Last Podcast On The Left

Episode 644: The Battersea Poltergeist Part II – Ghost Writer

Release Date: November 28, 2025
Host(s): Marcus Parks, Henry Zebrowski, Ed Larson

Main Theme / Purpose

This episode concludes the saga of the Battersea Poltergeist—one of Britain’s most bizarre and prolonged paranormal incidents from the 1950s. The hosts take listeners through the escalation, investigation, and aftermath of the Hitchings family's haunting in Battersea, London, focusing on the poltergeist’s shifting identities, theories about its true nature, the toll on the family, and the futile efforts of investigator Harold Chibbett. The tone is as always: irreverent, speculative, and darkly comedic.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Previously on Battersea: Violent Escalation

• Recap: The Hitchings’ family haunting intensified, with the poltergeist “Donald” now violently targeting 15-year-old Shirley, including alleged arson (Shirley’s bedsheets spontaneously catching fire).
  • Marcus: “I don’t think that it’s likely that a 15-year-old girl in 1956 had the arson skills necessary to stump a hardened London fire investigator.” – (05:09)

2. Nature of the Haunting – Paranormal or Psychological?

• The hosts debate whether the phenomena were a prank, poltergeist, psychic event, or a Tulpa (psychic manifestation fueled by belief and attention).
  • Henry: “I actually think it’s…the more middle way conversation is the fact that we’re seeing an actual contained psychic event mixed with a creation of a Tulpa completely accidentally by a family in London.” (05:44)
  • Discussion of “tapping” communication and the endless, painstaking process of ghost messages—one letter at a time.
  • Henry reads a poltergeist message: “Silly old cow. Do as I say. Pan. Monkey chops. Windbag. Bum fluff. You shit.” (13:26–13:58)

3. Donald’s Shape-Shifting Identities

• Donald’s identity morphs continually:
  • A wronged actor from the 1700s,
  • A French prince (Louis XVII, “the lost dauphin”),
  • An eight-foot alien with space secrets,
  • A violent pyromaniac and, at one point, pop culture figures like James Dean.
• Marcus: “This is the first time I’ve heard of a poltergeist bringing aliens into it!” (07:45)
• The "French Prince" theory fuels a years-long obsession for investigator Harold Chibbett.

4. The Chibbett Angle: True Believer or Duped Investigator?

• Chibbett is an ardent, almost naïve believer, compared to “wildlife photographers” not “Warrens-style” aggressive ghost hunters.
  • Chibbett spends years hunting for “proof,” obsessing over French history, and seeking confirmation of Donald as Prince Louis XVII.
  • Sunk cost fallacy: the longer he invests, the more desperate he is to prove it’s real.
  • Henry: “That is the spookiest story of all: Harry Jibbet reading about Prince Louis for no reason for years.” (36:07)

5. Incidents & Escalations

• The “communication” with Donald goes beyond messages:
  • Furniture moves, kitchen objects fly, recurring arson threats, hidden work clothes, and even direct violence (friend pushed on tracks, slop bucket dumped into Shirley’s underwear) – all leading to Shirley’s difficulties working outside the home.
• The activity increasingly centers around Shirley’s frustrations and desires—i.e., Donald wants her to have new clothes, beauty products, and (notably) to meet handsome young actors.
• Shirley is persistently at the center, with “Donald” possibly functioning as an extension of her psyche and adolescent anxieties.

6. Celebrity Obsession & Predictions

• Donald requests visits from celebrities featured in popular culture at the time, like Marius Goring (“The Scarlet Pimpernel”) and actors Jeremy and David Spencer.
• Claims of supernatural prediction: Donald allegedly predicts Jeremy Spencer’s car accident and another celebrity’s death, which seem to align (though the hosts are skeptical of Chibbett’s motives).
  • Marcus: “But he had been saying for weeks beforehand that the car accident was coming...” (49:19)
  • Henry mocks possible manipulation by Chibbett: “How do I cut these brakes?” (49:04)

7. Poltergeist as Shirley’s Psychological Phenomenon

• The hosts lean towards an interpretation where Shirley, perhaps subconsciously, generates the phenomenon via telekinesis—consistent with some poltergeist theory linking events to adolescent girls.
  • Henry: “I think that there were knocks coming from literally the bones in her feet that she was subconsciously doing...she had this weird untapped ability, tap-ability.” (65:27)

8. Grandma Ethel: The Human Toll

• Grandma Ethel is both a main target and the most superstitious family member. After sustained poltergeist torment—including escalating violence, threats, objects flying (supposedly), and a final, massive fight—she suffers a stroke and dies.
  • Henry: “That is one of those facts about this case that prove something was happening inside of the house, that it literally drove her to have a stroke.” (67:38)

9. The Haunting’s End & Aftermath

• After Ethel’s death and though the phenomenon continues in the household, Shirley eventually finds steady work (not as an actress) and the activity slowly subsides as she grows up, marries, and leaves home.
• Donald “fades away” without exorcism—just as part of Shirley moving on with life. Occasional “goodbye” note, and alleged sightings (decades later) from a supposed medium.
• Chibbett, after years of fruitless writing, never gets his manuscript published and dies in relative obscurity.

10. Reflections: What “Really” Happened?

• The hosts admit there’s likely a hybrid of rational explanations (adolescent psychological disturbance, family repression, maybe some minor trickery, wild suggestibility, or psychic phenomena) and unprovable supernatural.
• A parade of failed explanations and the inability to ever “really” know:
  • Marcus: “It’s the volume...There was something strange happening inside the house.” (38:03)
  • Henry: “UFOs are more real than this. Yeah, say that, but I believe at the center of this is the psychic activity, which is why it’s interesting.” (80:21)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Donald’s insults (to Grandma Ethel) (13:26–13:58):
  • Henry (as Poltergeist): “Silly, silly old bugger. She is old Battle X. Fat slag nose. Overgrown beetroot. Silly old cow. Do as I say. Pan. Monkey chops. Windbag. Bum fluff. You shit.”
• On Chibbett’s single-minded obsession (36:07):
  • Henry: “I think that...the spookiest story of all is Harry Jibbet reading about Prince Louis for no reason for years.”
• On adolescent telekinesis theory (65:27):
  • Henry: “I think there were knocks coming from literally the bones in her feet that she was subconsciously doing. I think there were exterior noises she somehow created, and I do believe that the objects flying around came because she had this untapped ability, tap-ability.”
• On poltergeist shifting to James Dean (55:09):
  • Henry (as James Dean/Poltergeist): “Now I don’t know who you good folks are, but I’m still waiting for help. Please hurry. I’m grateful to you ma’am for keeping me here, but I’m lost. I want to get back to my country. Look mister, I’m James Dean. I didn’t ask to come here but I just guess I got here. So help me please I belong in California.”
• On the unresolved mystery (77:44):
  • Marcus: “But Donald the Poltergeist never returned. And whatever he may have been still remains to this day. A total and complete mystery.”

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [05:06–06:15]: Fire incident recap; debates about paranormal vs. hoax/tulpa.
• [13:26]: Donald’s insult to Ethel, comedic reading.
• [17:11–19:58]: Donald’s French prince claim, and tie-in to 1950s pop culture.
• [27:24–36:55]: Deep-dive into Chibbett’s obsession, historic background of Prince Louis, the eventual DNA testing of the heart.
• [37:01–41:56]: Ongoing physical phenomena in the house; poltergeist interfering with Shirley’s life and work.
• [49:19–51:31]: Donald accurately predicts car accident involving actor Jeremy Spencer; “weeping photo” incident.
• [65:07]: Discussing Andrew Green’s outside opinion: Shirley has psychokinetic abilities, not a ghost.
• [67:02–68:19]: The death of Grandma Ethel after extreme phenomena; hosts debate trustworthiness of witness memory and lack of photos.
• [71:04–72:07]: Shirley finds an ordinary job, the “haunting” begins to wane.
• [72:28–72:49]: Chibbett’s book gets an unmarketable title, never published.
• [74:12–79:35]: Shirley’s later life, marriage, and accounts; her own ambiguous belief in Donald’s reality.
• [80:21]: Hosts' final verdict: “UFOs are more real than this...at the center of this is the psychic activity.”
• [81:51]: Reflections on success, comedy, and podcasting.

Conclusion

The episode explores the Battersea Poltergeist’s many twists, questioning traditional ghost narratives and the line between belief and wishful thinking. Ultimately, they frame the haunting as a product of post-war anxieties, adolescent unrest, and perhaps a family’s subconscious drama—peppered with all the absurdity of mid-century paranormal media.

Final Thought:
At the center of it, the Battersea haunting defies categorization—unfolding as a theatrical mélange of family dysfunction, tabloid culture, psychic claims, and one aging ghost hunter’s professional self-destruction. The only certainty: It’s a story that, true or not, continues to haunt British ghostlore.