Episode 392 - The Great Amherst Mystery | A True Poltergeist Horror Story
Two Girls One Ghost
The episode explores the infamous 1878 Great Amherst Mystery, a heavily documented poltergeist case in Nova Scotia involving Esther Cox. The
Key takeaways
- Esther Cox experienced extreme physical phenomena, such as her body swelling and hair standing on end.
- An unseen force used what sounded like an iron spike to carve 'Esther Cox, you are mine to kill' into a wall.
Main topics
- The Great Amherst Mystery
- Poltergeist phenomena
Notable quotes
Esther Cox, you are mine to kill.
Conclusion
A hauntingly detailed look at one of Canada's most famous paranormal c
Transcript preview
Speaker 4 (0:02) Some evil thing happened here. Speaker 1 (0:05) Three people die in a quiet suburb in Mississauga, Canada. Speaker 4 (0:11) It's not a coincidence. Speaker 1 (0:13) One after the other. In the same house. Is this bad luck? Or something more sinister? Speaker 5 (0:23) The worst investigative mess I've ever encountered. Speaker 4 (0:25) A long simmering, what took you so fucking long to get Speaker 1 (0:29) here? Speaker 1 (0:32) From Sony Music Entertainment, this is What Happened to the Harrisons. I'm Amy Dempsey-Raven. What Happened to the Harrisons is available now on The Binge. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts to start listening today. Subscribers to The Binge can listen to all episodes, all at once, ad-free. Speaker 4 (0:59) Hello, I'm Simon Mayo. And I'm Mark Kermode. What a great episode we have for you lined up. Mark, what are you doing on The Latest Take? It's a packed show. We have reviews of Heart of the Beast, Brad Pitt and a Dog, Her Private Hell, the new film from Nick Winding Refn, Borman and the Devil, a documentary about the worst film ever made, and Sense and Sensibility with our super special guest. Speaker 5 (1:18) Gorgeous George Mackay. Speaker 4 (1:20) Don't miss a single second of The Latest Take. Speaker 3 (1:46) Hello, Speaker 2 (1:46) this is Two Girls, One Ghost. Speaker 2 (1:50) And we are your ghostesses. That is Corinne. Hello. I'm Sabrina. And usually we save the really haunted episodes for the month of October, but this giddy bitch couldn't contain herself. This Speaker 4 (2:03) giddy bitch. Speaker 2 (2:04) This girl who loves to give presents early is going to give you another present early. Present to ourselves, really. It Speaker 1 (2:11) is a Speaker 2 (2:11) present to ourselves. I am truly so shocked that I had never heard of this case before. I've never heard of it at all. And when you hear the contents of it and what happened, you're going to be boggled. You're going to be gassed flabbers of how we have not heard it. I'm already belching. Things are coming out of me. And things will be coming out of the house and haunting people and trying to kill people. A Speaker 3 (2:34) good classic haunted house. Although, is it classic? The house trying to kill you? I'm not sure. Speaker 2 (2:38) Well, it wasn't the house. It was a something trying to kill someone. And this is the scariest part is this is a example of an entity, a poltergeist. if you will, that physically had the ability to harm. Oh, I hate these stories. I like hate them and love them. I Speaker 3 (2:55) love them because they instill fear, but I hate them because then it proves the possibility of like actually being Speaker 2 (2:59) stabbed or murdered. And that's about to happen. Oh, God. Multiple times. I'm speaking excitedly, but it's terrifying. Yeah. Speaker 3 (3:09) Shout Speaker 2 (3:10) out to a book that I read for this. It is called The Great Amherst Mystery. by Walter Hubble. As context, it's 180 pages, and this episode is only 20 pages. So there's a lot that's not being included, but there's a lot that happened. Speaker 3 (3:27) So Speaker 2 (3:27) we're going to go back in time. It's 1878. It's September. The last week has been something akin to peculiar, and it started with a sound, a rustling beneath the bed after everyone in the little cottage had gone to bed for the night. Esther heard it, and then she felt it. something crawling in her bed. She called to her sister sleeping beside her. Jenny said, it's probably just a mouse. The next night, it happened again. This time, though, it was accompanied by objects being manipulated in their bedroom, as in manipulated and lifted and levitated in the air by an unseen force. I'm sorry. Her Speaker 3 (4:02) excuse of saying it's probably just a mouse. At this point in the story, I would have been more fearful of a mouse than a ghost. It's Speaker 2 (4:09) 1878. It's a cottage. They're probably used to mice. Yeah. Tonight, though, they've tried to ignore it. 19-year-old Esther Cox lies in bed, desperate for a peaceful night's sleep. She prays for it. But someone, or something, has another plan for her. And that is when Esther's body begins to swell. Her fingers, her toes, her stomach, her legs, literally ballooning, filling. It feels unbearable. It's as if her internal organs are about to burst. She screams in pain and everyone in the house comes running into the room. They stare in horror, watching their beloved family member physically, literally swell before their eyes. This is so creepy. Her face turns blood red. Her hair starts standing up on its own, defying the laws of gravity. Suddenly, the room is filled with the sounds of knocking. It is so loud that everyone can feel the room vibrate under the pressure. It grows louder, more forceful, to the point where no one can tell where it's coming from and it feels like it's closing in on them, surrounding them. Then, the sheets on Esther's bed are ripped from atop her. They don't slip. They are not falling off the bed. They are forcefully ripped off of her, off of the bed, pulled cleanly. and thrown into the far corner of the room. And everyone's just watching this attack. Then there's the scratching. Loud. Metallic. Like metal on metal. But this time everyone can tell where it's coming from. They turn their heads to the wall, and they watch as letters form on the wall before them. One by one, they watch as some unseen force writes a message on the wall. Esther Cox. You are mine to kill. This Speaker 3 (6:00) feels like a combination of every haunted house trope and move from a poltergeist that could exist. Yep. The bed ripping, the swelling, the hair, the physical Speaker 2 (6:10) attacks, the writing on the walls. Over the next year, something or someone unseen and unknown to this world would return over and over again. It would attempt to keep true to their words. Whatever it is, would on multiple occasions attempt to burn the house that Esther Cox was in down to the ground. It would hurl carving knives through the air, plunging them into Esther's body. It would follow her wherever she went and continue to make death threats and death attempts. This is the great Amherst mystery, a true poltergeist haunting that took place in Nova Scotia in 1878. It is a case that is so heavily documented with hundreds of firsthand witnesses. And at the center of it is an innocent 19-year-old girl named Esther Cox. Speaker 3 (6:55) This is absolutely insane that we haven't heard of it. Right. Speaker 2 (6:58) Wild. This Speaker 3 (6:59) feels like the most extreme. Is there an exorcism? Like, what? Speaker 2 (7:05) Nope. And we'll go to the beginning. Like, how do you Speaker 3 (7:07) survive this place? No, Speaker 2 (7:08) I feel really, really bad for Esther. We'll talk a lot about it, but this did happen. This occurred for years. Like, she was plagued and tormented by this for a very, very long time. Oh, my God. Poor girl. And... really there was no answer. And then similar to so many cases that we've talked about before, all of a sudden it just stops. Just boom like Speaker 3 (7:26) that. Speaker 2 (7:26) I think I have a theory. I have a theory. OK, so this is a very under-discussed case. Actually, our brothers Ash and Elena on Morbid did cover it. I didn't listen to their episode, but when I was looking up the case, there were a couple references to that being like the most prominent thing in current day that's talked about it. Yeah, interesting. Speaker 3 (7:44) Now I want to listen to their episode, too, because I feel like we did a. We did an episode of Crimes Of where I realized Morbid had done, Speaker 2 (7:52) before Speaker 3 (7:53) we had done the Crimes Of episode, but after we had recorded it, I realized they also had an episode. So out of curiosity, I listened. Yeah. And we made the same exact comparison of saying, this sounds like the town from Gilmore Girls. No way. I was like, Speaker 2 (8:05) that's, we're a little too. We're in sync. We have the same references we all grew up with. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 3 (8:11) It's Speaker 2 (8:12) the same brain just over and over. Oh, it's a cute little town. Gilmore Girls. Gilmore Girls. Although, have you seen it? Sorry, to pivot again. People are Speaker 3 (8:19) saying that Widow's Bay is the Gilmore Girls for the horror lovers, that this is going to be the comfort Speaker 2 (8:25) show that people watch every single year. It's just like Gilmore Girls. There's not very much comfort in it. It's pretty scary. It's really scary. The mass murderer episode, they filmed it so well when she's walking through the house. Yeah, I turned the volume Speaker 3 (8:41) down for that episode. I Speaker 2 (8:42) was like, Speaker 3 (8:42) when is it going to jump Speaker 2 (8:43) out? Speaker 3 (8:43) That was the scariest episode. But I busted out laughing at the last part too, where she was following him all the way. We Speaker 2 (8:51) won't give things away. How many times have we recommended it? If you haven't watched it now, just go do Speaker 3 (8:56) it. Speaker 2 (8:56) The full first Speaker 3 (8:57) season is done by the time this episode comes out. Speaker 2 (9:00) Okay. So like I said, it's Speaker 3 (9:01) a Speaker 2 (9:01) very under-discussed case, but it has been called Canada's most famous ghost story and a classic, horrifying, true poltergeist case. It's even been considered one of the best documented cases of poltergeist activity in history, yet we had never heard of it. So today, we are going to give it the episode it deserves. We are going to Amherst, Nova Scotia, traveling back in time to the fall of 1878. We will talk about the haunting itself, and then we're going to introduce the man who documented the entire case in that book that I mentioned, The Great Amherst Mystery, written by Walter Hubble. He is the reason we know so much about it today. And he is the one who was a skeptic, heard about this haunting that was happening in Nova Scotia, planned to go out there to debunk the whole thing. It's always a skeptic who spends the time and money and travel to go. Oh, his story is hilarious. And we'll talk about him briefly because he does come back into the story to help document it. But he's very much one of us in a way. But he's a theater kid who likes ghosts. Speaker 3 (10:01) It's just funny to me, like the amount of resources people will put into trying to disprove something that's like very difficult to prove or disprove anyway. Speaker 2 (10:10) Yeah. Well, our story begins in Amherst, Nova Scotia, which in 1878 was a very, very small town on the Bay of Fundy, which made me think of Widow's Bay. Speaker 3 (10:18) Yeah. Speaker 2 (10:19) Bay of Fundy. The kind of bay where tides are so dramatic that they reshape the mudflats twice a day. Like they never look the same because the tides Speaker 1 (10:27) make them so Speaker 2 (10:28) different. Speaker 1 (10:29) Okay, so it's a Speaker 2 (10:29) tiny dusty village in 1878. So like dirt roads, lots of like horse and buggies digging, like setting dirt into the air. It's also home to a few thousand people, a shoe factory, and four churches in 1878. It's the kind of small town where community really matters, where everyone knows one another, is in each other's business, and takes care of one another. Located on Princess Street in 1878 were various... Speaker 3 (10:55) Princess! Speaker 2 (10:57) I know what that one is. I recognize it. You got the reference. You usually just like laugh and move on, Speaker 3 (11:06) not knowing my Speaker 2 (11:07) social media reference. So at this time, this street, there are various quaint cottages sitting side by side. One of them is occupied by Daniel Teed and his family. And it is here in this quaint yellow cottage that our story really begins. It's small. It's yellow. It's tastefully arranged. The first floor has a couple of rooms, the kitchen, dining room, small sewing room. And upstairs, there are four bedrooms, two on either side of the hallway, two that face the front yard, meaning Princess Street. And then the other two overlook the backyard. From the outside, this home looks no different than the others beside it. And up until September 1878, the same could be said of the inside. Nothing has ever been out of the ordinary of this house. Not a single thing. And this family has lived in this home for a long time. So Speaker 3 (11:58) this is like a Speaker 2 (11:58) freak occurrence. And we'll get to, at the end, I'll tell you why I think it started. Okay. It's part of my theory. She solved the case. I mean. 200 years later. I didn't really do much of the solving. It's in the pages. Oh. Although the theory that they proposed back then in the book is very different, a little bit different of what my modern day takes. Yes. It is interesting though, like a haunted house that Speaker 3 (12:22) just like exists. not haunted for a while, and then has a moment. Because it's not the house, it's a person, perhaps. Speaker 2 (12:29) Okay. So Daniel Teed and his family have lived in this cottage on Princess Street for many peaceful years, filling the home with family, laughter, and cherished memories. And I mean filling the home with family because altogether at this time, there were eight occupants of the cottage. It's a small home, four bedrooms, eight occupants. So Daniel Teed, who is a shoemaker, and his wife, Olive. and their two sons, Willie, who was aged five, and George, who was 17 months. Then Olive's two sisters, Jenny and Esther Cox, and their brother, William Cox, lived there. And then also John Teed, Daniel's brother. So a lot of people. Multiple people in the family. A full house. Different generations. There's a photo in the video that shows some of the people in the family. It's not everyone who lived in the house, but when you search the story, this photo comes up. And I always think it's funny because I was reading. I'm like, none of these people really live in the house. A couple of them do. Oh. Esther. Speaker 3 (13:25) That's kind of a shame because I feel like you'd find more comfort in more people being in a house when Speaker 2 (13:30) something bad is happening. But Speaker 1 (13:31) not this time. Speaker 2 (13:32) Okay. So like I mentioned, two bedrooms overlooked the street. One was occupied by Daniel and Olive, who were like the main people of this home. Speaker 1 (13:39) And Speaker 2 (13:40) then the one next to their bedroom that also overlooked the street was occupied by Jenny and Esther Cox. They're the sisters. Like I mentioned, up until the evening of September 4th, 1878, nothing unusual could have been said about this small yellow cottage. But then, on September 4th, 1878, 19-year-old Esther Cox retires to her bedroom and settles into her bed like she does every night. I also am going to read the description that Walter Hubble wrote for Esther in his book because it's interesting. So Esther is 19. This is what it says. Esther was... low in stature, and rather inclined to be stout. Her hair was curly, of a dark brown color, and worn short, reaching only to her shoulders. Her eyes were large and gray, with a bluish tinge and a very earnest expression which seemed to say, Why do you look at me? I cannot help being unlike other people. Her eyebrows and lashes were dark, the lashes being long and eyebrows very distinct. Her face was what would be called round with well-shaped features, and her teeth were remarkably handsome. Speaker 3 (14:44) It's so confusing because it feels like it's going back and forth between compliments and insults. I do feel like half of this is a description of me. She's like a short, stout brunette with a round-ass face. With Speaker 2 (14:57) handsome teeth. With manly, distinct teeth. She had a pale complexion, small hands, and feet that were well-shaped. Okay. All right. Well, maybe she was... eight months pregnant. No, but she's also beautiful. But like, it's just like the description from the 1800s. I don't know. Handsome teeth, well-shaped feet. I feel like that image Speaker 3 (15:19) actually looks like some of the pictures of my ancestors on my dad's side. Are you Speaker 2 (15:24) guys related? Maybe. Another doppelganger situation? Speaker 3 (15:27) Maybe. Were they haunted in Nova Scotia in 1878? Well, they did have that like black book about Speaker 2 (15:32) the book of the dead. Death and hauntings Speaker 3 (15:35) and stuff that went missing. Speaker 2 (15:36) So that's the description Walter Hubble wrote. So that's Esther. She's 19. So now it's September 4th, 1878. Esther goes to bed. Her sister, Jenny, who's 22, comes upstairs shortly after Esther had gone to bed, and she turns the lamp off before she too climbs in bed. After a few moments of silence, Esther starts to like kind of panic in the bed next to Jenny because she feels something strange in her bed, something crawling and moving under her sheets. So she jumps out of bed with a scream. startling Jenny, who's like, what's wrong? Esther's like, I think there's a mouse in my bed. So she is panicked by it. Okay, good. As she should be. They Speaker 3 (16:10) turn Speaker 2 (16:10) the light on quickly. They're searching the bed for the supposed mouse and they see something move within the straw mattress. And so they genuinely believe it's just a mouse. Yeah. And after a minute, they're like- Speaker 3 (16:22) Like a Speaker 2 (16:22) snake Speaker 3 (16:22) or something. I don't know. Speaker 2 (16:23) Sure. A Speaker 3 (16:24) straw mattress. There's a bunch of animals. Speaker 2 (16:26) And I'm also sure it's 1878. They probably had a lot of mice in the house. Like it's, you know. They're not going to rip apart this straw mattress. It's like her bed. Speaker 1 (16:34) And Speaker 2 (16:35) so they decide there's not much they can do. They're just going to go to sleep. The next night, September 5th, 1878, when the girls go to bed, Esther hears and feels that familiar rustling in her bed again. But this time when she kind of calls to Jenny, who's in the bed next to her, something else happens. They turn the light on. They're talking about it. Went out from under the bed. There was a sewing box. It literally slides out from under the bed by itself. and then is pulled to the middle of the room by an unseen force. And these two girls watch in horror as it literally lifts itself up into the air about a foot off the floor, then drops onto its side the contents of it falling out. Oh Speaker 3 (17:14) my god. Speaker 2 (17:15) They scream. Yeah. Obviously terrified. A mouse is not going to do that. No mouse could do that. Jenny tries to push the box back under the bed, kind of like as like a, let's pretend that didn't happen. Within a second from removing her hand, it happens again. Same pattern. out from under the bed, lifts up in the middle of the room, drops down. So they both scream again. It naturally wakes up other people in the house. So Daniel Teed, their brother-in-law, comes into the room to see what's going on. And I do think it's interesting in Walter Hubble's book. He makes it a very, it's 1878. We're all prude. You know, decency is an important part of life. But he makes such a big point of hearing the scream. He dresses himself so he's in a position where he can go into the room or... She was indecent, so he didn't want to enter the room, like things like that. Yeah. Which I get. It's very much part of your life. You wouldn't just burst into someone's room. Speaker 3 (18:06) At a certain point, is panic and safety, can that override nudity and modesty? It does quite a lot. Embarrassment. Speaker 2 (18:13) And Speaker 3 (18:13) also think about what they were wearing to Speaker 2 (18:15) bed. They're still very modest in today's terms. Oh my gosh, I see your ankle. Yeah. Very long white nightgown. Wow, look at that neck. Yeah. Even the next one up to here, you can see like your chin. Right. So he comes into the room. He's like, what is going on? They tell him what had happened. And he just kind of grumbles. He like pushes the sewing box back under the bed. It doesn't repeat it again. So he's like, you guys are probably just dreaming. Go back to bed. In the morning, Jenny and Esther swear they were not lying. They saw what they saw, but no one really believes them. But that would change that night on September 6th, 1878, because things were about to escalate. So now it's September 6th, 1878, around 8 p.m. Esther starts to feel a little sick at 8 p.m. So she's like, I'm going to go to bed early. At 10 p.m., Jenny also goes to bed. Some 15 minutes after getting into bed, Esther jumps out of bed in excruciating pain, screaming that she feels like she's dying. Concerned, Jenny gets out of bed to go check on her sister, and she thinks maybe she had a nightmare or something. But she turns the light on and is horrified by Esther's appearance. Esther is So she's now standing up in