The Great Amherst Haunting Mystery

The haunting of Esther Cox remains a mystery to this day.

The Amherst haunting started in 1888 when Esther Cox lived on Princess Street with her sister Olive, Olive's husband Daniel, their two children, and Esther's siblings. The strange events began in August 1878, when Esther Cox was on a date with what turned out to be an unsavory gentleman. She was sexually assaulted by the male ‘friend’ at gunpoint, which caused her to spiral into a deep emotional trauma response. It is after this horrible assault that the phenomenon began.

How The Amherst Haunting Began

The Amherst haunting began with knockings, bangings, and rustling in the night. Esther began to suffer seizures; her body would visibly swell, and she experienced chills as well. Objects moved on their own in the house. Concerned for her well-being and struggling to find an explanation for the odd events, her family called a doctor. During the doctor's visit, the bedclothes shifted, scratching sounds were heard, and the phrase “Esther Cox, you are mine to kill” appeared on the wall by her bed. The next day, the doctor gave Esther sedatives to help her calm down and sleep, but the noises continued, and objects still flew around the house. They attempted to communicate with the rambunctious spirits, and this led to tapped responses to their questions.

The haunting continued for many months, and the family gained a reputation for having the most haunted house on the block. When people would visit the cottage, including those from the church, they heard banging, knocking, and the movement of objects, and this happened even when Esther was under close observation. In December, Esther fell ill from diphtheria, during which time haunting ceased while she was recovering for two weeks in bed. There was no haunting activity when she spent time at her sister’s home in New Brunswick either. When she returned to Amherst, though, the mysterious events picked up right where they left off. In a horrifying turn, fires broke out in various spots around the house, and Esther claimed to see the ghost, which was threatening to burn down the home unless she stayed away.

Peace away from the house, but phenomena continued.

In January 1879, in an attempt to restore some much-needed tranquility to her home, Esther Cox moved in with another family. However, the haunting persisted, unwavering in its presence. Several people witnessed the manifestations, including conversing with the ghost and receiving rappings for answers. Some people felt sympathy and curiosity, while others were more skeptical. Those who were skeptical believed that Esther was responsible for the odd occurrences and were hostile toward her. Poor Esther was pricked, slapped, and scratched by the ghost, and on one occasion, was even stabbed in the back with a knife.

The news spread far and wide about Esther Cox. In late March, she visited New Brunswick, where she was visited by a few gentlemen with an interest in science. This is where Walter Hubbell enters the picture. He moved into the Teed cottage to study the phenomena more closely. Hubbell was an actor with an interest in psychic phenomena who happened to be in that area of Canada when the mystery began, and he kept a diary of the events in the house. He later developed the diary entries into a book, which was dismissed as a hoax by skeptical investigators.

Hubbell spent several weeks with Esther Cox and her family to study the phenomenon. While in her home, he claimed to have witnessed objects moving on their own, as well as fires and items manifesting from nowhere. He claimed to have witnessed this occurring even when Esther was in full view and not in a position to have caused these things. He and Esther went on a speaking tour to share their experiences but faced significant hostility and skepticism, which ended their efforts. Esther returned to Amherst in an attempt to have an everyday life. She worked for a man, but after his barn burned down, he accused her of causing the fire, and she was found guilty and sentenced to four months in prison. She spent only one month in jail, and when she returned home, the activity had completely ceased as mysteriously as it had started. She married twice and had two sons. Esther moved to Massachusetts and lived there until her death in November 1912.

The Great Amherst Haunting Mystery - Published

Hubbell’s book, titled “The Great Amherst Mystery: A True Narrative About the Supernatural,” about the occurrences at Esther Cox’s house, was published and was successful, with 55,000 copies of his book having been sold. However, there is no solid scientific evidence to suggest that the ghostly activity ever happened beyond Hubbell’s notes.

Local Nova Scotia author Lorri Neilsen Glenn wrote a book about Esther Cox, titled "Haunted Girl: Esther Cox and the Great Amherst Mystery." The book was published by Nimbus Publishing in April 2012. The book includes thirty photos of the locations in Amherst that are related to the house where Esther lived.

The town of Amherst now holds an annual festival, EstherFest, which began in 2017. EstherFest holds numerous activities for the public, including the Fifth Annual Scarecrow Stroll, a Ghost Hunt with Paranormal Phenomena Research and Investigation, a staged reading, and scary movies at Amherst Theatre. Additionally, there will be a ghost walk and a ghost hunt, as well as a youth dance and many other family activities. The festival takes place from October 18 to 30th.

The Great Amherst Mystery will always remain a mystery. We will never know for sure what really happened to Esther Cox and her family and sadly, the house that Esther and her family lived in no longer exists. The tale of Esther Cox in the Great Amherst mystery has inspired many podcasts, a town festival and books. She continues to inspire our minds and hearts today.

Sources:

https://greatamherstmystery.com/events-tickets-2024/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Amherst_Mystery

​https://nimbus.ca/store/haunted-girl.html?srsltid=AfmBOopSSpmGXO47CWffvTzI6NkAQCtqxPnktzc_eCPo4n06Q854RYsh

https://astonishinglegends.com/astonishing-legends/2022/10/9/the-great-amherst-mystery

https://caretakersparanormalinvestigations.blogspot.com (photo credit)

https://publicparapsychology.org/Public%20Parapsych/Poltergeist%20Phenomena%20Primer%20Final.pdf

England’s Haunted Woods & Forests: A Beginner’s Guide

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Around 6,000–7,000 years ago, up to 75% of England was covered by ‘Wildwood’ forest. By 1066, human activity meant this figure declined to 15% and just 5.2% in 1905. Reforestation has increased the current percentage to 13%.

Through my garden gate, I can enter both relatively recently forested woods and the much older Blue Bell Woods, where folk once passed by on the ancient Icknield Way Path, ‘The Oldest Road in Britain’. Finds from the area include a Neolithic flint knife discovered at Jackdaw Hill (now Chestnut Hill) in the 19th century.

A number of Bronze Age barrows may have stood in the area between Linslade Wood and the railway until the area was cleared for agriculture and ballast for the railway.

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All I will say, speaking personally, that after dusk, it’s definitely NOT a place to tarry in. The sounds of local wildlife (owls, foxes and snuffling badgers) can be unsettling, as well as the occasional presence of the local youth, smoking dope and generally frolicking.

England has a long, storied history of supernatural activity associated with its woodland, from The Green Man, elves and goblins, wolves, humungous dogs, the (many) shades of highwaymen and also homicidal topiary; witness the horrifying beginning of 1990’s THE GREEN MAN, the BBC adaptation of the Kingsley Amis ghost story:

​Especially evocative is 1984’s THE COMPANY OF WOLVES, a Gothic fantasy film based on Angela Carter’s novel, which employs many familiar tales associated with the forests of Olde England:

But where ARE the still remaining haunted groves, woods and forests of my home country?

Fortunately for those in search of a paranormal buzz, there are still many to explore, including my selection below. (For additional information, see the reference list at the end of the article.) But remember: ALWAYS KEEP TO THE PATH.

Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire

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Despite being one of the world’s most famous forests, the now much-much-shrunken Sherwood isn’t that impressive. But it does possess a wealth of supernatural phenomena, including strange folklore, hauntings, and the occult.

In terms of the occult, the area known as the ‘Bowl’ is rumoured to have been a site of witchcraft and rituals. Lee Roberts, a ‘professional’ ghost hunter from Sutton, said:

“Sherwood Forest has a history of witchcraft. The bowl area of Sherwood Forest is a very haunted area – it was also known as a Medieval burial ground and also where people used to gather and do witchcraft back in the 18th and 17th Century.”

​There have also been accounts of dark hooded druidic figures wandering the woods - pagan worshippers from England's dim and distant past - or just cosplayers?

According to Brooke’s Paranormal website, the ghost of a White Lady is a presence in Sherwood, along with the unsettling sound of children laughing nearby.

​Maidenhead Thicket, Berkshire

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During the 17th and 18th centuries, the part of Bath Road that ran through Maidenhead Thicket was famed for the number of highwaymen who practiced their trade there, including Captain James Hind. Amongst his exploits was the failed robbery of Oliver Cromwell and his bodyguards.

​Clapham Wood & Angmering Park Estate, West Sussex

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This 275-acre vestige of ancient woodland has occasioned reports of glowing UFOs, spectral dogs and other strange occurrences. One old beech tree is said to mark the meeting point of a coven called ‘Friends of Hecate’; and there’s also a crater, where nothing is said to grow.

​West of Clapham Wood and nearby Angmering Park Estate is Wepham Wood, the site of Jack Upperton’s Gibbet. Executed for highway robbery in the 1770s, his tarred corpse took two years to decompose and the gibbet itself lasted more than a century longer.

Lydford Gorge, Devon

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On the edge of Dartmoor lies the ancient wooded Lydford Gorge, supposedly a home to the paranormal. At Whitelady Waterfall, a ghostly figure said to appear; whilst a notorious band of outlaws called the Gubbins were made their home in the woods.

​Savernake Forest, Wiltshire

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This ancient royal forest was mentioned in King Athelstan’s Charter of Safernoc. For a thousand years the estate and forest have been passed down an unbroken line of hereditary forest wardens.

​One was Sir John Seymour, whose daughter Jane caught the eye of randy King Henry VIII on a deer-hunting trip there in 1535.

Savernake also contains the highest concentration of veteran trees in Europe. The huge, 1,100-year-old Big-Bellied Oak beside the A346 is probably the oldest tree in the forest. Legend says the devil can be summoned by dancing naked around it.

From THE WITCH (2015):

​Wistman's Wood, Dartmoor National Park

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From The Independent:

​The early 19th-century writings of local historian Eliza Bray suggest the Druids conducted human sacrifices in the wood eight centuries ago; Devon folklore claims the devil and his hell hounds, with blood-red eyes and fearsome yellow fangs, roam the land looking for wayward travellers. The Druids conducted pagan rituals within the wood, carving spirals and symbols into the moss that can still be seen today – most clearly in a huge boulder known as “The Druid’s Stone” or “The Buller’s Stone”.

C​ome nightfall, the wood becomes the kennels of Wisht Hounds – dogs with huge fangs and a bone-chilling howl – who hunt across the leaf and moss strewn moors for lost travellers. It’s an ancient but pervasive legend, with locals still reluctant to venture to the wood once the sun goes down.

​Shervage Wood, Somerset

In legend, Shervage Wood was the otherworldly haunt of the Gurt Wurm – a monster that ravaged the surrounding countryside until a drunk whortleberry (bilberry) picker called Joe Tottle mistook it for a log and cleaved it in half with an axe.

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Nearby Wayland’s Pool, believed to be where a supernatural smithy cooled horseshoes for Odin’s (or Woden’s) Wild Hunt across the skies in search of lost souls. Real horses fear the area, where strange sounds and a spectral horse-drawn carriage have been reported. Also another haunted gibbet, where in 1789 charcoal burner John Walford was executed for murdering his wife left in an iron cage. See also in the area Dowsborough or ‘Danesborough’ Camp Iron Age Hillfort, associated with a massacre of the Danes.

Chiddinglye Wood, West Sussex

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​On a triangular sandstone spur is a mysterious Iron Age earthwork known as Philpots Promontory Camp. Isolated from the main cliff, Great-upon-Little (or Big-upon-Little) is a massive 400-to 500-ton block that has been undercut on all sides, thought to be the meeting place of witches and Druids west of Great-upon-Little is the ‘Executioners Rock’. The black dog scared a poacher who once said:

‘There’s one thing I dare not do; I’d be afear’d to walk through that girt valley below Big-on-Little after dark. It’s a terrible ellynge [eerie] place and a gurt black ghost hound walks there o’nights.”

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire

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Here lurks the ghost of Ippikin, a 13th-century robber who made his home in the woods; also Major Smallman, who supposedly galloped his horse off the Edge to escape capture during the English Civil War. Although he survived the 200-foot drop, his spirit returned here after he died. For some reason.

​Potsford Wood, Suffolk

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Take the old path and you’ll sees the remains of the Potsford Gibbet, last used in 1699 when Jonah Snell was executed for killing John Bullard and his son with an axe at nearby Letheringham Water Mill.

The wood is also said to be haunted by unearthly lights and a spooky hooded figure.

Blickling Great Wood, Norfolk

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Blickling was the ancestral home of the Boleyn family, and Anne Boleyn's father, Sir Thomas, is said to haunt the woodlands and grounds. Cursed for failing to stop Henry VIII from executing both Anne and her brother. Anne is reported to appear here every 19 May, on the anniversary of her execution.

Sir Thomas in action:

And Mark Rylance, who played Thomas Cromwell in WOLF HALL, this time as Boleyn in 2008’s THE OTHER BOLEYN GIRL:

​Windsor Great Park, Berkshire

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​Haunted by Herne the Hunter, a legendary ghost who is recognizable by the stag antlers on his head; a keeper in Windsor Forest, who hanged himself from an oak tree after being disgraced for poaching. His ghost appears at the sound of barking hounds and a hunting horn.

Alternatively he’s ancient Celtic or Anglo-Saxon God. See the bibliography for my previous investigation of Herne and The Wild Hunt for PDN .

​Dering Wood, Kent

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Ancient Dering, sometimes known as the ‘Screaming Woods’, has a reputation for being haunted. Stories abound regarding massacres and disappearing hikers, thrill seekers flock are said to flock here at night hoping to hear the eerie noises.

​Wychwood Forest, Oxfordshire

Wychwood Forest is supposedly home to a ghostly cart carrying a pair of weeping children. The 500-hectare woodland were once inhabited by the Anglo-Saxon Hwicce tribe.

Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, was said to have had a stroke when in 1588 he saw the shade of his wife Amy Robsart approaching in the woods. She had died under suspicious circumstances after being found dead on 8th September 1560 at the bottom of a flight of stairs aged just 28. Dudley died a week after glimpsing his wife’s spectre.

Epping Forest, Essex

Epping Forest’ pollarded trees haven’t been cut since the Epping Forest Act of 1878, resulting in their particularly distinctive, distended appearance.

The highwayman Dick Turpin hid inside Epping Forest in the 18th century, drawn by its size and closeness to London. Turpin was executed in 1739 for his murder of a man in Epping Forest.

Paranormal investigators claim that the spirits of Celtic warriors also stalk the woods. Epping Forest’s disturbing reputation continues the present day with the discovery of multiple murder victims there, some undoubtedly at the hands of East End gangsters.

​Genesis - The Battle Of Epping Forest

​​Cannock Chase, Staffordshire

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From Birmingham Live:

​The sprawling forest of Cannock Chase was rumoured to be a hotbed for paranormal activity. Over the years, there have been many reports of peculiar goings-on within the woodland. One terrified dog walker claimed to have fleetingly come face-to-face with the so-called Black Eyed Child, described as a 'giggling little girl' with 'completely black eyes'. Meanwhile, a couple said they'd stumbled upon a creature with 'yellow eyes, huge teeth and an ear-piercing howl' during an evening stroll. ​There has also been 'sightings' of the Pig Man - said to be a 'grotesque creature with a pig-like face' - along with big cats and UFOs. While many are sceptical about what lies within the forest, others remain curious.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Little_Red_Riding_Hood_-_53069504386_-_Jack_Zipes_Historic_Fairy_Tale_Postcard_Collection_-_Hansa,_A.,_ca_1920s.jpg

Stephen Arnell’s novel THE GREAT ONE is available on Amazon Kindle:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-One-Secret-Memoirs-Pompey-ebook/dp/B0BNLTB2G7

SAMPLE:

Selected Bibliography:

Unraveling the Mysteries of The Wild Hunt in Windsor

Dive into the enigmatic realm of The Wild Hunt, where ancient deities storm through the night skies. Could these spectral rides be more than mere legend?

paranormaldailynews.com

Linslade Wood

Situated in the west of Bedfordshire on the outskirts of Leighton Buzzard, Linslade Woods comprises Bluebell Wood, an area of ancient woodland together with new plantings from the 1990s.

www.greensandtrust.org

Icknield Way Path – A walking route from Buckinghamshire to Norfolk

icknieldwaypath.co.uk

Hosted By Bedford Borough Council: Linslade Before 1086

bedsarchives.bedford.gov.uk

England's forests: a brief history of trees

We had lots of trees, then came selfish kings and war. But now our forests are resurgent again, writes Bibi van der Zee

www.theguardian.com

Sherwood Forest | Ghost Walks | Nottinghamshire Ghost Hunts | Brookes Paranormal

The story of Robin Hood has been told by many for over 700 years; a man who stole from the rich to give to the poor. Sherwood Forest appears in later ballads and tales as the hideout for Robin Hood and his Merry Men. But who is this famous hooded outlaw, and why is Sherwood Forest one of the most haunted places in all of Great Britain? Phantom travellers and malevolent witches. Join Brookes Paranormal for ghost walks and paranormal experiences at Sherwood Forest in Haunted Nottinghamshire.

www.brookesparanormal.co.uk

Earl of Cardigan at war with Forestry England over Savernake Forest

The Earl of Cardigan has become involved in a bitter feud with Forestry England over plans to block the longest tree-lined avenue in Britain leading to ancient Savernake Forest in Wiltshire.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A walk through Dartmoor’s haunted wood

Jonathan Evans explores Devon’s unsettling Wistman’s Wood, home to stunted oak trees and tales of human sacrifice

www.independent.co.uk

The Legends of Wistman’s Wood – Toad Hall Cottages Blog

www.toadhallcottages.co.uk

10 of the Most Haunted Forests in the UK

Explore the most haunted forests in the UK, from Lydford Gorge to Epping Forest.

www.historyhit.com

The spookiest woods in Britain | Bradt Guides

An expert's guide to the undeniably strange, supposedly supernatural and downright spooky woods found dotted across Britain.

www.bradtguides.com

Where you're 'most likely' to spot 'Black Eyed Child and Phantom Hitchhiker'

Over the years, there have been many reports of peculiar goings on within the woodland

www.birminghammail.co.uk

The Quiet Work of Healing: Mindfulness as a Companion Through Grief

There’s no handbook for grief. No checklist. No fast-forward button. Just you and your pain, moving at the speed of breath—if you can remember to breathe at all. I’ve come to believe that grief doesn’t ask to be solved; it asks to be witnessed. And in that witnessing, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is get still. Not to escape the pain, but to make room for it without letting it devour you. That’s where mindfulness can become something more than a buzzword. It becomes a kind of lifeline.

Meeting the Moment, As It Is

When you’re grieving, everything feels like it comes with jagged edges. The mind races with “what ifs,” regrets, flashes of memory, and that sudden ache in the chest when you remember they're really gone. Mindfulness won’t erase that ache—but it will help you meet it without flinching. It’s the practice of turning toward the moment, without trying to fix or flee it. That might sound simple, but in grief, it’s revolutionary. Instead of pushing emotions away or drowning in them, mindfulness invites you to sit beside them like old friends who don’t need to be solved—just heard.

Staying Open to Light: Mindfulness and a Positive Outlook

It’s easy to spiral when life feels heavy, but mindfulness gives you a way to pause before you slide too deep. By tuning into your breath or simply noticing your surroundings, you interrupt the loop of negative thought patterns that often reinforce grief or anxiety. Without forcing yourself to be cheerful, you start to notice small joys—warm coffee, birdsong, the way the sun lands on your skin—and that shift in awareness changes everything. By embracing the present moment without judgment, you create space for a more positive and balanced mindset.

Creating Tiny Rituals for Presence

Grief doesn’t operate on a schedule. It sneaks up in grocery stores, or when a song comes on the radio. You can’t predict it, but you can create small rituals that give your day structure and make space for your emotions. Lighting a candle at the same time every night. Journaling with your morning coffee. Touching a photograph and whispering a few words. These aren’t big, performative acts. They’re quiet ways of saying: “I’m still here. And so are you, in some way.” Mindfulness loves ritual, not for the sake of repetition, but for the presence it cultivates.

Grieving in the Body, Not Just the Mind

Most of us think of grief as a mental or emotional experience. But grief lives in the body too. You clench your jaw. You hunch your shoulders. You hold your breath without noticing. Mindfulness brings awareness to where your body is holding pain, so you can soften into those places. Practices like gentle yoga, body scans, or simply placing a hand over your heart can remind you that you are not just a brain grieving—you’re a whole person. Tuning into physical sensations can offer clues about your emotional state, even when you can’t name the feeling outright.

Letting the Mind Wander—But With Intention

Meditation doesn’t always mean sitting still in silence. Sometimes, mindful walking through your neighborhood, or even mindfully washing dishes, can be a salve for a restless mind. The key is not in silencing your thoughts, but in noticing them without getting tangled up. If a memory surfaces, you don’t have to shove it down or hold it tightly. You can let it pass like clouds across a sky. Intentional wandering is different from spiraling—it has boundaries. It says: “You’re allowed to feel this, but you don’t have to drown in it.”

Compassion Over Control

Grief often makes people feel like they’re doing it wrong. “Why am I still crying?” “Why can’t I get over this?” Mindfulness teaches you to replace judgment with curiosity. Instead of berating yourself for not being “better” by now, you start to ask, “What does this moment need?” That gentle pivot from criticism to compassion is one of the most powerful shifts you can make. You learn to treat yourself with the same tenderness you’d offer a friend—no timelines, no harsh expectations, just presence.

Learning to Coexist with Absence

There’s a cruel kind of magic in grief: the way it hollows out a space in your life that never fully fills back in. But mindfulness doesn’t try to patch over that absence. It helps you learn to live beside it. That’s the real practice—not erasing the loss, but living with the shape of it, the way a tree grows around a fence. With time, the absence becomes part of your landscape. Not a gaping hole, but a quiet space you return to with reverence instead of resistance.

The world doesn’t know how to grieve well. It wants you to move on, to get back to normal, to smile politely when someone asks how you’re doing. But healing doesn’t happen on anyone else’s timeline. Mindfulness reminds you that you don’t need to rush, perform, or pretend. You just need to show up—fully, honestly, breath by breath. And in that simple, radical act of presence, something starts to shift. Maybe not all at once, and maybe not visibly. But inside, a quiet seed of peace begins to grow. And that, somehow, is enough.

Uncover the mysteries of the unknown and explore the world of the supernatural with Paranormal Daily News – your gateway to the latest in paranormal and parapsychology news from around the globe!

Parapsychology and Possession: A Scientific Paper

The illustrious owner and chief editor of Paranormal Daily News, John Brocas, is also an academic and has a soon-to-be-published paper titled: “Expanding Grof’s Transpersonal Framework to Integrate Parapsychology and Address Spirit Intrusion in Spiritual Crises.” Spiritual intrusion can also be considered as an obsession state or what is known as possession, though the latter is very rare.

For the majority of people not familiar with these terms, Brocas is referring to Czech-born American psychiatrist Stanislav Grof (who, as of this writing, is still alive at the age of 93) and investigated the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics in the 1950’s and 60’s Soviet era. These ideas have caught on in the West only recently. (See the work of Dr. David Luke)

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Grof and Transpersonal Psychology

One of the most notable areas of exploration in psychiatry for Grof was the idea of transpersonal psychology, where non-ordinary (aka exceptional) experiences are taken into account as part of the spectrum of human experiences instead of being treated as a sickness of the mind. These often exceptional experiences are then used to benefit the individual instead of being treated as aberrant behavior.

This paper branches out from the core of transpersonal psychology to introduce another element to be taken into account: nonphysical intelligent entities that attach themselves to people. Brocas uses the term “direct spiritual intrusion,” which is also known as possession, although that term is probably a bit too dramatic. Brocas writes in his paper:

This paper argues for an interdisciplinary framework that redefines pathology, and integrates empirical evidence with spiritual experiences that may be viewed as originating external to the individual . This framework could contribute to a more harmonious relationship between the experiential focus of transpersonal psychology and the empirical methodology of parapsychology. Additionally, it proposes that psychotic disorders such as psychosis and schizophrenia, could, in many cases be interpreted as instances of Intelligent Spirit Intrusion (Brocas, 2018).

It’s Like a Toxic Coworker

Think of spiritual intrusion as being similar in emotional impact to having to deal with a toxic relative or coworker on a daily basis—someone very negative and critical that you can’t really get away from. Their presence is a form of possession. I posed this to Brocas, and he agreed. Such a problem is neither a mental disorder nor lends itself to easy fixes. It weighs on a person and induces strong emotional reactions, but it is largely an external problem, even though the entire effect is on a person’s mental state.

Brocas goes on to provide a definition:

We can differentiate direct spiritual influence or possession states by using the term spiritual subjugation (Brocas, 2018). Spiritual Subjugation is the direct influence of an external force or intelligence where the individual’s will, spirit, or the immediate environment is controlled by the influencing intelligences. The Oppression's existence is demonstrably clear through both subjective and objective empirical data.

What he is saying in the last sentence is that this isn’t a matter of speculation. A proper diagnosis requires subjective (i.e. subject testimony and data from mediumship) and objective data. (observable behavior, emotional states, and intellectual capacity)

Is It an Intrusion or Something Else?

The existence of such entities is difficult to diagnose, and that is why Brocas suggests employing different methods to discern whether an intelligent spiritual intrusion is at play. It was beyond the scope of the article to address how one would go about treating such a condition, but it is an important consideration for further exploration. All of the symptoms begin in the mind, so the question arises about whether the treatment of an internal or external force causing the problem makes any difference. What does one do differently in the healing process when confronted with an external intrusion rather than an internal conflict?

I think that there is a difference. If we look at the example of dealing with a toxic relative or coworker, we observe that the problem a person faces is in maintaining their sense of identity in the face of external forces attempting to create a weaker and more submissive identity for them. Possession can also be treated as an external issue.

Conversely, an internal struggle is one where a person is finding or building their identity in the first place. The former is pushing against manipulation whose purpose is creating a false identity, the latter is a process of discovery. They are quite different goals and therefore require different approaches.

What John Brocas is suggesting here—that we take the idea of spiritual interference seriously—is, I think, a good one. Properly diagnosed, a therapist can then direct a person to focus on productive strategies for dealing with the problem.

Brazilian Methods

To that end, Brocas presents evidence from Brazil, where mediums are used to help determine if a mental illness, such as schizophrenia or psychosis, has a basis in spiritual interference. he writes:

A growing body of research [DP1] (Friel, 2024, p. 11) would suggest that psychosis and schizophrenia share the same similarities and experiences that are reported by mediums. This includes hallucinations, hearing voices, visions, and altered states. These symptoms are at risk of being wrongly pathologized (Moreira-Almeida, 2012) and the individual being treated for a psychiatric illness when, in fact, it is a more spiritual expression. In Brazil, spiritists who practice mediumship believe that many mental illnesses are caused by negative spirits. [DP2] They use a mediumistic approach to facilitate DE possession, a practice that mainstream psychiatry would likely pathologize.

He goes on to cite a specific case:

An example where this evidence would support the joint parapsychological approach was in a case in Scotland with a schizophrenic patient who was presenting with a combination of all pathology. The medium could bring forth evidence of the experiences and evidence of the influencing spirit or agency, as well as external phenomena witnessed. The evidence brought forth used a pyramid of evidence approach (Brocas, 2018) that corroborated experiential phenomena, as well as knowledge unknown. This case was a clear case of spiritual subjugation.

Brocas is raising an interesting question here about the basis for some cases of schizophrenia. Could people get some relief by addressing spiritual interference?

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The Conscious Universe Model

If all of this sounds a bit “out there,” bear in mind that that attitude comes from assumptions about the nature of the universe. Many of us assume that the universe is material because that’s what our senses tell us is real. Under those conditions a noncorporeal intelligence seems quite unlikely. However, the world we experience originates in our minds, something that is often forgotten or brushed over. What we take for real is actually a picture that our mind creates. This suggests that consciousness, not the material world, is fundamental to physics. And since this appears to be true, then the existence of beings that are nonphysical is a foregone conclusion. When you remove the assumption of materialist theory, the spiritual interference, which initially appears far-fetched, becomes a concept worth taking seriously.

In the end, it’s not about theory; it’s about helping people in the quickest and effective way. If this approach turns out to be successful in helping people, then that is the only metric that really matters.