93 Beverstone Road

In the winter of 1938, an ordinary terraced house at 93 Beverstone Road, Thornton Heath, became the setting for one of Britain's most extraordinary and disturbing alleged poltergeist infestations. Behind its unremarkable suburban exterior, a family claimed to be experiencing violent disturbances that appeared to defy explanation. Objects flew through rooms, crockery shattered without warning, furniture overturned and unseen forces seemingly moved freely through the property. At the centre of the haunting was Alma Fielding, a 35-year-old housewife living with her husband Leslie, their teenage son Donald and a lodger named George Saunders. The most dramatic disturbances began in February 1938, following a period of illness within the household. Alma had been suffering from kidney problems, while Leslie had also been unwell. According to contemporary reports, the couple were lying in bed when drinking glasses suddenly flew across the bedroom and smashed against the wall. Then their bedclothes were reportedly lifted and thrown over their heads. What initially seemed like a series of inexplicable incidents quickly developed into something far more violent. The family described objects being hurled through the air by an invisible force. Cups, plates, eggs, pieces of coal and household ornaments allegedly moved without human assistance. Strange crashes echoed through the building, sometimes so violently that the occupants feared substantial damage, only to discover that nothing appeared to have moved. The disturbances seemed particularly active around Alma. On one occasion, a saucer reportedly shattered while she held it, leaving her hand bleeding. A heavy metal fireplace fender was allegedly thrown down the staircase, while other objects appeared to pass through closed doors or emerge from unexpected locations. The family also reported an unexplained handprint appearing on a mirror. As the incidents intensified, Alma described an unsettling change in the atmosphere immediately before the disturbances. She claimed that rooms became unusually cold and that a damp, chilling current of air moved through the house. The situation became so frightening that the family contacted the press. On 20 February 1938, the Sunday Pictorial published a sensational account of the haunting. Reporters Victor Thompson and Lionel Crane claimed to have witnessed objects flying through the property and crockery breaking under extraordinary circumstances. The story quickly attracted national attention. Crowds gathered outside the house, hoping to glimpse evidence of the supposed supernatural activity. Police were eventually required to control spectators, while newspapers continued reporting fresh disturbances. The haunting also attracted the attention of Dr Nandor Fodor, research director of the International Institute for Psychical Research. Fodor was an experienced investigator of alleged paranormal phenomena, but the Thornton Heath case would become one of the most challenging investigations of his career. Arriving at the property on 24 February, he encountered a household exhausted by fear and surrounded by broken possessions. During his observations, Fodor recorded objects apparently moving without visible assistance. In one incident, a cup reportedly flew from Alma's hand, narrowly missing her husband's head, while its accompanying saucer fell and shattered. Other researchers joined the investigation, and Alma was subsequently invited to participate in controlled observations at the institute's premises in Kensington. Then the case took an even stranger turn. The phenomena apparently followed Alma away from the house. Small objects began appearing unexpectedly during experimental sessions. A brass-bound brush, supposedly left at her home, was reported to have materialised inside the institute. Jewellery, coins and other articles were also said to appear in mysterious circumstances. Some accounts even describe live white mice and insects emerging unexpectedly during the experiments. Fodor initially considered the case an extraordinary example of poltergeist activity, particularly because the disturbances appeared to centre upon an adult woman rather than an adolescent, as was commonly claimed in similar cases. However, his interpretation gradually changed. As the investigation progressed, Fodor became increasingly interested in Alma's personal history, physical health and psychological experiences. He began exploring whether the disturbances might be connected to emotional trauma and unconscious behaviour rather than an independent supernatural intelligence. The investigation also raised serious questions about the reliability of the alleged manifestations. Some incidents occurred under conditions that did not exclude deception, and Fodor eventually identified behaviour that undermined his confidence in Alma's apparent ability to produce objects paranormally. His growing suspicions complicated the case considerably. Rather than viewing Alma simply as a fraudulent medium, Fodor increasingly considered whether psychological distress and deliberate or unconscious actions might be intertwined. This interpretation was controversial, particularly among those who believed that the early disturbances had been genuinely supernatural. The case subsequently became an important episode in the development of Fodor's psychological approach to paranormal investigation. By the spring of 1938, the most destructive activity at Beverstone Road had diminished. Reports of mysterious object appearances continued, but the extraordinary events that had originally terrified the household no longer dominated the property. Yet the story did not disappear. Contemporary newspapers preserved remarkable descriptions of flying furniture, shattered crockery and frightened witnesses. Later researchers revisited the case, examining the relationship between Alma's experiences, the investigators' expectations and the possibility of deception. The events were explored in detail by author Kate Summerscale in her 2020 book The Haunting of Alma Fielding, which examined the surviving historical evidence and the complex relationship between Alma and Fodor. What makes the Thornton Heath case particularly disturbing is not simply the violence of the alleged manifestations, but the uncertainty surrounding their cause. Were the family genuinely experiencing something beyond ordinary explanation? Were witnesses misinterpreting events? Or was the apparent haunting the outward expression of a far more complicated human story? There is no independently verified evidence that a supernatural entity inhabited the house, and the investigation ultimately failed to establish a paranormal explanation. Nevertheless, the events of February 1938 remain a remarkable chapter in British paranormal history. An ordinary suburban home became the focus of national fascination, experienced investigators struggled to explain what they believed they had witnessed, and a frightened woman found herself at the centre of an increasingly disturbing mystery. Today, Beverstone Road is an otherwise unremarkable residential street. But for several extraordinary weeks in 1938, number 93 became known throughout Britain as a house where everyday objects allegedly turned against their owners, unseen forces appeared to invade domestic life, and the boundary between the supernatural and the human mind became terrifyingly uncertain. Type of Phenomena: Poltergeist / Apparent Psychokinesis / Intelligent Haunting Reported Phenomena: Violently moving objects, exploding crockery, unexplained knocking, falling furniture, mysterious handprints, sudden cold sensations, objects allegedly passing through closed doors, apparent materialisation of objects and animals, unexplained crashes, physical injuries. Paranormal Evidence Level: Low — Contemporary eyewitness accounts and a substantial psychical investigation exist, but experimental weaknesses, suspected deception and psychological explanations prevent the case from establishing genuine paranormal activity. Haunting Classification: Ghost — Poltergeist-type activity; no independently verified spirit or entity identified.