A poltergeist in Petersfield? Surely not! Yet there have been stories…

The stories relate to a house at 22 Chapel Street where, in the 1930s, newspapers reported a strange knocking in the night, a ‘spirit’ which would communicate with one of the house’s occupants, 17-year-old Violet Lockyer.

Now Karen Goffe, Violet’s granddaughter, has written a book which uncovers “a much deeper story behind the haunting – one involving hidden identities, a secret marriage, and a carefully constructed deception that lasted decades”.

‘The Petersfield Poltergeist: The true story behind the haunting’ focuses on Karen’s great-grandmother Emily, whose life and choices “help explain what was really happening inside the house during the so-called poltergeist activity”.

The house is an unassuming one but in the early 30s it was sometimes surrounded by huge crowds eager to discover what was going on within its walls.

Karen had always been aware of the stories, but it was her interest in genealogy which led her to “find interesting things going on which may, or may not, explain what was going on”.

She discovered that Violet was used to communicate with what she thought was the spirit of Mrs Winch, a former occupant of the house.

In fact, the story is more complex than even a haunting. It seems that Emily was living a double life with an assumed name, a Boer War veteran and a ‘shadow husband’, and all of it to protect her family’s future in an age where social expectations were more restrictive than they are now.

What Emily and Violet would have thought of the book can be only guessed, but Karen believes that Violet eventually knew what was going on in the house.

“It’s an example of women’s history and how women have had to hide things,” said Karen.

The Petersfield Poltergeist is available on Amazon.