History Main / PolterGeist

* "The Bell Witch" from ''Film/AnAmericanHaunting'' at first appears to be a poltergeist, though one violently obsessed with the teenage daughter of the house it's haunting.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had these in episodes like "Where the Wild Things Are". They were born out of raw emotion of the orphans who were traumatized by Genevieve Holt and were unleashed when Buffy and Riley have sex.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': In episodes like "Home" and "Swap Meat", they are not ghosts of humans, they were separate beings of their own. They are violent huge attention seekers who scratch on walls, throw things and violently attack people.

** Maggie Briggs from "Swap Meat" is also a ghost of a human who is also a poltergeist. She makes noises in the walls, breaks things and attacked and carved Katie's skin with "MURDERED CHYLDE".

* ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' gives us poltergeist powers in the form of the Outrage Arcanos, which allows a wraith to affect physical objects, often through brute force, and the Pandemonium Arcanos, which produces creepy reality-warping effects ranging from cold spots to blood on the walls to altered perception of time. The semi-sequel, ''TabletopGame/{{Orpheus}}'', gives us the Poltergeist, a Shade (or class of ghost/projector) with a talent for throwing about objects with telekinetic force and boosting the physical capacities of their ectoplasmic bodies. The successor gameline,''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters'', has a number of ways for the Bound to do this as well, not to mention the actual ghosts the Sin-Eaters interact with.

* ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' gives us poltergeist powers in the form of the Outrage Arcanos, which allows a wraith to affect physical objects, often through brute force, and the Pandemonium Arcanos, which produces creepy reality-warping effects ranging from cold spots to blood on the walls to altered perception of time. The semi-sequel, ''TabletopGame/{{Orpheus}}'', gives us the Poltergeist, a Shade (or class of ghost/projector) with a talent for throwing about objects with telekinetic force and boosting the physical capacities of their ectoplasmic bodies. The successor gameline,''TabletopGame/GeistTheSinEaters", has a number of ways for the Bound to do this as well, not to mention the actual ghosts the Sin-Eaters interact with.

* ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' gives us poltergeist powers in the form of the Outrage Arcanos, which allows a wraith to affect physical objects, often through brute force, and the Pandemonium Arcanos, which produces creepy reality-warping effects ranging from cold spots to blood on the walls to altered perception of time. The semi-sequel, ''TabletopGame/{{Orpheus}}'', gives us the Poltergeist, a Shade (or class of ghost/projector) with a talent for throwing about objects with telekinetic force and boosting the physical capacities of their ectoplasmic bodies.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' had these in episodes like "Where the Wild Things Are". It had the Scooby gang playing spin the bottle at a place haunted by "poltergeists".
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': in episodes like "Home" and "Swap Meat".

For the movie of the same name, go [[Film/{{Poltergeist}} here]].

!! Examples of poltergeists in fiction:

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]
* The ''Film/{{Poltergeist}}'' movies feature (naturally) a manifestation of poltergeists that seem fixated on Carol Anne Freeling. The first movie posited that the haunting was caused by an improperly relocated cemetery, while the second suggested that a dark ritual opened a gateway between the afterlife and the living world.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]

[[folder:Pinball]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]

** In ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'', the ghost of King Verence the First discovers that he can, with immense effort, interact with physical objects. He starts out with a few grains of dust, and spends some time amusing himself by oversalting [[TheUsurper his cousin Duke Felmet]]'s porridge a pinch at a time to mess with his head, but after a while he reaches the point where he can pick up a dagger. Granny Weatherwax stops him from using it to settle the score, on the quite reasonable grounds that the dead attacking the living with intent to kill is rather unsporting.
** In ''Discworld/ReaperMan'' Death is forced into retirement, causing a whole lot of spirit activity to start manifesting through out Ankh-Morpork (and probably elsewhere as well) as the excess of life energy caused by no-one ending lives properly starts grounding itself by randomly animating objects.
** ''Discworld/AHatFullOfSky'' features Oswald, Miss Level's resident ghost. Rather than make a ruckus, however, Oswald makes sure that everything is [[SuperOCD tidy]] (an easy way to keep him occupied for a day is to spill a bowl of sugar; he'll carefully put it back grain by grain), leading Miss Level to declare him an [[InvertedTrope ondageist]].

* The Prismriver sisters of ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' are poltergeists. Something of a cross between the 'ghost' and 'uncontrolled psychokinesis' theories; they're artificial ghosts created by an unstable girl.

* ''Series/BuffytheVampireSlayer'' had these in episodes like "Where the Wild Things Are". It had the Scooby gang playing spin the bottle at a place haunted by ghosts and poltergeists.

* ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' had a episode about a poltergeist haunting a place.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', the Queen's Society Dome is rumoured to be haunted by a spirit called the "boilerghast", who causes mysterious accidents. Lord Snackleford insists the rumours are just that, and there are explanations for all the mysterious accidents that require him to fill in much less paperwork.

* Poltergeists are classified under Type Two (aka the more violent, dangerous type) ghosts in ''Literature/LockwoodAndCo''.

* In the ''OddThomas'' series, a very few particularly strong ghosts have been observed to cause poltergeist activity when they get riled up enough. One notable example is Music/FrankSinatra.

* ''Webcomic/ChampionsOfFaraus'' has Poltergimes. A [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent type of trickster spirit]] which is the [[FusionDance combined form]] of a ghost, a Mischevie(another trickster spirit) and a slime. Like the component mischevie, they [[ItAmusedMe like to mess with people,]] (although unlike mischivies who mainly cause mischief, Poltergimes might also feel like causing someone to die if the mood hits them right) and are able to possess and haunt objects, as well as being able to create blue fire. The Poltergime [[spoiler:that haunts the house in Yorken that Daryl buys]] is seen doing things like making chandeliers fall, making objects bleed, and fliping furniture around.

* ''Webcomic/ChampionsOfFaraus'' has Poltergimes. A [[OurSpiritsAreDifferent type of trickster spirit]] which is the [[FusionDance combined form]] of a ghost, a Mischevie(another trickster spirit) and a slime. Like the component mischevie, they [[ItAmusedMe like to mess with people,]] (although unlike mischivies who mainly cause mischief, Poltergimes might also feel like causing someone to die if the mood hits them right) and are able to possess and haunt objects, as well as being able to create blue fire. The Poltergime [[spoiler:that haunts the house in Yorken that Daryl buys]] is seen doing things like making chandeliers fall, make objects bleed, and flip furniture around.

* ''{{Series}}/BuffytheVampireSlayer'' had these in episodes like "Where the Wild Things Are". It had the Scooby gang playing spin the bottle at a place haunted by ghosts and poltergeists.
* ''{{Series}}/Supernatural'': in episodes like "Home" and "Swap Meat".
* ''{{Series}}/Charmed'' had a episode about a poltergeist haunting a place.

* Cordelia's place is hunted by a friendly poltergeist in ''Series/{{Angel}}''.

* The Genesis/Mega Drive features ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunting_%28video_game%29 Haunting]],'' a comedy-horror game where you play as a poltergeist named Polterguy. You're actually the ghost of a punk teen killed by a defective skateboard and your objective is to terrify the negligent CEO (and his family) until he learns his lesson, mostly by possessing objects in the house and making them do grotesque things, or sometimes simply making them fly around.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, a poltergeist named Peeves inhabits Hogwarts Castle. Unlike the other ghosts, he's a spirit of chaos rather than the echo of a person - it's AllThereInTheManual that he "came with the building". The CrustyCaretaker considers him a mortal enemy, while everyone else just thinks he's a bit of a nuisance. The only people who can control him to any extent are Dumbledore and the Bloody Baron (Slytherin House's ghost).
** Peeves is fairly unique among poltergeists in that he has a physical form. Rowling [[AllThereInTheManual states]] that Peeves is an extremely powerful and ancient poltergeist, since a poltergeist is born from adolescent angst and uncontrolled magic and Hogwarts is a thousand-year-old school containing young wizards.

* In ''Discworld/ReaperMan'' Death is forced into retirement, causing a whole lot of spirit activity to start manifesting through out Ankh-Morpork (and probably elsewhere as well).

* In the ''OddThomas'' series, a very few particularly strong ghosts have been observed to cause poltergeist activity when they get riled up enough. One notable example is FrankSinatra.