Listen

Enfield, North London. Late August 1977. In a council house at 284 Green Street, a chest of drawers slid about 18 inches across a bedroom floor. Nobody was touching it. Peggy Hodgson pushed it back and felt it resist.

Thursday, 21 August 1879. Knock, County Mayo. Heavy rain falls on a small parish church. Then, on its south gable wall, three life-size figures appear in a clear, white light. The Virgin Mary, crowned, eyes raised to heaven. St Joseph, head bent towards her. St John the Evangelist, holding a book. Beside them stand an altar, a lamb and a cross.

Essex. 28 July 1900. Four sisters watch a nun move along a garden path, head bowed, telling her beads. When one of them goes to meet her, the nun turns and comes toward her.

London, January 1762. A narrow lane near Smithfield is so packed with people that nobody can pass. Inside a parish clerk's house, a girl of about twelve lies in bed. Around her come scratches and knocks, like a cat scratching a chair. The knocks answer questions. One for yes. Two for no.

Rosenheim, Bavaria. Autumn 1967. In the law office of attorney Sigmund Adam, the lights would not stay on. Fluorescent tubes went dark and were found twisted in their holders. Bulbs exploded. Fuses tripped with no cause anyone could find. And the telephones kept calling the speaking clock, with nobody at the dial.

2 April 1968. Zeitoun, a district of Cairo. Across the street from St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church, Muslim workers at a public-transport garage saw a woman dressed in white on the church roof. One man thought she was a nun about to jump.

November 28, 1981. Kibeho College, a girls' boarding school in southern Rwanda. A young student named Alphonsine Mumureke saw a Lady of incomparable beauty, dressed in white. She called herself "Nyina wa Jambo". The Mother of the Word.

23 October 1642. The first great battle of the English Civil War was fought beneath Edge Hill in Warwickshire. About two months later, around Christmas, shepherds near Kineton heard drums in the dark, far off. Then soldiers appeared in the air. There were two armies, one under the King's colours and one under Parliament's. Muskets. Cannon. Horses neighing. The fight went on until two or three in the morning. It came back on the nights that followed.

February 3, 1958. Mid-afternoon in Seaford, Long Island. The Herrmann children found a bottle of holy water on their mother's dresser. It stood open, its contents spilled. Then the shampoo. Then the starch. Then the bleach in the basement.

Miami, January 1967. In the storeroom of Tropication Arts, a wholesaler of Florida souvenirs, the stock would not stay on the shelves. Beer mugs fell. Glasses shattered. Alligator ashtrays crashed to the floor.