In the haunted house, plates kept falling off the shelves by themselves, and people blamed it on a poltergeist.

poltergeist 来自德语，由 poltern（制造噪音）和 Geist（幽灵）组成，字面意思是"吵闹的幽灵"。在英语中指一种会移动物体、制造噪音的恶作剧型鬼魂，常被译为"捣蛋鬼"或"吵闹鬼"。