The Bottles Opened Themselves. Police Recorded 67 Strange Incidents.

On February 3, 1958, twelve-year-old James Herrmann came home from school and found two ornaments broken on his bedroom dresser. A ceramic doll and a model ship were lying in pieces and nobody knew how it happened. His mother, Lucille, soon discovered something just as strange in her own bedroom.

A small bottle of holy water was lying on its side with its cap removed and the water spilled. Within the next 45 minutes, several more bottles opened around the family’s house in Seaford, Long Island. A half-gallon bottle of bleach suddenly came flying out of a box on a shelf and landed six feet away from where Lucille and James were standing.

The Bottles Wouldn’t Stay Closed

The Herrmann family consisted of James, his wife Lucille, and their two children, thirteen-year-old Lucille and twelve-year-old James. They lived in an ordinary suburban house where nothing like this had happened before. Now bottles of shampoo, medicine, perfume and cleaning products were opening by themselves.

Sometimes the family heard a sharp popping sound before discovering another container knocked over. Other times, objects moved across furniture or fell from shelves while people were standing nearby. Even bottles with screw-on caps were opening without anyone touching them.

At first James’s father wondered whether his son was pranking them. But one morning, while standing in the bathroom doorway, he watched two bottles move across the vanity at the same time. One slid into the sink while the other spun off at an angle and crashed onto the floor.

Both bottles had been sitting on the counter while someone cleaned underneath the sink. Their caps had already come off inside the cabinet, and nobody was handling them when they moved. After seeing that happen, James’s father was no longer so sure his son was responsible.

The Police Came to Investigate

On February 9, Lucille finally called the police. Patrolman J. Hughes arrived and examined the house while the family explained what had been happening. He was sitting with them in the living room when another noise came from the bathroom.

Everyone went to investigate and found a bottle lying on its side. Hughes remembered checking the bathroom earlier and was certain the bottle hadn’t been in that position. He hadn’t actually seen it move, but he couldn’t explain the noise or how the bottle had ended up there.

The case was assigned to Nassau County detective Joseph Tozzi, who began keeping detailed records on February 11. He interviewed witnesses, examined the rooms and documented each new incident the family described. During his investigation, the activity began spreading beyond bottles and other containers.

Porcelain figurines started moving, sometimes travelling across a room before hitting furniture. Lamps and other household objects were also affected, and loud rumbling noises could be heard around the house. Some of this happened while visitors were present, giving Tozzi witnesses outside of the immediate family.

The Figurine That Flew Across the Room

On February 15, a relative named Marie Murtha was visiting the Herrmann home. She was sitting in the living room with the two children when she noticed a small figurine begin to wiggle. Suddenly, the ornament flew about two feet toward the television and landed inches short of the screen.

Murtha told investigators that neither child had been close enough to touch it. She had watched the figurine move from her seat and was surprised it hadn’t broken when it landed. Tozzi recorded her account as part of his growing collection of witness statements.

Five days later, Lucille was speaking on the telephone in the dining room when she heard another loud pop. A bottle of ink had lost its screw cap and travelled off a table into the living room. Ink splashed across a chair, the floor and the wallpaper near the front door.

Lucille immediately contacted Tozzi, who had left the house only minutes earlier. While she and both children waited together in the hallway, another crash came from the living room. They went inside and discovered that a figurine had hit a desk and shattered.

Tozzi carefully recorded where everyone had been standing when the second crash occurred. Lucille and the children had all been together in the hallway, away from the room where the ornament broke. That detail became important when investigators tried to work out whether someone could have thrown it.

Reporters Began Seeing the Activity

By late February, newspapers were sending reporters to the Herrmann home. Some were allowed to stay for extended periods, hoping to see what had been happening. Newsday reporter Dave Kahn even stayed overnight to investigate.

During his visits, Kahn heard furniture overturning, including a dresser that fell and broke a bottle of hair tonic he had placed on it. Other visitors heard objects fall in rooms that were empty. With reporters now experiencing some of the activity themselves, the story began attracting national attention.

Physicist Robert Zider was also there during one of the incidents. He heard a loud noise coming from James’s bedroom, where a bookcase was found overturned. During his investigation, a picture also came off the wall.

The family was struggling with the constant interruptions and the growing attention. They spent several nights staying with relatives and friends, hoping to escape the chaos. Meanwhile, investigators continued examining the house for anything that might explain what was happening.

Investigators Couldn’t Find the Cause

In early March, researchers J. Gaither Pratt and William G. Roll from Duke University’s Parapsychology Laboratory became involved. They reviewed the police records, interviewed witnesses and spent time inside the house. They also heard and observed incidents during their investigation.

Electrical specialists inspected the wiring, while other investigators checked for unusual vibrations or radio signals. Police considered whether chemical reactions or pressure inside the bottles could explain how their caps were coming off. None of the tests provided an explanation.

Pratt and Roll also checked whether the children might have been secretly causing it. In seventeen incidents, they believed the children’s positions had been accounted for. Young James continued denying responsibility, even when questioned intensely by his father and the police.

The researchers eventually considered unconscious psychokinesis, the idea that a person could influence objects without physically touching them. They suspected the activity might somehow be connected to James. Their investigation did not establish how such a force could operate.

The Activity Suddenly Stopped

On March 9, Pratt and Roll heard two loud thumps coming from James’s bedroom. The following day, another bottle of bleach lost its cap and moved with a heavy thud. After that final event on March 10, the disturbances stopped.

In June 1958, Pratt and Roll published their findings in the Journal of Parapsychology. Their report documented 67 incidents over approximately five weeks, drawing on police records, witness interviews and their own observations. They even included diagrams of the house showing where objects had moved and where witnesses had been standing.

The investigation became one of the best-known poltergeist cases of the twentieth century. Magician Milbourne Christopher later demonstrated how some of the effects could be reproduced with tricks, while paranormal researchers continued studying the original evidence. Detective Tozzi’s records and the detailed research report preserved the events long after the Herrmann family returned to ordinary life.