Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2013), p. 20.

  49. Nancy R. Stuart, “The Raps Heard Around the World,” American History 40(3) (2005): 42–80.

  50. Joe Nickell, Entities: Angels, Spirits, Demons, and Other Alien Beings (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1995), pp. 79–82, 119–120.

  51. Joe Nickell, “The Davenport Brothers,” Skeptical Inquirer 23(4) (1999): 14–17

  Chapter 3

  1. Susan Ratcliffe, Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), p. 127.

  2. “The Numbers, Box Office Data …”
accessed August 8, 2014, at http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/series/Poltergeist.php.

  3. John D’Auria (director), Real Fear: The Truth Behind the Movies (AEP Media, 2012). According to the documentary, the parallels between the Freelings and the Herrmann family are too numerous to be coincidental, including both sites being supposedly built over Indian burial grounds, flying furniture, and university parapsychologists being called in to investigate.

  4. Census of Population: 1960, Volume 1: Characteristics of the Population (U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census), pp. 1–87; G. J. Pratt, Parapsychology: An Insider’s View of ESP (New York: Doubleday, 1964); Robert Wallace, “House of Flying Objects,” Life 44(11) (March 17, 1958): 49–50, 52, 55–56, 58; “Religion: Long Island’s Poltergeist,” Time, March 17, 1958; Val Adams, “CBS Will Report on L. I. Ghost Home.” New York Times, September 29, 1958, p. 52; “TV Key,” Arizona Republic, April 11, 1958, p. 23 (Edward R. Murrow program guide).

  5. David Moye, “‘Real Fear:’ The Spooks That Inspired ‘Poltergeist’ and ‘The Amityville Horror,’” The Huffington Post, March 12, 2012, accessed December, 25, 2012, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/poltergeist-amityville-horror-survivor-real-fear_n_1335948.html.

  6. “L. I. ‘Poltergeist’ Stumps Duke Men: Expert’s Report on Seaford Incidents …” New York Times, August 10, 1958, p. 68.

  7. Rosemary Guiley, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits (New York: Facts on File, 1994), p. 297.

  8. Sam Stall, Suburban Legends: True Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Minivans (Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books, 2006), p. 15.

  9. Michael Norman and Beth Scott, Haunted America (New York: Tor, 1995), p. 249.

  10. Moye 2012, op. cit.

  11. Based on calculations from MapQuest. See http://www.mapquest.com/maps?city=Seaford&state=NY#bc74ba99b3d35bfcfe2e23b2, accessed November 17, 2013.

  12. Milton Bracker, “Mystery in L. I. House Deepens: Family, Experts, Police Stumped,” New York Times, March 4, 1958, p. 31, 34; G. J. Pratt, Parapsychology: An Insider’s View of ESP (New York: Doubleday, 1964), pp. 80–115.

  13. Based on a copy of the original sixty-page police file on the case, citing a report filed by Seaford police detective Joseph Tozzi in 1958; Robert Wallace, “House of Flying Objects,” Life, March 17, 1958, pp. 49–50, 52, 55–56, 58. Mr. Wallace’s article is also valuable because he conducted detailed interviews with the family.

  14. Original police file in Wallace 1958, op. cit.

  15. Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 50.

  16. William Roll, The Poltergeist (Old Chelsea Station, NY: Paraview, 2004), pp. 15–16.

  17. Copy of the original police report by Detective Tozzi, in Wallace 1958.

  18. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 110.

  19. Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 52.

  20. Roll 2004, op. cit., pp. 15–16; Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 52.

  21. Milbourne Christopher, ESP, Seers & Psychics (New York: Crowell, 1971), pp. 157–158.

  22. Roll 2004, op. cit., p. 15.

  23. Roll 2004, op. cit., p. 15.

  24. Pratt 1964, op. cit., pp. 85, 99, 103–104.

  25. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 104.

  26. William G. Roll, “Poltergeists, Electromagnetism and Consciousness,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 17(1) (2003): 75–86. See p. 75.

  27. Tozzi 1958, op. cit., pp. 11–12.

  28. Christopher 1971, op. cit., pp. 157–158.

  29. Tozzi 1958, op. cit.

  30. “Long Island’s Poltergeist,” Time 71(11) (March 17, 1958).

  31. Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 52.

  32. Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 55.

  33. Christopher 1971, op. cit., pp. 151–152.

  34. F. Brill, “House of Flying Objects,” Life 44(14): (letter) 18 (April 7, 1958).

  35. Arthur Guy Matthews (1958), “House of Flying Objects,” Life 44(14): (letter) 18 (April 7, 1958).

  36. Paul W. Kniskern (1958). “House of Flying Objects,” Life 44(14): (letter) 18 (April 7, 1958).

  37. Tozzi 1958; Roll 2004, op. cit., p. 21.

  38. Bracker 1958, op. cit., p. 34. See also Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 52.

  39. “Family Finally Conceded Defeat, Leaves House to Baffling Bottles,” Niagara Falls Gazette, February 23, 1958, p. 4-A; Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 52.

  40. Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 58; “Robert F. Wallace ’41,” Princeton Alumni Weekly, March 21, 1990.

  41. Karlis Osis, “An Evaluation of the Seaford ‘Poltergeist’ Case,” Newsletter of the Parapsychology Foundation 5(2) (March–April 1958): 5–10. See p. 10.

  42. W. G. Roll and M. Persinger, “Investigations of Poltergeists and Haunts: A Review and Interpretation,” in J. Houran and R. Lange (editors), Hauntings and Poltergeists: Multidisciplinary Perspectives (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2001), pp. 123–163. See pp. 128–129.

  43. Roll 2003, op. cit., p. 75.

  44. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 114.

  45. Osis 1958, op. cit., pp. 9–10; “‘Haunted House’ Believed to Be Boy’s Prank,” The Knickerbocker News (Albany, New York), May 15, 1958, p. A2.

  46. “‘No Trick’ Says Victim: Jumping Bottles Still Stump Scientists,” The New Mexican, June 16, 1958, p. 8.

  47. Barbara Budschu, “That House of Flying Objects Subject of Several New Reports,” Delta-Democrat Times (Greenville, Mississippi), June 17, 1958, p. 8.

  48. “L. I. ‘Poltergeist’ Stumps Duke Men,” New York Times, August 10, 1958, p. 68.

  49. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 114.

  50. “‘Hexpert’s’ Odyssey,” Newsletter of the Parapsychology Foundation Incorporated 5(2) (March–April 1958), p. 11, citing the New York Times, the New York Post, and United Press.

  51. Wallace 1958, op. cit., pp. 49–50.

  52. Pratt and Roll 1958, op. cit., p. 114.

  53. Christopher 1971, op. cit., p. 156; “Press Comment,” Newsletter of the Parapsychology Foundation 5(2) (March–April, 1958): 5–10. See p. 3.

  54. Hans Holzer, The Phantoms of Dixie (New York: Ballantine, 1973), p. 127.

  55. Roll 1970, op. cit., p. 20; Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 105.

  56. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 105.

  57. Christopher 1971, op. cit., p. 157.

  58. Tozzi 1958, op. cit., p. 2.

  59. Tozzi 1958, op. cit., p. 8.

  60. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 108.

  61. “Mystery House Still Jumping: Son’s Favorite Victim of Seaford Ghosts,” Long Island Star-Journal, February 25, 1958, p. 3.

  62. “L. I. ‘Poltergeist’ Stumps Duke Men,” New York Times, August 10, 1958, p. 68.

  63. Cal Bernstein, “What’s Haunting These Houses?” The American Weekly, April 20, 1958, p. 4 and 6, published in the Sunday edition of the San Antonio Light (Texas) of the same date.

  64. “Electrical Gremlin makes Madhouse,” United Press International report published in the Panama City Herald (Florida), August 2, 1957, p. 1; Lawton Constitution (Oklahoma), August 2, 1957, p. 7.

  65. Bernstein 1958, op. cit., p. 6.

  66. Bernstein 1958, op. cit., p. 6.

  67. “Illinois Sheriff Tackles Case of the Ghostly Hurler,” Pacific Stars and Stripes (Tokyo, Japan), August 18, 1957, p. 3; Bernstein 1958, op. cit., p. 6.

  68. Michael Norman, Haunted Homeland (New York: Tor, 2006), pp. 60–61.

  69. Bernstein 1958, op. cit., p. 6.

  70. Wallace 1958, op. cit., p. 56.

  71. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 113.

  72. Tozzi 1958, op. cit., p. 17.

  73. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 105.

  74. Christopher 1971, op. cit., pp. 158–159; Pratt 1964, op. cit., pp. 101–102.

  75. Christopher 1971, op. cit., p. 159.

  76. Christopher 1971, op. cit., pp. 155–156.

  77. Pratt and Roll 1958, op. cit., p. 124.

  78. Osis 1958, op. cit., p. 10.

  79. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 100.

  80. Pratt 1964, op. cit., p. 109.

  81. Christopher 1971, op. cit.,
p. 155.

  82. J. G. Pratt and William Roll, “The Seaford Disturbances,” The Journal of Parapsychology 22(2): 79–124 (June 1958).

  83. Osis 1958, op. cit., p. 7.

  84. Pratt and Roll 1958, op. cit., pp. 82, 120–121.

  85. Pratt and Roll 1958, op. cit., p. 83.

  86. Pratt and Roll 1958, op. cit., p. 113.

  87. Nando Pelusi, “Defying the Laws of Physics,” Psychology Today 45(4) (2012): 24–26. Quote on p. 26.

  88. David Moye, “‘Real Fear’: The Spooks That Inspired ‘Poltergeist’ and ‘The Amityville Horror,’” The Huffington Post, March 9, 2012, accessed May 3, 2014, at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/poltergeist-amityville-horror-survivor-real-fear_n_1335948.html.

  Chapter 4

  1. Jon R. Stone, The Routledge Book of World Proverbs (New York: Routledge, 2006), p. 421.