• Provides a wide array of case studies from ancient Greece and Rome to mediaeval Europe to the modern world • Explores the relationship between poltergeists and troubled adolescence • Looks beneath the Christian adulteration of pagan practices to reveal the hidden ancestral beliefs tied to poltergeists and haunted houses Stories of poltergeists and their mischievous and sometimes violent actions are a constant through the ages. What changes is how we interpret this activity. For our pagan ancestors this phenomenon was caused by helper spirits whose manifestations revealed their unhappiness with a household. The mediaeval Christian church demonised these once helpful spirits and held exorcisms to expel them from the houses they haunted. The Age of Enlightenment cast these incidents as clever hoaxes and many still believe this today. But poltergeist manifestations continue to appear and often defy attempts to debunk them as pranks. What, then, is behind this phenomenon? Exploring accounts of poltergeists from ancient Greece and Rome, mediaeval Europe and the modern world, Claude Lecouteux finds that, while our interpretations of poltergeists may change, the manifestations always follow a similar course and evolution. Looking beneath the Christian adulteration of pagan practices to reveal the hidden ancestral beliefs tied to poltergeists and haunted houses, the author shows how these unhappy spirits serve as confirmation of the supernatural beings that share the earth with us and of our relationship with the natural and unseen world, a relationship we must take care to keep in balance.