Today we’re looking at some historical haunted cases of ghosts, spirits and poltergeists that have perplexed paranormal investigators for years. From a cursed film that began showing signs of ghosts to one of the most astonishing and well documented cases of a poltergeist attack in history. These haunted cases are sure to make you question the world around you.
4. Haunted Cases – The Danny Poltergeist
When confronted with poltergeist activity, one has two choices – either give in to the spirits and leave or stand your ground and get to the bottom of the mysterious activity.
One such instance of paranormal activity is the case against the Cobb family in Savannah, Georgia. While many similar stories begin with a house haunted by spurned spirits, the Cobb family home was not the source of their misfortune. Instead, their troubles began when Al Cobb purchased a vintage bed for his 14-year-old son as a Christmas present.
The bed was said to date back to the late 1800s, with the Cobb family’s troubles beginning in the late 1900s. It is unclear how many families this bed passed through before it made its way to the troubled Cobb family, but they were alerted to some sinister spirit lurking in the bed almost as soon as they placed it in their son Jason’s room.
It took Jason only three nights to realize there was something not quite right about the bed, as he told his parents he felt as though someone was watching him sleep in his new bed at night. He allegedly felt elbows on his pillows and frigid air being breathed down his back. Jason told his parents the experience made him feel ill.
Unsure of what was happening, Jason next noticed a picture of his late grandparents seemingly knocked over and face down on the nightstand. Making a point to turn the picture right-side-up, Jason noticed the picture was face down the next day once again.
The odd occurrences were not limited to the nighttime, however. As Jason returned to his room one morning after breakfast, he noticed two stuffed animals placed ominously in the center of his bed.
As no one could have conceivably been able to do that while the family was at breakfast, Jason’s father’s concern increased drastically. Stepping into his son’s room, Al fully believed a ghost to be present and demanded to know their name and age, leaving a paper and crayons behind him and exiting the room.
Returning to the room 15 minutes later, the answer was laid out for them in childish handwriting: Danny, 7. Through further notes, Danny would go on to explain that his mother had died in Jason’s new bed – in 1899. Danny warned that he wanted to stay in the bed – and did not want anybody else in it.
Testing the severity of the warning, Jason feigned napping one day, only to have a terra cotta decoration come flying at him across the room, barely missing him and shattering.
Soon other ghosts from the local cemetery began visiting the Cobb family and wreaking havoc in their home, moving furniture and opening and closing drawers, their home seemingly doomed to encounter paranormal activity for the rest of their days.
Truly one of the most perplexing haunted cases in paranormal history.
3. Haunted Cases – Return to Babylon
Thanks to the internet, films these days can be dissected frame-by-frame and discussed at length with those similar-minded.
One such film that warrants frame-by-frame discussion is none other than Alex Monty Canawati’s 2012 Return to Babylon. While this movie was released fairly recently, the film actually utilizes 16mm rolls of film found abandoned on the side of the road by Canawati and his producer. The duo then set out to write a film that would feature the found canisters.
The cast and crew on set quickly began to report feeling unsettled during the filming and principal photography of the film. Cast members reported the experience to feel otherworldly, with crew members feeling odd presences reaching out around them.
Meanwhile, Canawati and the rest of the crew were also disturbed by what they were seeing in the footage. Odd figures appeared where they had been no one, and actors faces appeared distorted; twisting in agony and stretching disturbingly.
Capturing the attention of many ready to bust the film’s projected myths wide open, including film and paranormal activity enthusiasts, as well as the Brooks Institute of Photography, no one could explain away the odd occurrences being projected onto the film.
The possible explanations offered included the idea that the filmmakers were animating over the existing footage, something far beyond the scope of their budget. Another possibility was the merging of the film and digital video, at 16 and 24 frames-per-second respectively, caused the odd impressions.
Many believe that the canister of footage that Canawati found on the side of the road was cursed or haunted by something not of this world.
Whatever the explanation, Canawati has a theory of his own. An apparent source of sheer bad luck, the film never reached distribution. Canawati believes he experienced an almost “Christ-like” visitation of spirits through the film, and that what was left was something personal for him, even if it never reached the world at large in a commercial sense.
Interestingly, the film was ultimately premiered on Youtube on the 14th of January 2019. Feel free to watch the film yourself and figure out whether you think it’s haunted by something not of this world.
2. Haunted Cases – The Amherst Poltergeist
WikipediaPerhaps one of the most famous and well-known cases of potential poltergeist interference is that chronicled by Walter Hubbell in his published book The Great Amherst Mystery.
It is 1878, and an 18-year-old Esther Cox is living with her sister Olive and her husband Daniel, as well two of her other siblings Jennie and William and Olive and Daniel’s two children, as well as Daniel’s brother.
Esther’s life would be flipped upside-down in more ways than one after her friend Bob MacNeal attempted to sexually assault her. While MacNeal’s attempted rape of Esther was unsuccessful, she emerged from the attack with minor physical injuries and extreme mental distress.
After the string of paranormal activities that would go on to haunt Esther for her entire life, many theorize that she had actually staged several instances of disturbing activity as a direct result of dissociative techniques employed in order to help herself cope with the attack.
Whether or not this idea holds any credence cannot be proven. However, the firsthand accounts of those who would come into contact with Esther over the years would prove well-enough to turn skeptics into believers.
One such person proved to be Walter Hubbell, eventual chronicler of the Amherst House oddities and at that time an actor and boarder living with Esther and the rest of the Teeds. At the time, Esther and her sister Jennie shared a bed in the packed home.
One night, their screams woke the entire house as the sisters swore up and down that they witnessed an odd form moving beneath their covers. Checking the bed for wayward critters, they found none.
The next night, the house was again awoken by the screams of the girls. As they heard odd noises coming from a box they kept under their bed, they attempted to investigate the noises only to witness the box leap into the air on its own. As they drew closer and tipped the box right side up, the box once again flew into the air, causing the girls to yell out.
The nights that followed would prove far more tortuous to poor Esther. Having retired early, Esther was left alone in the room until her sister went to bed for the night. What Jennie saw would haunt her and the Teeds for the rest of their lives.
Esther appeared to be bursting from her own skin as she clawed at her nightdress and proclaimed she was dying. Withering in her bed, her skin hot and swollen, Esther cried out, eyes bulging, as her family stared at the otherworldly event in disbelief. Esther returned to normal only after a thunderous banging was emitted from the underside of her bed.
This happened twice before the family chose to enlist the help of Dr. Carritte, a local doctor. Carritte himself was witness to objects moving on their own around Esther, as well as the bangs and scratching noises. It’s alleged that a supernatural force etched a sinister message onto the wall above the bed. It spelled out: “ESTHER COX YOU ARE MINE TO KILL.”
Events such as these would follow Esther her entire life, with sharp objects seemingly flying out of nowhere and attacking Esther. Ghosts threatened to burn the Teeds’ home down unless she left, but supernatural arson still followed her wherever she went. When at last the barn of the man she was working for was burnt down and Esther was thrown in prison, the events began dying down. Esther would go on to marry twice and have sons with each of her husbands, dying at the age of 52 of natural causes.
Her story would go on to be one of the most vexing and extreme cases of poltergeist activity in the world, with the Amherst home being known as the “most haunted house in England.”
1. The Doris Bither Haunting
Paranormal.LoveToKnowIn the vein of Esther Cox’s own personal tragedy, Doris Bither would go on to experience a tragedy of her own – and of supernatural origins.
Already the victim of abuse in her own life, Doris Bither was attempting to do her best to raise her four sons, each born from different fathers. Out of the blue, an elderly woman approached the Bithers’ home and warned Doris of the evils of the home. Disappearing just as mysteriously as she had appeared, horrible events soon began to manifest in the home.
The boys and Doris would attest that four ghosts began visiting the home so often that the family would be unfazed by their presence. That is until they began to attack the family.
Doris and her family report biting, hitting, pushing, and more, all stemming from the ghostly presences themselves. This was all nothing compared to the tragedy that Doris would experience. Her sons would go on to attest, as asserted by Doris herself, that the ghostly spirits began to sexually assault her themselves.
Doris would spend her days bruised and battered after being used by these spirits seemingly bent on making the home their own. As with Esther, Doris and her family would find these spirits would go on to follow them wherever they moved, although the attacks would eventually decrease over time.
As their stories were corroborated by investigators, the Bither case is one of the most heinous and unsettling cases of poltergeist activity out there.
