German

Noun

Poltergeister

1. plural of Poltergeist

English

Noun

poltergeister

1. plural form of poltergeist
   • 1854: Joseph Ennemoser, The History of Magic, p119

     According to the pagan notion, the influence of spirits came from without; according to that of the Judaic–Christian system, the devil entered into the body of the man, and before the sorcerer could cease to practice his arts he must be expelled thence by spiritual force. Amongst the heathen, an idiot was supposed to be made so by the elves; the accused lunatic was said to be possessed. The elves stole the children of the heathen and left a changeling in its place: amongst the Christians, the devil entered the changeling. The devils, however, took possession of horses and cattle as well as of men, as Noisy Ghosts — Poltergeister. Amongst the heathen, at most, the little Grey Man took up his quiet abode there, not to mock, but to help, — not to terrify and injure.

   • 1935: Alfred Emanuel Smith, New Outlook, p453

     They felt slaps from invisible beings — in short, all the manifestations traditionally attributed to Poltergeister were reported as having occurred.

   • 1947: Australasian Association of Philosophy, The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, p261

     …whatever goes on inside must be the activity of spirits — especially poltergeister, in which Price believes…

   • 1974: Martim de Albuquerque, Notes and Queries, p433

     …men — haunted not by ghosts of the dead but by tiresome spirits such as Poltergeister or the nightmare who may be conceived of as activities of a witch.

   • 1993: Peter Munz, Philosophical Darwinism: On the Origin of Knowledge by Means of Natural Selection, p79
   • 1994: Jozef Conveleyn & Dirk Hutsebaut, Belief and Unbelief: Psychological Perspectives, p144

     Pars-religious interests: some Subjects showed interests in astrological maps, or parapsychological phenomena, or positive thinking power and communication, or horoscope, numerology, haunted houses and poltergeister.

     They are, after all, idiots, not mental poltergeister…

   • 2003: M. Owen Lee, Athena Sings: Wagner and the Greeks, p74

     (…)Sachs tells his people, after a Midsummer’s Eve when irrational Poltergeister were on the loose, that if they respect their own traditions they will conjure…

Related terms

• zeitgeister