Case file · Poltergeist · House or mansion
The 1984 Columbus Poltergeist
Also known as Tina Resch poltergeist, Resch poltergeist
In March 1984 a Columbus family’s 14-year-old adopted daughter was at the centre of reported flying objects, a famous newspaper photo and a fraud row.
In early March 1984 a Columbus family, John and Joan Resch, reported strange events in their home. The Resches were experienced foster parents, and their adopted daughter Tina, born in 1969, was 14. According to the Psi Encyclopedia, the disturbances began on 1 March: a clock radio kept switching itself on, appliances started on their own, objects flew, and a table was said to have pinned Tina to the floor.
The case went public almost at once. The Columbus Dispatch printed two photographs by staff photographer Fred Shannon on 6 March that seemed to show a telephone handset and cord flying through the air near the teenager, and other papers reprinted them. The parapsychologist William G. Roll arrived on 11 March and spent a week in the house. He logged object movements and said he was certain Tina was not responsible, interpreting the events as recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis.
Sceptics reached the opposite conclusion. At a press conference on 8 March nothing happened, but a television camera left running reportedly caught Tina pulling a lamp over; she later said she did it to make the reporters leave. James Randi, investigating for the sceptical committee CSICOP, wrote in the Skeptical Inquirer in 1985 that the evidence pointed to trickery, though he was refused entry to the house; Roll disputed parts of his account. A formal psychokinesis test in March 1984 gave chance results.
The case is an unusually well-documented example of how a poltergeist story can unfold in the press. Tina Resch was a teenager under heavy pressure, and the sources used here describe her family situation as troubled. The family’s address is private and not given here.
What people report
Appliances switching on, objects thrown, a table and a flying telephone captured in newspaper photographs, reported by the family, reporters and a visiting parapsychologist.
Where and when
The Resch family’s home in Columbus, during March 1984; most activity was reported around Tina.
Timeline of the haunting
- 1 March 1984Disturbances begin Columbus, Ohio
The family reported a radio, appliances and objects acting on their own.
- 6 March 1984Dispatch publishes the ‘flying telephone’ photographs Columbus, Ohio
Fred Shannon’s images were widely reprinted.
- 8 March 1984Press conference and TV footage Columbus, Ohio
Nothing happened at the briefing, but footage from a running camera reportedly showed Tina pulling a lamp over.
- 11 March 1984William Roll arrives Columbus, Ohio
The parapsychologist stayed about a week and recorded dozens of reported movements.
- Spring 1985Randi’s Skeptical Inquirer article United States
He concluded the evidence for the poltergeist was thin and the case for trickery strong.
What could explain it?
- Deliberate trickery by a teenager: TV footage and sceptics’ analysis of the press photographs, including Randi and Terence Hines, support this view.
- Attention and stress: critics noted a disturbed adolescent under intense media interest, a classic setting for poltergeist reports.
- Observer error: sceptics argue Roll’s observations are explained by objects being moved while he was looking away.
- Recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis: Roll’s hypothesis, not accepted by mainstream science and not supported by the formal tests.
Ghost tours, books and screen
The case was covered by newspapers around the world, was featured in a 1993 Unsolved Mysteries episode and is cited by both parapsychologists and sceptics in discussions of the poltergeist problem.
Where it’s reported
Sources
First published · Updated
