Poltergeists Aren’t Ghosts
The Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK) Theory
If you’ve ever watched a paranormal investigation show, you’ve probably seen the classic divide: hauntings (ghosts tied to a location, repeating the same actions like a broken record) versus poltergeists (flying objects, slamming doors, bangs, scratches—pure chaos).
But here’s the twist that decades of serious research keeps pointing to: credible poltergeist cases almost never behave like traditional spirit hauntings. They don’t stay in one location. They follow a person—wherever that person goes, the poltergeists attack. And when investigators dig deeper, they almost always find one common denominator: unresolved psychological trauma or extreme emotional stress in a living individual.
This isn’t fringe conspiracy stuff. It’s the leading explanation in parapsychology, known as Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK)—basically, unconscious mind-over-matter outbursts caused by a living person under pressure.
Hauntings vs. Poltergeists: The Key Difference
Traditional hauntings and poltergeist activity differ sharply in attachment, style, and resolution. A classic haunting, whether intelligent or residual, binds a spirit to a specific location—a house, battlefield, or cemetery—where it has limited ability to interact with physical objects. Poltergeist cases, by contrast, orbit a single living person, usually an adolescent or adult under extreme emotional stress. The chaos—flying objects, spontaneous fires, violent knocks—travels with that individual and halts the moment they leave the environment or their psychological tension resolves. Where hauntings demand cleansing rituals or exorcism, poltergeist outbreaks typically fade within weeks or months once counseling, relocation, or simple maturation eases the agent’s inner turmoil.
Where Did the RSPK Theory Come From?
The modern version was coined in 1958 by parapsychologists William G. Roll and J. Gaither Pratt while investigating cases for the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University. Roll went on to study over 100 poltergeist reports spanning centuries and noticed the same pattern: the disturbances revolved around a living person in emotional crisis—not a dead one.
Roll’s landmark book The Poltergeist (1972) laid it out clearly: poltergeist phenomena look like large-scale, involuntary psychokinesis (mind influencing matter) triggered by repressed emotions.
Researchers at the Rhine Research Center and others have echoed this for decades, describing poltergeist effects as “the outward manifestation of psychological trauma.”
Famous Cases That Confirm the Trauma Model Perfectly
Enfield Poltergeist (1977–1979, UK) – Centered on two adolescent sisters living in a stressful single-parent household. Activity followed the girls even when they were sent away temporarily.
Seaford Poltergeist (1958, USA) – Bottles popping off shelves around a 12-year-old boy. Investigators (including Roll) noted family tension and the boy’s emotional issues.
Rosenheim Poltergeist (1967, Germany) – Lights swinging, phones ringing off the hook in an office—traced to a 19-year-old employee under extreme workplace stress and personal problems. When she quit, everything stopped.
Columbus Poltergeist (1984, USA) – Teenager Tina Resch, adopted, bullied, and deeply troubled. Photos and video captured objects moving—activity died down after counseling and when media attention stopped feeding the stress cycle.
In almost every well-documented case, when the focus person received counseling, moved to a calmer environment, or simply matured past the emotional crisis, the activity ceased—permanently.
Why Trauma + Unconscious PK = Poltergeist
The theory isn’t that the person is deliberately faking it (though some hoax elements pop up in many cases). Instead:
Severe stress or repressed emotions (abuse, family conflict, puberty hormones, grief) create psychological pressure.
In rare individuals, this pressure leaks out as physical energy—unconscious psychokinesis on a massive scale.
The phenomena often mirror the person’s inner turmoil: aggressive banging when angry, fires when feeling “burned,” objects hurled when feeling attacked.
It’s the physical manifestation of emotions. Anyone who has experienced trauma or long periods of stress can tell you how it feels to hold a mask on to hide the turmoil inside, while still functioning through the expectations of life. For myself, I have had moments where I scream in my mind and imagine wrecking a room out of frustration. Clearly I do not have any latent psychokinesis, but for that percentage of people in the world who have that ability unknowingly, and are in turmoil, a poltergeist appears.
Final Takeaway
Next time you hear about furniture flying across the room, ask yourself: Is this a ghost stuck in an old house… or a living person’s unspoken pain finally making itself heard—loudly?
If the activity follows one stressed-out individual and stops when their life stabilizes, chances are you’re not dealing with a spirit. You’re dealing with the untamed power of the human mind under duress.
Sources & Further Reading
William G. Roll – The Poltergeist (1972) & numerous papers on RSPK
Psi Encyclopedia (Society for Psychical Research) – entries on Poltergeists and Psychological Aspects
Rhine Research Center publications on PK and poltergeist agents
Unleashed: Of Poltergeists and Murder by William Roll & Valerie Storey (Tina Resch case)