The next night, Esther felt ill and went to bed early. She woke and screamed that she was dying. Her hair stood nearly on end, her eyes bulged and her face was red. Her body began to swell. Her shrieks of pain were accompanied by the thunderous sounds, but the sounds they heard were not from actual thunder.
There were three days of silence and on the fourth, there was a new assault. Esther's and Jennie's bedclothes were ripped from the bed and thrown in a heap. Esther body swelled again. The sisters' screams brought the family into their room. They replaced the bedclothes, but a pillow hit John in the head and ran from the room while the others tried to hold the covers in place so Esther could fall beck to sleep.
The next day, Dr. Carritte came to the house to check Esther. While the doctor was trying to examine Esther, her pillow hit him on the head. Loud knocking sounds came from under the bed, then they turned into scratching sounds. It appeared the thing was trying to communicate with them. They turned and saw the words, "Esther Cox, you are mine to kill," being etched on the wall. This was accompanied by loud rappings. Plaster fell from the wall.
Dr. Carritte returned the following day and was pelted with a barrage of potatoes. He had experienced enough of the psi and wanted to leave the house. As he did, he heard loud blows resound throughout the house.
Later, after word got out about the psi, crowds would gather around the house to hear the loud thunder like poundings. Although the poundings happened only at night in the beginning, they eventually happened during the day too. The psi was written about in the local newspaper and others throughout Canada.
Jennie believed she could communicate with "Bob." She would ask it questions and it would respond, one rap for no and three for yes.
Dr. Carritte believed that Esther was not making the loud thunder like noises. His theory was that her nerves had received an electric shock, turning her into a battery. This attracted the Rev. Dr. Edwin Clay, a well known Baptist minister. Some of the clergy was suspicious about the newfangled electricity and thought it to be supernatural or the work of the devil. Clay agreed with Carritte's theory and gave lectures about the psi that plagued Esther and gave lectures, which attracted further attention.
