The Great Gildersleeves Poltergeist

In 1912, the Gildersleeves furniture store in Newark, New Jersey, became the site of dramatic poltergeist activity. Chairs flew, mirrors shattered, and heavy furniture moved on its own, drawing police investigators, curious crowds, and national newspaper coverage.

The Store

The Gildersleeves store was a respectable establishment selling household furniture. When strange events began, the family had no history of mental illness, and no motivation for publicity—indeed, the activity was disrupting their business.

The Phenomena

The disturbances began with small objects moving. Within days, heavy furniture was affected. Chairs flew across showroom floors. Mirrors and glass cases shattered. A heavy wardrobe moved on its own.

Most dramatically, a large rolltop desk was reported to have risen from the floor and moved several feet while witnesses watched.

The events occurred during business hours, witnessed by customers, staff, and eventually police officers sent to investigate.

Investigation

Newark police conducted a thorough investigation, examining the building for hidden wires, mechanisms, or accomplices. They found nothing that could explain the phenomena.

Detectives were stationed in the store to observe. They witnessed events they could not explain and filed reports confirming that something unusual was occurring.

The Focus

Investigation suggested the activity centered on a young employee, a teenage girl who worked as a clerk. When she was absent, the phenomena ceased. When she returned, they resumed.

This pattern matched the classic poltergeist profile: activity centered on an adolescent, often female, often under stress. Whether the girl consciously produced the effects, unconsciously generated them through some psychic mechanism, or merely attracted an external force was never determined.

Resolution

The phenomena ceased after several weeks. The clerk left employment at the store, and normal business resumed. No satisfactory explanation was ever established.

The case was widely reported in newspapers across the country, making it one of the early twentieth century’s best-documented American poltergeist cases.

Assessment

The Gildersleeves poltergeist follows the classic pattern: activity centered on an adolescent, witnessed by multiple credible observers including police, inexplicable by conventional means, and eventually ceasing on its own.

Whatever disrupted that Newark furniture store in 1912 left behind bewildered witnesses and newspaper accounts but no explanation.