The Bridgeport Poltergeist: the Goodin family house on Lindley Street

The Goodin family lived in a small bungalow on Lindley Street, in the North End of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Gerard "Jerry" Goodin was a 56-year-old factory worker. Laura Goodin was a devout Roman Catholic. Their adopted daughter Marcia, from Canada, was 10 years old.

For years, the house had knocked. Patterned pounding came from the walls, at all hours. Accounts disagree on when it started. Some say 1960, when the family moved in. Officer John Holsworth, a neighbor, reportedly recorded the banging in 1972. Another account places the beginning in December 1973.

Late November 1974. The disturbances grew sharply worse. On November 24, the family called the police. Those who went inside described a house in motion. The refrigerator rose about a foot off the floor. One account says it glided 6 to 8 feet. A 21-inch portable television was seen "floating and rotating clockwise." It toppled onto Laura's toes. A recliner rose and made a complete 360-degree flip. Knives swiveled on the kitchen floor. A plastic crucifix exploded from the wall.

Officer Joe Tomek tried a test. "If you can hear me, move something," he said. Several items on the wall reportedly responded at once.

Stranger claims followed. A smell of sulfur. A disembodied hand at a window. And Sam, the family cat, said to have spoken. One account has it singing Jingle Bells "in a frightening inhuman voice."

Word spread fast. Police officers, firefighters, city inspectors, priests and reporters came through the door. More than 100 witnesses, by one count. Inspectors found no structural, electrical or plumbing cause. Ed and Lorraine Warren arrived. So did Paul Eno, a 21-year-old seminary student, and Father William Charbonneau. Keith Harary and Gerald Solfvin came from the Psychical Research Foundation at Duke. Outside, the street filled. By 4 pm on November 25, more than 2,000 people stood watching. The road was closed to traffic.

Superintendent Joseph Walsh closed the matter. "There are no ghosts in Bridgeport," he was quoted as saying. Officer Costello said he saw Marcia "stretch her leg to nudge" the television. She was said to have confessed to banging on the walls and floor, moving furniture and making strange voices. One account notes Walsh made the announcement "without providing evidence."

The witnesses pushed back. Things were said to move when Marcia was out of the room, even out of the house. Activity carried on for weeks, flaring again around December 10. Ed Warren later claimed the police chief asked the family to call it a hoax so the crowds would leave. Others suggested a neighbor's prank, or noted that the outbreak followed the release of The Exorcist.

After Thanksgiving, three people were arrested and charged with an arson attack on the house. The Goodins tried to sell. They stayed.

The Warrens later called it the "most important poltergeist case of the last 100 years." The Duke researchers treated it as recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis centred on a 10-year-old. In 2014, William J. Hall, a Bridgeport magician who began as a skeptic, published The World's Most Haunted House. Drawing on police reports and more than 40 hours of interviews, Hall concluded the case was genuine. It is often set beside the Enfield poltergeist. The house still stands.