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.”
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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.”
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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.
UK
Reward of £20,000 offered to identify parents of three siblings abandoned as babies over eight years
A £20,000 reward is being offered for information that leads to the identification of the parents of three siblings found abandoned in London over eight years.
The Metropolitan Police said that despite more than 450 hours of CCTV being reviewed, the parents of the three children, known as Elsa, Roman and Harry, remain unidentified.
However, it is believed their mother has lived in an area of east London “over the past six years”.
Elsa was believed to be less than an hour old when she was found by a dog walker on 18 January last year, in East Ham, east London.
In the months that followed it was found that she had two siblings who were also abandoned in similar circumstances, in the same area of London, in 2017 and 2019.
On Saturday, police said the independent group Crimestoppers had offered a £20,000 reward for information passed to the charity, which will expire on 18 April.
Detective Inspector Jamie Humm, of the Met’s child abuse investigation team, said: “We have carried out extensive inquiries over the past year to try and locate Elsa’s parents.
Baby Roman. Pic: Met Police/PA
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“This has involved reviewing over 450 hours of CCTV and completing a full DNA structure of the mother.
“We have serious concerns for the wellbeing of the parents, especially the mother, and are continuing to work closely with Newham Council and appeal for the public’s help for information.
“I believe that someone in the area will have been aware of the mother’s pregnancies and that within the community there may be (or) have been concerns for this mother’s welfare.
“Thanks to the DNA work of forensic colleagues, police will be able to eliminate any unconnected person quickly and easily, as such I would ask you to contact police with confidence.”
The baby was found at the junction of Greenway and High Street South in Newham. Pic: PA
Elsa was found wrapped in a towel in a reusable shopping bag, of which police have also released a new image, and was kept warm by the dog walker. She was uninjured.
Police said at the time that it was “highly likely” that she was born after a “concealed pregnancy”.
The Boots bag in which Baby Elsa was found abandoned by a dog walker in Newham on 18 January 2024. Pic: Met Police/PA
The BBC reported that at an initial court hearing, East London Family Court was told it took doctors three hours to record Elsa’s temperature because of the cold, and the Met Office said that temperatures dropped to as low as -4C on the night she was found.
Hospital staff named her Elsa in a reference to the character from the film Frozen.
The police investigation into the identity of the children’s parents continues, and anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or post @MetCC ref Operation Wolcott.
People can also contact Crimestoppers anonymously at any time on 0800 555 111 or via Crimestoppers-uk.org.
Fresh appeals have been made for information on what would have been the 20th birthday of Ellis Cox, who was shot dead in Liverpool last June.
A number of people have been arrested in connection with the murder at Liver Industrial Estate, but no one has been charged yet.
The 19-year-old’s family and police have paid tribute to him and called for those with information to come forward.
He was shot in the back after a confrontation between his friends and another group of up to three males on Sunday 23 June.
Ellis Cox who was shot dead in June 2024. Pic: Merseyside Police
His mother Carolyn paid tribute in an appeal to coincide with what would have been his 20th birthday.
“He was so kind… so laid back, so calm, so mature for his age. And he was just funny. Very funny.
“He was my baby… no mum should have to bury a child. He was my life. And I don’t know what to do without him.”
Mum Carolyn Cox (left) and aunt Julie O’Toole (right) are looking for answers
Ellis’ mum described him as ‘kind” and “funny. Pic: Merseyside Police
Meanwhile, his aunt Julie O’Toole said he was “the sort of person I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone to say anything negative about. He was loyal, fiercely loyal… everything was about his family”.
To pay tribute to Ellis, Liverpool City Council will be lighting up the Cunard Building and Liverpool Town Hall in orange on Saturday.
DCI Steve McGrath does not believe Ellis was involved in criminality
Detective Chief Inspector Steve McGrath, the senior investigating officer, spoke about the information gathered so far, six months on from Mr Cox’s murder.
“I’m satisfied that the group that he was with was probably the target… and I would say that’s got something in relation to do with localised drug dealing in that area. But Ellis had no involvement in that whatsoever,” he said.
He added that police are looking for “really significant pieces of evidence now”, including “trying to recover the firearm that was used in relation to this, looking to recover the bikes that were used by the offenders”.
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Mrs Cox also appealed for people to come forward with information.
“If you know anything, don’t let us get to [his] next birthday and still know nothing.
“We need to get justice for Ellis. And we need to get the people who took him from us off the streets.”
Former Manchester United and Scotland footballer Denis Law has died, at the age of 84.
In a statement, his family said: “It is with a heavy heart that we tell you our father Denis Law has sadly passed away. He fought a tough battle, but finally, he is now at peace.
“We would like to thank everyone who contributed to his wellbeing and care, past and much more recently.
“We know how much people supported and loved him and that love was always appreciated and made the difference.”
Denis Law in 2005. Pic: PA
The Aberdeen-born footballer previously announced in August 2021 that he had been diagnosed with dementia.
A prolific striker, Law scored 237 goals in 404 appearances for Manchester United, for whom he signed for a then-British record transfer fee in 1962.
He is the only man to have two statues dedicated to him at Old Trafford – one on the Stretford End concourse, the other as part of the United Trinity statue overlooking the stadium’s forecourt beside fellow great George Best and Sir Bobby Charlton.
Denis Law, third from left, as a statue featuring him alongside Sir Bobby Charlton and George Best – known as the ‘holy trinity’ – was unveiled in 2008. Pic: AP
The only Scottish player to have won the Ballon d’Or award, in 1964, he was also part of United’s triumphant campaign in the 1968 European Cup – in which they became the first English club to ever win the competition.
In a statement, the club said: “Everyone at Manchester United is mourning the loss of Denis Law, the King of the Stretford End, who has passed away, aged 84.
“He will always be celebrated as one of the club’s greatest and most beloved players.
Denis Law, centre, during Manchester United’s triumphant European Cup campaign in 1968. Pic: AP
“The ultimate goalscorer, his flair, spirit and love for the game made him the hero of a generation. Our deepest condolences go out to Denis’s family and many friends. His memory will live on forever more.”
Wayne Rooney, former United captain and the club’s all-time record goalscorer, described Law as a “legend”.
“Thoughts with all Denis’s family and friends,” he said in an online post.
Another former United captain, Gary Neville, said: “A great footballer and a great man. It’s a privilege and an honour to have spent time in your company. The King of the Stretford End.”
A tribute from the Scotland national team said Law was “a true great”.
“We will not see his likes again,” it said.
Law also played for Huddersfield Town, Manchester City, and Italian club Torino during his club career, and made 55 appearances for Scotland, scoring 30 goals for his country.
Manchester City said in a post on X: “The whole of Manchester, including everyone at City, is mourning with you. Rest in peace, Denis.”
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