Abigail Black was raised in Fairbanks, Alaska, the only child of an avid hunter that desperately wanted a son but got a tomboy instead. Her mother died from complications of Abigail Black's caesarean birth. The pressure of poverty, single parenthood and worsening alcoholism led to Black's father to physically and sexually abuse her for most of her life. Windows would spontaneously break and flying objects followed their worse fights, which convinced the deeply superstitious man that his daughter was possessed.