Blind since age nine (the cause of which her doctors were never able to determine), Esther was compelled to leave her home in Raymond, New Hampshire and hitchhiked to compound after having a vision of the leader, Jonas Sparrow. In the vision, Jonas touched her hands to his face, so that she could recognize him at her arrival. After hitching a ride from Boyd Langton, Esther presented her I.D. and was welcomed into the compound. Suspicious of this apparent miracle, Jonas and Brother Seth, a fellow follower, took Esther in for questioning. When they determined that she was indeed blind, she was accepted into the compound.