The year was 1878 and the place was Princess Street in Amherst, a town in north central Nova Scotia where the province borders New Brunswick. Esther Cox, 19 years old, lived in a small rented house with her married sister Olive Teed, her husband Daniel Teed, and their two young children. The crowded little cottage was also home to Esther's siblings, Jennie and William, as well as Daniel's brother, John.

Suddenly, into the tedium of this ordinary home, horror struck. But not from some paranormal force, rather from an all-too-human monster: Esther was nearly raped by an acquaintance named Bob MacNeal, a shoemaker with a disdainful reputation of which Esther had been unaware. Although she escaped the attack with minor injuries, the violence against her seemed somehow to open a door to further attacks - this time from an unseen entity or entities. And the Amherst poltergeist mystery began.

Esther Cox, Amhurst Mystery


I found this case very interesting.

It is a case of possession and David St Clair wrote a book based on this story entitled "Mine to Kill" - which can be bought on Amazon, or at least that is where I got my copy.

Some of the things that happened during her ordeal were:

* unexplained fires erupted around the house
* knives and forks were thrown by some entity, sticking violently into woodwork
* lit matches materialized out of thin air and dropped onto beds
* furniture moved about by itself, flipping over or slamming into walls
* loud slaps were heard, followed by the appearance of red finger marks on Esther's face
* sewing pins appeared from nowhere and were jabbed into Esther's face
* a pocketknife was ripped from the hand of a neighborhood boy and stabbed into Esther's back

OMG What a horrible story. Do you think it's true? EWWWWWWWWWWWW...

Yes, it is a true account and as far as I am aware, when she died at the age of 52, not one newspaper published her obituary, it was almost as if the citizens of Nova Scotia wanted to forget her.

WOW pretty amazing story, however very frightening..Thanks for sharing..JN-

Interesting story. As I read the article, I kept thinking back to the story of the Bell Witch. Interesting how after her arrest things quieted down for her as her life went from spinster to wife.

Not interesting, more the fact she couldn't do it anymore as she had a husband who would watch her......

Very interesting story..This poor woman went through hell, but what was interesting was after spending time in jail, these activities stopped..thanks for sharing

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking.

Does anybody have information of people who witnessed the occurences? I mean who documented this originally? How did the story get out?

ooooooooo very scary!!!!
some1 hold me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
she had knifes and stuff thrown at her. and other stuff...all after she was nearky raped? this is interesting....how could a near raped caused all of this afterward?

Being nearly raped or raped is very traumatic...It obviously manifested these attacks.

Eh?? Elaborate

I think -and this is only my own opinion - that such a traumatic experience (for her), opened up channels that would have otherwise remained closed. The rapist "Bob MacNeil", almost had overpowered her will.

What I think is to be understood from this story, is that the whole concept of "will" can so easily be overcome and yet on the other hand it is so difficult. To totally "overpower" another is not easy (thank God), however, it is not impossible. To overpower another's will is against, viritually every worthwhile belief, it is not worth it, not for the "victim" nor the perpetrator.