Poltergeists are mischievous, naughty and sometimes malevolent spirits. A big fan of Harry Potter series, John thought that he would enjoy being surrounded by these naughty demons who love to scare people and get a laugh from their fears. He, especially, loved the imagery of Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter, who used to live in girl’s bathrooms and dive down in the toilets. But, never again will John jest about poltergeists and neither will J. K. Rowling, if she has to go through what he had to face. John was a good 15 years old and not a child, when he was faced with poltergeists. He went for a sleepover to his good friend’s house and since his parents were not at home, they decided to mess around a bit.

John and his friend decided to poke around haunted-looking ruins near the cemetery, fifteen miles from his home. They were pretty confident when they started out, but as they reached within two miles of the place, a feeling of dread came over them. But being the foolhardy teens that they were, they refused to take the warning in time. It was a level road, with no mountains or cliffs in sight. The night was clear and the moon was full. The wind was calm and it was almost hot. Just as they were crossing the one-mile mark from the cemetery, a large rock suddenly came hurling towards them with full force.

Both John and his friend ducked just in time and started looking around. They realized that one man can never pick up such a huge rock and besides that, there was no one in sight! The boys thought that perhaps, it was a trap of some kind and they were just unlucky to step on it. Then, the temperature suddenly dipped, so much that they started freezing. John and his friend were surprised and quite spooked by now. They looked at each other and decided to run back home. They were about to turn, when a whirlwind suddenly rose from the cemetery and chased them.

John and his friend ran and ran for fifteen miles, but the whirlwind always seemed to just touch their backs or scrape their arms. As they ran through the front door and tried to lock it, all the windows that they had locked carefully before leaving opened suddenly, that too at the same time, and their panes crashed. The whirlwind started entering the home from all windows and doors and they could do nothing as everything was swept by the whirlwind, while they were standing right in the middle of the room, hugging each other tightly and staring wild-eyed at it and thinking it was their end.

All through the night, the boys kept on praying loudly, then crying and finally, praying more. Next day, John as well as his friend was found unconscious, still clutching each other tightly. However, unlike the night, everything was at its place; even the windowpanes were all right. No one ever believed their version of that night. This was what the poltergeists were probably trying to do - make them a fool in front of everybody and laugh at their expense. Whatever be their motive, thankfully, they at least spared the lives of John and his friend and also taught them to take ghosts and poltergeists seriously.