Speaker 1: Esther had been trying to spit it out all day,
Speaker 1: but knew only too well how ridiculous it would sound.
Speaker 1: Her pained moping about, however, was beginning to get on
Speaker 1: Olive's nerves. As Esther forlornly took a seat on the
Speaker 1: kitchen doorstep to peel potatoes, Olive finally snapped, it's about
Speaker 1: that boy, isn't it. No, it's not, Yes it is.
Speaker 1: It's about Bob McNeill. I told you to stay away
Speaker 1: from him. Nothing but trouble that one. It's not, I promise,
Speaker 1: cried Esther. Well what is it then, Esther thought for
Speaker 1: a moment, Then, just as she was about to speak,
Speaker 1: the sound at the front door opening announced the arrival
Speaker 1: of their sister, Jenny, home early from work. The moment
Speaker 1: had gone. Born in eighteen sixty, the eighteen year old
Speaker 1: Esther Coxe was the youngest of her four siblings, and,
Speaker 1: by all accounts, as is often the stigma attached to
Speaker 1: a youngest child, the one considered the most directionless. Along
Speaker 1: with her three sisters and brother, Esther had been raised
Speaker 1: by her grandmother, her mother having died soon after her birth.
Speaker 1: The children's father, perhaps as a result of grief or
Speaker 1: for more selfish reasons, had abandoned the family soon after.
Speaker 1: As such, the siblings had remained close, and by eighteen
Speaker 1: seventy eight had found themselves living together in the home
Speaker 1: of older's sister Olive and her husband Daniel Tede. The house,
Speaker 1: a modest but well kept yellow cottage, was located on
Speaker 1: Princess Street in the small town of Amherst, Nova, Scotia.
Speaker 1: Sharing four bedrooms between them, the cottage was home to Esther,
Speaker 1: along with her twenty two year old sister Jenny, her
Speaker 1: twenty seven year old brother William, and Dan's brother John,
Speaker 1: as well as Olive and Dan's two sons, Willie and George.
Speaker 1: All in all, the arrangement had been surprisingly harmonious, considering
Speaker 1: the relatively cramped conditions. At least that was until that
Speaker 1: peculiar late summer of eighteen seventy eight when everything changed.
Speaker 1: What follows is an account of what some claim to
Speaker 1: be one of the most terrifying and credible incidences of
Speaker 1: a poltergeist haunting in Canadian history. You're listening to Unexplained
Speaker 1: and I'm Richard mc lane Smith. Though there may have
Speaker 1: been earlier signs of what was later to come most
Speaker 1: traced the beginnings to a cryptic and disturbing nightmare that
Speaker 1: Esther suffered on the night of August twenty seventh. It
Speaker 1: was the details of the nightmare that put Esther in
Speaker 1: such a sullen mood the following day. It wouldn't be
Speaker 1: until late that night, but she finally plucked up the
Speaker 1: courage to tell Olive what exactly had been on her mind.
Speaker 1: With everyone else having returned to work, Esther joined Olive
Speaker 1: in the parlor as she carried out some clothing repairs.
Speaker 1: After making her sister promised not to tell anyone about
Speaker 1: it for fear it might distress them, she proceeded to
Speaker 1: outline the dream. At first, as she explained, she hadn't
Speaker 1: realized it was a dream it having been so vivid
Speaker 1: and lifelike, thinking she had woken up and was merely
Speaker 1: walking downstairs to the kitchen. She soon realized that something
Speaker 1: wasn't right. Although it was the same house, everything about
Speaker 1: it was somehow different. For a start, it wasn't yellow
Speaker 1: outside but green, and all the rooms were in slightly
Speaker 1: odd places. Then Olive and Dan had appeared, only instead
Speaker 1: of their usual all faces, they had bears heads with
Speaker 1: large sharp teeth and huge eyes the color of blood.
Speaker 1: Moments later, Jenny, William and John, and even the little
Speaker 1: ones Willie and George had appeared, all of them with
Speaker 1: the same bears heads on their shoulders. Together they turned
Speaker 1: and growled menacingly at Esther, when she was distracted by
Speaker 1: another sound coming from beyond the front door. Venturing outside
Speaker 1: to investigate, she saw a vast stampede of bulls in
Speaker 1: the distance, racing toward the house. As they drew nearer,
Speaker 1: she could see that their eyes were a bright electric blue,
Speaker 1: and their mouths were dripping with blood. And on the
Speaker 1: ground where their hoofs kicked up the dirt, terrific berths
Speaker 1: of fire roared up from underneath them. On and on
Speaker 1: they came with a cacophonous roar, until finally they smashed
Speaker 1: through the front fence and pummeled into the house. Esther
Speaker 1: had staggered back in terror, only to wake up seconds
Speaker 1: later on a cold wooden floor, having seemingly fallen out
Speaker 1: of bed. What do you think it means, she asked Olive, hopefully,
Speaker 1: Seeing that it had clearly been of great concern to
Speaker 1: her young sister, Olive suggested she try to forget it,
Speaker 1: telling her that as long as she kept to reading
Speaker 1: her Bible, she would have nothing to worry about. After all,
Speaker 1: God is more powerful than the devil, she insisted, and
Speaker 1: he will always protect her. Later that evening, after dinner,
Speaker 1: Esther took a seat on the front step of the
Speaker 1: house and gazed at the stars while she waited for
Speaker 1: Bob McNeill to show up. McNeill, who was a local shoemaker,
Speaker 1: had been courting Esther for a number of weeks. Recently, however,
Speaker 1: he had made a habit of arranging to meet her
Speaker 1: only to then fail to turn up. So it was
Speaker 1: with barely contained glee when Esther spied the young man's
Speaker 1: horse and buggy approaching from the top of the road.
Speaker 1: Pulling up outside the house at just past eight. McNeill
Speaker 1: apologized for missing Esther the previous night, but promised to
Speaker 1: make it up to her. Flashing a smile, he invited
Speaker 1: her into the buggy to join him for an evening
Speaker 1: ride into the countryside. It was a little more than
Speaker 1: two hours later back at the cottage, as Jenny was
Speaker 1: heading up to bed when it clearly distrought Esther threw
Speaker 1: open the front door and ran straight to her room.
Speaker 1: Without looking back. For the next week, Esther would cry
Speaker 1: herself to sleep every night, refusing to give any information
Speaker 1: about what exactly had happened with Bob McNeill. It was
Speaker 1: a few days later, on the evening of September fourth,
Speaker 1: that a thick fog rolled into the town of Amherst.
Speaker 1: With the entire household fast asleep, Esther, who shared a
Speaker 1: bed with her sister Jenny, began to stir snapping. Suddenly
Speaker 1: awake with a scream, she leapt out of the bed.
Speaker 1: What's going on, snapped Jenny. Something touched me, said Esther,
Speaker 1: shivering with fright. I can hear it rustling in the bed.
Speaker 1: Fearing it might be a mouse, Jenny jumped out too,
Speaker 1: and hurriedly lit the bedside lamp. With the room now
Speaker 1: bathed in its soft, flickering light, Jenny looked about the
Speaker 1: floor and then peered under the bed, but there was
Speaker 1: nothing to be found save for a small green box
Speaker 1: where they kept sewing materials. Pulling back the bed covers,
Speaker 1: Jenny gasped at the sight of something moving within the
Speaker 1: mattress there. She said, it must be trapped inside. The
Speaker 1: women watched for a moment at the sight of what
Speaker 1: appeared to be a small creature moving through the straw mattress.
Speaker 1: Satisfied they had found the culprit and knowing that there
Speaker 1: was little harm it could do from in there, the
Speaker 1: sisters returned to bed. The following night, however, the rustling
Speaker 1: sound came again. Leaping out of bed once more, the
Speaker 1: sisters again searched underneath for any sign of a culprit,
Speaker 1: realizing that this time the noise was coming from inside
Speaker 1: the small green box. Placing the lamp on the floor,
Speaker 1: Jenny squeezed herself under the bed frame and reached in
Speaker 1: to retrieve it, cautious not to let it spill as
Speaker 1: she pulled it out, Jenny pushed it to the middle
Speaker 1: of the room, bracing themselves for the mouse to reveal
Speaker 1: itself at any moment. The sisters sat back, staring expectantly
Speaker 1: at the box as the flickering light of the lamp
Speaker 1: cast ominous shadows on the wall. When suddenly, the entire
Speaker 1: box jumped straight up into the air, landing on its side.
Speaker 1: Esther reeled back with alarm in expectation of a fleeing mouse.
Speaker 1: Only strangely, nothing came out. Jenny moved in for a
Speaker 1: closer look. Tipping the box back over, she peered into it,
Speaker 1: but found only the collection of sewing materials inside. That's odd,
Speaker 1: she thought, as she poked inside the box. She was
Speaker 1: just about to say as much to Esther when the
Speaker 1: box again jumped almost an entire foot into the air.
Speaker 1: Dan and Olive were startled awake by the screams coming
Speaker 1: from Esther and Jenny's room. Moments later, they found the
Speaker 1: two women carrying together on the bed, pointing toward the
Speaker 1: small box on the floor and claiming that it had
Speaker 1: just leapt into the air completely of its own accord.
Speaker 1: Dan could barely hide his irritation as he told them
Speaker 1: both to stop messing about and get back to bed.
Speaker 1: Having reluctantly got back under the covers, the two sisters
Speaker 1: would spend the rest of the night anxiously listening for
Speaker 1: any more peculiar noises, and though Dan had little time
Speaker 1: for whatever it was the two women had witnessed, there
Speaker 1: would soon be little doubt that something inexplicable had crept
Speaker 1: into their home. Are you always taking care of your family?
Speaker 1: Do you often take care of others and not yourself?
Speaker 1: Now it's time to take care of yourself. To make
Speaker 1: time for you you deserve it. Teledoc gives you access
Speaker 1: to a licensed therapist to help you get back to
Speaker 1: feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc,
Speaker 1: you can speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video.
Speaker 1: Therapy appointments are available seven days a week from seven
Speaker 1: am to nine pm local time. If you feel overwhelmed
Speaker 1: sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, depressed or lonely,
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Speaker 1: so they make it easy to change counselors if needed.
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Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast Today to get started. That's teladoc dot com
Speaker 1: slash Unexplained podcast. The following evening, having seemed fine all day,
Speaker 1: Esther became suddenly unwell seeing her sister, so pale Olive
Speaker 1: suggested she head straight to bed, where she was joined
Speaker 1: soon after by Jenny. Having just got to sleep, Jenny
Speaker 1: was shocked awake by a series of horrific screams Jenny
Speaker 1: hurriedly lit the lamp and held it toward the middle
Speaker 1: of the room, nearly dropping it at the sight of
Speaker 1: her sister, who was now yelling for all her life
Speaker 1: that she was dying. Jenny could barely recognize the distressed
Speaker 1: vigor stood before her, the face flushed with blood and
Speaker 1: eyes bulging out. Esther's hair was also changed, appearing as
Speaker 1: if it were standing on end. As her entire body trembled,
Speaker 1: Esther grabbed the back of a chair to steady herself,
Speaker 1: digging her nails into its soft wood. Having woken up
Speaker 1: the entire house, Dan and Olive arrived moments later and
Speaker 1: quickly helped Esther back into bed, but Esther seemed only
Speaker 1: to deteriorate, screaming suddenly that she felt as though she
Speaker 1: were about to burst. Dan held a lamp over her
Speaker 1: face and reeled back at the horrific sight of her
Speaker 1: now completely swollen body, her skin appearing as though it
Speaker 1: might rip apart at any moment. Esther writhed about in agony,
Speaker 1: grinding her teeth as spittle bubbled up at the sides
Speaker 1: of her mouth, When suddenly, a monumental clap of thunder
Speaker 1: reverberated around the room, bringing everyone to a complete stop.
Speaker 1: Thinking that the house had been struck by lightning, A
Speaker 1: terrified Olive brushed to check on her son's only to
Speaker 1: find them sleeping soundly in their beds. Returning to Esther
Speaker 1: and Jenny's room, Olive then pulled open the curtain and
Speaker 1: stared at the sky in utter amusement. There was not
Speaker 1: a cloud in it. The thunder, it seemed, had come
Speaker 1: from inside the bedroom. Just then, three loud bangs rang out,
Speaker 1: causing the entire room to shake. Jenny looked Olive in
Speaker 1: utter amazement. The bangs had come from underneath the bed.
Speaker 1: Passing the lamp to his wife, Dan took a look
Speaker 1: under it, but there was nothing to be seen. With
Speaker 1: calm being slowly restored, Jenny noticed that Esther had now
Speaker 1: fallen asleep and was returned to her usual size. Satisfied
Speaker 1: that she had recovered from whatever had been ailing her,
Speaker 1: the others returned to the following morning. Esther, who remembered
Speaker 1: little of the previous night, appeared to have completely recovered
Speaker 1: her health. Four days later, however, whatever it was was
Speaker 1: back that night, Esther's screams once again brought Olive and
Speaker 1: Dan rushing to her aid, only to find Jenny lying
Speaker 1: completely unconscious next to her, and the bed covers in
Speaker 1: a pile at the far end of the room. Esther,
Speaker 1: once again swollen and feverish, lay completely still on the bed,
Speaker 1: petrified of what she had apparently just witnessed. Something pulled
Speaker 1: the sheet off the bed. She cried Jenny had fainted
Speaker 1: at the sight of it. Having no idea what to
Speaker 1: make of it all, Dan checked on Jenny, who had
Speaker 1: started to come round as Olive gathered the covers from
Speaker 1: the floor, laying them back on of Esther and Jenny,
Speaker 1: before of them watched on in horror as seconds later
Speaker 1: they were again pulled clean off the bed and flung
Speaker 1: to the far end of the room. A pillow was
Speaker 1: then launched by something unseen, striking John, who had just
Speaker 1: joined them in the faith. It was followed by another
Speaker 1: cacophony of loud banging, coming again from underneath the bed.
Speaker 1: After another restless night, the following morning, calm had again
Speaker 1: been restored and Esther appeared once more to have recovered
Speaker 1: her health. Though wary of what other people might think
Speaker 1: of it all, Olive and Dan sought the help of
Speaker 1: a local doctor, if not to stop the strange phenomena, then,
Speaker 1: at least to find a cure for Esther's sudden bouts
Speaker 1: of mania. It was all the forty eight year old
Speaker 1: doctor Careite could do not to laugh at the hapless
Speaker 1: couple's ludicrous account of the past few days. A committed
Speaker 1: man of science, especially during a time of such great
Speaker 1: scientific advance, Careit was not prone to nonsense and superstition. However,
Speaker 1: believing there was some serious cause for concern regarding Esther's health,
Speaker 1: the doctor agreed to take a look at her. So
Speaker 1: it was with some astonishment when late that evening, Doctor
Speaker 1: Careit and the others watched as Esther's pillow again appeared
Speaker 1: to be pulled out from under her head by an
Speaker 1: invisible hand. Moments later, a steady succession of loud bangs
Speaker 1: sent the doctor running toward the door, each bang seeming
Speaker 1: to chase him along the floor, feeling for all the
Speaker 1: world as if something vast and unseen were in that
Speaker 1: room with them. They could only watch with terror and
Speaker 1: disbelief as again the covers flew from the bed into
Speaker 1: the far wall, But this time it was followed by
Speaker 1: something new, A sound like the scratching of claws. Had
Speaker 1: the group, turning toward the top end of the bed
Speaker 1: and gasping in collective horror. There written on the wall
Speaker 1: just above it were the words Esther Cox, you are
Speaker 1: mine to kill. A short time later, a flying lump
Speaker 1: of plaster that nearly struck the doctor on the head
Speaker 1: was followed by another series of bangs, as all about
Speaker 1: the room rattled from the strength of them, all the
Speaker 1: while Esther lay perfectly still in abject terror at what
Speaker 1: seemed to be occurring all around. By morning, with doctor
Speaker 1: Carete having returned to check on her, Esther seemed once
Speaker 1: again to be in good health. Later that day, grateful
Speaker 1: for the distraction of helping Olive with the housework, Esther
Speaker 1: was sent down to the cellar to collect some milk.
Speaker 1: Stopping at the top of the steps, she had the
Speaker 1: sudden sense that something was lurking in the darkness below.
Speaker 1: Telling herself not to be so stupid, she promptly lit
Speaker 1: a lamp, holding it out in front of her as
Speaker 1: she cautiously made her way down, pushing back the dark
Speaker 1: with each advancing step. Having seen the milkern at the
Speaker 1: back of the room, she had just taken another step
Speaker 1: toward it when she heard something moving about behind it.
Speaker 1: Esther slowly lifted the lamp and squinted at the darkness beyond,
Speaker 1: when a plank of wood came flying out of it,
Speaker 1: landing at her feet and sending her scurrying back to
Speaker 1: the dining room. Having been waiting in there at the time.
Speaker 1: Doctor Careit scrambled down immediately to investigate for himself, but
Speaker 1: found the room completely deserted. Careit then invited Esther to
Speaker 1: come and see that it was only her imagination playing
Speaker 1: tricks on her. Moments later, having joined the doctor in
Speaker 1: the cellar, a hail of potato shot out from the
Speaker 1: back of the room, narrowly missing them both and leaving
Speaker 1: the doctor in little doubt the desk had not been
Speaker 1: mistaken after all. Later that night, the doctor returned to
Speaker 1: administer a sedative to the young woman, who by now
Speaker 1: was once again in agony and bedridden, complaining that her
Speaker 1: body felt as if electricity were surging through it. The
Speaker 1: bangings had commenced again soon after, and so it would
Speaker 1: continue for the next three weeks until one night there
Speaker 1: came a startling revelation, with the family once again gathered
Speaker 1: around Esther's bed to help calm her as the doctor
Speaker 1: administered his medicine, the banging started once more. Suddenly Esther
Speaker 1: was momentarily gripped by seizure before becoming completely still. Then,
Speaker 1: as if in a hypnotic state, she started to talk
Speaker 1: and slowly but surely began to reveal what exactly had
Speaker 1: occurred on that fateful night with Bob mc neill. As
Speaker 1: she went on to explain, shortly after he'd arrived to
Speaker 1: pick her up, they had proceeded to take a ride
Speaker 1: into the country, just as they had planned. Having made
Speaker 1: it to the outskirts of Amherst, mc neill suggested they
Speaker 1: take a quiet back road towards some nearby marshes. Soon after,
Speaker 1: while making their way through a local forest, mc neille
Speaker 1: pulled the horse to a stop and leapt from the carriage.
Speaker 1: Taking a revolver from his pocket, he pointed it at Esther,
Speaker 1: demanding she get out immediately. As the heavy rain began
Speaker 1: to fall. The courageous Esther steadfastly refused. Terrified at what
Speaker 1: had suddenly come over the man she assumed to be
Speaker 1: her sweetheart, she screamed for him to take her home, immediately,
Speaker 1: becoming more enraged as the rain pelted down ever harder
Speaker 1: mc neill attempted to grab Esther from the car when
Speaker 1: the sound of wheels were heard approaching from further up
Speaker 1: the road. Sensing his opportunity for whatever it was he
Speaker 1: had planned to do was now gone, McNeill jumped back
Speaker 1: into the carriage, and within seconds they were thundering through
Speaker 1: the forest back towards town. Having finally arrived home, Esther
Speaker 1: jumped straight from the buggy and ran inside. McNeill was
Speaker 1: never heard from again. A moment later, Esther appeared to
Speaker 1: come around from her peculiar state, with no recollection of
Speaker 1: what she had just said. On being told, she burst
Speaker 1: immediately into tears and confirmed that it had all been true. This,
Speaker 1: at least is the version of events as recounted by Esther.
Speaker 1: Some have speculated, however, that there is a part to
Speaker 1: the story that she did not wish to recount. With
Speaker 1: gossip running rife among the townspeople and local newspapers even
Speaker 1: beginning to pick up the story, focus inevitably turned to
Speaker 1: the family. Few in that newly enlightened age, having only
Speaker 1: so recently been presented with such wonders as Darwin's theory
Speaker 1: of evolution and Edison's phonograph, were prepared to believe that
Speaker 1: that Little Yellow House had really been taken over by spirits,
Speaker 1: amongst them local Baptist clergyman, doctor Edwin Clay, having been
Speaker 1: especially troubled by reports that the family might be orchestrating
Speaker 1: the entire thing, decided to investigate for himself, But after
Speaker 1: spending only a few hours in Esther's presence, Clay was
Speaker 1: soon convinced that the reports had been entirely genuine. However,
Speaker 1: as a man of the church but also of science, Clay,
Speaker 1: just as doctor Carrete had begun to suspect, was unconvinced
Speaker 1: that spirits were to blame. It was his belief that
Speaker 1: perhaps Esther had been so affected by Bob McNeill's horrific
Speaker 1: actions that it had somehow unleashed a mysterious power within her.
Speaker 1: Soon after, Reverend Temple, another local pastor, also claimed to
Speaker 1: have witnessed a number of peculiar events for himself, and,
Speaker 1: together with doctor Clay, wasted no time in vouching for
Speaker 1: the integrity of the Ted and Cox family to his
Speaker 1: local congregation. Before long, half the town had turned up
Speaker 1: at the Little Yellow Cottage to witness the spectacle for themselves,
Speaker 1: and so it would continue on and off for the
Speaker 1: next year, as an increasing array of strange occurrences appeared
Speaker 1: to coalesce around Esther. When fires started breaking out in
Speaker 1: the house seemingly without reason, she was sent to live
Speaker 1: with a series of neighbors in the hope that it
Speaker 1: might put an end to it all, only for the
Speaker 1: trouble to follow her wherever she went. After hearing of
Speaker 1: the extra ordinary events, actor Walter Hubble traveled to Amherst
Speaker 1: to interview the family and stay with them in the
Speaker 1: hope of observing the bizarre phenomena for himself. Hubble published
Speaker 1: his full account of the family story and what he
Speaker 1: himself witnessed, of which much of this account was taken
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy nine, titling it The Haunted House, a
Speaker 1: True Ghost Story. Published alongside it were a number of
Speaker 1: letters and sworn Athor David's from all involved, including fifteen
Speaker 1: separate townspeople, doctor Kvite, and county court clerk Arthur Davison,
Speaker 1: attesting to the peculiar events they had seen. At one point,
Speaker 1: when Esther had been working for Arthur Davison, a fire
Speaker 1: had broken out in his barn, burning it to the ground.
Speaker 1: Esther was accused of arson and sentenced to four months
Speaker 1: in prison. Davison noted later, though he was in little
Speaker 1: doubt that Esther had started the fire, she had done
Speaker 1: so by some extraordinary and mysterious means. Esther was released
Speaker 1: from prison, having only spent a month in custody, after
Speaker 1: which all the strange phenomena ceased. Little is known of
Speaker 1: what became of Esther's later life, aside from her being
Speaker 1: twice married and having two children of her own, dying
Speaker 1: in Brockton, Massachusetts, in November nineteen twelve at the age
Speaker 1: of fifty two. If you enjoy listening to Unexplained and
Speaker 1: would like to help supporters, you can now go to
Speaker 1: Unexplained podcast dot com forward slash support. All donations, no
Speaker 1: matter how large or small, are massively appreciated. All elements
Speaker 1: have Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please
Speaker 1: subscribe and rate the show on iTunes, and feel free
Speaker 1: to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding
Speaker 1: the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have
Speaker 1: an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You
Speaker 1: can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or
Speaker 1: Twitter at Unexplained pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com.
Speaker 1: Forward slash Unexplained. Now, it's time to take care of yourself,
Speaker 1: to make time for you. Teledoc gives you access to
Speaker 1: a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling
Speaker 1: your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or
Speaker 1: video anytime between seven am to nine pm local time,
Speaker 1: seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most
Speaker 1: insurance or employers. Download the app or visit telldoc dot com.
Speaker 1: Forward slash Unexplained Podcast Today to get started. That's teladoc
Speaker 1: dot com slash Unexplained Podcast