The Bell Witch: An American Haunting

by Brent Monahan

Book Overview

Known throughout Tennessee as Old Kate, the Bell Witch took up residence with John Bell's family in 1818. It was a cruel and noisy spirit, given to rapping and gnawing sounds before it found its voices.

With these voices and its supernatural acts, the Bell Witch tormented the Bell family. This extraordinary book recounts the only documented case in U.S. history when a spirit actually caused a man's death.

The local schoolteacher, Richard...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312262922
• ISBN13: 9780312262921
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Awesome true story

I grew up near the Bell Witch area and was quite familiar with the story; when I learned that an authenticated account previously unpublished was available, of course I got it. This account tallies with the hundreds of eye-witness events, and has a stunning ending. Remember that this book was written in the early 1800's and will have the style of the day; also, the writer was not writing a fictional account for amusement--he was writing FACT. To my mind, it's an excellent read, and fascinating because, frankly, if it's not true, then literally hundreds of people were wrong. A must read for all students of the unknown!

Chilling

This was the best fiction chiller I have read all year. You never can quite tell whether it is fiction or fact. Chilling tale with a good twist at the end.

An Excellent Read!

I just finished reading this book and still can't get over how this story ended. Plain & simple, it "BLEW" me away!! I was not expecting an ending such as this one in the least bit, I was floored!! This story is definately a can't put down read and it is truely frightening as well, especially for those of us who believe in the supernatural. Brent Monahan has most definately got a winner here with this novel. 10 stars for The Bell Witch: An American Haunting and I reccomend that you buy yours today!!

A mystery, not horror

There's nothing particularly scary about this account of the bell witch presented by Brent Monahan but purportedly written by Richard Powell, a close friend of the Bell family. It is more of a mystery as the reader tries to find out what the Bell witch is and why it is haunting the Bells. One gets the impression that it's fun to be a demon, ghost, or poltergeist that plays tricks, slaps people, interrupts lives, and even kills with impunity.Powell writes with a charming, old-fashioned style such as in this passage describing a character called Frank Miles: "Mr. Miles was not one of the community's most celebrated thinkers; manly brute force was his answer to most any problem. Despite his good intentions, he was often violent when opposed, either by animate or inanimate objects...Added to this, his vocabulary was limited to simple oaths and phrases, many of these of the crudest origin."The most amusing parts of the book are when psychics show up to rid the house of the ghost but get their clock cleaned or scared out their wits. President Andrew Jackson attended such a session and got quite a kick out of it. The account also presents a believable account of life on the frontier during the early 1800s. The book attempts to explain the phenomenom of a poltergeist attributing it to a disturbance that a young girl is feeling as she grows into a woman.As for the veracity of the account actually being from Richard Powell and not Brent Monahan, I'll play along and give Monahan the benefit of the doubt. The style does change between Monahan's introduction and Powell's account. Still one would like to see this manuscript and call up the people that Monahan mentions giving him the manuscipt. And besides, I have a tendency to believe in the fanciful and outlandish, afterall, what was once considered outlandish can become status quo and what is status quo today will be considered outlandish tommorrow. However, it does seem little implausible that Richard Bell would marry Betsy given that she is being haunted by a violent ghost.

You have to read this!

When I first saw the book, I couldn't figure out if it was true or not. Once I researched the Bell Witch, I was hooked and knew I had to read it. I couldn't put the book down once I started reading it. It is an excellent account of the era, and there are several surprises here, including the ending. It was definitely not what I expected it to be! I have been telling everyone to read this book!