September 1878 saw the beginning of one of Canada's most famous poltergeist cases- the Great Amherst Mystery. Daniel Teed, wife, Olive Cox Teed took Mrs. Teed's 19 year old niece, Esther Cox into their Princess Street house, unaware of the unusual events that were to begin taking place.
Shortly before moving in with her aunt, Esther had been the victim of an attempted rape by Bob MacNeal- a local shoemaker with a bad reputation. She escaped with minor injuries, but many suspect that the incident left a deeper psychic wound that lead eventually into the strange occurances that followed.
Like many poltergeist, it began with little things: small fires that would start and go out by themselves, unexplainable noises and voices, and knocking on the floor, walls and ceiling. Eventually, other phenomena started to make themselves seen, such as Esther Cox seeming to bulge and inflate like an overblown balloon, her fingers and toes even swelling to extremes, before suddenly deflating back to normal. These events would seem like something out of a horror novel, if they hadn't been witness by numerous people in the community. One event was especially unnerving, indeed. On the wall, above Esther's bed, appeared the words, "Esther Cox,
you are mine to kill".
It became common belief that it was Esther that was haunted, rather than the house, when the inexplicable occurances followed her elsewhere. A Baptist service was interrupted by the knockings and rapping sounds coming from the front pew, even though she was sitting at the back of the church. As she fled in humiliation from the church, the loud sounds ceased.
Automatic writing and spiritualist were used in an attempt to find out what was causing these mysterious events surrounding Esther. One session of automatic writing brought forth a spirit
claiming to be Miss Maggie Fisher, who had attended the same school as Esther, but had died in 1867. Neither had known each other personally, though they had been aware of each other at school.
Some coincidences at this time cast doubts on the validity of the spiritual connection. Other spirits had names far too similar to people around her- and Bob MacNeal specifically, to be considered honest spirits. Names like Bob Nickle (same first name, similar last name, and same profession), a 60 year old spirit; Mary Fisher (Maggie Fisher's sister); Peter Teed, John Nickle, and Eliza MacNeal. Many feel that theses spirits were actually the psychic manifestation of Esther Cox's emotional trauma due to the attempted rape by Bob MacNeal.
Possibly seeing how all the coincidences might point at his somehow being the root cause of the events plaguing Esther Cox, MacNeal claimed that Bob Nickle had been haunting him as well for several years... as if to say that this spirit was the cause of MacNeal's own violent acts.
In an attempt to turn her problems to her advantage, Esther, and actor Walter Hubbell, went on tour in 1879, hoping to make some sort of living by recounting her experiences to those willing to pay. She met Hubbell when he'd travelled to Amherst for the sole purpose of seeing the ghostly mainifestations himself. Unfortunately for them, things did not go well. A riot broke out one night when a rival theatre owner leapt up and started heckling them. Soon, the crowd joined in and got out of hand.
There was one last major poltergeist event in Esther's life before things settled down somewhat. Arthur Davison, another resident of Amherst, was kind enough to hire Esther to work on his ranch. Even though he was a skeptic, he did acknowledge seeing repeatedly poltergeist activity while Esther lived there. Things climaxed at the ranch when his barn caught fire, and burnt to the ground.
Accused of arson by Davidson, Esther was convicted and sentanced to four months in prison. She was released after only one month due to public support rallying behind the woman who was beset by supernatural occurances.
After the barn burning incident, the poltergeist seemed to disipate to minor annoyances. Esther was even able to find a measure of happiness by marrying first Mr. Adams of Springdale, Nova Scotia- and later Mr. Shanahan of Brockton, MA. Esther Cox Shanahan passed away in 1912. To date, this case has been one of the most famous supernatural cases of Canadian history.
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