Posted by Between 1988 and 1990 Jackie Hernandez, who had just moved to San Pedro, California, with her children, reported noises in the attic, red liquid oozing from the walls, flying objects and apparitions. Parapsychologist Barry Taff investigated several times, and photographer Jeff Wheatcraft said he was attacked in the attic. It is one of the most famous poltergeist cases, but without independent verification.
The case of Jackie Hernandez is one of the most documented and famous poltergeist cases. Headless ghosts, attacks on people and blood from the walls: this is the case of Jackie Hernandez.
Jackie Hernandez
It all began in November 1988, when Jackie Hernandez left her husband after years of abuse and moved, pregnant and with her two-year-old son, to San Pedro, California.
As soon as she moved into her new home she began noticing strange phenomena. At first there were only odd noises from the attic, and Jackie thought it was rats. Then things became stranger and more frightening.
One day, while washing up with a friend, she saw a strange reddish substance oozing from a wall. The noises in the attic slowly turned into voices, and everything got worse in 1989, when her daughter Samantha was born.
Objects began flying around the house and Jackie began seeing the figure of a man dressed in 1930s style, who vanished after a few seconds. In the attic Jackie also saw a severed head that disappeared shortly afterwards.
She was not the only one to see the apparitions: her neighbours saw them too. In fact it was they who decided to call a paranormal investigator, since Jackie did not want to for fear of being thought mad.
The investigation
The investigator was the well-known parapsychologist Dr Barry Taff, who had also investigated the case of Doris Bither. As soon as he arrived at Jackie’s house with his team, he heard strange noises in the attic. The woman claimed it was the body belonging to the head she had seen days earlier.
Taff’s team heard all the noises Jackie described and also saw the strange substance coming out of the walls. After photographing it they took a sample to a laboratory and, according to Taff, it turned out to be human plasma, a component of blood.
Taff visited the house more than once, and every time very strange things happened. For example, the video cameras stopped working as soon as they were taken into the attic. No matter how many times they tried, the cameras in the attic gave trouble, only to work again once back in the house.
The attacks on one of the photographers
The first attack
One of the most striking phenomena was the attack the ghost launched against photographer Jeff Wheatcraft. Jeff and a colleague were in the attic trying to take some pictures. After taking three, Jeff heard a noise behind him. He spun round and took a photo, but as soon as he pressed the button a force tore the camera from his hand and threw it away.
The two went back down into the house, but then decided to go back for the camera. They found it hidden in a corner of the attic, without its lens, which was found a short distance away.
They went back into the house again, and then began to smell a nauseating odour coming from the attic. Jeff decided to go and look. He felt a bony hand on his back and decided to go back down, but just then he saw three lights appear and then a dark shape. Unfortunately the cameras were unusable and there is no footage of it.
A few days later Jeff felt a sharp pain in his back and went to his doctor, who told him there were bruises. Jeff immediately thought of the bony hand he had felt.
The second attack
About a month later Jackie, frightened, called Dr Taff again. The strange phenomena were back, stronger than before. The parapsychologist returned to Jackie’s house with his team. As soon as they entered they heard a sound like someone snapping their fingers.
They went up to the attic again, and this is where the most striking attack happened. From one of the beams a nail stuck out, with a clothesline hanging from it.
Jeff does not remember exactly what happened, but his colleagues remember hearing him make strange sounds, going over to him and finding him hanging from the clothesline. One colleague freed him at once, while another managed to take some photos. There is footage of Jeff coming down from the attic with the cord around his neck and a red mark on his skin (you can find it at the bottom of the article).
Jackie Hernandez today
After this episode Jackie moved, but still lives in San Pedro. The house she lived in, meanwhile, is constantly the subject of paranormal investigations, and people who move in do not last more than six months. According to the stories, visitors report seeing and hearing the same phenomena that happened there in 1989.
Who was the ghost?
Barry Taff suggested the spirit might be that of Herman Hendrickson, a 28-year-old man whose body was found floating in San Pedro harbour in March 1930. The Los Angeles police ruled his death an accident. There is no evidence, however, that the two stories are connected.
As with all poltergeist cases, this one should be taken with a pinch of salt: almost all the accounts come from the people involved and the investigators themselves, and there is no independent verification. It nonetheless remains one of the most famous and debated cases in American parapsychology.
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