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This is a compilation of 375 poltergeist cases, chronologically arranged (the earliest dating from A.D. 355) and followed by descriptions at length of some notorious cases. The main value of the book lies in its deviation from those dealing with what are called occult or metaphysical phenomena, in that it focusses attention on the personalities involved. In most of the cases quoted, it could be shown that the entourage in which the various happenings occur includes at least one person whose mental balance is in a precarious state or at least in a condition of stress. The phase of puberty, incipient schizophrenia, and post-traumatic conditions seem to provide the 'breeding ground' of poltergeist occurrences. Proof of this is provided by the fact that the removal of the suspected person coincides in most cases with the departure of the poltergeist. There are several other points of interest mentioned. Statistics show that the greatest number of poltergeist phenomena occur in the more civilized countries (Western Europe and U.S.A.). Isolated dwellings (farmhouses, parsonages, etc.) which impose upon their residents a lack of external contacts, figure also with greater frequency in the poltergeist records.
The most frequent phenomena consist of throwing or falling of objects, coming seemingly from nowhere and defying by way of their particular movement all known physical laws. In the author's opinion the motility of the objects is in some way or other related to or dependent on a particularly severe blockage of instinctual drives in the individual concerned. It would seem, furthermore, judging from the quality of the phenomena, that this blockage concerns aggressive rather than libidinal components. The further elaboration of this idea leads however disappointingly into the very same mystic haze it set out to dispel. None the less, while discussing one of the cases, Fodor remarks how invaluable the psychological history of the centre figure would have been for