It's the creepy cult horror film that terrified
cinema-goers in the Eighties and now Poltergeist is due to scare a whole
new generation as the remake hits the big screen tonight.
But very few of today's fans will know the petrifying real life events that inspired the film - or the curse surrounding it.
Steven Spielberg's
1982 film sees an ordinary family tormented by an evil apparition which
later takes the youngest daughter Carol Anne into another realm. The
reboot follows a similar format.
But the reality
behind the fiction is equally as frightening. The film is loosely based
on events at a house on Long Island, New York, where a family called the
Hermann's were plagued by a so-called poltergeist.
Between February and March 1958, bottle tops and
lids inexplicably popped, ornaments flew around the house, a heavy
bookshelf mysteriously fell over and a Virgin Mary figure soared through
the air and struck a mirror 12ft away.
A police
officer came to investigate but was almost hit by a flying globe while a
British press photographer who went to cover the story witnessed his
flashbulbs lift off a table.
A priest was called and
ministers from all sorts of faiths conducted rituals on the front lawn
but still the strange happenings went on as parents James and Lucille
and their two children Lucille jnr, 13, and James jnr, 12, became
increasingly scared.
Experts confirmed the
house was structurally sound, the fire brigade checked water levels in
an old well and equipment set up in the basement confirmed there were no
land vibrations. It was a mystery.
Read Full Story: Mirror UK
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