Reading time: 5 minutes
Hungarian-born parapsychologist Nandor Fodor was a pioneer of paranormal research in Britain. RICK HALE explores his groundbreaking theories and remarkable cases
Although organized paranormal investigation in Britain began in the Victorian era, it was in the 20th century that the professional paranormal investigator emerged.
In its heyday, names like Harry Price, Hereward Carrington and Peter Underwood dominated the English ghost hunting scene.
With their books and many published studies, they have taken the field from a mere curiosity of academics to something that anyone could engage with.
They made it cool before paranormal reality TV was even a thing.
However, there is one name that is often not mentioned among ghost hunters active during this period. And that, in my humble opinion, is almost criminal.
And that parapsychologist was none other than parapsychologist Nandor Fodor. An investigator deeply involved in one of the most scandalous investigations in the annals of the paranormal.
Who was Nandor Fodor?
Nandor Fodor didn’t start his career in parapsychology or ghost hunting.
Born in Hungary, Fodor received his doctorate in law from the Royal Hungarian University of Sciences in Budapest.
After his formal education, Nandor packed up his life and moved to New York City, where he found work as a journalist.
After doing his time on the beat, so to speak, he went to London in 1929, where he continued in journalism. But this time from behind a desk.
Nandor Fodor finds his passion
While working in London, Fodor indulged in his true passion, paranormal phenomena and paranormal research.
But it wasn’t just ghosts that piqued his curiosity; Nandor Fodor became the nation’s leading authority on the paranormal’s most misunderstood phenomenon: poltergeists. But also mediums.
In fact, Nandor Fodor was the first to explain that poltergeist activity was not caused by vengeful spirits or evil spirits.
Fodor suggested that poltergeists were the psychic manifestation of a person undergoing some form of turmoil. Today we call this recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis or RSPK.
Naturally, such a theory was not well received by his colleagues, but Fodor came to this conclusion after investigating two of the most famous poltergeist cases. Both in Great Britain.
And one of those cases is about to make its big screen premiere, starring one of the funniest actors to ever entertain. Simon Pegg as Fodor in Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose.
Case 1: The haunted Thornton Heath
Typically, poltergeist activity is attributed to a young person reaching that point in life that we all fear but had to get through: adolescence and puberty.
But this is not always the case, and the activity surrounding a London housewife in Thornton Heath may well prove that.
The activity surrounding Alma Fielding began when war across Europe threatened to engulf not only the continent but the entire world.
The activity, as in a number of poltergeist cases, started simply enough.
Household items seemed to take on a life of their own and moved through the house.
Books flew off the shelves. But when a horribly deformed six-fingered hand appeared, Alma took her story to the press.
When the story of what Fielding and her family went through was published in the Sunday Pictorial, Nandor Fodor answered the call to investigate the extraordinary issue further.
When Fodor arrived, he wasted no time investigating Alma’s claims.
To get her into a more controlled environment, Fodor took her to the International Institute of Psychical Research. He believed her claims and wanted to be absolutely certain that no cheating would be suspected.
While there, Alma, to the amazement of all who watched her, produced several fetches out of nowhere.
The investigators also did their best to trip up the London woman, hoping this would expose her as a liar. At the end of the study they were unable to do this.
So if there was no pranks involved, what caused the frightening activity? Well, Fodor had a theory for that.
Fodor suggested that when the activity began, Alma seemed to distance herself from reality.
She also showed great concern about the impending war with Nazi Germany.
When Fodor submitted his report, the unexpected happened: he was expelled from the Institute.
The Institute was devastated that Alma Fielding was a fraud and Nandor Fodor didn’t see it.
The ghost tour of Thornton Heath was not the only controversial investigation that Fodor would undertake. It was a talking mongoose that sealed his place in history.
Case 2: Gef The talking mongoose
In the fall of 1931, James and Margaret Irving, along with their 13-year-old daughter, Voirrey, began to experience something strange on their Isle of Man farm in Cashen’s Gap.
Voirrey was the first to hear the scratching on the walls and the rustling of an unknown creature.
At first, the family dismissed it as nothing more than a rodent setting up a shelter to wait out the harsh winter. That is until the mysterious animal found its voice.
The animal, a mongoose, politely introduced itself as “Gef,” according to the Irvings.
Gef explained to the teenage girl that he was born in India and was an “extra smart mongoose” and an “earth spirit.”
As strange as it may be, Gef turned out to be a helper around the house. He warned them about unwanted guests and even chased away stray dogs and rats.
Strange, right? I know, but when people from the area heard about this extra smart mongoose in the local newspaper, they flocked to the farm in the hope of seeing the special mammal.
Many claimed to hear its voice and also catch a fleeting glimpse of the rodent. Gef definitely became a sensation.
And this led to two of the most respected ghost hunters, Harry Price and Richard Lambert, visiting the farm.
After a thorough investigation, Price made an interesting discovery that led him to believe the story was a complete fabrication.
According to Harry Price, there was a lot of space between the walls, making the house an acoustic nightmare.
If a person spoke between these spaces it would amplify their voices and carry them throughout the house.
At the end of the case, Price concluded that only the most gullible person could purchase Gef, the talking mongoose. Nandor Fodor, on the other hand, had a very different view of the situation.
When Fodor took over the investigation, he determined that no deliberate hoax was perpetrated at the Irving Farm. But rather a psychological one.
The eminent parapsychologist postulated that James Irving experienced an inner turmoil that resulted in a ‘split off part’ of himself
Actually, James Irving experienced what we call dissociative identity disorder. And Gef was his alter ego.
Whether that is true is now up for debate. Nevertheless, activity declined after two major events.
One: James Irving died. And second, the farmer who bought the property after the Irving’s were evicted claimed to shoot and kill the extra-smart mongoose.
Many decades later, after the bizarre events at the Cashen Gap farm, Voirrey, an elderly woman now adamantly stated that Gef was very real and not a fabrication.
New film about Nandor Fodor
Earlier this month, a film was released detailing Nandor Fodor’s involvement in the Gef case. Nandor Fodor and the talking mongoosestarring Simon Pegg as the titular character on the movie screens.
Of course the story has been changed slightly to add comedic elements, but I understand it has some accuracy.
But so does anything that starts with “Based on true events.” I think I’ll wait until it comes out on streaming.
