The Berini Haunting

A little girl, once a sister returns to warn a family of danger. A young boys’ apparition is seen dressed all in white. He asks the family “Where do all the lonely people go?” Then a violent poltergeist or demon terrorizes this family for months. This is one of the more aggressive hauntings recorded in recent years.

This haunting occurred in New England in the late 1970s and didn’t end until the 1980s. The family name “Berini” is just a pseudonym in order to protect their privacy--the exact location of their home has not been revealed for the same reason. *

Joe and his wife Rose--again pseudonyms--moved with Rose's two children from a previous marriage into Joe’s family ancestral home in the 1970s. Joe had not been raised in this home. At first, all was well but then unusual things started to occur.

Rose started to hear a disembodied voice of a child in the home. In her first encounter with this little girl she heard the following--“Mama, Mama, this is Serena.” Joe questioned his family as to who this could be--he knew several people had died in the home. He was stunned to find that he had a sister named “Serena” who had died at the age of 5.

The Berini’s reaction to this little girl’s presence was curiosity not fear. As it turned out each time the Berini’s heard Serena’s voice something bad happened to the family. They came to believe her appearances foretold danger. The day after Rose heard Serena for the first time her daughter was scheduled to have her tonsils out. Her heart stopped during the operation and she almost died.

The next time her voice was heard was just before Joe’s grandmother suffered a stroke. Then her voice was heard again a month later just before his grandmother died. After this Joe heard Serena’s voice one last time. He was woken up to the sound of Serena’s voice when he discovered Rose was choking in her sleep. She told him afterward that she had dreamed her ex-husband was strangling her.

All was quiet in the Berini home for several years then in early 1981 the couple started to see the apparition of a small boy dressed all in white. Again, Joe made inquires of his family and discovered his father’s younger brother, Giorgio had died in the home at the age of eight. He was buried in his all-white communion suit.

Rose first saw Giorgio’s apparition walking in the upstairs hall in the middle of the night. She was not afraid, upon seeing him she recounts she felt a strong sense of peace. She watched his apparition for over an hour before he disappeared. During this encounter Rose’s sense of peace was shattered when this young boy spoke to her.

He stated, “Where do all the lonely people go? Where do I belong?”

After this, Joe watched one evening as Giorgio’s kneeled on the hallway carpet. It appeared as if he was intently searching for something. Joe now curious pulled up the carpet in this area the next day. He found a religious medal on a broken chain.

Again, the Berini’s were not afraid of this young ghost.

Giorgio’s ghost made frequent nightly appearances. He always seemed distressed about something. He would often answer questions the Berini’s asked him. At one point he announced that Carlos, his twin brother--who was still alive and living nearby--had taken something from the house that belonged to him. The family could not figure out what this item was.

On another night when he appeared he announced to the Berinis, “My oldest brother is the only one that can help me.” This statement made Joe wonder if maybe Giorgio was confusing him for his father who had been Giorgio’s older brother.

After this, the couple took a friends advice and tried to just ignore this activity.

But after their last encounter with Giorgio's ghost the activity in the home became much darker in nature. That very night the phone in the Berini’s bedroom was flung off their bedside table by unseen hands. Over time this phone continued to be flung violently off this table--according to the Berinis over a dozen times.

Joe now concerned, called his parents to warn them that Giorgio might visit them. But as he discussed this apparent poltergeist activity with them-- every time he mentioned Giorgio’s name the phone went dead. Again, they tried to ignore the activity.

But in June of 1981 darker things started to happen that were very disturbing. This is when the third entity showed up.

The Berinis described this entity as a dark male that appeared as a hunchback. He had very large feet and a gruff voice. They bravely questioned this entity to determine who he might be but he always gave evasive answers telling them he was a “minister of God.” But it wasn’t long before they didn’t believe him.

The phone continued to be flung off its hook and the poltergeist activity increased in both frequency and intensity. Whenever Rose prayed with her rosary this entity would try to distract her with a string of obscenities. Religious items in the home went missing or were broken.

In various rooms in the home furniture was moved or rolled over. A daughter's desk was found violently pushed down the stairs.

Joe, Rose and a daughter were all hit by items that were thrown. Rose was the target of most of this abuse. A bedside lamp fell striking her on the head. Another time the freezer door was flung open hitting her on the head. While sitting at the kitchen table something twisted her arm behind her back and then her head was jerked so far to the side she started to choke.

Things worsened. Joe saw Rose pulled out of bed, she levitated above the bed and then she was dropped to the floor. After this attack bruises where discovered on her arms and legs where unseen hands had forcefully gripped her. Two months after the hunchback first made an appearance he became even more violent.

One night after Joe left for work Rose heard a series of loud bangs on her bedroom wall. The walls literally shook. When her bed rose off the ground she tried to leave the room but the door slammed shut in her face. When she managed to open the door--her dog was growling at something unseen.

She went to her  children’s bedrooms but their doors shut violently on her, she then was knocked off her feet by an unseen force and dragged back to her bedroom. Invisible hands started to choke and scratch her. She managed to call Joe and he rushed home.

When he entered their bedroom he saw the bed lurching repeatedly off the floor. He found Rose curled up in a ball in the corner of the room clutching her crucifix.

The next morning as they entered their kitchen they saw a carving knife embedded in their kitchen table. They moved out of the house for a month. During this period they arranged for a priest to do a ceremony similar to an exorcism. This worked for when the Berinis moved back into their home they no longer saw apparitions or had poltergeist activity.

* Joe invited the (PRA) Psychical Research Foundation--based in North Carolina--to investigate the home. In this group's case summary they call this family Berini. This organization was able to verify many of the couple's claims. One reason being, many of the Berini’s friends, family and neighbors had seen the apparitions and witnessed the poltergeist activity.

Today this group is based out of Florida and is known as the American Institute of Parapsychology.