The Thornton Road Poltergeist

As far as paranormal stories from the West Midlands go, the tale of the Thornton Road 'Poltergeist' is one of the most famous. Although not a strictly typical paranormal tale, there have never been any solid theories that explain these phenomena that do not point towards paranormal activities, and so most people have put it down to perhaps the most intense form of paranormal entity; a poltergeist.

It started one night in 1981. While the people of 32-36 Thornton Road were sitting down to eat dinner or watch television, outside their homes rocks and pebbles of varying sizes were falling down around their house, some hitting windows and smashing roof tiles.

This continued for a few months, before the police were called out and began to carry out around-the-clock surveillance to catch the perpetrators. They camped out in gardens, hid up in trees and placed hidden cameras all over the street. But, the odd part... no one seemed to be responsible. Or at least, no one the police could see.

[Thornton Road; the road where the attacks took place]

The attacks didn't stop. They were relentless; whether police were present or not, rocks and pebbles continued to smash windows and roofs. It was obviously incredibly frustrating for all investigating, and especially Chief Inspector Len Turley, who spoke of his frustration. "We have spent more that 1,000 man hours on this case. We are keeping an open mind about the whole thing. We don't know why it's gone on for so long." 

The attacks went on for so long that residents started placing chicken wire over their windows and covered their homes with corrugated sheeting. In an effort to catch those responsible, cotton thread was laced around residents' gardens. Although, incredibly... the cords never snapped. Even when their homes were being destroyed.

[a sample of the stones that were thrown at the houses, which appeared to be free of dirt and were completely clean]

Natalie Holford, of number 32 Thornton road, was just 17 when the attacks began; in the midst of her A level exams. "It was like being stalked." She said. "As if someone was watching us. The police would leave here at 2am and by the time they had reached the police station, there would be another attack."

The police never bought into the poltergeist theory, but there was not many other theories. The most popular one, perhaps, was that the culprit was using a catapult to bombard houses from a 200-yard distance.

But no evidence was ever found of this. And until this day, no one knows what happened. But whatever it was, it definitely was anything but normal.

[Houses 32-36 Thornton road, which bore the brunt of the attacks]