The Bell Witch: An American Haunting

This novel describes most of the significant Bell Witch facts as they have come to stand in American history/legend. The author chose the device of an unknown manuscript that gave inside information on the events of nearly 200 years ago, and took on the stance that this was as much a mystery (a murder mystery, no less) as it was a series of possible supernatural events. I didn't find this novel scary, but I don't know if I was supposed to. My own view is that this notorious case of a haunting witnessed by hundreds (including Andrew Jackson, if legend is correct) contains some unexplained elements but is also one that has grown in the telling over the decades. No one theory covers all elements here but the one that comes closest involves show more knowing participation by some of the family involved in the supposed poltergeist phenomena that surrounded them. Whatever else this matter was, it became deadly serious and the patriarch of the family did wind up dead, just as the spirit of the "witch" prophesied. More disturbing, true to her word, the witch did appear and she laughed at him at his funeral, as his casket was being lowered into the grave. I have read quite a bit about this disturbing folk history and have heard everything advocated from demonic presences to straightforward trickery. One recent claim was that the girl at the heart of the case was being molested by her father, that the pranks she claimed were a haunting were a cry for help, and that she got her revenge by poisoning her father to death. That may well be. Whatever the explanations are, the Bell Witch of Tennessee certainly deserves to be kept alive in memory, and it makes for a titillating study of the unexplained.

This was one of the best fiction chillers I have read in a long time. You never can quite tell whether it is fiction or fact. Chilling tale with a good twist at the end. show less

4.5 stars

A well written, surprisingly entertaining fictional telling of The Bell Witch Haunting, a poltergeist which was purportedly well documented during the period between 1818 and 1823. The poltergeist drew notoriety and a future U.S. president with its antics and eventually led to the death of John Bell, the head of the family. Told from Richard Powell's, Betsy Bell's future husband, point of view, the story starts with a curse laid on John Bell by a lady named Kate Batts and quickly develops into a story about a young girl and her father tormented by the poltergeist called Old Kate.

The author takes a lot of liberties in his storytelling (and is up front about it on his website), but the basic information conforms to the above Bell show more Witch site. Looking over the character bios on this site leads me to think that, even given that women did marry early (12 or 13 years old) to men who were often a good deal older (basic economics?), some of the players in the original story were, in fact, just dirty old men. That's the conclusion the author seems to draw any way and I kinda agree. show less

2.5 stars

From the blurb: "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.

[...]this book recounts the tale with novelistic vigor and verve. It is truly chilling."



Chilling? Not so much. I just kinda expect malevolent spirits to, you know... be malevolent. Just a quirk I have. So much of this book was about how this spirit would just sit down and have conversations with people regarding what it is and where it came from and show more what it wanted. There was surprisingly little poltergeist chaos wreaking after the initial start. I dunno, maybe the teller thought we'd get bored with that chaos and terror, and instead wanted to tell us all the mundane stuff about it, like... how it went out of its way to prevent injury or death to some or outright save others. Or when it touched that one guy's hand that time, in order to be "liked".



I had seen the movie, and so I knew how it went. I wasn't sure whether the resolution at the end of the movie would be a Hollywood re-write or not, and so I waited it out with the book to see. And I found out my answer about an hour before the audiobook ended. I could have stopped there, but I'm glad that I kept with it until the end. It didn't improve things very much for me, but I think that there was information in the book that wasn't in the movie, about the spirit's origin and manifestation, and I found that aspect very interesting. Hence the half star addition. ;)

The audio reader was very iffy for me. In the Editor's Note at the beginning of the book, he sounded very stiff and formal, but then when he started to read the story, he fell into this kind of Southern drawl that made me sigh with contentment. Unfortunately, he didn't keep it up. Boo!

I'm not a big fan of audiobook readers who "do" the voices. I usually just want the reader to read and let the characters speak for themselves. There were parts that were very well done, Old Kate's "main" voice, & John Bell's voice were both done well. But then, during straight narration, the reader would lapse into odd accents, or stumble over his words, or pause at inconvenient times (like the middle of a word). I heard something like a Scottish accent, hints of a Spanish one, a little bit of Minnesotan, etc. Every time one of these would slip in, I'd be like...



Yeah. So, this book? Not terrible, but not very good either. That is all. show less

I like reading up on urban legends and American folklore so I was hopeful this would be a fun, creepy read. Although there are moments that should have been scary, the text was just too dry for it to confer the feelings of spine-tingling fright. The legend was an interesting story but could have been told in a more tangible, relatable way.

The terrible ending ruined any interest in this book I had. Also I am not thrilled that a book touted as being non-fiction (it is not) is not non-fiction. I got this book because it was recommended to me by someone who suggested this for books about ghost stories and haunted houses.

This fictionalized story is told in the first person by Richard Powell. The author, Brent Monahan, takes a first person narrative approach by having Richard Powell address a letter to his daughter to be read after his death and only if his wife, her mother, Betsy Bell Powell seems to become "afflicted."

All of the characters in this book existed. The author took the documented cases of the Bell Witch and tried to turn what happened into a made for tv movie show more (that would appear on Lifetime) with an older Richard Powell in love with Betsey but heartsick over their age difference and the fact she was in love with a local boy more her age.

I ended up reading a website today that talks about The Bell Witch so I was able to root out certain parts of the story that were fictionalized or the author chose to ignore (Richard Powell was married before he married Betsey) and the fact that many in the community suspected him to be involved with making up The Bell Witch.

I have to say that the writing for the most part was well done, but the author taking turns to note the racist terrible things the supernatural entity that was known as Old Kate and the Bell Witch was off-putting as hell. I don't know if these are actual recorded things the entity supposedly said, but if he made it up to make it sensational, ugh to him. Also certain things have been disproved (General Andrew Jackson did not go to visit the Bell home) and I wonder why the author left them in.

The author included drawings that had been made previously in this book, that added an air of authenticity about it.

The flow to the book wasn't that great, and I think it's because it dragged a ton. Until you almost get to the end of the book, I felt like I was reading the most boring diary ever.

The setting of the Bell Home didn't seem like a real place to me. I think because I had a hard time envisioning the home that they all lived in.

The ending made me sigh and roll my eyes. Based on what came before, the hypothesis of the author doesn't make a lot of sense. And once again the author left out a lot of things about these real life people. show less

I like supernatural horror stories, and this one was diverting. It's a novel based on a "true" story, if you accept that any ghost stories are any more than balderdash, which I really don't. A family in 19th century Tennessee is haunted by a spirit which is malevolent enough to actually kill someone, but also has a witty and even a kind side. The book is not really scary, but it is intriguing, until it falls apart at the end with a glib, predictable resolution.

Can a ghost kill? According to the "true" events captured in Brent Monahan's, An American Haunting, the answer is yes. An American Haunting takes place in 1800s America and describes the events surrounding the famed "Bell Witch" haunting from a first-person perspective. The narrator supposedly kept a meticulous journal of the paranormal experiences he witnessed in hopes of sharing this ghastly account with his progeny. The manuscript was found some years later and Brent Monahan was selected to investigate and publish the incident.

I did not connect with this book on any level. The storytelling was intentionally dry in an attempt to facilitate the realism. The best I can say is that the book was short. Perhaps the story of "The Bell show more Witch" is true, but I did not have the energy upon completion to go on a fact finding mission. My recommendation would be to look elsewhere for ghost stories. show less