What poltergeist accounts through the ages reveal about our own worldviews• Provides a wide array of case studies from ancient Greece and Rome to medieval Europe to the modern world• Explores the relationship between poltergeists and troubled adolescence•Looks beneath the Christian adulteration of pagan practices to revealthe hidden ancestral beliefs tied to poltergeists and haunted housesStoriesof poltergeists and their mischievous and sometimes violentactions--knocking, stone or chair throwing, moving objects withinvisible hands, and slamming or opening doors--are a constant throughthe ages. What changes is how we interpret this activity. For our paganancestors this phenomenon was caused by helper spirits whosemanifestations revealed their unhappiness with a household. The medievalChristian church demonized these once helpful spirits and heldexorcisms to expel them from the houses they haunted--which provedeffective less than half the time. The Age of Enlightenment cast theseincidents as clever hoaxes, and many still believe this today. Butpoltergeist manifestations continue to appear and often defy attempts todebunk them as pranks. What then is behind this phenomenon?Exploringaccounts of poltergeists from ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe,and the modern world, Claude Lecouteux finds that while ourinterpretations of poltergeists may change, the manifestations alwaysfollow a similar course and evolution. He shows how modern scientificstudies of poltergeist manifestations have found a strong tie betweenthese visitations and the presence of a troubled adolescent in thehouse. Looking beneath the Christian adulteration of pagan practices toreveal the hidden ancestral beliefs tied to poltergeists and hauntedhouses, the author shows how these unhappy spirits serve as confirmationof the supernatural beings that share the earth with us and of ourrelationship with the natural and unseen world, a…