A poltergeist, according to Mlle Maupassant, was a "mischievous ghost". She claimed it was a word of German origin. She implied to Nyssa that a poltergeist was the cause for the strange goings-on at the Tremayne Academy, but the Trakenite believed there was likely a scientific explanation for the school's apparently supernatural woes. (AUDIO: Winter for the Adept)
Poltergeists could be related to the generation of psychic energy. (TV: The Awakening)
Graham Stevens had exorcised a poltergeist from his Chief Constable. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark)
Some of the weaker Eternals, who could only move objects, would be mistaken for poltergeists. (PROSE: Blood Harvest)
In the 1890s, the Paternoster Gang investigated a house that was thought to be haunted by a poltergeist. Ultimately it was discovered that the house has been built above the Bakerloo Line of the London Underground and trains shook the house as they went by. (PROSE: Silhouette)
The Seventh Doctor compared the Timewyrm to a poltergeist when she was trapped in Adolf Hitler's mind and only able to manifest telekinetic attacks. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Exodus)