Episode 2: Shirley
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What was it like for Shirley to live with a poltergeist?
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Seuraavaksi potilas 2934.
79% kokee, ettei tule nähdyksi hakiessaan apua terveydenhuollosta. Asioita voidaan tehdä myös toisin. Jokainen ansaitsee tulla nähdyksi terveydenhuollossa. Pihlajalinna.
Ihmisen kokoista huolenpitoa.
In the first stage of a poltergeist haunting, the entity will confine itself to making noise, as if it's testing its victims, like a jailer softening up a prisoner. This can last days or weeks, but the effect is to disorient, terrify, exhaust. And that is when the second stage starts.
Dad, look. Molly, the chair. The chair's moving. That's not possible.
Donald, please stop it.
Oh, dear God.
It's like it heard her. Events will now start to gravitate towards one particular person. The focus.
Shirley, tell him to move it again. Shirley, don't! Donald, move the chair. Please?
Oh, God!
I'm Danny Robbins, and this is the Battersea Poltergeist. This episode, as Harold Chibbert begins his investigation back in 1956, it's time for me to meet our only surviving witness, the real life Shirley. So I'm going to ask you now, for the benefit of everybody listening, for the hardened sceptics out there. Yes. You saw heavy pots and pans fly through the air in your room.
How did Harold Chibbett begin his investigation in 1956?
Yes. Yes.
Episode two, Shirley.
So this episode, we're going to hear the testimony of the real life Shirley. But first, let's go back to Monday, the 12th of March, 1956, as Harold Chibbert sets up camp at the Hitchings house. General equipment, camera, thermometer, spare notepads, spare pens, sleeping bag. How long are you expecting to be here, Mr Chibbert? Chib, as long as it takes, Wally. I've told Mrs Chib not to expect me much. Now, if you don't mind, the final ghost-hunting essential, a cup of tea. Milk, two sugars. Coming right up.
You're quite weird, aren't you?
Pardon?
Turning up at people's houses, sleeping in the kitchen, not getting paid. Why'd you do it?
Listen.
I don't hear nothing. For once.
That nothing is filled with the voices of the dead, desperately trying to make contact.
What if we can hear them?
Forget penicillin or space travel. Wouldn't that be the most amazing thing?
Is that what Donald is then? Someone dead?
Ah, I knew there was something else. My torch.
What does he want, Chib? Who the hell is he?
That's what we're going to find out. But the dead are only half the story. Darkness comes from light. So let's start with the living. Shirley Hitchings, who the hell are you? I told you last episode that we have Chib's original files on the case. Well, they've been sitting in that cardboard box for the last 25 years in a bungalow on the south coast of England. My husband and I went up to get them on the death of Mr Chibbit from his house. And they came back here and went straight up into our loft. That bungalow belongs to the other amazing resource we have. I never, ever looked at the notes.
What were the first signs of paranormal activity at 63 Wycliffe Road?
I didn't want to bring their memories back, if you know what I mean. Shirley's 80 now. She looks very different to the dark-haired teenager in the old newspaper articles on the case. But she hasn't lost any of her sharpness. So how do you feel about it now? I feel very different now. I'm not that scared little girl anymore. I am apprehensive. that it could bring Donald back. I was first introduced to Shirley two years ago, and I have been obsessed with her story ever since. Today, we're chatting on a crisp autumn morning. She's sitting armed with a cup of tea prepared by her husband, Derek, and she's ready to tell you her story. So, number 63 Wycliffe Road, just a very ordinary-looking house from the outside.
But inside, something extraordinary happened. Oh, it was horrendous. It really was. I wouldn't want that back again, ever. I don't know what I'd do. You're laughing there, Shirley, but this has affected you in a big way, hasn't it? Yes, yes. If you had to sum up the effect this has had on you, the impact it's had on your life, what would you say? I'm sorry that it happened because it took all my teenage years.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What was it like for Shirley to live with a poltergeist?
0:00–2:52
2
How did Harold Chibbett begin his investigation in 1956?
2:52–5:56
3
What were the first signs of paranormal activity at 63 Wycliffe Road?
5:56–8:13
4
How did Shirley describe the objects moving in her house?
8:13–11:06
5
What impact did the haunting have on Shirley's childhood and family life?
11:06–15:04
6
What evidence do experts provide regarding Shirley's experiences?
15:04–17:26
7
How does fear influence perception in paranormal situations?
17:26–21:40
8
What conclusions can be drawn about the events at 63 Wycliffe Road?
21:40–30:45