Basic Information
Classification	Non-Being
Skin Colour	Green tinged
Distinction	Spirit of chaos No physical form

Overview

A Poltergeist can be described as a chaos-loving spirit and are among the creatures that are classified as Non-human Spirituous Apparitions, so they are amortal. They are quite similar to ghosts, but they are solid and can move objects around. Poltergeists haunt one location at a time and either come with the building or choose to enter it at their own will.

Abilities

Poltergeists have numerous abilities such as, they can fly, become invisible whenever they want, and have the power to be selectively tangible. This means that they have the ability to phase through walls like a ghost, but they can also use physical force to move an object around.

These spirit-like creatures also have the ability to use magic. We know this, because Peeves, the Poltergeist that roams around the Hogwarts castle, was able to use the Curse of the Bogies with the goal to make students sick. Another Poltergeist named Fastidio was able to enchant the inside of one of his own chests into an elaborate labyrinth full of puzzles that he called the Playground.

Behavior

The behaviour of Poltergeists are very chaos-like and they thrive on vandalism, acts of malicious mischief, and embarrassing people in general. They do these acts purely for their own amusement, without the regard of anyone else. Some things they will do include unscrewing chandeliers, stuff keyholes full of gum, throw walking sticks at people, and so much more. Throughout history, Peeves is known as the most troublesome Poltergeist in British history and this is why it isn’t entirely known what level of mischief is done by a more ‘standard’ Poltergeist.

It was possible to get the Poltergeist to settle down for a while, but they would inevitably start the chaos back up again. Even with their rather chaotic nature, there have been cases of Poltergeists signing contracts with certain wizards and it seems like they were completely bound by it’s terms once signed.

One very common misconception about Poltergeists is that they are impossible to get rid of once they have moved into a location. While it was way harder to remove an extremely destructive Poltergeist that has been at a location for a really long time, it wasn’t entirely impossible. Dolores Umbridge claimed that the Minister of Magic was able to ban a Poltergeist via signing an order, but that statement could’ve come from her own belief that wizards are far superior over creatures.

The Tibble-Tabble charm was able to revert the action of a Poltergeist’s behaviour and it made them polite, orderly, and disciplined, but the effects of this charm are that it would make the affected Poltergeist overly, and insufferably, authoritarian. Luckily, the Counter Charm was able to revert that behaviour back to normal. Lottie Turner was the first person to use this charm during her Hogwarts years as a student.

Comparison to Ghosts

Even though Poltergeists are in some way similar to ghosts, they still have big differences. Firstly, and the biggest one, was that ghosts have a complete incorporeal form, while Poltergeists were generally solid enough to move objects through physical force. They were also vulnerable to the same jinxes as humans and it was also possible that Poltergeists were able to feel pain, but were not physically injured.

Another big difference between the two is how they are with humans. Ghosts know how to interact with humans, as they have lived among them before, while Poltergeists do not, as they have never been alive in the first place.

Lastly, a physical difference between the two is their appearance. While a ghost has a greyish-pal appearance, a Poltergeist has actual colors.

History

On the 28th of November in 1926, The Sunday Edition of The New York Ghost reported that a Poltergeist had been wreaking havoc in a diner in Nashville.

A very troublesome Poltergeist began haunting a muggle family in Great Britain during the 1990-1991 school year. This caused a lot of problems for the Ministry and Arthur Weasley assigned a seventh-year student to deal with this issue as part of their work experience. This student reviewed poltergeists in an evening Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Bill Weasley, in order to learn defensive techniques that they could use against them.

Known Poltergeists:

• Handsome Poltergeist
• Peeves
• Uncle Edward
• Fastidio
• Unnamed poltergeist

Credits/References

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Written by Liane Hawthorne
Base code by Andrew Sutherland, edited by Iselin Merilä and Desmond Gray.