Thursday, July 26, 2007
And Now for Something Completely Different-- The Bell Witch
My dream job would probably be to be employed as a combination movie critic/book critic. And I do write reviews on Amazon.com, although not nearly as many as I once did.
Moreover, ever since an incident I had in thrid grade, I've been fascinated by ghosts, off-and-on.
With the above in mind, I recently watched the movie "An American Haunting." My wife thought it was good, not great. I couldn't bring myself to fully enjoy it because...well...it is based on historical events related to "The Bell Witch" and a lot of it was inaccurate (including their reason for the incidents which led to the haunting that was the subject of the film).
So who's the Bell Witch? Actually, there's not a witch named Bell. Bell was the name of the family that was reputed to have been cursed by a witch. According to accounts of what occurred, an invisible entity, which came to be known as the "Bell Witch" by many, literally tortured the Bell family between 1817 and 1821.
What makes this story so famous is that the events were witnessed by numerous people, including Andrew Jackson, who would one day become the seventh president of the United States.
Making the incident all the more interesting is the fact that when John Bell, Sr. died, the entity claimed credit for poisoning him (yes, this ghost would actually talk to people). It's the only recorded incident of an alleged ghost actually killing someone.
I can't go into the details of all that happened to the Bells, there's no where near enough space here. But you can learn more about the Bell Witch at the Bell Witch Website and the Bell Witch Fan Site. Do a search for "the Bell Witch" and you'll find plenty of other sites with info on it.
If you do get interested, I suggest you watch the movie before reading about the Bell Witch. Standing alone, the movie is actually rather good. It's just when you've read soemmof the historical accounts of what happened, you really have to question a lot of things in the film, including its resolution as to what the basis of the haunting was.
Let's just say, whether you believe in ghosts or not, the Bell Witch is a fascinating subject.