Details from the Seaford Poltergeist case became a point of comparison for other poltergeist cases. In the manuscript, “The House of Knocks and Bumps,” Daniel Lehmann describes a case that occurred in 1959 at a house on a poultry farm not far from New York City.
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The family of four reported hearing mysterious knocks in the walls of their home, one of which was heard at the same time every night. After six weeks of hearing unexplained noises, they contacted the local newspapers for help investigating. However, when the investigators arrived, they observed no poltergeist activity, which is noted as a common feature of poltergeist cases.
Given the presence of the daughter “Alice” at the scene of all of the reported poltergeist activity, with her father additionally present in some instances, Daniel Lehmann hypothesizes that the “disturbances were centering about Alice — with the father as a possible ‘catalytic’ or co-operating agent.” He questions whether the activity is conscious or unconscious, or perhaps a case of psychokinesis.
“So there the case stood–in exactly the same point that the Seaford case came to an end. When an experimenter came to the conclusion that one child (or person) was the center of the trouble and asked to have that person examined outside the home, the parents called a halt to the publicity and refused to have their child examined. Thus, the ‘Poultry Farm Knockings’ ended as did the Seaford Case–the parents continued to proclaim that their child was ‘completely innocent’ of any wrong-doing, however, refusing to allow even the most highly qualified experts to examine the child outside of the home and away from their own scrutiny.”
Daniel Lehmann, “The House of Knocks and Bumps,” pp. 9-10