The ‘Paranormal Abilities’ of Eleonore Zugun
The supposedly paranormal phenomena associated with this 100 -year-old poltergeist case and the allegedly psychic powers attributed to the teenage protagonist remain highly controversial to this day.
Born on 24 May 1913, Eleanore Zugun was a Rumanian peasant girl who lived in the village of Talpa, in the north of the country. In February 1923, when she was eleven years old, she went to visit her grandmother’s house at Buhai, a few miles away from her village. On the way she found some money by the side of the road, and when she arrived at Buhai she spent it on sweets and ate them all.
Zugun’s 105-year-old grandmother, who had the reputation of being a witch, overheard Eleonore and her cousin arguing about the sweets, and warned her that the devil (Dracu in Rumanian) had left the money to tempt her, and from then on she would never be free of him. The next day poltergeist activity apparently began.
Reports of Paranormal Activity
Stones crashed against the house and broke windows, and small objects near to Eleonore jumped up and flew about. Her superstitious grandmother was convinced that the girl was possessed by the Devil and Eleonore was quickly sent home to Tulpa.
But here, three days later, the poltergeist activity started again. A jug full of water rose slowly into the air and floated several feet without any water being spilled. A trunk shook violently up and down, a porridge bowl flew at a visitor and hit him on the back of the head causing a painful wound.
Psychical Research
The paranormal phenomena apparently continued and Eleonore found refuge in the monastery of Gorovei. But after three weeks there, with the violence of the phenomena unabated, she was locked in a lunatic asylum. Fortunately, newspaper accounts of her strange story reached eminent Austrian psychical researcher Fritz Grunweld in Charlottenburg, Germany, who, with the help of Kubi Klein, a journalist form Czernowitz, managed to get her sent back to the monastery where she could be properly observed.
Grunewald took detailed shorthand notes of the amazing phenomena which took place between the 9 and 18 of May, 1925. (These were edited and published after his death by Professor Christoph Schröder in the Zeitschrift für psychische Forschung, vol. I, 1927.) The most common type of phenomenon were object -movements, ranging from the slow movement of a large pot on the oven, to the sometimes violent throwing of things at or close to people. Objects also appeared seemingly from nowhere (apports), and there were occasional knocks, and, once or twice, matches were mysteriously set alight. The poltergeist also began slapping the girl.