Skip to content
From the High Desert book cover

From the High Desert

A Cultural History of Art Bell

Thumbnail for May 13, 1998: Poltergeists - Dr. Barry Taff

May 13, 1998: Poltergeists - Dr. Barry Taff

May 13, 1998
2h 53m
0:00 / 0:00
Art Bell welcomes Dr. Barry Taff, a world-renowned parapsychologist who investigated more than 3,500 cases of ghosts, hauntings, and poltergeists during his 30-year career at UCLA's parapsychology laboratory. Dr. Taff recounts the real story behind the 1983 film The Entity, starring Barbara Hershey, which was based on his 1974 investigation of a woman named Doris in Culver City, California, who claimed repeated attacks by unseen forces.

The team witnessed objects flying across rooms, photographed mysterious balls of lime-green light, and observed a half-bodied apparition that formed in front of multiple witnesses. Dr. Taff then describes an even more harrowing case from 1989 in San Pedro, where investigator Jeff Wheatcraft was physically attacked multiple times, including being strung up by a clothesline wrapped around his neck by an invisible force. Human blood plasma was found seeping from a kitchen cupboard.

The program opens with Art discussing India's underground nuclear tests, the massive fires burning across Mexico and Guatemala, and the resulting smoke haze reaching the U.S. Art also shares news about Robert Bigelow's research funding efforts and considers the possible connections between paranormal phenomena and UFOs.

Key Moments

  1. Skillet flies in arc across Doris's kitchen: Inside the Culver City home of Doris ('Mrs. B' from the original Entity case), a lower cabinet door swings open and a skillet takes a parabolic course across the kitchen as Taff's colleague is interviewing her.

  2. Half-bodied apparition forms in Doris's bedroom: After playing the son's heavy rock albums, Taff and his team collectively witness a luminous, lime-green half-bodied male apparition form in the corner of Doris's bedroom; two assistants drop to the floor, and hundreds of frames of film come back blank.

  3. Human blood plasma seeping from a San Pedro cupboard: On the 1989 Jackie Hernandez case in San Pedro, Taff's team samples a viscous liquid dripping inside a kitchen cupboard. Lab analysis returns it as human blood plasma; tearing out the planks reveals no body, no animal, no source.

  4. Investigator Jeff Wheatraub strung up in attic by invisible force: In the same San Pedro attic, videographer Jeff Wheatraub is found hanging from a rafter by a plastic clothesline knotted in a bowline around his neck. Gary Boehm fires a flash to navigate the dark attic and inadvertently photographs the hanging.