Читать книгу The Element Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Hauntings: The Complete A–Z for the Entire Magical World - Theresa Cheung, Theresa Cheung - Страница 16

The Amherst Haunting is a tale of poltergeist activity that took place in Amherst, Nova Scotia, in 1878 and centred on a 19-year-old woman, Esther Cox, recently threatened with rape. One night, soon after the traumatic event, Esther started to feel ill and went to bed early. Later she woke up screaming that she was dying. It is said that ‘Her eyes went bloodshot, her hair stood on end, and her body puffed up to twice its normal size.’

Strange, violent movements filled the small, two-room cottage where Esther lived with her extended family. Thunderous bangs erupted from under the bed. Sheets were ripped off her and tossed into a corner. A doctor who came to examine her watched a bolster move of its own accord. Along the wall he watched words a foot high being scratched into the plaster: ‘Esther Cox you are mine to kill!’

The disturbances in the house continued, including terrifying claps of sound and unexplained fires – lit matches materializing out of nowhere and dropping on to beds. After some time, the longsuffering landlord decided he’d had enough of his property being damaged and asked Esther’s family to leave. She alone left instead, finding work at a nearby farm, but her job was cut short when the barn erupted into fire and the farmer had Esther charged with arson. She was sentenced to four months in jail, of which she served one month before being released. The story ended happily, for the disturbances subsided after Esther was freed from jail and eventually ended completely. Later she married, twice, and finally died in 1912 at the age of 53.

The case was never solved. Some at the time put forward the theory that electricity was responsible. Electricity was a new notion at the time, the latest wonder of the age, and people did not yet understand how it behaved. Some theorized that the unexplained fires were bolts of lightning and the noises were thunder.

In light of modern theories of the origin and nature of poltergeists, it is likely that Esther was the focus of psychokinetic energy, in which repressed emotions and sexuality burst forth, causing the phenomena. The case remains unusual in that Esther was beyond the age when poltergeist problems tend to occur, and that the disturbances also occurred in her absence.