Abstract

Using the Enfield Poltergeist as its central case study this chapter will focus on the performance of possession. It will explore the renderings of possession which this performance resonated with (i.e. The Exorcist, 1973) and those it gave rise to (i.e. The Conjuring 2, 2016). The material considered connects the Enfield Poltergeist with the theatricality of nineteenth-century séances and tropes of Gothic literature. This work also intercedes with concepts such as Freud’s ‘double’, Winnicott’s ‘transitional object’, Goffman’s ‘frames’ and Schenchner’s ‘dark play’.