Case file · Haunting
Jaboticabal poltergeist
From December 1965 bricks and stones were said to fall inside the home of an 11-year-old girl, Maria José Ferreira, in Jaboticabal, São Paulo state. Later she was reported to suffer bites, slaps and fires.
1965 CE · -21.25, -48.32 · status: account
The account
A local dentist and Spiritist, João Volpe, took her into his home and kept notes. She was taken to see Chico Xavier. The attacks ended when she died young in the early 1970s, reportedly by poisoning. The case is one of the most cited Brazilian poltergeists in psychical research.
The sceptical view
Poltergeist cases commonly centre on a disturbed child or adolescent, and investigators have repeatedly caught such children throwing objects. Accounts of the case also differ on key facts.
Connections in the atlas
- Carlos Mirabelli, São Paulo medium
- Hernani Andrade's psychical research institute
- Chico Xavier's 'Parnaso de Além-Túmulo'