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Apple TV’s 'The Enfield Poltergeist' is both chilling and fascinating at the same time.
It's supernatural, folks. Possession, ghosts and ghouls could be from a different dimension. Picture iStock
It’s the staple of horror films: Ghosts, ghouls, demons, and spirits from the other side and apparitions that appear in crystal balls with talking and animated dolls.
Many of these nightmares don’t just spawn from the imaginations of the scared.
Seeing spirits, talking to the dead, possession, and exorcisms have been part of soothsaying and religious practices for millennia. It still is.
Apple TV’s The Enfield Poltergeist is both chilling and fascinating at the same time.
The show shares actual footage of a haunting, exorcisms, and possessions.
Films like The Exorcism, now on circuit, fictionalise supposedly supernatural events that occurred on the set of the 1973 classic The Exorcist.
In Johannesburg, several pop-up ghost tours occasionally fleece the curious with ghost-hunting expeditions.
Anne-Marie Viviers of the Heavenly Healing Centre in Benoni says possession is often portrayed as a terrifying experience.
This happens when a supernatural entity, like a demon, takes control of a human body. In The Exorcist, a young girl named Regan is possessed by a powerful demon, which leads to a series of horrifying events.
“This portrayal taps into deep-seated fears of losing control over your own body and mind,” Viviers said.
“The concept of possession isn’t limited to demons; it can also involve spirits or other supernatural beings.”
Sometimes, it takes a willing human, too.
American spirit guru Jack Purcell has famously made a fortune channeling a supernatural entity called Lazaris.
Videos, audio, and books unpack the entity’s pearls of wisdom on life, the universe, and everything in between.
Some consider it a form of controlled possession, while skeptics write it off as nonsense. Only Purcell really knows the truth.
Viviers notes that, over hundreds of years, religious conservatives have shunned the possessed and burned witches, causing innocent people to suffer under their strong belief systems.
Exorcisms have been darkly romanticised in horror films.
The practice dates back centuries and has served as a dramatic confrontation between good and evil. It stems from the belief that demonic forces can take control of a human soul, and religious institutions have historically deployed trained exorcists to expel these malevolent entities.
Exorcism rituals, often involving intense prayer, holy water, and the invocation of saints, are as much about spiritual battles between good and evil as they are about psychology.
Horror films tap into our fears of the unknown, folklore, and deeply ingrained beliefs that these supernatural occurrences must be real because they pair with faith in an afterlife.
South Africa has its share of ghost stories. The abandoned Kempton Park Hospital is a source of local haunting legend.
People retell the tale of the bike rider at De Deur in the Vaal Triangle thousands of times.
Another famous story, the Uniondale ghost, tells of a young woman who appears, asking for a lift. When motorists pull over to pick her up, she vanishes from the vehicle without a trace.
There’s also the Groote Schuur Hospital ghost. Legend has it that this spirit is of a nurse who took her own life and now haunts the hospital, appearing to staff and patients alike. People often report that her presence is accompanied by a sudden drop in temperature and the feeling of being watched.
“Supernatural powers encompass a wide range of abilities that defy the laws of nature,” said Viviers.
“These can include telekinesis, teleportation, and even immortality. Unfortunately, movies highlight the horror rather than the true gift,” she added.
A few categories divide the supernatural. Ghosts, often spirits of the deceased with unfinished business, are common.
They are the subject of shows like Crossing Over with John Edward, where entities speak through a medium to the living. “Viviers said, “Poltergeists are a more specific type of spirit that exhibit noisy and disruptive behavior.”
“They frequently manifest through physical disturbances like moving objects or unexplained noises.”
Demons, considered soldiers of the devil, are malevolent entities that possess humans and force them to act against their will.
Viviers also mentions that legend has it that ghouls, zombie-like creatures that are undead, feed on human flesh. These creatures are able to defy natural laws.
A Sangoma claims that the legendary South African ghoul, the Tokoloshe, is very real. It can be a spirit summoned to harm or spy, or a purposefully deformed human under an evil practitioner’s control.
People place their beds on bricks because the entity is short, making it harder for it to reach up and harm its target.
It’s all very terrifying. Some dismiss it as fear and dogma, while others consider the supernatural as part of reality.
Psychic medium Merle Spiessens suggests that science proves the existence of other dimensions. She said that Einstein’s theory of relativity shows that time can bend and other realities might, therefore, exist.
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