transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:02] SpectreVision Radio.

Speaker 2:
[00:06] How well do you know Japan? Do you know why so many stone statues of ojizo and foxes wear red bibs and have pinwheels clicking softly beside them? Are you familiar with the once popular beauty recipe of mixing rusty nails and iron scraps in a tincture of vinegar and strong tea, all so you can dye your teeth the most stunning shade of black? I'm author Teresa Matsuura and for over 35 years, I've been exploring the hidden, fascinating, and sometimes terrifying corners of a country I call home. If you too are charmed by Japan and want to learn a little more about these obscure bits of culture or if you just want to put on your headphones, close your eyes and relax while listening to me tell you about a yōkai that licks the scum from your drain with its disturbingly long tongue, then Uncanny Japan is for you. Now broadcasting from SpectreVision Radio, you can find and follow me on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. De wa mata.

Speaker 1:
[01:50] Nova Scotia, located on Canada's east coast, is a land of scenic beauty and maritime charm. Nova Scotia's natural beauty is spectacular and awe-inspiring.

Speaker 3:
[02:09] Walter Hubbell had found himself in Canada looking to debunk a supposed claim of the paranormal. He was an actor by trade, but had taken a personal interest in the world of the supernatural. He had seen a close friend of his being taken advantage of by a series of people who claimed to be mediums, and he found that he had a knack for pointing out flaws in their claims. He saw them as con artists, preying on the weak. So when he found out about a story of a girl who was claiming to be haunted by several ghosts in Nova Scotia, his interest was piqued. Was this girl attempting to create a hoax, or were the people around her feeding into her delusions? Either way, discovering this event was how he now found himself, sat in a teed family home on a summer afternoon with the girl in question, Esther Cox. Esther was sat in the parlor writing a letter. She was in a bad way. What had started out as a series of odd occurrences had sprawled into a dangerous web of horror. But Walter had been communicating with these supposed spirits for a while now, and his prior skepticism had very quickly faded away. The spirits in the cottage seemed able to communicate through a few different methods. Sometimes their voices could be heard, strange little whispers on the wind. Sometimes they would communicate through Esther. But more often than not, the easiest way to speak with them was through knocks. One for no, two for unsure, and three for yes. Each of the supposed spirits had their own distinct style of knocking, and one, called Bob, could rumble the entire room with its loud bangs. Walter spoke out loud. He asked if any of the spirits were in heaven. A single knock was heard. No. He then asked them the next obvious question. Are you in hell? Three knocks. Yes. Walter took a deep breath and asked, have you seen the devil? He had not heard something quite like this so far. The room shook with a force that sounded like someone was smashing a sledgehammer into the walls. One knock. Two knocks. Three knocks. The horror of what became known as the Great Amherst Mystery was one which would lead to a family's life being ripped apart and a young woman in prison. But is this a case of real paranormal phenomena? Or is there something much more human to blame? With how this story plays out, either option is equally horrific. Get yourself a warm drink, dim the lights and get comfortable. It's time for us to delve into the dark haunting of Esther Cox. Welcome to the Tape Library. It was late in the summer of 1878 when the events began. Esther Cox was living in a two-story house on Princess Street in Amherst, surrounded on both sides by near-identical buildings. The set up there was rather busy. There was Esther, her sister Jenny, who she shared a bed with, their brother William. But the head of the household was a man named Daniel Teed, who had married the older Cox sister, Olive, with whom they had two sons, as well as Daniel's brother John also being a resident. Daniel Teed worked at the local shoe factory, and while Jenny also worked, Esther mostly helped around the house, aiding Olive in keeping it all running smoothly, and tending to the family's chickens and cows. Esther was a relatively popular girl in Amherst. No one really had much negative to say about her. An unremarkable young woman just 18 years old, and content to play her part in the family's life. Esther was seeing a man named Bob McNeil, another worker at the nearby shoe factory, but he had a bit of a reputation, so much so that Esther's sisters were not keen on her seeing him, but she ignored their concerns. One rainy evening at the end of August, Esther came walking in through the front door, soaking wet. She had been out for a carriage ride with Bob, but when Jenny looked out the window, Esther's boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. Esther didn't want to talk. She took herself up to their room and locked herself away. Clearly something had happened between the pair, but for the most part the sisters didn't want to pry. Assuming the couple had been arguing, to be honest they were quite happy to see the back of Bob. Esther wasn't very talkative over the next few days, and the family just gave her the space she needed. Jenny usually shared a bed with Esther, but for a few nights decided to sleep elsewhere. Although the faint sound of her sister sobbing at night gave her pause, she still thought it was clear that Esther wanted to be left alone. This continued for one week when Jenny returned to the bedroom, putting out the oil lamp and laying down in bed in total darkness. The date was September 4th, a date both girls remember because Esther had asked Jenny what day it was, just as Jenny was on the verge of falling asleep. It was one of the first times that Esther had spoken in the last week. Jenny confirmed that it was and told her sister to go to sleep. Ten minutes passed, the house dark and silent, everyone tucked up in bed. When suddenly, Esther leapt up screaming. Jenny was startled awake and quickly lit the oil lamp. Esther was convinced that there was something in their bed. Both girls looked, assuming it was a mouse, but there seemed to be no sign of it. Jenny convinced Esther to go back to sleep and put out the lamp once again. The following night, it happened again. A strange sound. The feeling of something moving in their bed. Both girls jumped out of the bed trying to find the mouse. When Jenny thought it was coming from a box that was underneath it, Jenny pulled the box out and slid it into the center of the room, getting ready to open it to try and get the mouse. When something extraordinary happened, the box jumped up into the air. It was almost like it was floating around a foot off the floor, before quickly crashing back down. Both girls froze, silent, unsure what they had just witnessed. Slowly Jenny approached the box, set it right up again, and stepped back. Then it happened again, leaping a foot off the floor before coming back down. This time, they screamed. Quickly Daniel Teed came running in to see what was going on. But when the girls told him, he simply laughed it off and told them to go back to sleep, assuming they were being silly. But the following morning at breakfast, the girls were still doubling down on the story. Despite the rest of the family telling them, they must have been mistaken. Later that night, at around 8.30pm, Esther took herself off to bed, complaining that she felt feverish. About an hour and a half later, Jenny came to bed. Esther was already asleep, so she once again climbed into bed with her sister. Shortly after this, Esther leapt out of the bed again. But this time it was different. She was stood in the middle of the room, screaming that she thought she was dying. Jenny lit the lamp and looked at her sister, initially assuming she was having a nightmare. But her appearance was startling. Her face blood red and her eyes bulging out of her head, gripping the back of a chair so tightly, her nails were digging into the wood. Jenny screamed for help. Olive came running into the room followed by the men. They found Esther standing in her nightgown, looking terrified. As they asked her what was wrong, her face started to turn pale, nearly fainting. The family helped her back to bed. Esther sat on the edge of the bed, looking around the room silently, before suddenly, jumping up again. Screaming that she felt like she was about to burst, Olive was terrified. She thought her sister was going mad, but she was right. As Esther was complaining about feeling like she was swelling up, Daniel noticed that the girl's hands and feet were enlarged, and her skin was hot to the touch. Esther was screaming, grinding her teeth in pain, but before they could decide what to do to help her, they heard it. What appeared to be the cracking, loud sound of thunder, but with no rumble afterwards. The sound was so loud that Olive was convinced that the house had been struck by lightning and rushed to go and check her children. But there was nothing wrong with the house, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Olive looked to her husband, utterly confused by what was going on, when they heard three loud bangs. Then it all stopped. Esther seemed to instantly relax, falling into a sudden deep sleep, as if nothing were wrong, leaving the family baffled as to what they had just experienced. The next day, it was as if nothing had happened. There was no sign of fever in Esther, and she went about her normal daily ritual, perfectly fine and healthy. The family couldn't explain it, but decided to keep it all to themselves for the moment. But four nights later, it would happen again. Esther was laying in bed with her sister, complaining of feeling like she was swelling up again. Jenny tried to comfort her, telling her that if she stayed calm, hopefully this attack, whatever it was, would quickly end. But as they were talking, the bedsheets were ripped off their bed, and flung to the other side of the room. The family yet again came rushing into the room to the sounds of screams. At first, they were convinced that Jenny was dead, as they caught her lifeless face on the bed in the glow of the lantern. But she had apparently just fainted from shock. Esther's body once again visibly swollen. Olive, seeing the girls in their nightgowns, quickly grabbed the bedsheets and covered them, unsure what was going on. But as soon as she did, the bedsheets flew straight off again. Then the pillow under Esther's head flew off the bed, hitting John Tede in the face, who, in a moment of surprise, took himself out of the room, refusing to accept what he was witnessing. Esther was burning up and complaining of a headache, so her brother rushed to get her some water from the bucket of drinking water in the kitchen. As William returned to the bedroom, the family yet again heard a series of loud bangs, so loud that it shook the room. Then Esther instantly relaxed and fell asleep. It was over once again. This time, the family knew they needed help. Daniel T stopped by in the morning to visit the local doctor, Dr. Carrity, and explained exactly what had been going on. The doctor found Daniel's story ridiculous. It was clear the man was mistaken of what he had seen. But regardless, he assumed that something may be wrong with Esther, and he agreed to stop by that night. He didn't arrive until around 10pm. Esther was already in bed but hadn't suffered any sort of attack. The doctor checked all her vital signs but didn't believe her attacks were the result of an illness. He instead told the family that he believed Esther had recently suffered from an extreme shock of some kind, and described her condition as nervous excitement. But as he was speaking, something odd happened. The pillow under Esther's head appeared to be pulled out as though someone was yanking it, leaving just one corner under her head, before suddenly returning to its normal position. The doctor couldn't believe his eyes, asking if everyone else had seen it too. But before they could respond, it happened again. This time, John gripped the edge of the pillow before it could return to position, and it was clear that something was pulling back. Embarking in a mini tug of war with the man. He wasn't strong enough though, and the pillow fell back into its position. John was terrified. The doctor however was fascinated, and thought the whole event was wonderful. Then the banging started once again. The doctor searched the room, looking to see where it was coming from, but couldn't quite figure it out. One thing he did note though was that as he moved around, it felt like the sound was almost following him. The bed covers were thrown across the room again. The banging continued, terrifying the whole family. But it was soon joined by a second sound, a scratching noise that none of them could identify at first. But then they saw it. The doctor pushed back to the front so he could get a good look. There, on the wall on the other side of the room, someone had scratched a message into the wall. In scraggly, foot-high letters, it read, Esther Cox, you are mine to kill. As the doctor stood there, a piece of plaster suddenly flew towards him, falling at his feet. He picked it up, looked at it, but there was nothing of interest. As he placed it on the chair though, the ferocious banging began again, shaking the room. This continued for nearly two hours. Then it all went silent. Esther fell asleep and the doctor promised to return the following morning. When he did, he was surprised to find Esther going about her normal chores. At first glance, it seemed like the girl was absolutely fine. But as he watched her, he began to notice how nervous she was. The slightest little noise would make her jump. She was constantly looking over her shoulder. Esther went down into the cellar to fetch some milk, while Dr. Carrity sat with Olive in the kitchen. When suddenly, Esther came running into the room, out of breath, yelling that there was someone in the cellar. Someone had thrown a piece of wood at her from the shadows. The doctor accompanied her back down the stairs and they searched. There was no one there. As they were about to leave, however, multiple potatoes were launched at the pair by an unseen force. The doctor quickly made his excuses and left for the day. When he returned that night, he did so with the intention of applying a number of sedatives to Esther. She had been complaining about her nerves and specifically referenced the feeling that electricity was running through her body. This was quite a common theory regarding the paranormal at the time and was the one that most seemed to run with for the events that were taking place in Amherst. The idea that this phenomenon was being created by electrical currents. They believed that this was very much something that science could explain. The doctor injected her as she lay in her bed. But shortly after the sounds began again, in more quick succession this time, a constant pounding sound, it sounded like it was coming from the roof. The doctor rushed outside to take a look. From out there he said it sounded like someone was stood on the roof pounding it with a sledgehammer. It was dark, so he walked around the entire house, trying to get a good look at it in the moonlight. But he couldn't make out anyone up there. The sounds though were so loud, they could still hear them when he was 200 yards away, and this is when the family's problems really got worse. The next morning, rumors were spreading about the strange noises coming from the house. The doctor returned each day to care for Esther, but the banging began happening during the day, drawing attention from passers-by on what was a relatively well trodden road in Amherst. Soon the press got wind of it and began printing rather sensationalized stories about what was going on. As the weeks passed, more and more people became interested in what was happening. The already busy teatome was full of visitors each day, wanting to see Esther, wanting to hear the sounds. It was actually a Reverend Clay who visited the house during this time that really began to push the idea of this being some sort of electrical phenomenon. That Esther was suffering some sort of nervous disposition and that her body was acting almost like a battery. This electricity leaving her body was causing these bangs and the objects to move. Even stating at one point he witnessed the pot of cold water in the kitchen begin to boil all on its own. Both the doctor and the Reverend were clear. This was not a hoax, but that didn't mean it was the work of ghosts either. Although it wouldn't be long until whatever this was began to take on a personality. The crowds became so immense at times that the police had to be called in to control them. But at the heart of all this public attention was Esther, who was suffering immensely each night despite the doctor's best efforts to keep her calm. Then her health took a sudden nose dive when she was diagnosed with diphtheria. Esther was confined to bed for two weeks, which strangely seemed to bring a temporary end to the activity. She then spent a further couple of weeks with another sister, and during this whole period, the teat house stood silent. But when she returned it all began again, it seemed apparent now that whatever this was, it was directly connected to Esther. This time though, it came with a new troubling detail. Esther began to hear voices. If these were out loud whispers on the wind, or entirely in her head, seems a little unclear. But a voice began to tell her that the house would be set on fire. She told Jenny one night as they lay in bed, that she had been told this by a ghost who claimed it had once walked the earth, but was now dead. Jenny, obviously a little worried, told Daniel. But he believed the reverence claimed that this was all an electrical phenomenon, and said to the girl that electricity wouldn't start a fire on its own, unless in the form of lightning. As he was saying this, though, a lit match fell to the floor next to him. Over the next ten minutes this happened multiple times. Lit matches that seemed to fall from above, that the family would rush around trying to put out. This was when Jenny became convinced that whatever this power was, it could hear them, it could interact with them. As she explained this theory to the doctor, the bangs began again. This was when they realized, it meant they could communicate with it. Initially, the doctor was able to get it to do simple things, like banging to demonstrate how many people were in the room. But over time, a method of communication was developed that allowed more detailed conversations to be had. Different numbers of knocks were used to answer questions. As the onlookers that would visit the house became aware of it, they increasingly would communicate with the entity too. It even seemed to become capable of knowing things it shouldn't, such as the contents of their pockets or even the dates stamped on their coins. Daniel at one point asked if the house would really be set on fire. The knocks came to signal yes. Less than five minutes later, a dress was found ablaze. Three days later, Olive was working in the kitchen when she suddenly noticed smoke rising up from the cellar. No one was in there, but when she rushed down she found a bucket of wood shavings had been set alight. The water she had brought wasn't enough to put out the blaze, and she rushed out into the street screaming fire. Several men came running and were able to suffocate the flames with a rug. What had began as a local curiosity was suddenly beginning to fill a lot more serious. Previously sceptical members of the community were slowly beginning to think this was real, that whatever this thing was, it had the intention of killing Esther. And if its primary method of doing this was fire, then the dusty, windy baytown of Amherst could easily be set ablaze under the right conditions if the teed house burned. This sudden development in pyromaniac tendencies seemed to coincide with the phenomena taking on a darker turn overall. In the book on the case that we will discuss later, it suggested that at this time, Daniel Teed said the entity was torturing Esther in ways that were not fit for publication, leaving it up to the imagination of what these events could be. They now believed they were dealing with a spirit, and an evil one at that. One night the family were in the parlor, when Esther suddenly stood, staring off at a wall on the other side of the room, before quickly falling to the floor in fright. She began to scream at the others, yelling, Don't you all see him too? There he stands. See his eyes are glaring. Esther was claiming to see the ghost. She said he was laughing at her, and saying that if she didn't leave this house tonight, he would burn it to the ground. He would kill them all. Esther burst into tears. Daniel T believed he had no choice. But he wouldn't send Esther out onto the snow-covered streets for the night. He knew the neighbours were too scared to get involved. But there was a man in the area named John White, who he was sure would take Esther in. Daniel raced out into the snow to speak to John, who agreed to take Esther into his own home. It was January of 1879, five months since the haunting had begun, and now four weeks since Esther had been a resident of the White's home. And seemingly the activity had stopped. Esther's overall health and nerves seemed to be improving each day, and the community began to believe that this whole ordeal was finally over. But then, items began to go missing, and Esther began to hear the voices again. The banging started up. Fires were discovered in the White's family home. John White was scared to leave Esther alone at his house for this reason, and began bringing her to work with him at his saloon on Main Street. The customers all got a great kick out of having Esther predict things, like how much change was in their pockets. She always seemed to get the answers right, even if there was no way she should know. But with her spending time there, the activity began to take place in the saloon instead. Initially, it began by repeatedly opening the door of the stove. It would throw objects across the bar, move large items of furniture, but then it presented a dark representation of its power. John White's son Frederick was sat in the saloon one day, whittling down a piece of wood with his pocket knife. When suddenly, it shot from his hands and into the back of Esther, who had been stood close by. The boy in a blind panic rushed over to help her, pulling the knife out of her back. Blood dripped down her dress, but it didn't seem to be a serious wound, luckily. The boy wiped the knife and carefully put it back into his pocket, but moments later, it shot back out. Despite being closed and in his pocket, the knife was suddenly in Esther's back once again, in the exact same spot. There were several witnesses to this event, and the boy didn't know what else to do, so he simply locked the knife away in the cash drawer, hoping it wouldn't happen again. Eventually, Esther ended up moving to the farm of an elderly couple who agreed to take her in, and this time in the countryside seemed to lead to the activity dying down once again. Eventually, when Esther returned, it was believed that the ghost had finally left her alone. Esther continued to work at John White's Saloon, and moved back in with her family, but it didn't take long for it all to begin again. It was around March of that year that an outsider would get wind of this whole thing, and get involved in the case. This was the aforementioned actor, Walter Hubbell, who was touring with an acting group, when he read in a newspaper about what was being referred to as the Great Amherst Mystery. Walter had developed something of a side interest in the Paranormal after a close friend of his had lost their mother, and in their grief he felt that a number of con artists had approached her claiming to be psychics that could put her in touch with her dead loved one. Walter saw this as taking advantage of his friend and was very successful in debunking their supposed communications with the dead. When he read about the Amherst Mystery, he believed that he could prove this to be a bunch of nonsense too. But he also believed that there was money to be made here. He came up with the idea of taking Esther on tour, presenting her case to a live audience, with the girl at the centre of the Amherst Mystery, there, live on stage, before exposing how she was able to fool so many people. Hubbell even began to contact John White, and arranged with him to take Esther on tour, even before meeting the girl. The first time he met Esther was in the teat home. As they sat down to talk, he quickly became witness to the goings on, the banging and scratching sounds. Esther informed Hubbell that two of the spirits that now followed her were currently present. They even had names and identities now. These two were Bob and Maggie. She informed the sceptical man that he could talk to them, and they would respond with knocks. Sure enough he did just that. He was able to get the knocks to tell him the time, to keep beat with a song he was whistling, to guess the date on the coin in his pocket. He carefully watched all of the family members as he did this, but could see no sign that any of them were doing anything to cause the sounds. Sure enough Esther agreed to Hubbell's idea of a tour, and along with John White the trio set out to deliver a series of lectures on the great Amherst mystery. But early on this all fell apart. When they presented their show in Chatham, there were mess in the street afterwards with an angry mob, who launched projectiles at them. After this incident, John White said this was in hindsight a bad idea, and they should call off the tour, fearing that one of them would be killed if they didn't. It may seem odd that Esther even agreed to this idea, but she seemed to like Hubbell. If he had revealed his intention of debunking her claims or not seems unclear. But before he arrived, Esther was at a breaking point, considering taking her own life. This strange man rolling into town gave her hope that someone could help her, someone could explain all this, and maybe even bring an end to it. While his plan to monetise the situation had fallen apart, Hubbell was still fascinated by all of this, and arranged to stay with the family over the summer. Within five minutes of arriving in the teed home to stay, his umbrella went flying through the air, and a carving knife narrowly missed his head. It appeared that whatever power was following Esther about was not happy that he was in the house. Over the weeks that followed, Hubbell became witness to a whole host of examples of the phenomenon. Objects would frequently be thrown around or moved, sometimes appearing to fall from the ceiling. The knocking sounds would be heard day and night. He often was able to communicate with them through this method, as others had done before. Fires broke out on numerous occasions. One of the weirdest encounters was when Hubbell began to hear what sounded like a trumpet being blown, but from seemingly no source. When he confronted the spirits about this, a small toy trumpet seemed to fall out of the sky and land on the floor. He also was witness to the phenomenon of the matches falling from the ceiling. The working theory from Hubbell and others who had witnessed the activity was that these entities, whatever they were, were able to take objects in and out of our world into theirs at will, which caused a great deal of concern. Because if they were able to do this with inanimate objects, could they also do it with a person? Was this their plan with Esther? These events weren't happening rarely, and they were daily occurrences. But he began to notice something odd. The ghosts would rest on the Sabbath. The activity would virtually die out every Sunday, then return with vengeance each Monday. Hubbell claimed that at one point he witnessed a young boy in the house, George, being attacked by an unseen presence that tore his clothes. It was noted that young George was the only person in the home other than Esther, who also claimed to see the ghosts, describing them much as Esther did. By this point, there seemed to be as many as six ghosts apparently following Esther about. She wouldn't always see them, but at random points they could appear. There was Maggie and Mary Fisher, who were sisters, Peter Teed, a relative of Daniels, Jane Nicholl, Eliza McNeill, and the one that caused Esther the greatest deal of concern, Bob Nicholl, a person she described as a dirty looking, 60 year old man, who had worked in the town as a shoemaker. He was the one who had pound on the wall so loud, it sounded like someone was attacking the home with a sledgehammer. He was the one who would often launch dangerous items through the air. He was the one who would start the fires. It appeared he was the one who wanted Esther dead, so she could be his forever. They believed that it was Bob who was often in Esther and Jenny's bedroom at night. He would pull them out of bed, tear at their nightgowns, leaving bloody scratches and cuts over their bodies as he did. But he wasn't the sole violent entity. At times, the other spirits were blamed for attacks on Esther. One saw a chunk taken out of her forehead with a knife. On two separate occasions, a knife was launched at her throat, which she blamed on Maggie. Hubbell stated that on some mornings, he would sit there and pull pins out of Esther's skin, that Bob had apparently pushed into her overnight. He also attempted various experiments during his time in the home. One night, there had been quite a lot of activity, mostly items appearing in the parlor from other parts of the house. He asked Esther to sit in front of him, look him directly in the eyes, and hold onto his hands. He said it felt like there was electricity passing through his arms the entire time he held Esther's hands. They sat like this for 15 minutes, before Hubbell asked Esther how she felt. She said, fine. From her perspective, nothing was happening. But to Hubbell, it felt like a tremendous energy was being pushed out from her body. So much so that after that 15 minutes were up, Hubbell felt exhausted. He quickly took himself off the bed and slept solidly for 12 hours. Another apparent attack from Maggie happened one day when a pair of shears were launched at Esther's throat. When that didn't work, a fork shot across the room and embedded itself into the girl's forehead. That night, Esther seemed to go into something of a trance. Hubbell described her eyes as set like a dying woman, lying perfectly rigid on her back as she claimed to be talking with her mother in heaven, claiming that she could see many people who had lived in Amherst who had passed on, identifying individuals who were long dead and she shouldn't have known. Some nights the attacks grew so bad that Esther would scream that she wished she was dead through pain sobs. Esther believed it was only a matter of time before Bob, or one of the others, would murder her. Medicine didn't seem to have any effect on her. Prayer didn't help. In fact, if Esther ever attended church, she would often have to leave midway through as the banging sound would follow her and cause disruptions to the service. As the summer progressed, the activity seemed to grow worse and worse. William Cox and John Tede had enough and moved out of the house. The fires became so frequent that in the end the owner of the cottage, a Mr. Bliss, arrived one day to inform Daniel Tede that either Esther needed to leave, or the entire family would be kicked out. The family felt they had no choice, so Esther was sent to the Van Amberg farm, the elderly couple she had stayed with previously. After she left, Hubbell walked around the home, looking at the fire-damaged walls, the ruined furniture. It had happened so gradually over time, that it wasn't apparent quite how much damage had been done to the home and the family's belongings. But now, there was silence. They tried to communicate with the spirits, but there was no knocks, nothing. The last time Esther had gone to the farm, the activity hadn't followed her. This time, she wouldn't be so lucky.

Speaker 4:
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Speaker 3:
[43:01] Hubbell's time in Amherst was as an end. So he went to visit Esther on the farm to say goodbye. He found her in good spirits. Nothing had happened in the weeks since she had moved. And once again, she thought being away from the town may have stopped it all somehow. A couple of years later, Hubbell got back in touch with the family to see if things had stayed calm. They had not. George the young boy who could also see the ghosts was now dead, although Hubbell doesn't explain what happened to him. No further activity has taken place in this teed home since. But Esther had ended up in prison. The barn at the farm she was staying at had caught on fire, burning it to the ground. Esther blamed Bob, but she was arrested and sentenced to four months in jail, the judge believing she had been responsible for the fires all along. But the residents of Amherst believed her, and kicked up such a fuss that Esther was released after just one month. This was the final straw for Esther though, who soon moved away. In a letter from Jenny to Hubbell, she stated that Esther had started her own family, far away from Amherst, and that the ghosts hadn't followed her. If that were true or not though, we can't say for certain. So what really happened? Well, there's a big part of this story that I've neglected to tell you up until this point. A piece of the puzzle that will likely be intriguing to both skeptics and believers alike. And that was the incident that appeared to have kickstarted this whole activity. Just one week before the initial night in her bedroom, Esther had returned home from a date upset. She had distanced herself from the family. The doctor who was the first witness outside of the family, said that he believed Esther had experienced a serious shock and initially blamed her sickness on this. It wasn't until late into Hubble's stay with the family that Daniel T revealed a story about Esther. The night she had returned home upset, she had been out for a ride with her then-boyfriend, a man named Bob McNeil. Now, as I mentioned prior, McNeil had a bit of a bad reputation in town, but Esther seemed to like him, regardless of her sister's being more suspicious of the man. That night, he rode her around Amherst, before turning down a road that led towards a marshy area and into the countryside. As they approached a small grove, McNeil suddenly dropped the reins and jumped down to the ground. Esther smiled, unsure what he was doing, but quickly her mood changed when she saw he had pulled something out of his coat pocket, a large revolver. He pointed it at Esther, and started demanding that she get out of the buggy. If she didn't, he would kill her right there. Esther was terrified, but didn't want to step down from the horse. She began pleading with him to stop acting crazy, and to take her home. As she did, the cloudy sky began to open, and rain fell all around them. McNeil demanded again that she get out of the carriage. When she refused, he aimed the gun at her, and was ready to pull the trigger. But just as he did, they both heard a sound. Another wagon was approaching. Without saying a word, Bob McNeil put his gun away, jumped back into the carriage, and began driving home at an insanely quick speed. The rain drenched them both. McNeil was in such a hurry to get away that he didn't even pull the carriage's cover over them. He got to the cottage. Esther jumped out as soon as the horses stopped, and Bob McNeil rode off into the darkness, leaving Esther shaken and distraught. According to one source I read, when this story did finally get out, Bob, who also worked at the local shoe factory with Daniel Teed, was effectively run out of town. Esther's story was believable because it seems that Bob wasn't just seen as a womanizer. There had already been long rumored stories about his cruel side, with some even claiming that as a boy, he would skin cats alive. How aware Esther was of this backstory is unclear. Instantly, once this story is revealed, it becomes hard not to make the connection that the lead ghost that was apparently tormenting Esther was also called Bob. One of the other ghosts that appeared later was also apparently a deceased relative of Bob McNeil's. Some began to suggest that Bob Nickell, the apparent ghost, was actually some kind of astral projection of Bob McNeil, that he has somehow worked out a way to torment Esther, ruining her life in a way he wasn't able to do physically. But the description she gave of the ghost Bob really didn't match up with the real Bob at all. Others believed that the ghosts were already in the picture, and that Bob McNeil was in fact possessed by them to some degree, which is what caused him to suddenly attempt to attack Esther. Both of these are just wild speculation, although I think the Bob McNeil context provides us with two interesting theories to explore. One more paranormal, one less so. Let's begin with the more grounded idea first. Esther Cox experienced something on that rainy night that clearly traumatized her. An experience she kept to herself for months, an experience she struggled to talk about. In one recounting I read, it seemed that this story initially came out after Esther spoke to the doctor, while in some sort of trance, even claiming to not remember telling him after the fact. As if the paranormal events gave her a way to express what happened, without having to say it herself, in a way at least. Obviously, we're talking about a girl in a fairly small Canadian town in the 1800s here. Knowledge about mental health wasn't something that was studied to the same level it is today. Most people today would likely assume that the claims that Esther was making was due to shock and trauma, that she was unable to process these emotions, and began to act out by making up wild stories, stealing items, banging on walls, and even starting fires. But, of course, this doesn't really match up with the events of the Amherst Mystery, as have been described. Seemingly there were plenty of witnesses and events taking place that Esther couldn't have possibly been responsible for. But we need to be careful here, because as is often the case you have to question how much of this story we can believe. All the information that is available on the Amherst Mystery comes from just a few sources. Newspaper reports of the time, they come across as fairly sensationalist. Then there is a write-up from the American branch of the Society for Psychical Research that attempted to debunk the events, but was filled with numerous errors that make it equally tricky to take too seriously. Then we have our main source, The Great Amherst Mystery by Walter Hubbell. While Hubbell claims that his initial aim was to disprove the activity, he is pretty open about the fact that he intended to make money from this whole thing. Who is to say that, after the failed tour, he saw more money in the idea of a book and instead decided to lean into the horror rather than away from it? To sensationalise Esther's story, to sell more copies. A few of the family members claim that Hubbell's book isn't entirely accurate, that he has dressed up some events to make the book more sellable. What exactly they are referring to has seemingly not been explained in detail, although they did make the point that what took place was real, just that Hubbell's recounting was more fantastical at times. I do wonder if this is maybe referring to his time staying in the home, where Hubbell kept journals of the apparently higher volume of events that were taking place. In the early story, the events seem a bit more spaced out, but then drastically ramp up when Hubbell is present. But it all leaves this horrible taste in the back of my mouth, this idea that Esther Cox was simply a young woman who was struggling with her mind. Unable to process something terrible, and that this vulnerability was taken advantage of to put her on stage as a spectacle. But of course we have the other side of the coin, the Paranormal Explanation. I don't really want to explore the idea of this being a haunted house story as such, because that doesn't seem to match up to what we normally see there. This all began after a very specific incident, but there are so many connections in what happens to other cases we have covered. Esther's trauma doesn't mean the activity didn't happen. Or at least in some form. Throughout Hubbell's book, I was taken back to cases that I've spoken about previously. The Bridgeport Poltergeist, Battersea, Enfield, even Jeff the Talking Mongoose. All of those cases share so many similarities to Esther's experience. So much of what is described lines up with supposed Poltergeist incidents. And of course with Poltergeists, we often run into the theory that these are not ghosts in the way we may imagine them. But something else. The Human Energy Explanation for Poltergeists is known as Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis or RSPK. A theory popularized by parapsychologist William G. Rowe when he was studying such cases in the 60s and 70s. Instead of ghosts, the idea suggests that disturbances in Poltergeist cases, such as objects moving, knocks, fires, and even electrical issues, may be caused unconsciously by a living person under intense emotional stress. Researchers noticed these events often centered on one individual, typically a teenager or young adult, experiencing trauma or major life changes. According to the theory, suppressed emotions build up and are released in physical ways, without the person realizing it. RSPK also explains common patterns in Poltergeist cases. The activity often follows a person place to place. It happens around witnesses. And suddenly stops when the person's life situation changes, or the stress resolves, all of which can be identified in Esther's case. Of course, maybe it isn't any of these things. Maybe whatever this thing was, it wasn't something we can even really understand. A wavy, morphing power that seemed to react to the people who witnessed it. Playing on their theories. Playing on their fears. Playing on their traumas. Whatever truly happened to Esther Cox, at this point we can never really know, only speculate. But seemingly, to this girl at least and the people in her community who cared for her deeply, something was truly wrong. Something that seemed to come from another world. And whatever that was, all we can do is hope that Esther truly did find peace in the end. That's all for this entry into the tape library. This is one I've wanted to cover for a long time, but kept getting pushed back, so I'm really glad I finally got to it. Just from a historical perspective, it's so interesting to spot all the similarities here that pop up in so many other paranormal cases across the decades. The Battersea Poltergeist is the one that it reminded me of the most, so I suggest checking that one out if you haven't listened to it already. Although the Battersea Poltergeist case gets a lot weirder, the Nesta story. I'm here every couple of weeks exploring the history of the Unexplained. So if you're new here, please be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes. Until next time my friends, pleasant dreams. This episode was made possible by my supporters on Patreon, who allow me to focus on bringing you all stories I find fascinating, rather than what I just have to guess the algorithms will like. So it's time to shout out those people who support the show directly. 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Speaker 6:
[58:59] Now receiving frequency transmission. We've made a tremendous number of mistakes. Perhaps the first and most crucial error we made was the agricultural revolution. The agricultural revolution doomed us to a life of subservience to crops. It made us sedentary, which was not only bad for us, but bad for the earth. It encouraged exponential and largely unsustainable population growth, and it set us up for a system of classes and subjugation, because now we had a way to store and control the distribution of food. I think another catastrophic mistake we've made is in the creation and spread of AI. I think AI poses a serious existential threat, and if we don't put some serious guardrails around it soon, we're going to be in trouble. It's human to err. How we learn and grow from our mistakes is important. Transmission complete. Stay tuned to SpectreVision Radio. Stay. Stay.