Lore - Episode 66: Where There’s Smoke

Episode Date: August 7, 2017

Fire is a dangerous tool. Used properly, it can transform a society, but if it isn’t respected, it can burn that society to the ground. Which is why we are obsessed with controlling it—and completely, utterly afraid of it. * * * Official Lore Website: www.lorepodcast.com Extra member episodes: www.patreon.com/lorepodcast Official Lore Merchandise: www.lorepodcast.com/shop Access premium content!: https://www.lorepodcast.com/support

One of my favorite Stephen King novels is Firestarter, which, without giving away too much, is the powerful story of a little girl with a supernatural gift. King refers to it as pyrokinesis, the ability to control fire with the mind, and that's a frightening thought. But at the root of the concept is the idea of control. Fire serves the person directing it. But what if that control were gone? What if the flames seemed to take on a mind of their own, and all those tragic, terrible

characteristics suddenly became unpredictable and possible? Fire under control is a powerful, life-giving tool. On its own, though, it can destroy everything in its path. That's exactly what happened in central London way back in September of 1666. Over the course of four days, fire engulfed building after building, ultimately destroying the homes of over 70,000 people. Two centuries later, and a continent away, another fire swept through the American city of Chicago.

After three days of burning, over 100,000 people were left homeless. These were both accidents, of course. The London fire is thought to have been started in a bakery, while the Chicago fire has traditionally been blamed on a cow kicking over a lantern in the O'Leary barn. But accidents happen, especially when it comes to fire. Because it's minor, while other times it leads to horrible destruction. As a result, we fear fire. Yes, it's a tool we can use to our advantage, but it's also a beast of limitless hunger

and frightening power. So we hide the matches from our children, build safety systems into our homes, and maintain teams of brave men and women who stand ready to fight back when fire breaks out. So what would we do if all that power fell into the hands of something out of our reach, invisible and unpredictable? Something with clear malicious intent, zero regard for human life. Something perhaps, that's supernatural. I'm Aaron Mankey, and this is Lore.

It was the dream that unsettled her. They always seem to have a way of doing that, don't they? In her dream, she'd been at home in the small cottage she shared with far too many other members of her family when an angry bull appeared outside. The bull was black as night, with eyes that glowed in icy blue. And after a tense moment of silence, it began crashing into the side of the cottage, threatening to knock the little house to the ground. And then she awoke.

Daily life for Esther might sound like a bad dream as well. She lived in a small cottage that belonged to her sister Olive and Olive's husband Daniel, along with her two small boys. Her brother William also lived in the house, as did her other sister Jane, who Esther shared a bed with. And if that wasn't enough, Daniel's brother John stayed there as well. Added all up, and Esther had seven roommates. She was also just 18 years old, that age when we're all still trying to figure out exactly

who we are. But Esther was having to do that in the middle of a packed, noisy house. I realize that this is most likely me projecting my social preferences on her, but it must have been maddening. So while the dream of the blue-eyed bull and the falling cottage might have left her feeling unsettled, daily life most likely washed over her like a tidal wave. She moved on, and by the time evening arrived, it was all but forgotten. And I think Bob McNeil had something to do with that.

McNeil was her gentleman, Collar, a local young man that she'd taken an interest in. He was good-looking, charming, and maybe a bit wild and rough around the edges. Nothing Esther didn't mind at all. But her family did. They weren't a fan of Bob McNeil, and told her so every chance they had. Bob McNeil, they told her, was dangerous. But that didn't stop Esther from climbing into his carriage that night. He wanted to take her for a ride.

It was late August, 1878, and the countryside around their little town in Nova Scotia was beautiful, even in the dimming light. But there's always darkness just around the corner, isn't there? When they reached a wooded area, McNeil pulled the carriage over and got out and then asked Esther to do the same. She sensed something was wrong and shook her head. No, she said, I'll stay here. But McNeil insisted, and he pulled a revolver out of his pocket to show her just how serious

he was. Esther was about to scream, or maybe cave in and get out of the carriage. But instead, a noise startled both of them from somewhere in the shadows. Another carriage was approaching. McNeil quickly shoved the pistol back into his coat, and then jumped into his seat and urged the horses to move. Their journey back to Esther's home was tense. He sped the entire way, and at some point it began to rain, leaving her drenched in

cold. By the time she climbed out of the carriage, she was crying uncontrollably from the entire ordeal. Of course, her family noticed. How could they not in a household so small and confining? But they just assumed the couple had an argument. But they never asked, and Esther never stopped to talk. She just headed straight to bed.

Days went by. Life was unremarkable and uneventful for everyone in the cottage. And on September 4th, Esther awoke in the middle of the night, screaming. When Jane asked her what was wrong, Esther told her that there was a mouse in their bed. She could feel it, and soon enough, so could Jane, except they couldn't see it. In the end, they both just went back to sleep, assuming the mouse was now inside their mattress. But the next night, it happened again.

This time, though, the sounds were coming from a different location. It was almost as if the mouse had moved into a box beneath the bed. So the young women pulled the box out. Before either of them could open it and expose the mouse, the box jumped straight into the air, at least a foot, they said, and landed on its side. Their screams caught the attention of Daniel, their sister Olive's husband, who came rushing in. But after hearing their story, he just told them to go back to bed.

Whatever had happened seemed to sit on that fine line between unbelievable and unremarkable. A type of event that's frightening enough to shock you, but not powerful enough to be provable or worth obsessing over. But the following night, new events crossed that line. Jane awoke to the sound of Esther thrashing around in bed. She found her sister having some sort of a seizure or fit. Her eyes were wide open, and she was grinding her teeth and shaking. Jane screamed for help, and after a few moments, all six of the other people in the house were

standing beside their bed. But before anyone could do anything to help Esther, the room shook with three massive, powerful sounds. It was as if explosives had been detonated, or if your imagination was really creative, as if something large were crashing against the side of the cottage, like a bull. When the sound stopped, everyone turned back to Esther, but she no longer needed their help. She was fast asleep. It would be another four nights before anything new happened.

Daily life was smooth and uneventful for everyone, it seems. But it wouldn't last. Their short break was nothing more than the calm before the storm. On September 8th, just a couple of hours after everyone had gone to bed, screams came from Esther's room, waking everyone up. When they arrived, they found her having another seizure, jaw clenched, and hands balled up in fists at her side. That's when things started to fly, literally.

First it was a sheet from the bed, and then another. Then a pillow flew up and hit Daniel in the face. No one saw who was throwing the items, but they could clearly see it happening. It was like a brief, awkward, supernatural pillow fight. It all stopped, however, when three more loud booms shook the room, after which they found Esther peacefully sleeping once more. Daniel said he'd had enough. The following morning he called on the local physician, Dr. Karite, to come and check on

Esther. Something was wrong with her, he said. She needed help. All of them did. So when Karite walked through the cottage door, most of them probably sighed with relief. After his examination was complete, the doctor declared that Esther was suffering from some sort of nervous excitement. It was his opinion that something significant had happened to shock her, and the anxiety

from that event was still haunting her. And that's when the pillow beneath her head somehow flew out and onto the floor. Someone put it back, but it happened again. Daniel's brother, John, tried to hold the pillow down, but it continued to fly out and away from the bed. And Dr. Karite was astonished. He'd never seen anything like it in all of his years of practice, but before he could examine her further and try to find a rational explanation for such an unusual thing, the

room shook from the sound of more massive booms. This time, though, it didn't stop with three. It kept going, on and on, leaving all of them confused and afraid. Which made it all the more frightening when writing began to appear on the wall over the head of Esther's bed. It was as if an invisible finger were scratching words into the plaster. As each letter appeared, more and more plaster would crumble to the floor, but one of the larger chunks actually levitated upward before flying directly toward the doctor's face.

When the invisible message was complete, everyone stared at it, eyes wide and mouths open. The words were chilling. Esther cocks, it said, you are mine to kill. And then it was over. The booming stopped, as did Esther's seizures. Partest of all, though, was how the writing slowly began to fade away, almost as if it were evaporating, vanishing back into the realm it had come from. The things were far from over.

The following day, Carite returned to check on Esther, but found that the same violent activity was still occurring. The booming noises were still happening from time to time, but as much as the family searched the house, they just couldn't seem to find the cause. Daniel was increasingly frustrated. Once, standing in Esther's room with a handful of others, he shouted out for the thing to tell him how many people were standing in the room. Everyone heard the response, five slow knocks, one for each person present.

Chairs and other small pieces of furniture would be seen sliding across the floor, or sometimes levitating up and into the air. On one of the doctor's visits, a handful of potatoes appeared from nowhere, aimed straight at his head. I know, potatoes. No one ever admitted to throwing them. It was Esther who suffered the most, though. Her seizures and fits refused to go away, but she was also talking in her sleep.

One afternoon, Olive walked in to find Esther mumbling quietly. When she stooped down to listen, she heard her sister describe the terrifying evening she'd spent with Bob McNeill on the night of August 28th. So Olive began asking around. Maybe McNeill was somehow responsible for all of this. His behavior certainly fit the description of the traumatic event that Dr. Kar-Right had originally blamed, but every person she asked in town gave her the same puzzled look. McNeill, they told her, had gone missing days before, the night of August 28th, in fact.

That wasn't the only thing the community was whispering about, though. Esther and her strange, invisible assailant had become the talk of the town. So much so that neighbors and strangers began to knock on the cottage door, hoping for a chance to experience the odd events for themselves. And they were never disappointed. All signs pointed to something bigger than a neighborhood prank. With McNeill nowhere to be found, a growing list of eyewitnesses to the events, and the seemingly supernatural nature of it all, it was becoming more and more obvious that

something darker was at work. The clues were there. Everyone could see them, like smoke on the horizon. But as everyone knows, where there's smoke, there's fire. The family decided that a new plan was in order. If the invisible attacker would not leave Esther alone, perhaps Esther should try to escape it. So she and Jane were moved to a different room in the house.

If it worked, the spirit might actually give up and leave. In theory. In practice, though, it wasn't so simple. The very first night they slept in the new room, their invisible assailant followed them, waking Esther in the middle of the night with a loud, otherworldly voice. It told her that it planned to burn the house down. Jane, however, never heard a sound. Her voices followed the second night.

The spirit told Esther that it had once been a living person, but that had been many years before. Excited by this new revelation, Esther called out for the others to come and listen. But just like Jane, they were all deaf to the voice. That's when the fire appeared. It was a lit match that seemed to spark into existence high above them, against the ceiling, before falling to the floor. Jane rushed over and stomped her foot on it to put it out.

But almost immediately, a dozen more burning matches appeared in the air and fell to the floor like a rain of fire. This time, everyone helped to put them out. But as the collection of little flames was extinguished, one more landed on the dress that Esther had left on a chair. The fabric caught fire, and at the same time, something invisible moved the dress onto the floor and then pushed it under the bed. For one frightening moment, it looked as if the spirit, or ghost, or whatever it was,

might just have its way and burn Esther alive. But at the last moment, Daniel reached under the bed and pulled the dress back out and then stomped on it. And then, it was over. No more flames that night, no more falling matches, no more burning dresses. But it left everyone feeling very afraid, because what if, right? What if one of those matches had fallen in a room no one was in? What if one had landed on something more flammable than the floor or a dress?

Three days later, that's just what happened. While most of the family was out of the house, fire broke out in the cellar. It was just by chance that Olive and Esther noticed the smoke, and when they rushed down to see what had happened, they found a barrel of wood shavings, absolutely erupting with fire. Olive ran back up for a bucket of water, but spilled most of it in the panicked rush to get back downstairs. Esther ran out into the street, where she found a stranger passing through town and begged

him to come help. His assistance is what saved the house that day. A few nights later, Esther claimed to actually see the spirit that had been haunting her. She said it was a gray man with bright, evil eyes, and this gray man told her to leave the house, or else he would burn everything she loved to the ground. So she did. She packed up and went to a neighbor's house, but the spirit followed her, and that became normal life for her for months.

She moved from place to place in town, staying with friends or neighbors, and at each stop, the spirit would manifest in some frightening way, eventually driving her on to a new home. Sometimes it was the fire. Other times it was the loud voices or unexplainable booms. More furniture moved, and more objects levitated. Once she was even stabbed in the back with a knife that belonged to a boy in the shop where she worked. The knife had been in his pocket, but had somehow flown out and pierced her skin.

Not once, but twice. In June of 1879, she finally tried moving home, but almost immediately the fires began all over again. Daniel and Olive's landlord was finally forced to threaten the family. Either the fires go, or you do. And although it pained everyone to do it, they agreed that Esther had to leave for good. In late July, at the age of just 19, she hugged her family goodbye and left town. She eventually made her way to a nearby farm where she found lodging and employment.

It was close enough to amherst that she could visit her family from time to time, but far enough away that everyone felt safe. I wish I could say that Esther's story ends there. That after that, she disappeared from public record because her life returned to normal. But it didn't. Not long after settling in at the farm, the barn burned to the ground. The owner accused Esther of arson. After a short trial, she was sentenced to four months in prison.

She was released just one month later. Esther's story is a complex one. I can see how, at least on the surface, her tale sounds a lot like so many other haunted house or poltergeist stories with the invisible entity and deadly occurrences. Been there, done that, right? And yet, well, it's hard to escape the notion that every story is worth telling, that every story holds a unique quality or element that makes it worth passing on. The common elements give us a baseline for understanding the plot, and the nuances at

flavor and character. And the story of Esther Cox gives us all of that and more. In the end, it's impossible to say what the real source of the disturbance was, no matter how skeptical or open we might be. Perhaps it was the trauma of that evening attack in the woods. Bob McNeill seemed to step out of the story rather quickly, but so much of her emotional distress and suffering could easily be blamed on his assault. Or maybe it was the trauma of living in that house with so many other people.

As an introvert who craves silence more than anything else, I can attest to the maddening nature of community. But then again, the benefits of having people around you, supporting you, caring for you, all of that more than makes up for the madness. And Esther experienced that side of it as well. Oftentimes the clues are found in the aftermath. The public eye has a way of wandering on in search of some new shiny thing long before the story has stopped kicking on the floor like a dying bug.

And we can learn a lot from those last twitches. After being released from prison a month after her conviction for arson, an actor named Walter Hubble reached out to her with a proposition. He'd been one of those countless supernatural tourists who had traveled to Amherst to witness the events the year before, and he'd written the experience up in a book he called The Great Amherst Mystery. His new idea was to travel the country and promote the story with Esther at his side every step of the way.

And she agreed. And for a while they worked together to tell her story throughout Canada and America. But when an angry mob broke out at one of these events, Esther refused to do another. So she packed up and left. Hubble went on to make a fortune from his book. Esther, though, stayed on the move. After two sons by two husbands, she finally settled in Brockton, Massachusetts, when she passed away in 1912 at the age of 55.

Whether it had been paranormal and otherworldly, or just a manifestation of a flammable personality, the fire of Esther's youth is gone. Pulled apart by the winds of time, like a fragile wisp of smoke. This episode of lore was written and produced by me, Aaron Mankey, with research help from Marsette Crockett. Lore is much more than a podcast. There's a book series in bookstores around the country and online, and the second season of the Amazon Prime television show was recently released.

Check them both out if you want more lore in your life. I also make two other podcasts, Aaron Mankey's Cabinet of Curiosities, and Unobscured, and I think you'd enjoy both. Each one explores other areas of our dark history, ranging from bite-sized episodes to season-long dives into a single topic. You can learn about both of those shows and everything else going on all over in one central place. The World of Lore.com slash now.

And you can also follow the show on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Just search for Lore podcast, all one word, and then click that follow button. When you do, say hi. I like it when people say hi. And as always, thanks for listening.