Haunting Encounters

Four Police Officers Watched the Refrigerator Rise Off the Floor

Four police officers were investigating a small house in Connecticut when the refrigerator suddenly rose from the kitchen floor.

One officer, George Wilson, said it lifted about six to eight inches and moved toward him. There was nobody pushing it, and the house wasn’t shaking. Wilson would later describe exactly what he saw in an official police report.

The Family Had Been Hearing Knocking for Years

Gerard and Laura Goodin lived with their ten-year-old adopted daughter, Marcia, at 966 Lindley Street in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They had bought the modest house in 1960 and had been living there for years before anything truly frightening happened.

The first problems were strange banging noises. Sometimes they came from the walls, while other times they sounded as though someone was pounding on the floor.

The Goodins called the police more than once. An officer named John Holsworth, who lived across the street, said he had personally heard the noises but couldn’t find where they were coming from.

Workers checked the gas and plumbing lines, and the police considered whether nearby construction blasting might be causing the trouble. Nothing they investigated explained the repeated pounding.

The family eventually learned to live with it. But in November 1974, things became much worse.

A Television Fell and Injured Laura

On Friday evening, November 22, the banging started again. Gerard heard pounding against the walls, just as he had many times before.

The following afternoon, he returned home and discovered that a television in Marcia’s bedroom had fallen from its shelf onto her bed. He picked it up and put it back.

Almost immediately, dishes began flying out of the kitchen sink. Religious pictures and other objects came off their hooks, and belongings that Gerard had just put away ended up scattered again.

Around six that evening, Laura was preparing dinner when a large floor-model television suddenly tipped onto its side. It struck her foot, causing an injury. Gerard later told police that he and Laura also watched their refrigerator rise about six inches off the kitchen floor.

By Sunday morning, the couple had reached their limit. When the kitchen table overturned, Laura called the police.

The Police Arrived to Find a Disaster

Patrolmen Joseph Tomek and Carl Leonzi arrived shortly after ten in the morning. Furniture was overturned, pictures had fallen from the walls, and personal belongings were scattered throughout the house.

They questioned the family and began looking around. While they were investigating, more things reportedly started moving.

Two additional officers, George Wilson and Leroy Lawson, arrived to help. The four policemen described an incredible series of events. A portable television reportedly lifted from a table and turned around, furniture moved away from walls, and objects began vibrating before falling from shelves. Then came the refrigerator.

The officers’ joint account included the heavy appliance lifting off the floor. Wilson wrote his own report, saying he saw it rise several inches and move a couple of feet toward him.

The policemen checked whether the building itself was vibrating. They couldn’t feel any shaking that would explain what they had witnessed.

Marcia’s Chair Suddenly Moved

During the investigation, Marcia was sitting in a heavy reclining chair when it suddenly moved backward and tipped. The officers tried moving the chair themselves. They found it surprisingly difficult to shift, even when they deliberately pushed against it.

Sergeant Bernard Mangiamale later described watching a piece of furniture vibrate and move. Another officer reported seeing a picture fall from a wall, a small desk move and a clock tumble from a shelf.

The police had arrived expecting to investigate a disturbance. Now they were writing down experiences they had never expected to encounter on duty.

Tomek called the fire department to examine the building.

Even the Fire Chief Was Puzzled

Firefighters arrived and began inspecting the house. They looked for problems with the structure that might explain the moving furniture and falling objects.

Deputy Fire Chief Frederick Zwerlein couldn’t find anything physically wrong with the building. According to Tomek’s report, when asked what might be causing the strange activity, Zwerlein suggested witchcraft. Other firefighters reported witnessing objects move while they were inside.

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren also arrived. They spoke with the family and believed Marcia might somehow be connected to the disturbances.

A Catholic priest, Father William Charbonneau, visited that afternoon and performed prayers using holy water. By this time, the number of visitors had grown considerably. Police officers, firefighters, priests, investigators and curious neighbours were coming and going from the small house.

The Street Filled With Curious People

Word spread quickly around Bridgeport. Before long, hundreds of people were gathering outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was happening.

Police had to control traffic and keep the crowd away from the property. Reporters began interviewing witnesses, and newspapers carried stories about the house across the country.

The Goodins were overwhelmed. They wanted the frightening activity to stop, but now they also had strangers standing outside their home.

The police chief ordered the officers who had witnessed unusual events to write individual reports. Those reports would later become an important part of the story. But just two days after the most dramatic incidents, the police announced something unexpected.

Police Said Marcia Had Confessed

On November 26, police announced that Marcia had admitted throwing some objects around the house when adults weren’t looking. According to the department, the ten-year-old girl had also admitted throwing herself against a wall during one incident.

The announcement made headlines. Newspapers that had been reporting a mysterious haunting now carried stories suggesting the whole thing had been a trick. Yet the officers’ written reports described much more than a child throwing household objects.

Wilson had specifically recorded seeing the refrigerator move toward him. Other officers described furniture shifting, objects falling and things happening while they were watching. The police department closed its investigation, but the Goodins still had a serious problem outside their front door.