The occult connection to poltergeist manifestations is made more evident when we consider that the celebrated revival of mid-nineteenth century spiritualism in America actually began with the poltergeist. The Fox sisters’ "rappings" were clearly a manifestation of poltergeist activity. Colin Wilson, author of The Occult: A History, observes, "The Hydesville rappings which inaugurated the history of modern spiritualism were almost certainly poltergeist phenomena; the Hydesville ‘ghost’ also claimed to be the victim of an undetected murder."¹

In fact, researchers have connected the poltergeist to mediumism, witchcraft, spiritism and other forms of the occult throughout history, right up to the present. Of scores of incidents recorded or investigated by the late Dr. Kurt Koch, a leading Christian authority on the occult, in every case "occult practices lay at the root of the [poltergeist] phenomena."² For example, as one reads the literature, one discovers that the use of Ouija boards is often associated with the poltergeist. Once poltergeist disturbances are experienced in a home, often the Ouija board is brought out of a closet in an attempt, whether in seriousness or jest, to establish contact with the "troubled ghost." In such cases, poltergeist phenomena often become the means of a person’s conversion to the occult. The supernatural encounters are so startling and intriguing that witnesses and participants may become converted to a belief in the supernatural and may end up involved in psychic investigation, such as using Ouija boards or attending séances.

In The Enigma of the Poltergeist, psychical researcher Raymond Bayless further observes, "it can be suggested that witchcraft may be the child of the poltergeist. The study of poltergeists and haunting phenomena continually uncovers reminders of the close relationship existing between each subject."³

Poltergeist phenomena are not only frequently associated with witchcraft but with necromancy and séance phenomena as well, e.g., "It has duplicated every phenomenon observed in the experimental séance."⁴ For example, "during known, obvious poltergeist cases, phantoms have been seen and heard that gave every indication of having been spirits of the dead. On occasion, phantoms have indicated that they were spirits of dead relatives of witnesses present."⁵

From a Christian view, here we see a typical attempt by demons to establish belief in or practice of contacting the dead, something God has forbidden in the Bible (Deut. 18:9-12). This is illustrated in the attempt to "rescue" supposedly confused or "earth-bound" spirits who are allegedly causing the poltergeist disturbances. Thus, "In each case the living had a duty to the dead. By means of séances (sometimes specifically convened as ‘rescue circles’) the distressed party [the poltergeist] could be contacted and ultimately directed along the appointed paths of self-improvement."⁶

In fact, one can only suspect in many cases that when poltergeists are directly associated with some person—rather than merely a location—that the spirits are attempting to force the individual into some kind of occult involvement or even to bring about their possession by spirits.

At the very least, poltergeist phenomena associated with an individual seems to have certain parallels to the medium and her spirit controls: "Obviously, this relates to the concept of mediumship in general and moreover to the equally fascinating study of the way in which this person—the ‘agent’ or ‘focus’—is different from other human beings who do not have poltergeist abilities."⁷

In light of all this, it is not surprising that a common feature of poltergeist manifestations involves the attempt to seek actual contact with the alleged deceased, also, obviously, a common occurrence in séance mediumism. For example, Dr. Weldon remembers viewing a television program on a particularly dramatic poltergeist haunting in 1994. After the poltergeist manifestations began, a Ouija board was used to attempt to make contact with the spirit. The spirit spelled out its name through the board. The next day psychical researchers were called in to investigate. Hauntingly, one of the parapsychologists had a name mentally impressed upon him entirely unaware. He simply began his conversation, "When did you first meet __________" —and gave the actual name that the spirit had given earlier through the Ouija board. He had no idea why he said this name or where it came from, but obviously, it "confirmed" the "identity" of the spirit they were now seeking to establish contact with. This particular name was, in fact, found to be that of the very same individual who had lived in this house prior to that time—and, in fact, had also been murdered. In the minds of everyone present, this confirmed the fact they were really contacting the deceased spirit of the man who had earlier been killed in this house.

Of course, in occult circles, the poltergeist is characteristically interpreted in line with prevailing beliefs about the dead, human psychokinesis, etc. But given the well-known ability of the spirits to assume virtually any shape and to take virtually any disguise, from angels to aliens to the human dead, how can any occultist be certain that poltergeists are what they think they are? Can mediums be certain the appearances of their "dead loved ones" in séances are not simply the clever tricks of demons to foster emotional trust and dependence? If not, what of the poltergeists who also claim to be the spirits of the dead?

The spirits of the occult in general are often contacted directly by psychics, mediums or channelers who permit themselves to become possessed by these spirits to allow the spirits to speak through them. At poltergeist hauntings, mediums or psychics may allow themselves to be possessed in order to discover the alleged reason for the "haunting" by establishing direct contact with the "troubled ghost."

While speaking through human mediums, these spirits have offered several reasons allegedly explaining their activities.

1. The spirits of the dead who were once atheists, materialists or rationalists while on earth never expected to encounter an afterlife. Upon death, the shock was so great they became confused and disoriented. Like a lost traveler in a strange city, they wander aimlessly attempting to get their "bearings".

2. Initially, some spirits of the dead actually refuse to believe they are really "dead" and are no longer able to live upon the earth. They now vainly attempt to convince themselves otherwise: that they are still in their body and can somehow return to their previous existence. Thus they not only seek to regain contact with the living through "haunting" houses where people live, but they desperately seek to manifest themselves materially in order to regain "contact" with the physical world. Bizarre poltergeist events are one result as they attempt to interact with and/or materialize back into this world.

3. Those spirits of the dead who erroneously accepted the idea of a biblical heaven (i.e., those who were Christians while on earth) are shocked and angry to discover that the Bible was wrong. Rather than finding themselves in heaven with their Lord, they instead simply found themselves in the spirit world—with no Jesus or heaven anywhere in sight. Some refuse to accept this, waiting instead for "Jesus" to come and take them to "heaven." In the meantime, they vent their confusion, anger and grief through poltergeist manifestations.

4. The spirits of the dead who were evil people involved in violent acts such as murder or rape at a particular location while on earth. After death they chose to remain close to the earth to continue their evil. (Or, it may be that their deceased victims are frightened to go forward and progress spiritually, or that they may wish to seek revenge on the living relatives of those who harmed them.)

These are the claims of the poltergeist. But regardless of the spirits’ claims, we think the demonologists of an earlier era such as Guazzo, Remy and others were correct—that these spirits are not what they claim (spirits of the human dead), but lying spirits which the Bible identifies as demons. This is strongly indicated by the fact that poltergeist claims, manifestations and results tend to have five distinct consequences—all of which lend credibility to the view that these spirits are really the deceiving spirits identified in the Bible as demons.

First, as noted, poltergeist manifestations tend to involve or interest people in the occult. Poltergeist phenomena frequently cause one to assume the truth of an occult worldview as in mediumism, witchcraft, reincarnation and paganism generally. The phenomenon itself is so startling that participants become converted to belief in the supernatural and not infrequently end up personally involved in psychic investigation through séances, channeling, Ouija boards or various forms of divination. Thus, a parapsychologist may be called in to "investigate" the disturbance and often a psychic, channeler, or medium is brought in to communicate with the troubled spirit, and attempt to "help" it or, if it is "evil," to "exorcise" it. Demons have a vested interest in all this because it not only supports the occult, it offers a novel and unexpected manner for them to influence or contact people. Thus, poltergeist activity encourages attempts to contact the dead, something God has forbidden as an abomination to Him: "Let no one be found among you…who practices …sorcery, …engages in witchcraft, …or who is a medium or a spiritist, or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord…" (Deut. 18:10-12).

Second, in the minds of many people, poltergeist phenomena tend to "discredit" the biblical view of the afterlife and of immediate judgment at death (Heb. 9:27). Indeed, most people do think of poltergeists as the spirits of the human dead. But if all these dead people are actually roaming around the spirit world, then the biblical portrait of confinement and judgment at death is obviously false. This scenario also supports the goals of demons who have a vested interest in deceiving people about biblical truth concerning the afterlife. Obviously, if there is no hell in the afterlife, there is no need for a Savior from hell in this life. But God tells us, "man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Heb. 9:27) and to those who reject God’s offer of salvation Jesus warned, "if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins" (John 8:24). The writer of Hebrews asks, "how shall we escape [judgment] if we ignore such a great salvation?" and "…see to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him [Moses] who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him [Jesus] who warns us from heaven?" (Heb. 2:3; 12:25). Jesus himself warned that the unregenerate and unrighteous "will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life" (Matt. 25:46). The Bible teaches clearly that the unsaved dead are now confined in a place of punishment (Luke 16:19-31; 2 Pet. 2:9) while the saved dead are in glory with Christ (Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:6, 8). Therefore, the implication many people draw from poltergeist manifestations, that the dead roam freely, is clearly false from a biblical viewpoint.

Third, poltergeist events grant spiritual authority and credibility to the occultist, i.e., the psychic, spiritist, medium, channeler, parapsychologist, psychical researcher, etc., who investigates the disturbance and supposedly "solves" the problem. Because such persons are frequently able to eventually "resolve" the disturbance—often not without a battle of sorts—(the spirits gladly cooperating behind the scenes), the entire episode grants the occultist spiritual authority and credibility. This too is something that harmonizes with the goal of demons: to secure credibility and authority for those who actively promote the demon’s own interests. Those interests actively oppose the good purposes God has intended for men. As many former mediums have testified, all this is merely a ruse of the spirits to fool men into adopting unbiblical teachings. The story of former mediums Raphael Gasson in The Challenging Counterfeit⁸ and Victor Ernest in I Talked with Spirits⁹ are illustrative.

Fourth, poltergeists manifestations frequently harm people. In the following material and later in our final illustration we will document this. Since demons are innately evil and unredeemable, this too fits well with their own desires and purposes.

In essence, all four consequences of the poltergeist are seen to support the goals of those evil spirits the Bible identifies as demons. Therefore, it is hardly out of place to suggest that poltergeists are merely a ruse of demons to further their own evil purposes. Our next section will expand on this theme.

Dr. G. H. Playfair, a member of the parapsychological Brazilia Institute for Psycho-Biophysical Research (a spiritist organization), describes poltergeist actions in his The Unknown Power:

Playfair refers to the fact that poltergeist cases can continue for years and eventually drive a family to desperation, even suicide. He mentions one incident which forcefully illustrates the true nature of these "harmless" ghosts:

Physical attacks from the spirit world are not as rare as some people think. UFO authority John Keel refers to various occult practices when he says:

John Weldon personally talked with one individual who claimed he was beaten by spirits. He was "astral projecting" (an out-of-body experience) and had his spirit purportedly thrown back into his body by other entities with such force that he was incoherent for days. A similar event happened to his roommate, with resulting insanity. Both experiences were said to have been induced by the practice of Transcendental Meditation. The person Dr. Weldon initially talked with claimed he would be subsequently beaten by the spirits merely for talking with a Christian. Because of past experience, he knew the spirits would scold him and express of their great displeasure.

Psychoanalyst and occult authority Dr. Nandor Fodor lists a well documented early twentieth century case with fairly common elements, which also involved an attempted murder by a poltergeist:

Dr. Fodor further observed that, "The most alarming poltergeist manifestation is the lighting of fires as they often result in serious material damage and in bodily burns."¹⁴ (Again, this frequent connection to spontaneous fires allows one to theorize that some of the several hundred recorded instances of spontaneous human combustion may be related to poltergeist events. Only a few charred bones, teeth, and occasional extremities are left of what was once a person, while the surrounding environment always remains nearly untouched, perhaps indicating the phenomenon of the highly focused intent of the poltergeist.)

Other occurrences involve unusual teleportations of objects and shamanistic-like phenomena. In one case, a girl who had hysterical fits and vomited pins "was tormented by stones continually flung at her. The stones vanished as soon as they fell to the ground."¹⁵ In another case, pins and needles were stuck into the tormented victim.¹⁶ As noted earlier, there are even cases of sexual attacks or actual rape by poltergeists. Essentially, these parallel the demonic incubus/succubus experience.

Dr. Kurt Koch lists one particularly brutal case of a baby being tormented. In this instance, a pastor had come to preach at a church containing a significant number of occultists, after which strange happenings began to occur. Apparently, the spirits didn’t like his preaching and sought revenge. Dr. Koch tells us:

In Phenomena: A Book of Wonders, Mitchell and Rickard also list several poltergeist-related psychic attacks. In South Africa in 1962, twenty-year-old Jim deBruin was being questioned about the disturbances when:

In another famous case that occurred just after the 1848 American spiritualist revival:

A final gruesome case is reminiscent of some UFO incidents which Dr. Weldon reported on in his second UFO book, Close Encounters:

The above examples—and hundreds more could be cited—offer strong evidence that the poltergeist is far more than a "harmless" ghost or mere adolescent psychokinesis. These suggestions eventually become absurd.