Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Great Amherst Mystery
Great Amherst Mystery | Walter Hubbell
8 posts | 1 read
A terrified scream echoed around the walls of the cramped cottage. The cries were those of 18-year-old Esther Cox and the moment would mark the beginning of one of the world's most notorious unsolved cases of poltergeist activity on record. The writer and actor, Walter Hubbell spent several weeks living with the family in the haunted house and carefully documented the terrifying and life-threatening events. The accounts, reported in newspapers at the time and then more fully in Hubbell's book, gripped readers around the world. Witnessed by hundreds of people over the course of many months, and with no obvious signs of this being a hoax, The Great Amherst Mystery, as it was called at the time, remains one of the most baffling and unexplained demonstrations of apparent supernatural power. Even its most vocal critic admitted that the case was a classic which had produced an impact of one kind or another on hundreds of thousands of people. This new and complete edition of the written testimony of Walter Hubbell, who witnessed and first investigated these extraordinary events from 1878, includes the official statements of those present. This edition also contains an introduction written by Chris Hastings which sets the scene for the modern reader. Those sceptical of the supernatural will find The Great Amherst Mystery one of the greatest of challenges. It is harder to explain how this could be a hoax than it is to accept that ghosts were responsible. "When I read the accounts now in my journal, from which my experience is copied, I am almost speechless with wonder that I ever lived to behold such sights." - Walter Hubbell.
LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
FantasyChick
post image

Another #BucketList item down. Tonight we did our town's Haunted History Walk and it was a ton of fun. So informative! Most of the ghost stories and urban legends I've grown up with but there were some new to me including a barber who owned a "House of Horrors" (which some of the displays are still able to be seen at a new location) and the last hangings ever in our town of two teens convicted of murder. Plus I won a T-Shirt! Great night ?

23 likes1 comment
blurb
FantasyChick
post image

@teebe I love a good ghost story and locally, we have tons! The story of Esther Cox (tagged book) overshadows the other stories now since we've capitalized on it (seriously, if you're ever in the area in October #EstherFest is a go to event!) but if you find a local there are some great legends to be heard! Some details have been lost for this one but I'll try my best.

Here's the heartbreaking story of The Marsh Witch
👇👇😑

FantasyChick Our tiny little town borders the next province and we are separated by tons of marsh land. You drive down one street and it just stops and turns from paved road to dirt. Nothing but marshland and access roads. It's kind of unsettling especially at night.

I'm not sure of the exact year anymore but it was a while ago.
3y
FantasyChick Down on the marsh was a family with a mentally ill daughter and they had a large farmhouse with lots of farmland property there. Enough that they had hired staff to keep the farm going. One day some of the farm hands lured the girl out the barn with news of a new birth by one of the animals. Once she had been lured out, they proceeded to r*pe her in the barn. This inevitably leads to her becoming pregnant. 3y
FantasyChick Now, it's not really known what happened in between the r*pe and the birth, with the farmhands and the family but eventually she gives birth to the child. The story goes that after the birth the girl's father takes and kills the baby, burying it on the marsh property. 3y
See All 7 Comments
FantasyChick Traumatized, the girl becomes increasing difficult and hard to handle and ends up being moved to a small house on the property where she is kept alone and only visited to be brought food. How she died has been lost over the years but she remained locked in that house for the remainder of her life. 3y
FantasyChick Legend says that if you go down to the marsh at night and see lights (it's pitch dark there at night. The only lights visible are in the distance from houses or the highway on the other end) it's her out searching for her lost baby and the men that wronged her. It's sad and creepy and completely unsettling but that's the story of our Marsh Witch. Or the Marsh Lights, depending on who you talk to. 3y
FantasyChick Hope you enjoyed this lost local legend @teebe ! #creepychristmas 3y
teebe Wow that‘s awful. And marshes are already fairly creepy. I used to absolutely devour books about Canadian ghost stories but I‘ve never heard this one! Thanks for sharing! 3y
21 likes7 comments
blurb
FantasyChick
post image

Thanks for the tag @Book_Fiend_Melissa and thank you for the giveaway @KVanRead 😊😊

I'm really working on reading more Canadian so this was a thinker for me 😂

1. Tagged. Honestly just an old favourite hometown mystery
2. Sara Gruen
3. Donair Poutine (nom nom nom) and ketchup chips. Not together....that would be gross 😂😂

Wanna join in @ShelleyBooksie @sherryvdh

#HappyCanadaDay

MsMelissa Oh hell yes to ketchup chips 😋 4y
KVanRead Thanks for playing. Ketchup chips ❤️ Haven‘t tried donair poutine but luv me some donair pizza 😂 4y
merelybookish Donair! Makes me think of Pizza Corner in Halifax. 😁 4y
26 likes3 comments
blurb
FantasyChick
post image

You can't grow up in my town without having a working knowledge of the #haunted history of Esther Cox

Poltergeists? Possession? Or something more? No one will ever know but visitors can enjoy a guided tour, a pretty bad play and a really, really ugly mural 😂

Believe what you will but I've been to the site a million times. It's....unsettling *shiver*

#chillingphotochallenge #scarathlon #teamslaughter
@Clwojick @TheReadingMermaid

ljuliel Looks good ! 5y
MidnightBookGirl Immediately runs to the internet to see who Esther Cox is... ;) 5y
Clwojick @MidnightBookGirl dido! 😂😈☠️ 5y
FantasyChick @MidnightBookGirl @Clwojick It's an interesting little ghost story. I remember it used to terrify me as a child, especially when we would walk past the building where the house used to be. 😂 5y
Clwojick Oh god. No kidding 🙈 5y
34 likes5 comments
blurb
FantasyChick
post image

1. Tagged ghost story. It's kind of a big deal around here and yes, it's still haunted 😱
2. Heat!!!!
3. Watermelon and BBQ. Though it doesn't NEED to be summer to have either but it just tastes better when it's warm
4. Ebook
5. 👋👋👋👋
#FriYayIntro @howjessreads

Stacy_31 I totally agree with # 3!! 5y
readingjedi #2 - yes! I'm totally with Olaf in that I love all things HOT! 🌡🌡🌡🌡 5y
37 likes2 comments
blurb
FantasyChick
post image

Amherst, NS
Born and raised 🤗

#whereonearth
@Tianarose

Louise Greetings from Amherst, MA! 7y
CuriousG I'm pretty sure my brother's mother & father in-law live in Amherst N.S.! 7y
47 likes2 comments
blurb
FantasyChick
post image

Another week, another #FriYAYintro! Love getting to know all the #Littens 😊

1. The book tagged. We have our famous (around here anyway) Esther Cox ghost story!
2. The smell. Fall totally has a scent all its own
3. Pumpkin seeds
4. I collect print but prefer to read ebooks (which means I usually buy them twice 😑)
5. What are you being for Halloween!!!??? 🎃👹😨

@jess.how

DebbieGrillo I'm going to be hiding, hoping someone else will answer the door. 7y
Natasha.C.Barnes I don't know if I'll have any occasion to dress up...but maybe someone from 7y
howjessicareads I might be Pippi Longstocking again. 🙂 7y
19 likes3 comments
blurb
FantasyChick
Great Amherst Mystery | Walter Hubbell
post image

1) My house is currently under some serious renovations outside so I'm posting the downtown, which isn't far from where I live 😊
2) I have lived here my whole life!!
3) I don't eat breakfast usually, but when I do...waffles and fresh strawberries...nom nom
4) I'm a nightime reader
5) I have 3 kids....does that count? Lol

#friYAYintro
@jess.how

howjessicareads 5) yep, absolutely. 😜😂 7y
24 likes1 comment