The Enfield Poltergeist: How director of Apple TV’s new docudrama used the Hodgson sisters and 200 hours of tapes
More than 200 hours of audio tapes provide the best “evidence” for the Enfield poltergeist there is.
Screams and bangs; interviews with those who said they had just experienced the supernatural; the voice of a 72-year-old man purportedly coming out of an 11-year-old girl called Janet.
They form the basis of a four-part docuseries exploring a phenomenon that gripped the north London suburb of Enfield – and the rest of the country – in the 1970s.
Not that director Jerry Rothwell is setting out to prove or disprove any theories with The Enfield Poltergeist. He wants to keep audiences in the space between knowing and not knowing, he told Sky News.
“It’s about how do we know what’s real and what might be beyond our perceptions, beyond our senses?”
Janet, played by Olivia Booth-Ford, appeared to be the focus of the poltergeist. Pic: Apple TV+
Set in a reconstruction of the semi-detached council house where the Hodgson family was seemingly plagued by the paranormal for 18 months, the series weaves together audio recordings with contemporary interviews and photos from the time.
Paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse from the Society for Psychical Research was sent to investigate, spending months at the family home between 1977 and 1979. The audio he recorded there is central to the series. As well as interviewing people, he would leave the tape running for long periods.
“What you get out is a sense of the context of family life that’s going on. Sometimes you’ll hear a noise, a scream, a bang or a rap and people’s response to it,” Rothwell said.
But the origin of those noises is “incredibly ambiguous”.
“I don’t think there’s many incidents where we see the paranormal cause of something, what we see is the effects of this on people.
“If we see a kettle fall over, we catch it in the last inches of its flight rather than see how it started – which I think is consistent with people’s experience of the paranormal.”
Grosse (played by Ettridge) was sent to investigate the paranormal activities at the council house in Enfield. Pic: Apple TV+
Witnessing the unexplainable
Former Daily Mirror photographer Graham Morris was one of the first people at the Enfield home after the Hodgsons’ neighbours called the newspaper about the strange events.
“Up to 18 months I spent on and off in that house and saw so, so much happen, from the first night being hit by that Lego brick,” he told Sky News.
He said as soon as 11-year-old Janet entered the house, loose objects such as marbles and Lego pieces started to “whiz around the room” – with one of them hitting him above the eye and leaving a lump that lasted days.
From his vantage point through the camera lens, he could see nobody had thrown it, he said.
It was “unexplainable” he said – but he knew it was “true”.
“So, so much happened. It would have been impossible for the girls or any member of the family to have done it. It’s just too much. It was constant, it was relentless.”
Click to subscribe to Backstage wherever you get your podcasts
One of Mr Morris’s photos was used by the paranormal investigators as evidence of the supernatural; they said it showed Janet levitating.
The image of Janet “flying across the room” was taken in the dark, with Mr Morris operating the camera remotely from downstairs, primed to press the button at any noise.
“They [the paranormal investigators] are the experts. If they want to say she’s levitating, fine.
“I was there as a photographer. I’m not there to say what’s happening – I’ve got my own theories – but as a pure layman, I just left it to the experts.”
So as one of the few witnesses still alive, what is Mr Morris’ theory?
“I don’t believe in ghosts, I don’t believe that’s what it was.
“I believe that there was something that as yet we don’t know about, some sort of force that was centered on Janet.”
Janet was trying to relate to her family, who “for various reasons, weren’t that communicative”, he said.
“She must have found it so, so frustrating that for some reason this energy is being let off and things are happening – kinetic energy, so things are moving.”
Janet and Margaret’s bedroom was the centre of much of the paranormal activity. Pic: Apple TV+
Interviewing the Hodgson sisters
In the new Apple TV documentary, merging recreation with reality went as far as the set, which featured items from the Hodgson family home including pots and pans, a stack of Jackie magazines – and even some Lego.
They were provided by the Hodgson sisters, Janet and Margaret, who were 11 and 13 when the strange happenings started.
Both are interviewed in the series. Rothwell said he wanted to put them back at the heart of the story.
“For me, it is primarily their story and it was absolutely crucial to involve them in that because I think otherwise… you are making them public property without much control.
“These events at the time were very traumatic and have in many ways shaped the direction of their lives.
“Firstly, because of the events themselves, but also because of people’s fascination with those events and the ways in which that fascination, you know, fixes who they are.”
Christopher Ettridge as paranormal investigator Maurice Grosse. Pic: Apple TV+
Marrying past and present
Actors in the series also lip sync the recordings from the audio tapes – a skill that was easier for the younger TikTok generation to master than the older cast members, Rothwell said.
“You’re taking away one of the tools that an actor has in their armoury, which is how they deliver a line.”
A lot of the actors said the key was “finding the way the person breathed – and as soon as you got that, you could lip sync”.
The tapes also became something of a director in their own right, Rothwell said.
“The more we listened to the tapes, the more you’d realise about what it was telling you about things that were going on in the room.
“We’d be shooting a scene and we suddenly realised there’s no way that person can be in that position, they have to be over there.”
Read more from Sky News:
Britney Spears finally has her say – she’s not holding back
Georgia Harrison on her fight against revenge porn
Game Of Thrones’ famous Dark Hedges trees could face chop
The Enfield poltergeist has sometimes taken on something of a life of its own. It was front-page news in the 1970s – not always portrayed in ways the Hodgson family agreed with – and has spawned multiple documentaries as well as inspiring The Conjuring 2.
What is sometimes forgotten in retellings – and what Rothwell wanted to get back to – is that this is a real family, and their story.
“It was important to honour people’s experience,” he said. “You know, people are absolutely saying they have had these experiences, they’ve seen this, they’ve heard this – and I wasn’t there, so who am I to argue with it?
“This is essentially a working-class family with few resources who are beset by middle-class ghost hunters or physicists or academics, and whose house sort of came out of their control.”
The Enfield Poltergeist is available on Apple TV+ from 27 October.
Entertainment
Hungary bans Irish rap group Kneecap from entering country over ‘antisemitic hate speech’
Hungarian authorities have banned the Irish rap group Kneecap from entering the country, accusing them of engaging in “antisemitic hate speech” and “supporting terrorism”.
Kneecap were set to perform at the Sziget Festival, taking place from 6 to 11 August in Budapest.
The Belfast-based band, which often shares pro-Palestinian messages during its shows, has attracted controversy in recent months after accusing the Israeli government of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said on Thursday that the band’s members “repeatedly engage in antisemitic hate speech supporting terrorism and terrorist groups”.
“Hungary has zero tolerance for antisemitism in any form,” Kovacs said on X, adding that the band’s planned performance “posed a national security threat,” and the band has therefore been formally banned from entering Hungary for three years.
“If they enter, expulsion will follow under international norms,” Kovacs added.
Kneecap performing during the Glastonbury Festival in June. Pic: Reuters
Responding to the spokesman’s comments, Kneecap said “there is no legal basis” for Hungary’s decision and that “no member of Kneecap has ever been convicted of any crime in any country”.
“It is clear that this is a political distraction and a further attempt to silence those who call out genocide against the Palestinian people,” the band said in a statement on X.
During Kneecap’s gig at Britain’s Glastonbury Festival in June, frontman Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, performing under the stage name Mo Chara, accused Israel of war crimes in Gaza.
Ahead of the gig, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he doesn’t think Kneecap’s planned performance was “appropriate”.
Moglai Bap and Mo Chara of Kneecap perform at Glastonbury. Pic: Reuters
Following Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury, a criminal investigation was launched into comments made on stage by the trio. However, police ultimately decided not to pursue further action, citing “insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.
Kneecap called the investigation “political policing intimidation”.
Mo Chara has been formally charged with a terrorism offence after allegedly displaying a flag in support of the militant group Hezbollah during a gig in November. He denies the offence.
Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organisation by the UK and the US.
The legendary WWE wrestler Hulk Hogan has died aged 71.
Police have said emergency services responders treated Hogan at his home in Clearwater, Florida, for cardiac arrest at around 10am local time (3pm UK time) today but he died in hospital around an hour and 15 minutes later.
Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, is perhaps the most iconic star in WWE’s five-decade history – known for his distinctive blonde moustache and colourful headbands.
His charisma and theatrics in the ring are credited with helping to transform professional wrestling into a family entertainment sport.
Hulk Hogan. Pic: AP
Hogan was the main draw for the first-ever WrestleMania in 1985 and was a fixture for years in its signature event, facing everyone from Andre The Giant and Randy Savage to The Rock and even company chairman Vince McMahon.
He claimed his first WWE world championship by defeating the Iron Sheik in 1984.
Hogan went on to win five more world championships and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 by Sylvester Stallone.
Hulk Hogan fighting Andre The Giant in 1988. Pic: AP
Hulk Hogan face to face with The Rock in 2014. Pic: AP
WWE said in a post this evening: “WWE is saddened to learn WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has passed away. One of pop culture’s most recognizable figures, Hogan helped WWE achieve global recognition in the 1980s. WWE extends its condolences to Hogan’s family, friends, and fans.”
Hogan’s friend and fellow former professional wrestler, Ric Flair, wrote on X: “I am absolutely shocked to hear about the passing of my close friend @HulkHogan! Hulk has been by my side since we started in the wrestling business.
“An incredible athlete, talent, friend, and father!”
Hogan was also able to transcend his “Hulkamania” fan base to become a celebrity outside the wrestling world, appearing in numerous movies and television shows, including a reality show about his life on VH1, “Hogan Knows Best”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Hulk Hogan shows support for Trump at Republican National Convention
In 2024, he appeared at the Republican National Convention to endorse the presidential bid of Donald Trump.
Hogan said he made the decision to support the Republican candidate after seeing his combative, fist-pumping reaction to an attempted assassination on the campaign trail.
In a reference to so-called “Hulkamania”, he ripped off his shirt to reveal a Trump tank top and bellowed to a cheering crowd: “Let Trumpamania run wild, brother… Let Trumpamania rule again!”
US Vice President JD Vance has been one of the first to pay tribute to Hogan, writing on X: “Hulk Hogan was a great American icon. One of the first people I ever truly admired as a kid. The last time I saw him we promised we’d get beers together next time we saw each other. The next time will have to be on the other side, my friend! Rest in peace.”
Hogan’s support of Trump did not go down well with all wrestling fans, but he also faced other controversies.
The gossip website Gawker posted a video in 2012 of him having sex with his former best friend’s wife.
Hogan sued on privacy grounds and was awarded a $140m judgement in 2016.
A year earlier he was suspended by the WWE after another secret recording revealed that Hogan had used a racial slur.
He was reinstated in 2018.
The making of a pop culture phenomenon
Born in the US state of Georgia in August 1953, Hogan played bass guitar in local bands before getting involved in the wrestling scene in Florida in the 1970s.
The young wrestler, who later admitted to taking anabolic steroids during his career, gained notoriety as his biceps turned into what he dubbed the “24-inch pythons.”
The “Hulk” moniker came from comparisons to the comic-book hero portrayed on TV at the time.
He would end up paying royalties to Marvel Comics for years.
“Hogan” was the invention of promoter Vince McMahon, the owner of what was then called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), who wanted Irish representation among his stable of stars.
He was married three times and had two children.
In an update at 1.47pm local time (6.47pm UK time), Clearwater Police Major Nate Burnside said there were “no signs of foul play or suspicious activity” in relation to Hogan’s death.
He added that Hogan’s family are being supported.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the latest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
Entertainment
Black Sabbath, Elton John and Rod Stewart among music giants paying tribute to Ozzy Osbourne
Black Sabbath have paid tribute to their former frontman Ozzy Osbourne after the megastar died at the age of 76.
Osbourne’s death on Tuesday morning was announced in a statement, which said he died surrounded by his family.
His death came just weeks after he reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates – Tony Iommi, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward – and performed a huge farewell concert for fans.
The band paid tribute to him on Instagram by sharing an image of Osbourne on stage at the farewell gig in Birmingham and writing “Ozzy Forever”.
Ozzy Osbourne’s life in pictures
Iommi, the band’s lead guitarist, said he was in disbelief at the news.
“It’s just such heartbreaking news that I can’t really find the words, there won’t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Watch: Ozzy’s last concert
Butler, Black Sabbath’s bassist and primary lyricist, thanked Osbourne for “all those years – we had some great fun”.
He said: “Four kids from Aston – who’d have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.”
Osbourne with his wife Sharon during the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Pic: AP
Sir Elton John described Osbourne as his “dear friend” and a “huge trailblazer” who “secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods”.
“He was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” the singer wrote on Instagram.
Ronnie Wood, of The Rolling Stones, wrote: “I am so very sad to hear of the death of Ozzy Osbourne. What a lovely goodbye concert he had at Back To The Beginning in Birmingham.”
Born John Michael Osbourne on 3 December 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, he became known as the godfather of heavy metal.
The self-styled Prince of Darkness pioneered the music genre with Black Sabbath before going on to have huge success in his own right.
He was famous for hits including Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Crazy Train and Changes, both with the band and as a solo star.
Legendary American heavy metal band Metallica shared an image of them with Osbourne from 1986 along with an emoji of a broken heart.
Posting on Instagram, Sir Rod Stewart said: “Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there – later rather than sooner.”
Queen guitarist Sir Brian May said he was “grateful I was able to have a few quiet words” with Osbourne after his farewell show at Villa Park three weeks ago.
He said the world will miss the singer’s “unique presence and fearless talent”.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike