Esther Cox was born March 28, 1860.  She had dark brown, curly hair worn short and her face was round with a pale complexion.  She enjoyed being with family and friends and attended church regularly.  When Esther was 18, she was living with her sister, Olive, and brother-in-law, Daniel Teed in a two-storey house on Princess Street in Amherst.  However, the simplicity of Esther’s life would be threatened by an invisible unknown power that tormented her both mentally and physically.   

During a period from 1878 to 1879, unexplained manifestations began to take place at the little yellow house on Princess Street.  Mysterious fires would appear and lit matches would fall from nowhere.  There would be powerful shakings of the house with loud knockings and other strange noises.  Furniture would move from place to place, turn upside down or pile up on top of each other.  Household items would disappear, objects would fall from the ceiling and table knifes would fly through the air. 

Esther herself would become feverish and her body would swell leaving her screaming with pain.  She would be slapped across the face with such force that left a hand imprint.  Pins would come out of the air and stick into her body leaving her marked from head to toe with scratches and once it was reported that she was stabbed repeatedly in her back with a clasp knife.  Perhaps, one of the most terrifying events was the night in Esther’s room when everyone heard the sound of writing and saw deeply indented in the wall the threat “Esther Cox, you are mine to kill”.

With all the unquestionable and unanswered actions it became no longer safe to have Esther in the house so she left, never returning.  Esther survived the ordeal and eventually married Mr. Adam Porter of Springhill, NS, who later died and they had one son.  She remarried a Mr. Peter Shanahan, also of Springhill, and they had one son.  They moved to Brockton, Mass.  Esther died November 8, 1912.

We have recently commissioned Elaine Baptiste of Salt Bay Artisans to produce an "Esther Cox" doll (see image) for the Museum.  The Book of Walter Hubbell's record of the mysterious events, "The Great Amherst Mystery" is also for sale at the Museum Gift Shop.

Source:  The Great Amherst Mystery - Reference file