Walter Hubbell & The Great Amherst Mystery

ABC#067, part 1

 

Walter Hubbell was a Philadelphia-born actor who would probably be forgotten today were it not for the Great Amherst Mystery, a book he wrote about Esther Cox, a young woman seemingly possessed by evil spirits which started after she suffered a failed sexual assault at gunpoint by a young man she trusted.   Esther's nightmarish experiences affected not only her, but the people with whom she lived: she was even temporarily jailed as an arsonist when a neighbor's barn burned to the ground.

 

Walter Hubbell learned about Esther when his traveling troop ventured into the Maritimes.  He thought that he could debunk the stories.  Instead, he became a convert and wrote about it.  Years later, much of what he wrote was debunked by a psychic skeptic.  The whole story is mesmerizing.