Episode 718: Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Al Roker, Amherst, Esther Cox, Morbid
2. 10:00 – 20:00: Bob McNeel, Amherst, Daniel Teed, oil lamp
3. 20:00 – 30:00: blankets, sheets, Amherst, Daniel Teed
4. 30:00 – 40:00: Dr. Karite, Amherst, Bob McNeel, haunting
5. 40:00 – 50:00: Amherst, Betsy Allison Walter, Esther Cox, lecture tour
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Amherst, Bob McNeel, Esther Cox, haunting
7. 1:00:00 – 1:05:13: Amherst, Nova Scotia, Esther Cox, Bob McNeel

Notable quotes from "Episode 718: Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery"

• Precisely. So, I think you're really going to like it. this is Esther Cox and the great Amherst mystery.

  about Amherst · at 5:17

• In upper Stewak. I looked up how to say it. Stewie. it's an unincorporated region of southeastern Nova Scotia.

  about Nova Scotia · at 6:21

• Author Walter Hubble wrote, He never owed a dollar to anyone if he could pay it and never allowed his family to want for any comfort that could be provided by his hard-earned salary. All right.

  about Betsy Allison Walter · at 8:03

• Daniel, on the afternoon of August 28th, 1878, Esther agreed to go for a carriage ride into the Tantramar Marsh with Bob McNeel. He was a local man who, according to Daniel…

  about Bob McNeel · at 12:47

• Yeah. And after looking at her over and asking a few questions, Dr. Karite concluded Esther quote seemed to be suffering from nervous excitement and had evidently received a tremendous shock of some kind.

  about Dr. Karite · at 24:18

• House and examined Esther. He couldn't find any obvious explanation for the haunting and he concluded Esther quote must be possessed of an extraordinary amount of electrical power.

  about haunting · at 28:01

• Amherst. Crowds gathered outside the house trying to gain any kind of glimpse at any of the paranormal stuff going on or hear any of the noises. Eventually, the audiences…

  about paranormal · at 28:48

• To curious journalists and others with, an interest in the supernatural. Eventually, the story made its way to Walter Hubble, who we've cited a number of times, who spent the…

  about supernatural · at 38:53

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Dr. Carrie / Dr. Karee / Dr. Karite / Dr. Kit / Dr. Ced — Person · 12 mentions
• Esther Cox — Person · 11 mentions · first at 5:22
  Precisely. So, I think you're really going to like it. this is Esther Cox and the great Amherst mystery.
• Bob McNeel — Person · 11 mentions · first at 12:53
• Olive — Person · 9 mentions
• Vanamberg / Van Ambergs — Person · 8 mentions
• Dr. Karite — Person · 7 mentions · first at 24:20
• Betsy Allison Walter — Person · 6 mentions · first at 8:03
• Walter Hubbell — Person · 6 mentions
• Daniel Teed — Person · 4 mentions · first at 13:51
  In Hubble's account of the events supposedly told to him by Daniel Teed, her brother-in-law, it was nothing. It was he claims that it was nothing more than aggressive threats.
• Al Roker — Person · 3 mentions · first at 2:38
  Eyes on eyes. Like we locked Roker eyes. He locked eyes on me. I locked eyes on him. And I said, I love Al Roker.
• Walter Hubble — Person · 3 mentions · first at 8:03
  Author Walter Hubble wrote, He never owed a dollar to anyone if he could pay it and never allowed his family to want for any comfort that could be provided by his hard-earned salary. All right.
• Adolf Ash — Person · 3 mentions
• John White — Person · 2 mentions · first at 38:07
  Me and John White. At first, everything in Esther's new home seemed quiet and calm because we're great. but within two weeks, the activity started again.
• Elina — Person · 2 mentions
• Andrew McMahon — Person · 1 mention · first at 4:05
  I love it. the first time I met Andrew McMahon when I was 14 years old, he had lost his voice and I literally just said, I love you. And he was he nodded emphatically. He was Wow, I wish we have yet to tell.
• Archabald (Archie) — Person · 1 mention · first at 6:48
• Jenny Cox — Person · 1 mention · first at 8:26
  Now, around town, 22year-old Jenny Cox, the sister, was considered the quote village bell. Stop it. She was an unmarried woman of what was said to be considerable beauty. Hubble.
• Dr. Edwin Clay — Person · 1 mention · first at 27:56
  In early October, Dr. Edwin Clay, the lo local Baptist minister, visited the house and examined Esther. He couldn't find any obvious explanation for the haunting and he concluded Esther quote.
• Arthur Davidson — Person · 1 mention · first at 47:50
  After she was released, she found work as a living maid for Arthur Davidson, the local clerk of the court. But as always, things started to go wrong almost immediately in the Davidson house. Knives, forks, sewing needles,.
• Lorie Glenn Norris — Person · 1 mention · first at 55:54
  Author Lorie Glenn Norris, whose 2012 book Haunted Girls, tells a more detailed story of Cox's life.
• Mayor David Krogan — Person · 1 mention · first at 57:47
  Ammerst Mayor David Krogan said, I just like that it puts a spotlight on the town. it's a ghost story that apparently is one of the most welldocumented supernatural events that.
• Michael Mloud (Mikey) — Person · 1 mention

Books & papers

• The Great Amherst Mystery — Book · 4 mentions · first at 5:22
  Precisely. So, I think you're really going to like it. this is Esther Cox and the great Amherst mystery.
• Haunted Girl — Book · 1 mention · first at 56:02
  Haic title, right? Haunted girl. and it's girl.

Companies & orgs

• Morbid — Company · 2 mentions · first at 0:03
  Hey weirdos. I'm Elina. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid.
• Whites' restaurant — Company · 1 mention · first at 38:35
  [ __ ] go. Oh, so she ended up spending most of her time living and working at the Whites restaurant in town, where the noises continued to be heard and objects continued to fly across the room. Weird.
• American Society of Psychical Research — Company · 1 mention · first at 52:12
  Dr. Walter Prince wrote in 1919 in an article for the journal of the American Society of Psychical Research, The Amherst mystery, we are informed on the best authority, is no mystery at all except to persons who refrain from using.
• Journal of the American Society of Psychical Research — Company · 1 mention · first at 52:12
  Dr. Walter Prince wrote in 1919 in an article for the journal of the American Society of Psychical Research, The Amherst mystery, we are informed on the best authority, is no mystery at all except to persons who refrain from using.
• Second Toe — Company · 1 mention · first at 1:02:32
  This is live music with second toe, which I think is Little Piggy.
• Little Piggy — Company · 1 mention · first at 1:02:37
  This is live music with second toe, which I think is Little Piggy.
• Nighttime Podcast — Company · 1 mention · first at 1:03:07
  So, if you're in Amherst or if you're in Nova Scotia at all, go like our friend Jordan from Nighttime Podcast. Go.
• Simply Safe (SimpliSafe) — Company · 1 mention
• SiriusXM — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

• buggy — Product · 4 mentions
• blankets — Product · 3 mentions · first at 21:29
  So, she's laying and Esther and Jenny watched in amazement as the blankets and sheets started stripping themselves from the bed, landing across the room in a pile by the door.
• sheets — Product · 3 mentions · first at 21:31
  So, she's laying and Esther and Jenny watched in amazement as the blankets and sheets started stripping themselves from the bed, landing across the room in a pile by the door.
• dress — Product · 2 mentions
• lamp — Product · 2 mentions
• match (lighted match) — Product · 2 mentions
• revolver — Product · 1 mention · first at 13:22
  Grove, McNeel dropped the res, leaped from the bug buggy, and drawing a large revolver from the side pocket of his coat, pointed it at her heart, and commanded her to get out of the buggy or else he would kill her where she sat.
• oil lamp — Product · 1 mention · first at 18:01
  But she did get up and light the oil lamp. She was It's a nightmare.
• morphine — Product · 1 mention · first at 49:11
  Another attack of physical symptoms that required Dr. Karite to sedate her with morphine and she remained unconscious for several days before coming to and resuming her normal state.
• quilt(s) — Product · 1 mention
• wagon — Product · 1 mention

Concepts & topics

• haunting — Concept · 8 mentions · first at 28:05
• Estherfest / Esther Fest — Concept · 8 mentions
• supernatural — Concept · 6 mentions · first at 38:57
• hoax — Concept · 6 mentions
• The Great Amherst Mystery (case/event) — Concept · 6 mentions
• paranormal — Concept · 5 mentions · first at 28:53
• Great Amherst Mystery — Concept · 4 mentions · first at 5:22
  Precisely. So, I think you're really going to like it. this is Esther Cox and the great Amherst mystery.
• Mindfreak — Concept · 4 mentions
• Advertising Week (AD week) — Concept · 3 mentions
• arson — Concept · 3 mentions
• electrical power theory — Concept · 3 mentions
• poltergeist — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 38:43
  It That's the thing. A lot of these things when we talk about them like the poltergeist or hauntings, usually at the end I feel pretty one way or another.
• lecture tour — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 41:26
  So now convinced that what he was seeing was in fact real, Hubble immediately started booking a lecture tour for himself and asked Esther if she would be willing to join him.
• The Menu — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 50:04
  That's like when it happened in the menu and they were Yeah, she's from Brockton. I was What?
• traumatic/negative energy (stored energy) — Concept · 2 mentions
• Hypocratic oath — Concept · 1 mention · first at 23:44
  Probably. It's pretty old. Hypocratic oath.
• Baptist — Concept · 1 mention · first at 27:59
  In early October, Dr. Edwin Clay, the lo local Baptist minister, visited the house and examined Esther. He couldn't find any obvious explanation for the haunting and he concluded Esther quote must be possessed of an extraordinary.
• paranormal activity — Concept · 1 mention · first at 39:26
  Yeah. But Hubble had always had a strong interest in paranormal activity happenings. So when he read about Esther's plight, he really wanted to visit her. So he made arrangements to he said, I got to see this bitch.
• Bob Nickel — Concept · 1 mention · first at 39:54
  Esther and the rest of the family had started referring to the ghosts in the house as Bob Nickel and Maggie Fisher.
• Maggie Fisher — Concept · 1 mention · first at 39:54
  Esther and the rest of the family had started referring to the ghosts in the house as Bob Nickel and Maggie Fisher.
• Presbyterian group — Concept · 1 mention · first at 43:54
  Strong opposition in their spiritualist message. in a letter to the editor of one paper, a Presbyterian group wrote, In the humanity propriety, religion and decency, we…
• The Great Amherst Street Party — Concept · 1 mention · first at 1:02:17
  Yeah, it seems like it's a fun The Great Amherst Street Party is part of it.
• catalytic trance — Concept · 1 mention
• demon — Concept · 1 mention
• diphtheria — Concept · 1 mention
• sedation — Concept · 1 mention
• spiritualism — Concept · 1 mention
• wild beast taming influence — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Amherst — Place · 19 mentions · first at 5:22
• Nova Scotia — Place · 6 mentions · first at 6:28
• Teed House — Place · 4 mentions · first at 24:02
  Knew no such tom foolery would occur while he was in the house. [ __ ] I done told you. Dr. Karee arrived at the teed house the next day and examined Esther.
• Brockton, Massachusetts — Place · 3 mentions · first at 49:58
  Time and have another child before leaving Amherst for good and relocating to Brockton, Massachusetts.
• East Machias — Place · 1 mention · first at 6:52
  Archabald. He remarried and he moved the family to East Machias. I looked up how to say that as well. That's in Maine. that was to live with his new wife. So they all moved in with a new wife.
• Tantramar Marsh — Place · 1 mention · first at 12:53
  Daniel, on the afternoon of August 28th, 1878, Esther agreed to go for a carriage ride into the Tantramar Marsh with Bob McNeel. He was a local man who, according to Daniel…
• New Brunswick — Place · 1 mention · first at 29:20
  Huh. Once she was recovered, she went to visit another sister who lived in Sackville, New Brunswick for two weeks.
• Sackville — Place · 1 mention · first at 29:20
  Huh. Once she was recovered, she went to visit another sister who lived in Sackville, New Brunswick for two weeks.
• Halifax — Place · 1 mention · first at 39:05
  Cited a number of times, who spent the winter performing with an acting troop in Halifax. And once spring had arrived, he was looking for a new subject for a book.
• Moncton — Place · 1 mention
• Upper Stewiacke — Place · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Hey weirdos. I'm Elina. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid. Oh my god. I've done this before. I have also done this before a few times.

0:21 Oh, it's like dja vu. Dja vu all over again. What's up, girl? Um, I actually Mikey thought of a very funny thing that I forgot to mention in our last episode.

0:36 Oh my god. Y'all, please please go forth and conquer. This is just a um it continuation.

0:43 If I had shame, this would be embarrassing, but I don't. No, I don't think it's embarrassing at all. Even if you did have shame, I think this is so funny.

0:50 It's pretty funny. So, we told you guys last in the bonus episode that we got to go to New York with Sirius XM and we got to like do advertising week for a couple days there. It was a lot of fun and met a lot of cool people and

1:06 shortcuts 19 items voice guide off. What? Accessibility off. Yo, girl, it's not your pod.

1:27 Keep it in. That was the television. That was I hit the remote by accident, guys. Old Morbid is just coming at you live without us even trying.

1:37 It's just organically happening. We would have gotten fired for that before, but now it can be left in. would have seen some consequences for that one. But we're gonna leave that one in.

1:52 Yeah. Uh because you know what? You know who else I saw at AD week? Yes. Um it was Al [ __ ] Ro.

1:59 I was going to say the exact same thing. first name Al and the middle name [ __ ]

2:03 I was in this I got my microphone put on and then I was standing in this tiny little al cove like a hallway

2:10 and Ash was in this little closet getting her microphone put on and he walked he like brushed by like right there and I literally just like I put my hand out like I didn't touch him don't worry. Uh but I like I I was like I rested my hand upon Alro's shoulder. Oh, I did not touch him. But I said, "I love El Roker." And I said it in his eyes,

2:31 his face, eyes on eyes. Like we locked Roker eyes. He locked eyes on me. I locked eyes on him. And I said, "I love Al Roker."

2:42 Right in his my face said it into his face. It was we had we were connected in that moment. And he go and then I was like, "Oh my god." I just said, "I love Al Roker to Alroker." in my head. I said

2:52 at least you said more than I did in my little al cove closet. I just went Al Roker.

2:59 I just said I love Al Roker to his face and he said, "Thank you so much." And he put his hand on his he was very he was touched by my incompetence. And so he

3:09 Do you have a hole in your I do. I just figured that out and now I can't stop. I'm I'm so upset about it.

3:14 Yeah. You can change them if you need to. I might change them. I get it. I don't think I can handle this.

3:18 I understand. She fixed her [ __ ] So, I fixed my socks. And uh but yeah, it was a real moment. And when he when he walked away, I said I said, "So nice to meet you." And he said, "You, too." And then we kept walking.

3:35 I didn't even hear that part. And I said, "I can't believe that was the interaction I had with that." It felt right.

3:41 It did. It really felt right. I don't think I could I don't know what else I would have said.

3:45 Al Roker is adorable. I love Al Roker. I've loved El Roker since I was like born.

3:50 That's the thing. I was like, "This is a deep love." And I I don't feel like I can just say like, "Wow." And I felt weird being like, "Wow, I love you." Like I weird. So I saying I love Al Roker to Al Roker is much better.

4:03 I love it. I mean, the first time I met Andrew McMahon when I was 14 years old, he had lost his voice and I literally just said, "I love you." And he was like, he nodded emphatically. He was like, "Wow, I wish we have yet to tell that story to his face."

4:18 He was like, "Wow, 15 years later, I'll meet you and it will be a lot different. You'll be a little more normal."

4:23 A little more. Just a smidge. Oh, we we have to tell that story to his face someday.

4:28 I think we took I think we did. I don't think we did cuz you were too stressed up.

4:32 Was I too embarrassed by that? We can't tell him that story. It was a little embarrassing.

4:36 And I wasn't going to out you like that. I thought we told him. No, I don't think we have yet.

4:40 Andrew, no. But question mark. We'll let him know. Well, yeah. All right. So many. It's so good to be happy.

4:50 That was It is nice to be to be happy and filled, you know, all that stuff. But

4:56 it is October. October. It's Proctober. It's not Proctober. Last last. Yeah. I was like, what is Proctober? It's October. And so we're gonna have a lot of spooky stuff. And this is one of them. This is also a little too grimy. Um, it's got a lot of different elements to it.

5:14 You get the best of both worlds. Precisely. So, I think I think you're really going to like it. Uh, this is Esther Cox and the great Amherst mystery.

5:25 Oo. Also, are you five? Are you a 13year-old boy? It was just funny. All right. A 13-year-old boy has entered the chat. It was just we're in a goofy mood. We went with the tone.

5:45 All right. So, we're going to we're going to get into this. Okay. All right. Get your spooky pants on.

5:50 Girl, they stay on. They are on all year round. Girl, my pants are always spooky.

5:54 So, let's talk about who Esther Cox was. And now this is a great I'm gonna have to say this a lot. It's a great drag name. All right. Hello. So, let's talk about who Hello. So, let's talk about who Esther Cox was.

6:16 Let's So, Esther was born on March 28th, 1860 in upper Stewak. I looked up how to say it. Stewie. Um, it's an unincorporated region of southeastern Nova Scotia.

6:31 Nova Scotia. There you go. Uh just a few weeks after she was born though, tragedy struck because her mom died of an undisclosed illness which is really sad.

6:40 Oh damn. Only a few. Yeah. Damn. Years after that, Esther's father, Archabald, which is a great name.

6:48 Archie. Archabald. He remarried and he moved the family to East Machias. I looked up how to say that as well. That's in Maine. Um that was to live with his new wife. So they all moved in with a new wife.

7:00 I hope she was nice. Um there was there's really like almost no account of Esther's life as a child because remember it's in the 1860s. Um but it is known that her father eventually married a third time and that was followed by another move.

7:15 Dang, daddy. Um because of all these major events happening in relatively quick succession, it would be pretty fair to say that her childhood was a lot of upheaval. A lot, you know, I mean, it wasn't very consistent.

7:27 Yeah. In the summer of 1878, she was 18 years old and was living in Amherst, Nova Scotia, in the home of her sister, Olive and Olive's husband, Daniel Te.

7:37 I think Olive is the cutest name ever. Very cute name. Um, also in the home at this time, um, were Olive and Daniel's two children, 5-year-old Willie and one-year-old George. Oh.

7:48 And Olive and Esther's sister, Jenny. So, it was a full house. Yeah. A whole shebang.

7:52 Yeah. Daniel was a shoemaker and a foreman at the local factory and he was very widely respected around town. Um, they weren't super wealthy, but they were definitely comfortable financially. Author Walter Hubble wrote, "He never owed a dollar to anyone if he could pay it and never allowed his family to want for any comfort that could be provided by his hard-earned salary." All right.

8:12 So, he was just a good provider. Yeah. Um, in fact, as far as anyone could tell, the house was really happy. It was filled with mutual support and they all kind of just pitched in whenever they could. It was like a really good little family in there.

8:25 Yeah, it sounds like it. Now, around town, 22year-old Jenny Cox, the sister, was considered the quote village bell. Stop it. She was an unmarried woman of what was said to be considerable beauty. Um, Hubble described her as quote quite a beauty with light brown hair, eyes of grayish blue, and handsome teeth. Handsome teeth. Girl, your teeth is handsome and handsome teeth.

8:52 What is that? That's the first thing you said to Drew. Yeah, he I said, "You have handsome teeth sir."

8:58 I love Drew's teeth. Yeah, I do, too. Yeah. As soon as I saw him, he smiled and I said, "Wow, great."

9:03 Great teeth. Yeah. And I I st I remained I stand on that business. 10 toes down. Although we did find out that you don't stand 10 toes down.

9:11 I did a foot thing. Literally, we literally like did a foot thing at Klehan when it like measures your feet.

9:19 Actually, I do stand 10 toes down. Oh, was it Debbie that did it? Yeah, I think I did.

9:24 I think you Yeah, you I stand all on my toes. Oh, you are always 10 toes down. Debbie was not 10 toes down. She was two toes down.

9:32 Yeah, she was on her heels. I don't remember if I was 10 pounds toes down to so handsome teeth.

9:39 Yeah. you know, um Esther on the other hand was, you know, she wasn't conventional beauty standards did not apply.

9:47 Well, you know what? Conventional beauty standards be damned. Yeah. She was shorter. You know, she had eyes that Hubble described as as though constantly asking, "Why do you look at me?" Quote, "I cannot help being unlike other people."

10:03 That's how he wrote it. I kind of get it. I cannot help being unlike other people. Honestly, valid.

10:09 What What does that look like? Exactly. I'm really trying to like I'm trying to feel that wash over me.

10:17 You just kind of look like a [ __ ] when you do that. I mean, that is kind of like, "What the [ __ ] are you looking at?"

10:22 But was it like what the [ __ ] are you looking at? Or was it like, "Oh, don't look at me." I don't know. I'd like to think that she's like, "What the [ __ ] are you looking at?" Like the [ __ ] Yeah. But what Esther may have lacked in the conventional beauty side, she more than made up for in reputation and general being disposition. She was nice. She was a very hard worker. Um, she really liked housework, was very good at it. Other domestic chores she was really good at. She was always willing to lend a hand to help out anyone, especially her sister with any of the domestic responsibilities. She was helpful. She was kind. Um, and she wasn't just popular in her home, she was popular with her peers as well. In his account of the Amherst mystery, Hubble claims Esther quote had numbers of friends her own age and was always in demand among the little children of the neighborhood.

11:08 So, she was also very kind with kids. That's cute. Um, and they knew that she would always make time to play with them, which is that's a good person.

11:17 Yeah, that absolutely is. All things considered, Esther had what most around Amherst would have considered a good, you know, but simple life.

11:25 Yeah. Her popularity with her peers and others in town. Aside life in Amherst at the end of the 19th century was like not super exciting for teenage girls, I would say.

11:37 Yeah. Uh there was monotony with household chores and scheduled trips to church. The most excitement Esther was likely to see was when 5-year-old Willie would get in trouble with his mother for harassing the chickens in the yard by chasing them with a small club or throwing rocks at them. We should probably talk a little bit deeper about that.

11:55 Thank you. My thoughts here are are should we go into Willie and the fact that he may be a little bit of a psychopath? Like is that something we should maybe look into?

12:05 Me thinks I don't know. In the evenings when the men would come home from work at the factories, you know, they would come home, they would get dinner, and then the women were expected to clean it all up. So, they cooked the dinner, cleaned it all up.

12:16 [ __ ] Uh Hubble wrote, "One day was so like another that the week slipped away without perceptible difference, which is like wo

12:23 that's sad." As one of Canada's most famous ghost stories, the story of the great Hamhurst mystery has been told a lot of times over the last century.

12:32 I don't think I've heard it. Yeah, it's it's a big story up in Canada. Um, but no matter how or when it's told, it always begins the same way with one exciting evening that took a very terrible and very heartbreaking turn.

12:45 Oh no. According to Esther's brother-in-law, Daniel, on the afternoon of August 28th, 1878, Esther agreed to go for a carriage ride into the Tantramar Marsh with Bob McNeel. He was a local man who, according to Daniel, quote, had been paying her much attention. The plan was that they were going to drive through town and then come back to the house a short time later. But halfway through their ride, McNeel changed course and drove the wagon towards an isolated grove of trees.

13:14 Uh Daniel said when they had reached the grove, McNeel dropped the res, leaped from the bug buggy, and drawing a large revolver from the side pocket of his coat, pointed it at her heart, and commanded her to get out of the buggy or else he would kill her where she sat.

13:30 What the [ __ ] Now, what happened next is not exactly known like the details of obviously McNeel either robbed Esther at gunpoint or he sexually assaulted her or both.

13:44 Yeah. Um it seems like the consensus was that she was absolutely assaulted. Mhm.

13:50 Um in Hubble's account of the events supposedly told to him by Daniel Teed, her brother-in-law, it was nothing. It was he claims that it was nothing more than aggressive threats.

13:59 Doubt it. Hubble wrote, "She was very much frightened, but refused to leave the buggy, telling him to get in and drive her home and not act like a madman." McNeel made more threats, but when he heard the sound of another buggy coming down the path, he got back in and drove Esther home without further incident.

14:16 Oh, I didn't see that coming. Yeah. So, he drove her home. When she arrived home, Esther was soaking wet and, according to Daniel, quote, in a hysterical condition from excitement.

14:26 Yeah. So, I would say that she probably didn't just sit on the buggy. No, definitely not. The next day, Bob McNeel left town and was never seen again.

14:33 Wow. So, he definitely assaulted her. Yeah. There appears to be little information known about Bob Bob McNeel and since he ran away and never came back. Like many of the young men in Amherst, he was a shoe maker. He worked at the shoe factory managed by Daniel Teed. And according to Hubble, he was a very average height and weight, had black hair and eyes, and wore a mustache.

14:55 Wore a mustache. He just like he was that guy. He was that 1800s guy wearing mustaches.

15:02 He I to me he seems like he looks like every other 1800's guy. Uh Hubble describes him as quote fine looking.

15:09 Fine. Just fine looking. Fine. But when it came to his personality, not so fine. Uh those who knew him described him as a quote rather a wild fellow and he had a very cruel disposition.

15:21 Yeah. I'm sure in his childhood he was known to, and this is a big trigger warning for animal cruelty, I'm sorry about it ahead of time, so you can skip probably 10 seconds if you want to.

15:35 Yeah, do 30 just to be safe. You might as well just Yeah. Um, in his childhood, Bob was known to quote skin cats alive and allow them to run about and suffer in that condition until death came to their relief.

15:46 How dare you [ __ ] say that to me? I told you I can't leave. my jaw. I know. Oh, that's No, I hope Oh, I hope the same happened to him. I hope he's in hell and it's happening to him all the time.

16:00 Well, I mean, and Esther didn't know this about him, obviously, like his childhood [ __ ] And she So, she had always kind of been fond of him, like she found him attractive, you know? We We all fall for [ __ ] sometimes. Oh, yeah.

16:12 Um, but what happened in that grove, whatever it was that happened in that grove that night changed everything. It changed her forever. Oh,

16:20 now Esther's experience with Bob had clearly deeply shaken her. And in the days after it, she was depressed. She was very anxious. Like clearly something bad happened. It wasn't just threats.

16:30 On the evening of September 4th, she helped her sister with the household chores. Then around 7:00 p.m., she said she wasn't feeling that great and went to bed to lie down. Jenny arrived home a few hours later and went up to bed. Uh it was the room she shared with Esther. And less than an hour had passed when Jenny was jolted out of sleep because Esther was screaming.

16:50 What? She said she could feel something moving in the mattress. What? Jenny jumped up and lit the lamp and the girls inspected every inch of the bed, but they found nothing.

16:59 Okay, so this scene replayed itself the next night with Jenny being woken up by Esther screaming at the top of her lungs. So she's thinking it might be a mouse. So they light the lamp again, investigate the room, and find nothing. They even pulled out all the boxes from under the bed. And while they were standing in the middle of the room, Jenny and Esther watched as one of the boxes they' pulled out from under the bed that contained quilts seemed to jump up and dump its contents onto the floor. What this caused Esther and Jenny to scream a second time, which drew Daniel from his bedroom. Esther and Jenny explained what they saw, but Daniel just laughed at them. And after pushing everything under the bed, he was like, "That was a bad dream." Bye.

17:41 Yeah. Like this is don't waste my time. This is a lot. The next night, Jenny was woken again from sleep for a third night in a row by Esther's screams. And she was screaming, "Wake up. I'm dying."

17:53 Oh, [ __ ] Not wanting to cause another scene, Jenny replied, "It's a nightmare." Cuz she's like,

17:59 "This is the third night in a row. You got to go to sleep." But she did get up and light the oil lamp. She was like, "It's a nightmare. Like, not a big deal." But as soon as the room was lit, Jenny could see her sister standing in the center of the room, and her appearance was terrifying. Her entire body was rigid and contorted, and her face was bright red, and her eyes appeared to be bulging out of her head.

18:21 "What the fuck?" And she was gripping the back of a chair so hard her fingernails left impressions in the wood.

18:27 What? So Jenny again screamed for Daniel and Olive, and they burst in a minute later. And as they burst in, Daniel and Olive managed to catch a glimpse of Esther's twisted body just before she went completely white and collapsed on the floor. Okay. Daniel helped her get back to her feet and back to bed, but she had barely laid down before she was on her feet again, screaming that she quote felt as though she was about to burst into pieces. Oh, which is so [ __ ] scary.

18:57 I just picture like ready or not, right? They helped her to bed a second time, but all three couldn't help but notice that she looked like she was swelling up like right in front of them.

19:08 When she's saying, "I'm going to burst into pieces." And now she's swelling. This is horrifying. I've never heard anything like this.

19:14 Daniel said to uh Olive, "Lay your hand on her. She's as hot as fire." "What?" Olive had barely reached out her hand when out of nowhere, the house started shaking violently as though it had been struck by lightning.

19:27 No. And they heard a loud bang come from underneath the bed. No. Then just as suddenly as it all started, the chaos just abruptly ended and the house was quiet and Esther's appearance returned to normal. A little pale, but normal.

19:40 Little pale. A little pale. She didn't look great. Little uh lost a little color. Yeah, she lost a little color.

19:46 What? Yeah. Hello. Right now, the next day, Esther slept later than usual. She got out of bed a little past 9:00 a.m.

19:56 Crazy. But otherwise, she looked and felt normal, and it didn't seem as though there were any lingering effects to whatever had struck her the night before. Later that day, the family sat around the dinner table discussing what the [ __ ] happened that because this wasn't something Luckily, this isn't one of those stories where there's like, "Wow, I guess we should just move on and never talk about that." No, they sat at dinner and they were like, "So, what the [ __ ] was that last night? Like, what's going on?" And they were like, "What should we do about this?"

20:21 Yeah. Like, why does this keep happening? But the conversation kind of just went nowhere cuz like what do you do?

20:27 They all agree no one would would believe their story if they told it. And even if they did again, what would anyone do about it?

20:33 Yeah. So days passed with no other activity. But one night in midepptember, Esther was getting ready for bed when she began to feel hot. Fearing again that this could be happening again, she managed to make it to the bed and wake Jenny before she felt her body go rigid and start to swell again.

21:04 Oh no. Moments later, Jenny was by her side trying to speak softly and like just trying to calm her down and like telling her to like please remain calm. Um and she was like hopefully this is just going to pass really quickly. Esther did as her sister suggested. So she tried to just remain still. Yeah,

21:20 but because it only seemed to make things worse somehow. So, she's laying and Esther and Jenny watched in amazement as the blankets and sheets started stripping themselves from the bed, landing across the room in a pile by the door.

21:37 Mhm. Like just flinging across the room. The experience clearly was terrifying. So, both of them just start screaming because they don't know what else to do. Just before Jenny fainted beside Esther's bed.

21:50 Oh wow. Now, as they had before, Esther and Jenny screams brought the rest of the family running into the room, and they found Jenny collapsed and unconscious on the floor beside Esther, who was now laying unmoving and swollen on her bed. What the hell is happening here?

22:06 They saw that the sheets and blankets were all in a heap on the floor. And this was very nice of them. Not wanting her sisters to be exposed in in their underclo.

22:15 Olive grabbed the blankets and placed one on Esther and another on Jenny. But as soon as she laid them across them, the blankets flew up into the air and across the room again. They said, "No comforts for you."

22:25 They said, "No, your under will be seen. Your underoos underpants." Now, after the But after after the underpants were exposed, you're so good at that. Underpants.

22:39 Underpants. After they were exposed again, there was a series of loud bangs, all seeming to come from under the bed again and all loud enough to shake the entire room.

22:50 This man's under the bed. Jesus. Then like before, everything came to an abrupt stop. And Esther regained her composure and her appearance was once again relatively normal. Probably a little pale, you know, and Jenny regained consciousness, though she said she had a fierce headache.

23:07 I mean, I would think. Now, Daniel Teed had no [ __ ] clue what was happening in his house at this point.

23:13 A bunch of tom foolery that he bunch of [ __ ] chicainery. Yeah. Uh but at the very least, he knew it was having a physical effect on Esther. Um and had begun to affect Jenny at this point as well. So concerned for them, he went into town the next day and spoke to Dr. Carrie, the town physician.

23:30 Mhm. Um as he'd expected, the doctor didn't believe the story at all. Stevens even laughed in his face about it, which I was like, I don't know if you had to do that.

23:39 That's a little bit rude. I don't know. Is that part of your oath? What? Probably. Did they take the oath back then?

23:44 Probably. It's pretty old. Hypocratic oath. It's [ __ ] old. Um, but still, Dr. Karp agreed to pay a visit to the house the next afternoon, but added that quote, "What Daniel had told him was nonsense, and that he quote knew no such tom foolery would occur while he was in the house. [ __ ] I done told you." Dr. Karee arrived at the teed house the next day and examined Esther. At the time she was showing no signs of swelling, muscle rigidity or tremors that they'd talked about the previous night, but she was feeling kind of shitty, like just unwell.

24:16 Well, she also hasn't been sleeping. Yeah. And after looking at her over and asking a few questions, Dr. Karite concluded Esther quote seemed to be suffering from nervous excitement and had evidently received a tremendous shock of some kind.

24:30 Okay, it's basically what they would always say. They're like, "Oh, this woman's hysterical."

24:34 Yep. She's got the vapors. She's got nervous excitement this one. She's just been doing too much. The doctor had just finished delivering this [ __ ] diagnosis to the family when without warning, the pillow where Esther was laying came out from under her and flew across the room and it looked like it as if it was pulled from by someone invisible out from under her.

24:55 Um, I like to think it was Esther. as soon as this doctor turned around just [ __ ] launched that pillow at his head because I probably would.

25:03 Uh, but no sooner had they put the pillow back under Esther's head, it flew out from her a second time, leaving Dr. Karee completely stunned.

25:13 The doctor jumped up from his chair, but was quickly caught off guard by the sound of loud thumps coming from somewhere in the room. Before he could say anything, the sheets and blankets that had been covering Esther then flew off and landed in a pile again. And the activity was followed by an awful sound of metallic grinding that filled the room.

25:33 Mhm. Everyone in the room stared at each other like, "What the [ __ ] is going on?" hearing this like metallic grinding sound which would sound so scary in that moment having no like origin,

25:45 right? And just shit's flying around the room. Well, then it's and this this is what is documented about it. Then they watched in absolute amazement as writing began to appear on the wall above Esther's head and it said, "Esther Cox, you are mine to kill."

26:02 What? Yeah. Exclamation point. Of course. Uh uh. What? What? What? Hello. So, obviously everyone freaked the [ __ ] out. And this isn't one of those situations where everyone was like, "Esther Cox, you are mine to kill." Oh no, what happened? No, they scattered everywhere. They all just went [ __ ] running. They were like, "Fuck that.

26:25 I'd run." They were checking on the children cuz remember there's children in this house.

26:28 Oh, probably checking on the children, looking for any sign of who could have written those words. And they were unable to find any evidence that anyone else in the house wrote it. When they returned to Esther's bedroom, a large chunk of plaster fell from the ceiling, just missing the doctor and landing at his feet. What the [ __ ] is happening? To their amazement, Esther was still asleep at this point in her bed,

26:51 completely oblivious to all of it. Said, "I got to catch these these where I can get them."

26:55 That's I mean, I get that, girl. Said, "Honey." So, the doctor returned to the house the next day to see Esther, who appeared to be completely unaffected by everything that had happened, but she was definitely more nervous than usual and would quote jump at any noise.

27:09 Um, because somebody said that they were going to kill her. I mean, there's that. The doctor returned several times in the weeks after this during all which he would witness a variety of strange things like flying objects, loud noises heard from all over the house. Eventually, the loud thumping thumping sounds became so loud and lasted so long they could be heard from outside the house.

27:31 These poor kids were probably so scared. One reporter wrote, because this was like in newspapers, one reporter wrote, "Passerby stopped to listen." And the next day, the town buzzed with the story of the haunted house.

27:44 What? So, other people are hearing this. Okay. Despite all the attention Esther was getting from the people of Amherst, it seemed that no one, including Dr. Karite, was able to explain what the [ __ ] was happening to Esther and why.

27:55 Yeah. In early October, Dr. Edwin Clay, the lo local Baptist minister, visited the house and examined Esther. He couldn't find any obvious explanation for the haunting and he concluded Esther quote must be possessed of an extraordinary amount of electrical power.

28:12 Uh, okay. Nailed it. He said, "This [ __ ] is the grid." That the grid right here.

28:18 Dr. Ced agreed. He was like, "Absolutely the grid." Yes, the grid. Um, he was like, "You know what? The discharge of such great electricity must be the cause of the flying objects, the loud noises and the physical symptoms that

28:32 the weird writing on the wall that was saw that said it was going to kill her. When it came to what to do though, they had no [ __ ] clue. They were just like electricity. See you later. Good luck.

28:43 That was it. Now, in time, Esther and T and the Teed's house became the biggest story in Amherst. Crowds gathered outside the house trying to gain any kind of glimpse at any of the paranormal stuff going on or hear any of the noises. Eventually, the audiences became so large that Daniel Teed couldn't disperse them on his own and he had to call the police. At the same time, Esther's physical health continued to decline. In December, she came down with dtheria and was confined to her bed for 2 weeks. During this time, the activity ceased entirely.

29:16 Huh. Once she was recovered, she went to visit another sister who lived in Sackville, New Brunswick for two weeks. The entire time she was away, nothing unusual happened at the teet house. Based on that, everyone concluded, which I get, that whatever was happening, it must have been focused entirely on Esther.

29:35 Yeah. That being said, while she was away in Sackville, Esther herself didn't experience any unusual phenomenon, and she said she was free from physical pain that had been inflicted on her for 3 months at this point.

29:48 Yeah. So, when Esther returned to the house after being away for a few weeks, everyone hoped the ghost or demon or whatever the [ __ ] this thing was,

29:55 the grid would have been left behind. uh just in case while she was away, Jenny and Olive relocated Esther and Jenny's bedroom to the other side of the house, hoping the new location might also aid in keeping this away.

30:08 Yeah. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for them to realize that all of these hopes and all these efforts had been in vain because not only did it return the activity with Esther, it was stronger and more aggressive than it had ever been.

30:21 Oh [ __ ] The first night she was back in her own bed, Esther told Jenny she could hear a voice talking to her, and she believed it was the spirit who'd been tormenting her. The disembodied voice told Esther, quote, "It had once lived on the earth, but had been dead for some years and was now only a ghost." It's kind of metal, very metal. And maybe more disturbing was the fact that according to the spirit, the house was going to be set on fire that night by another ghost who haunted the property. It It went too far. So, this ghost is spilling the tea.

30:52 He said, "My guy over here." He said, "You know what? I heard big arsonist." You know what I heard them talking about at the water cooler? Water cooler.

31:00 Uh, so that's scary. So, Esther and Jenny informed the rest of the household, "Hey, our house is going to be lit on fire by uh

31:07 a water cooler ghost, an acquaintance of the ghost that is currently haunting us."

31:10 Uh, but everyone just laughed at her, which I was like, I don't know. At this point, maybe. Yeah, that's it. like you've seen miraculous things happen and now she's telling you fire is going to

31:18 happen. They were all like no this is crazy it's going too far. Uh none of them you know had been able to explain what they had seen or heard in the house but they firmly believed in Dr. Karite and re Reverend Clay's explanation that it was just stored up energy and there was nothing to be scared of that they took that as like that's the that's the answer

31:37 babble. According to Hubble, as they all stood together in the bedroom trying to calm Esther and Jenny, they quote, "All saw a lighted match fall from the ceiling to the bed having come out of the air." What? I'm Okay, here's the thing. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm trying to figure out how they could pull this off.

31:55 Yeah. And I can't And they're all quite figure it out. These people are like the rest of the family is like calling the police when people show up and stuff. Like they they don't want big crowds like and they're not enjoying this,

32:08 but they're all saying they're seeing this. Yeah. Like and Jenny luckily acted really quickly to like uh distinguish the mass, but that isn't extinguish. That's what it is. Why did I say she could not tell what the fire was?

32:23 It says it says distinguish. So you are not the only one. Um, so Jenny acted really quickly and extinguished the match just as it hit the bed clothes because it would have lit the whole bed on fire. So it would have lit the house on fire.

32:35 Yeah. Now, regardless of what the rest of the family believed, Esther and Jenny were convinced that the thing that tormented them was a [ __ ] ghost. Uh, also they believed that it had its own kind of sentience and could hear and see everything that happened in the house. And if that were true, Jenny thought, then it logically followed that they could potentially communicate back with it.

32:56 Yeah. If it can see us and it's telling us things, why can't we tell it things?

32:59 Yeah. So upon suggesting this very thing to Dr. Karite, the statement was immediately followed by three loud knocks from the floor.

33:08 It said, "Hey, what's good?" It's like, it's like the spirit was like, "Hell yeah, brother."

33:15 Um, in response, Dr. Kit asked whether the spirit could hear and understand what they were saying, and the question was heard with more loud knocks. What followed was a series of questions from the family which were answered by the spirit.

33:28 He said, "I I have what you need." There were different kind they tried to get like a system going where it was like one knock for no, three knocks for yes kind of thing.

33:36 Um it was able to answer various yes or no questions indicating how many rooms there were in the house and provide several other responses that supported Esther and Jenny's belief that it was more than just discharged energy. When Daniel asked whether the house was really going to be set on fire, the spirit gave three knocks, which is Yes.

33:56 Hell yeah, brother. Immediately after, the stunned family members watched as a dress flew from the closet and landed under the bed where it just caught fire

34:06 by completely unknown means. Sporadically. Sporadically combusted. Um, okay. Just all up in there.

34:13 All righty. Fortunately, Daniel was able to remove the dress from the bed and extinguish those flames as well before any damage to the house was done. Now, perhaps the most like interesting and curious aspect of the whole situation was

34:29 the wild shifts in temperament from one moment to the next because at some point the spirit communication was calm and very even and it came off like kind of benevolent and helpful at times. Um, like it would warn the family me like when it warned the family members about the fire or it would warn them about something else. Other times though it seemed to mock them all writing cruel and profane messages on the wall or seizing Esther with seizures and stomach pains that lasted for days.

34:58 Yeah, it feels like there was two like that ghost was saying like when they when she claimed she heard it talking to her that there's another one.

35:06 Good cop kind of thing. Now outside the teed house, the neighbors were beginning to arrive at their own conclusions about the haunting. Some accepted the girl story entirely, believing the house was beset upon by ghosts. Others put the theory forth that Karite and Clay seemed plausible, like the electrical energy idea.

35:26 Okay. But then there was another group who was very skeptical and found the whole thing completely impossible,

35:32 which I get. Absolutely. They believe that rather than being tormented by ghosts, Esther was being tormented by a human being, specifically Bob McNeel. Where's he at? So, one reporter wrote, "Some say that the controlling agent in these phenomena is not a spirit, but a young man who is in a distant part of the province." According to the that journalist, the individual is quote a person whom Esther has regarded with a strong dislike and prior to her illness, he is said to have talked to her in such a violent and extraordinary way as to cause her much alarm and leave a vivid impression on her mind.

36:07 Yeah, he just talked to her, you guys. He just talked to her crazy. All things considered, the people of Amhurst had pretty good reason to be skeptical of the whole thing. Of course, if she had just been like a victim of the strange events happening in the house, that would be one thing, but she kind of was part of it a little bit passively at times, like um when the entity would want to write like inappropriate and vulgar [ __ ] on the wall, it would do so through Esther.

36:34 Huh. So, it would tell her what to write and where to write it. Okay. So, she's like actively part of this at least whether she's being controlled or not. So like when it said like I'm Esther is mine to kill, she's the one that wrote that.

36:49 That's not documented, but other times she was. Okay. So in early 1879, the skeptical position was given a little more credence when after being sedated by Dr. Karite during a really bad episode of stomach pain, Esther quote fell into a catalic trance during which she told all of Jenny Daniel and the doctor about what had happened between her and Bob McNeel. According to Esther, Bob had quote unsuccessfully tried to assault her and they had a violent quarrel.

37:19 Yeah. Um just before he had vanished to Am from Amherst. So after hearing this story, Olive remarked, "It's Bob McNeel who's caused all this trouble." And from out of nowhere, they heard three short sharp knocks.

37:32 So yes. So it's like, "What the [ __ ] Where is Bob?" Now, in January 1879, the noises, fires, and constant public attention finally became way too much for Daniel and Olive Teed, and it was decided that it would be best for everyone if Esther moved out.

37:47 Oh, that's so [ __ ] mean. They said, "We're done with all this. You got to get the We don't know what's going on.

37:54 We've had enough of your [ __ ] But truly, we really don't care. Please go." Yeah, we do not. We don't want to deal with this anymore. Simply don't. Um, so fortunately she was quickly able to find new accommodations with a local couple.

38:07 Okay. Named John White and his wife. Shut the [ __ ] Alina Urkart. We let her in. Okay.

38:13 Yeah. We gave her shelter. You kind souls. Me and John White. At first, everything in Esther's new home seemed quiet and calm because we're great. Um, but within two weeks, the activity started again.

38:24 Okay. So terrified by the phenomenon, John's wife, me, insisted that Esther needed to [ __ ] go. Oh, I mean, so she ended up spending most of her time living and working at the Whites restaurant in town, where the noises continued to be heard and objects continued to fly across the room. Weird.

38:43 It's It's like a poltergeist. Yeah, very much so. By the summer of 1879, the story of Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery had spread all across Nova Scotia thanks to curious journalists and others with, you know, an interest in the supernatural. Eventually, the story made its way to Walter Hubble, who we've cited a number of times, who spent the winter performing with an acting troop in Halifax. And once spring had arrived, he was looking for a new subject for a book.

39:10 Now, for most of his life, Hubble had been a writer and an actor, just, you know, nothing to write home about. Um, had it not been for Esther's story, it's likely he wouldn't really be remembered publicly for for those two tasks.

39:24 Yeah. But Hubble had always had a strong interest in paranormal activity happenings. So when he read about Esther's plight, he really wanted to visit her. So he made arrangements to he said, "I got to see this bitch."

39:35 He said, "Let me see what's going on right now." So he arrived in Amherst on June 11th, 1879. And his first stop was the Teed House where he was introduced to Esther. Uh he wrote, "Esthers was very self-possessed and appeared to be in excellent health." By that time, Esther and the rest of the family had started referring to the ghosts in the house as Bob Nickel and Maggie Fisher.

39:58 Okay. Which I kind of love. I do too. I don't know why. There's Bob and there's Maggie.

40:03 Yeah. At least these were the two most prominent ghosts in the house. But according to Esther, there were others. According to Esther, quote, Bob and Maggie informed her it would be all right for her to stare share her story.

40:15 Okay. They said, "It's cool. You can talk to people. Ultimately, Hubble spent a little more than a month investigating the haunting of Esther Cox, and he admitted at first he was very skeptical of her claims.

40:38 Yeah, me too. In fact, his plan was to spend enough time with Esther to gather evidence of fraud and then expose her as a hoax.

40:46 Oh, dang. That was what he was going for. Walter, I mean, he was like, I think it's fake and I'm going to expose your ass.

40:52 But Hubble said, "I was willing to acknowledge that there might be a power of some kind about the girl, but of course, nothing supernatural." However, his supposed skepticism soon fell away when that evening at dinner, they were all seated around the table and they started to hear knocks. Mhm.

41:08 Um he said we could all hear even the scratching sounds of invisible human fingernails and the dull sounds produced by the hands as they rubbed the table and struck it with invisible clenched fists.

41:20 Oh. So now convinced that what he was seeing was in fact real, Hubble immediately started booking a lecture tour for himself and asked Esther if she would be willing to join him.

41:31 He said, "I got to spread the good word." He said, "Let's go." And Esther was like, "Hell yeah, let's go."

41:36 Okay. I don't know what to make of this story. Nobody really does because by that time she'd been asked to move out of her home and was living primarily in a small room at a restaurant.

41:46 It's truly my favorite thing that they were like, "Yeah, sorry experiencing, but like bye."

41:51 John White and his wife, you know, they were like, "It only went so far." Uh, she got kicked out twice.

41:55 Yeah, she did. Her own family and them. She was starting to also face some hostility from the locals because they'd grown tired of all the attention that that was happening around town. They just didn't want it anymore. God forbid a woman a woman get attention.

42:08 The tour began in mid June with their first stop in Monton. Unfortunately, Esther's ghosts appeared to have come along for the ride, though, and made themselves known before the speaking event even began, the first one. Uh, they caused chairs in the auditorium to move on their own. And I guess this is like kind of fortunately for their their plight kind of sucks because they're [ __ ] with the with the whole show.

42:32 Yeah. Um, this delighted some in the crowd. I'd be delighted. Others became annoyed, particularly once it became clear that the spirit spirits couldn't be controlled. So, they were just like really [ __ ] up the whole thing.

42:43 That would make me even more excited. I would love it. I'd be like, "Oh my god."

42:46 During a church service the day after the lecture, Esther was asked to leave after the service became interrupted when, according to the local press, quote, "The ghost manifested itself by knocking on the floor of the pew in front."

42:59 Okay. which like she can't do that. Yeah, that's the How would she like how is she interrupting all this [ __ ]

43:06 And church. I'm like, damn. You know no bounds. Esther's ghost. The diamond. I think now not long after their first lecture date, the tour began falling apart. During their travels, Esther repeatedly experienced a lot of physical symptoms like swelling, vomiting, and muscle rigidity. Ooh. uh each time she was evaluated by a doctor and they all said, you know, more or less the same thing that she was suffering from symptoms of over excitement.

43:31 Okay. But poor health was not the only problem that was happening. In each town they stopped at, advanced word of their arrival had given the local religious organizations time to organize a protest. Even back then, they were they were at it.

43:46 They were back at it. And Esther and Hubble were met with strong opposition in their spiritualist message. Uh in a letter to the editor of one paper, a Presbyterian group wrote, "In the humanity propriety, religion and decency, we earnestly protest against a proceeding so base and disgusting the civil authorities ought to interfere." It's like, "Girl, what are they supposed to do? She's being telling you stuff."

44:11 Yeah. They're just informing you like, "Hey, she's haunted. Maybe exercise her. Stand together and exercise the bitch."

44:17 You know what you can do? Just not listen to her. Just [ __ ] off. You could do that. The same thing that applies to social media now applied to this then if you don't [ __ ] like it

44:31 don't listen to her. It's not simple that [ __ ] hard but instead they're like no one can listen.

44:38 People were hate listening back then too. It's true they were in a there's always going to be a subgroup of hate like hate content scrollers, hate content listeners.

44:47 Hate protesters back then. Hate hate hate. You're just filled with stupid hate. Like, damn.

44:51 Get a life. Just go do something. Get a hobby. Listen, my grandpa says it all the time. Get a life.

44:56 Get a life. Instead of spreading the the hate, spread the good word. Tell people what you're doing.

45:01 Let her do her thing. People will listen or they won't. And then you go spread your good word. Pabize. Get a life. I say live and let live.

45:09 Exactly. Now, with the lecture tour having fallen, you know, mostly apart. Uh Hubble and his group returned with Esther to Amhurst and soon after he informed her that he would be leaving. He was like, "This is a lot."

45:22 He said, "Sorry, I have been chased out of town." Yeah. Decades later in 1879, Hubble published his account of the time he spent with Esther Cox investigating the great Amherst Mystery. Um in a book called The Great Amherst Mystery, a true narrative of the supernatural. M

45:38 the book went on to become a huge success and it honestly brought Hubble up from amateur actor which is what he was doing before this to an internationally recognized author and an pseudo expert on the paranormal. So we got something out of it.

45:51 Okay. Walter Esther moved back into the teed house finally. They welcomed her back.

45:56 They said okay. But when the activity started up again a short time later she was asked to leave again.

46:01 Damn, this [ __ ] is getting evicted left, right, and center. and she went to stay with the Van Ambergs, a local family with whom she had stayed with in the past. Initially, it was pretty quiet in the house and people even suggested Mr. Vanamberg quote possessed an influence over the ghost similar to the alleged influence his illustrious kinsman was said to have over wild beasts.

46:22 Whoa. Yeah. Okay. Mr. Van Amsburg, he apparently was coming from a long line of people who could [ __ ] tame wild beasts.

46:31 He's like a lion tamer, which is pretty fun. But if Vin Hamburg did have any control over Esther and her spirits, it didn't last very long. No.

46:38 Uh, within a few weeks, it all started again. Pots, pans, clothes, and other valuables were thrown around the house on a near daily basis.

46:46 Oh, darn. The tension in the house was thick. Yeah, you're ruining my [ __ ] Yeah. And it finally came to a head a few weeks later when the ghost supposedly set fire to the Vanamberg's barn.

46:57 That'll do it. And it destroyed everything inside. It was like genuine destruction.

47:01 Oh, that's sad. Furious and distraught, Mr. Vanamberg had Esther arrested and charged as quote an incendiary,

47:09 alleging that it was she who set the barn on fire to further her hoax. I mean, I do lowkey get why he would feel that way. I'd probably do the same thing.

47:17 Yeah. According to one press account, quote, "The judge and jury were non-believers as far as ghosts were concerned, and Esther was found guilty and sentenced to four months in jail for arson." Four months, huh? It's pretty uh pretty brief stay for arson, I would say.

47:32 Light arson. Light arson. Ultimately, she would only serve one month of her sentence.

47:37 Is she like a celeb? Uh yeah, because it was really due in large part to the number of respectable locals who spoke out on her behalf.

47:44 Oh, that's nice. She did have some people in her corner. They said no, it really was ghosts.

47:48 After she was released, she found work as a living maid for Arthur Davidson, the local clerk of the court. But as always, things started to go wrong almost immediately in the Davidson house. Knives, forks, sewing needles, knitting needles, all manner of dangerous objects this time, not just pots and pans. Sharp.

48:06 Uh, they flew around the house with like pretty regular frequency at this point. Uh, including one incident when a large fork struck Davidson in the back of the head.

48:16 Oh, [ __ ] Oh yeah, like the previous accommodations, uh, her time with the Davidsons came to an end after his barn caught fire and was completely destroyed.

48:25 What now? If she's still setting fires to prove this whole thing, that's bold. That's almost what makes me feel like it's real, though, because it's like, why would she do that again? Spend more time in jail.

48:37 But then again, she did get out after only a month, so it's like she looks around and she's like, well, people will band together to get me out. And at least for her, jail was like a steady living like situation

48:46 for months. She had somewhere to stay. Yeah. Two hots in a cot, you know. Two hots in a

48:50 Jesus Christ. It's true. You're not wrong. For for Esther, it's true. Now, after being kicked out of the Davidson house after, you know, the barn set fire, Esther spent two months bouncing around from one home to another, never staying more than a few days. In early 1880, she suffered another attack of physical symptoms that required Dr. Karite to sedate her with morphine and she remained unconscious for several days before coming to and resuming her normal state.

49:17 That's a lot of [ __ ] morphine. Now, this latest attack on her health and well-being proved to be the last.

49:24 After a brief period of depression, she was resolved to reclaim her life. She was like, I cannot do this anymore.

49:31 And she was like, I'm I'm just moving on. I'm moving forward. I'm going to try to put this behind me and try to see if that will work. And within a few a short time, she started seeing a man from town.

49:41 Oh, that after a brief courtship, they married and they had one child. And it's unclear how or why the first marriage came to an end, cuz it did. But Esther would go on to marry a second time and have another child before leaving Amherst for good and relocating to Brockton, Massachusetts.

50:00 Shut the [ __ ] up. Shut the [ __ ] up. That's like when it happened in the menu and they were like, "Yeah, she's from Brockton." I was like, "What?"

50:10 Like, "What the fuck?" Esther out here in Brockton, the most random town. It's truly the most random town.

50:18 Brockton, Massachusetts. What is Brockton known? Is it uh City of Champions? City of Champions. Like that's I if you had said like Palmer, you know, Amherst

50:30 cuz it's like that's like a western Malden, Marboro, like [ __ ] Adams, Everett, Dorchester, Worcester. If you had said any of these towns, I'd be like, "Wow, that's weird."

50:41 Brockton. Brockton. The [ __ ] are you doing in Brockton? Like, I'm not saying I'm just like, "It's just so random."

50:46 No, that's literally it's just a random [ __ ] place. So random. What? So crazy. It was like the menu moment for me. As soon as I read it, I was like "What?"

50:55 It's like you just hear like glass shatter. What did she do in Brockton? Yeah. Now, by that time, whatever had been haunting Esther Cox appeared to have left her. There's no further reports of supernatural phenomena after she got married.

51:09 That makes no [ __ ] sense to me. Yeah. Years and years and barnfires of plenty. And then she's just like, "Yeah, I want to get married and have some kids." And it all

51:17 she's like, "It's weird. It just went away." She like stopped swelling, too. Yeah, she stopped all of it, I guess. Which like that's weird cuz she was swelling up and [ __ ] I don't this I don't know what to make of this.

51:28 I don't need Now little is known about her life after she left Amherst. Little is known about her time in

51:33 Brockton other than the documentation of her death on November 8th, 1912 at age 52.

51:39 What the [ __ ] She'll be 52. Yeah, I mean it is the 1800s, but yeah, but still. Now, the story of Esther Cox and the great Amherst mystery had captured the imagination and attention of people everywhere all over the world since it began.

51:53 Wow. And it obviously inspired a lot of theories about where this all came from. Some like Walter Hubble believed that she was genuinely haunted and others believe the entire saga was a hoax perpetrated by one person. I feel like I'm not in either camp.

52:07 I know it's a hard one to sit in. It is. Dr. Walter Prince wrote in 1919 um in an article for the journal of the American Society of Psychical Research, "The Amherst mystery, we are informed on the best authority, is no mystery at all except to persons who refrain from using their powers of observation and reason." So they're like, "It's really not a mystery unless you just choose not to see what's happening."

52:30 Okay. He said, "The only mystery is that so many persons who should have known better are deceived." But like how is she creating knocking in the in the front pew when she was not there?

52:41 Those are the kind of things. And also it's like and how did she make things fly?

52:45 That's like the knives and forks and [ __ ] like no one was saying I saw her throw these things like they were just flying around.

52:52 I mean I guess they're like Chris Angel mind freak vibes. Like maybe Chris Angel mind freak.

52:58 Maybe she that's the tweet period. Yeah. Like that's it. But you know what? Like he can he can do like illusions and [ __ ] Maybe Illusionists are definitely

53:08 Yeah. Like maybe she's she's one of the great illusionists of our time, you know?

53:12 Maybe she's Esther girl mind freak. Freak. Esther Cox mind freak. I mean is what that works.

53:19 Honestly should be titled Esther Cox mind freak. I mean it had to like that like that people learned that [ __ ] somewhere. Yeah. I mean, we look, we just said people were already doing the don't, you know, instead of me just not listening to something I don't like, I'm going to try to make everybody not listen to something I don't like. Back then,

53:39 they were definitely doing mind freak back then. Exactly. They were everything we're doing now. Mind freak, you know, twerking, all of those things. They were different. They were ass.

53:48 But yeah, I I don't know. I believe in hauntings like 150%. But I've been to a lot of haunted locations at this point and nothing ever gets thrown. Like I've never seen anything thrown and I desperately want to.

54:01 Yeah, I would love to see something. Like I've never seen the extreme sides that people talk about and that does make you question

54:10 it makes it of like going back to like the energy kind of thing of it all that like stored energy especially like traumatic energy or negative energy. I fully believe in that.

54:20 I'm like does that can that cause things like that? Again, like you just said, I've never seen it happen.

54:25 I've never experienced it. And we've been in some places where I mean, in our house growing up, I remember me and my brother were downstairs

54:33 and we heard a crash. Yeah. And when we ran upstairs and his room was wildly haunted, it was my room first and then I was like, "Fuck that." [ __ ] this. Like, you can have this. He took it.

54:42 Actually, you know what? And that it was a it was a framed picture that didn't just fall down on the wall. It had

54:49 like flew across the room. like went across the room and was leaning against the other side of the room. So, I will say I didn't see it with my own eyes, but I heard it

54:57 when I you like before I moved into my own papa's house and I used to like just stay for like the week or like some like time,

55:02 I would sleep in that room from time to time. And do you remember the night that a box just slid across the floor out of nowhere and I I woke the entire house up because I screamed so loud. So, I have seen things move.

55:15 So, yeah. I've just like Well, yeah. I mean, I can literally still see that in my head. That [ __ ] was crazy.

55:20 Yeah. So, I mean, I guess I guess Yeah. You know what? I mean, it's not as egregious as knives and forks flying through the air and like pots and pans and [ __ ]

55:30 Yeah. But it's something. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. It's it's it's very unknown to me.

55:35 But Dr. Walter Prince and many others in the field of paranormal research flatly rejected Hubble's account of this supposedly true haunting. Um, they were asserting that their steadfast belief was merely, you know, this was just a disingenuous marketing strategy to sell more books. That's what they were asserting. I'm not saying that.

55:54 Author Lorie Glenn Norris, whose 2012 book Haunted Girls, tells a more detailed story of Cox's life.

56:01 Haic title, right? Haunted girl. Um, and it's girl. Sorry, I shouldn't have said girls. It's girl.

56:06 There are many haunted girls. We are two of them. There's there's only one. I said girls accidentally, but it tells a more detailed story of Cox's life. Um, and agrees with that sentiment that

56:18 something else was going on. According to Glenn Norris, the haunting most likely started out as a prank by a young woman who was desperate for attention, but everything quickly spiraled out of control. After her mother's death, her father's remarage, and being shipped off to live with her sister, her life probably felt like it was kind of falling apart and very out of her control. Um, add to that the assault

56:41 and the death threats from McNeel and it's very likely that Esther was in a mental health crisis and needed help.

56:48 But then flip that on its head, like you just said, there are energies that feed off of negative experiences and I would assume that would have been a very negative experience for her

57:00 and she was living with trauma. So it's like maybe something was feeding off of that. I can see her doing it for attention and then it's spiraling out of control during a mental health crisis. Or I can see that side. Yeah. That

57:14 I agree with you. But Glenn Norris said instead of helping her, the people who should have helped her quote turned her personal crisis into a public sensation.

57:23 U more than a century later, her story has inspired countless books, plays, even an annual festival in Amherst known as Estherfest. There's an Esther Fest and I've never gone. I spent plenty of time in Amherst. The draw of the story is the fact that it's still one of the nation's great unsolved mysteries, while others use it as an opportunity to share their own ghost stories. Um,

57:45 when are we going to Esther Fest? Ammerst Mayor David Krogan said, "I just like that it puts a spotlight on the town. I mean, it's a ghost story that apparently is one of the most welldocumented supernatural events that have ever been." Yeah. Although she appreciates that people are continuing to tell Esther's story, Lori Glenoris, her appreciation of the festival in celebration of Cox comes with a warning. She said, "I appreciate that we're still telling the story, but she warned, hopefully people will take into consideration that there was more to her than the 15 months and how this type of thing can be so harmful to people." She said, "I'm not sure if Esther really ever recovered from it." Oh, which like she also doesn't know that because we don't have any documentation of what how she was after she got married.

58:28 Kind of sounds like she did recover from it because she went on to have two marriages and two children.

58:32 That's a thing. And then really heard of again. So it's like in lived a life in Brockton Massachusetts.

58:37 I think she recovered from it. So, it's like I appreciate though that she's saying, you know, like that

58:42 there's more to her than 15 months that there really could have been a mental health crisis here happening that was but we don't know that. That's the thing. Like we don't know that she was not documented to have mental health theory

58:55 crises or anything like that. That's a theory. It's a very good theory. There's also the very valid if you are into supernatural theory that something was going on here. There's also another theory that this McNeel guy was [ __ ] tormenting her.

59:10 Yeah, because that's like a real theory. I kind of wonder he was like stalking and tormenting her.

59:15 I actually kind of wondered that especially when like the match fell from the attic.

59:19 Yeah, it's like that could have been and it could be a combo platter cuz also many different things.

59:23 He just disappeared. Yeah. Nobody knew where he went. So it's like and he was you just live in the I mean we've covered stories before where people have lived in the [ __ ] walls

59:31 and he was known to be a dick face and it's like and it's not like they had Simply Safe back then where they would tell if he was in the [ __ ] attic. Like they know there was nothing. He could have climbed in an attic very easily and just lived there.

59:42 And it's like this guy was skinning cats alive. Like he would say that he was but that's it's the truth. Like he was a straightup

59:50 monstrous human being. This would not be out of the realm of possibility. He tried to assault her or did assault her.

59:57 And it's like it's not out of the realm of possibility that this McNeel guy made it his [ __ ] business to torment her afterwards.

1:00:05 Like you don't know. And even if he started to and then it turned into something else cuz he had literally driven her to a mental health crisis. Yep.

1:00:13 Where she was just continuing it cuz she believed she was still in it. Yeah. And not even realizing that she was continuing it.

1:00:19 Or it's a [ __ ] demon. Could be. I mean, it's all What do we know? What does anybody know?

1:00:25 That's We said it in the abduction episode. There's just so much out there that we don't know about.

1:00:29 We don't [ __ ] know. It could be any of these things. I'm willing to believe any three of them. They all make sense.

1:00:34 Maybe it's a combo of all of them. I think it's a combo of all of them, to be honest.

1:00:36 I don't know. That's a crazy story, though. Yeah. I didn't I've said it 50 million times, but I really don't know what to make of that.

1:00:43 It That's the thing. A lot of these things when we talk about them like the poltergeist or hauntings, usually at the end I feel pretty one one way or another.

1:00:54 This one I feel conflicted. I do too. And it's I don't believe it was just a straight up haunting.

1:01:02 No. No. I don't think it's just clearcut haunting. I think there was other elements involved.

1:01:08 Yeah. I feel like the I think that could be part of it. I think there's absolutely an element of haunting. And I think the McNeel thing, it's like he assaulted her and then he just like left is not that believable to me.

1:01:19 Yeah. I feel like something like we never heard about him again. I feel like he plays a deeper role than than people realize.

1:01:26 I think so, too. What an interesting story though. And I'm really trying to go to Esesterfest. So

1:01:31 that's we got to go to Essterfest. And I'll remember that there's more to her than 15 months while I'm at Esesterfest.

1:01:36 Hell yeah. So I found it. So um and remember this is Amherst, Nova Scotia. Oh yeah. So I've actually um Astric I've never been there. I thought we were talking cuz I was like I don't think you've spent a lot of time in there. You're like I I'm not positive but something else. Also that makes it even more random that she made her way to Brock. That's why it's crazy.

1:01:57 I thought you meant like Amherst like Western Mass. Yeah. Um, so Estherfest is apparently, this is according to the website, is a celebration of the paranormal and horror that takes place in Amherst each October inspired by Esther Cox and her story. It's happening right now.

1:02:14 I'm still trying to go. Yeah, Nova Scotia seems dope. Yeah, it seems like it's a fun The Great Amherst Street Party is part of it.

1:02:22 Uh, yeah, I'd like to go to there. This looks like fun. Uh, the Graham The Great Amherst Street Party takes place on the 18th of October. Live music. This is live music with second toe,

1:02:36 which I think is Little Piggy. Bouncy castles. I mean, vendors, face painting, horse and wagon rides.

1:02:44 Wagon rides. Like this is What was the last thing you said? A petting zoo. A petting zoo.

1:02:48 And so much more. It says I think we ought to book tickets. That looks like fun.

1:02:53 Yeah, it does. It looks like a busk. It looks like a b like a birkshshire bust. It really does. I am obsessed and I think I'll maybe go next year.

1:03:02 So, if you're in Amherst or if you're in Nova Scotia at all, go like our friend Jordan from Nighttime Podcast. Go.

1:03:09 Oh my god, Jordan. Go to Esther. Tell us everything because it looks cool. Go ootfest and tell us.

1:03:18 We're the worst. All our Canadian listeners said bye. They said [ __ ] you. All right, guys. Well, that was a good story Alina.

1:03:26 That was a fun one. I like top. We hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, but not so weird that you don't go party your ass off at Esther Fest and make things fly, baby.

1:03:38 Essest Fester. Esther Cox Mind Freak.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "Episode 718: Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery"?

In order: 0:00 Al Roker, Amherst, Esther Cox, Morbid; 10:00 Bob McNeel, Amherst, Daniel Teed, oil lamp; 20:00 blankets, sheets, Amherst, Daniel Teed; 30:00 Dr. Karite, Amherst, Bob McNeel, haunting; 40:00 Amherst, Betsy Allison Walter, Esther Cox, lecture tour; 50:00 Amherst, Bob McNeel, Esther Cox, haunting; 1:00:00 Amherst, Nova Scotia, Esther Cox, Bob McNeel.

What is mentioned in this Morbid | Podcast episode?

83 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Amherst, Dr. Carrie / Dr. Karee / Dr. Karite / Dr. Kit / Dr. Ced, Esther Cox, Bob McNeel, Olive, haunting. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Episode 718: Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery"?

The episode runs 1 h 5 min; the transcript is about 12,891 words in 330 timestamped sections.

More from Morbid | Podcast

• All analyzed episodes
• Books mentioned on Morbid | Podcast
• People mentioned on Morbid | Podcast
• Sponsors mentioned on Morbid | Podcast
• Topics mentioned on Morbid | Podcast