The Haunting of Alma Fielding

 

English writer Kate Summerscale has carved out a niche for herself as the author of books which examine historical episodes -- a grisly murder, a scandalous divorce case -- which illuminate the social problems and tensions of the time. The stories she chooses are always fascinating in themselves, and she turns them into gripping narratives, though some are more gripping than others. How could I resist a book subtitled, A True Ghost Story?

The Haunting of Alma Fielding takes a case of poltergeist manifestation from the late 1930s which captured the attention of psychical researcher Nandor Fodor. Housewife Alma Fielding is the centre of energetic poltergeist phenomena -- plates flung across rooms, mysterious noises, toppled wardrobes. Fodor was convinced that the phenomena were genuine; but once he and the Psychical Research Society began investigating Mrs Fielding closely, it became clear that she was cheating in one aspect at least, by hiding small objects about her person which she then 'produced,' supposedly from another dimension. For some time, researcher and subject maintained an uneasy, almost flirtatious dance of deception and belief, all recorded in Fodor's case notes, upon which Summerscale has based her book.

Fodor trod a delicate line between credulity and sceptisism, believing that psychological disturbances in a subject could produce genuine physical manifestations (as opposed to the medium channelling spiritual forces from the world beyond). But he was gradually forced to admit that Fielding was, at least sometimes, playing tricks on him, though he never lost his sympathy for her. This highly-charged relationship is set in the equally highly-charged atmosphere of late 1930s London, still haunted by the last war and hurtling with dreadful inevitability towards the next. The Haunting of Alma Fielding is a rich and intriguing tale which combines spooky phenomena with subtle psychological insights. 

PS I forgot to mention that Shirley Jackson used Nandor Fodor's case histories when she wrote The Haunting of Hill House!