The Lindley Street Poltergeist

Dark Histories

In the mid-1970s, a series of purported supernatural events took place in a small, yellow, wooden slatted house in a suburb of Bridgeport, Connecticut. At a time when demonic forces were very much in vogue, the Goodin family were plagued by all manner of phenomena that quickly drew the attention of the national press, along with thousands of curious onlookers. Despite the contemporary fervour that it sparked and the similarities to several other, far more well traversed, supernatural tales such as Amityville in America, or Enfield in the UK, the events that took place in Bridgeport in the mid-70s have, remarkably, managed to slip largely under the radar, cloaked from wider public attention. Less glamorous but no less fantastic, the case of the Lindley Street haunting, officially struck off as a hoax before a swift U-turn by the authorities, remains as one of the most dramatic and well documented cases in the history of the American Supernatural to this day.

The email link I mentioned at the start to send in your urban legends, if you want to, is [e-mail]

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SOURCES

“The Fear of God: 25 Years of The Exorcist” Dir. Nick Freand Jones. BBC, 1998. Documentary.

“Family Haunted No Longer; Cops Say Girl Tells of Hoax” (1974) The Bridgeport Post, 26 Nov, 1974, p.1

“Poltergeist?” (1974) The Kokomo Tribune, 26 Nov, 1974, p.1

“Haunted House or Hoax at 966 Lindley Street” (1974) The Bridgeport Post, 2 Mar, 1974. p.65

“Lindley Street Happenings For Real and Still going On, psychic Asserts” (1975) The Bridgeport Telegram, 9 Jan, 1975, p.11

“None Buy House of Happenings On Lindley Street” (1975) The Bridgeport Post, 30th Jan 1975, p.3

“Exorcist: Repulsive, Not for the Feint of Heart” (1974) The Capital Times, 07 Feb, 1974, p.41

“Occult Fascination Growing” (1974) Northwest Arkansas Times, 02 Feb, 1974. p.5

Hall, William J. (2014) “World’s Most Haunted House: The True Story of the Bridgeport Poltergeist on Lindsey Street” New Page Books, USA Teller, Herbert F. (1975) “Haunted House or Hoax at 966 Lindley Street?”. The Bridgeport Post, 02 March, 1975. P.65

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Music was recorded by me © Ben Cutmore 2017

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.