The Rosenheim Poltergeist
In a Bavarian law office, lights swung, bulbs exploded and the phones dialled the speaking clock by themselves, hundreds of times.
What was reported
In late 1967, strange things began at a lawyer's office in Rosenheim. Ceiling lights swung, fuses blew, fluorescent tubes burst, drawers opened, and the telephone bill showed hundreds of calls to the speaking clock that nobody had made, sometimes several a minute.
Engineers from the electricity company and physicists from the Max Planck Institute tested the equipment and couldn't find a fault. The parapsychologist Hans Bender concluded the events centred on a young employee, and they seemed to follow her when she changed jobs, and stopped later.
Explanations offered
Bender saw it as a classic poltergeist case. Sceptics argue it could have been trickery, with the investigators not ruling out simple ways to cause the effects. No one has explained the phone calls to everyone's satisfaction.
- When
- 1967–1968
- Where
- Rosenheim, Bavaria, Germany
- Witnesses
- Office staff, engineers, physicists and police
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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