Poltergeists like causing havoc. They throw things around in people's homes and play tricks with lights and household appliances. Mysterious voices, insistent knocking and weird shrieking can announce their presence, or sometimes it's peculiar smells with no apparent source. One day you might even see a poltergeist as it turns into an apparition before your eyes. This book is an exploration of the phenomenon from earliest times to the present day that highlights the variety of activities of these most frightening of phantoms, the efforts of researchers to document and understand the phenomenon and the explanations that have been put forward.