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The Bell Witch: An American Haunting
 
 
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The Bell Witch: An American Haunting (Paperback)

by Brent Monahan (Author) "You first heard about the "Bell witch" when you were seven ..." (more)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
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Product Description

From Kirkus Reviews

Ever-intelligent horror novelist Monahan (The Blood of the Covenant, 1995, etc.) retells a true story--true as far as the participants knew--about a poltergeist. The book purports to be a recently discovered manuscript written by Richard Powell, an eyewitness of the Bell Witch haunting in Robertson County, Tennessee, 181721. Monahan says that his first skeptical reading of the manuscript led him to six books confirming the authenticity of the events. Indeed, Richard Powell, the long-dead narrator, is himself a skeptic who seems to know all the devices of poltergeists, and in particular how poltergeist activity within a home reflects a family's psychic torment. Poltergeists (racket-makers) do not attack from without but rather are a spiritual pustule erupting from within a deeply troubled household. The poltergeist in this case seemed set on doing away with John Bell, the head of the family, while at the same time gradually evolving a rather homey tie with the other family members that lasted for three years and was witnessed by many. The spirit first showed up as something invisible gnawing nightly on bedposts, raining rocks on the roof, ripping covers off beds, and repeatedly slapping 12-year-old Betsy Bell and pulling her across the floor by her hair. At times the spirit allowed itself to be touched; it gathered news from afar for the family; lectured on theology; sang sweetly in four different voices; and rescued children in trouble. For three years, the spirit joked, lectured, ran off frauds and charlatans, and even nursed Bell's sick wife, producing nuts and berries for the invalid out of thin air. Even so, it afflicted the father with palsy, tics, and neuralgia, and at last watched him die. What produced the poltergeist? It's unfair to reveal here Monahan's reasonable yet supernatural answer. More artful, if less exciting, than Monahan's brainy bloodsucker operas--but all immensely satisfying. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review

"America's greatest ghost story." -Dennis William Hauck, Haunted Places"Too compelling to put down." -Fangoria
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First Sentence
You first heard about the "Bell witch" when you were seven. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

29 Reviews
5 star:
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4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
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2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (29 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4.0 out of 5 stars I lived there., April 14 2003
By A Customer
Having lived in Adams, Tennessee and lived with this story I have to say that much of it is unexplained but legendary. I know people who have had strange things happen that may or may not be coincidental, but unexplainable. I have been to the cave myself and taken pictures. All of the pictures taken at the cave came out foggy vs. the other pictures on the same roll of film. Many may not believe what happened as true, but it cannot be explained away when strange things continue to happen today. Take it or leave it but to dismiss it is difficult. Any book on the Bell Witch only tells of what happened to the Bell family and there has been many incidents in the last 175 years that cannot be explained or proven. It is just accepted.
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4.0 out of 5 stars First Of All, It's A Novel, Feb 14 2003
By J. D Suggs (Atlanta, Georgia United States) - See all my reviews
This book probably intends to confuse you a little- it did me- by purporting to be a newly discovered diary of a known eyewitness to events in the historically-documented "Bell Witch" case. In fact, it's a very good novel. Monahan takes the basic facts (or claims) that we have and fleshes them out artfully, with a narrator, dialogue, and a point of view that work beautifully well. The gripping story takes the horror and suspense genres in a unique direction, and lives up to the incredible source material. A small complaint: he tries to wrap things in a too-neat 1990s package for us at the end- the only false note he strikes here.

The book left me very interested in this case, and my interest increased recently when I discovered close family ties to many of the people depicted here, including Elias and Sugg Fort.

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5.0 out of 5 stars A mystery, not horror, Aug 28 2002
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.

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 		 Most recent customer reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars JUST COME OUT AND ADMIT IT'S FICTION
While this book was a fun read, I felt cheated because it's obviously fiction, but it's put forth as if it's fact. Read more
Published on Jan 18 2002

3.0 out of 5 stars So so
An interesting story, but I guess I did not really like the way it was written. I would have preferred if the author did not reprint the journal but rather write a fictional story... Read more
Published on Jun 15 2001

3.0 out of 5 stars A mysterious but interesting novel!!
I recently read The Bell Witch for I project in my English class. I chose this book because I thought it would be interesting to read about a true American haunting. Read more
Published on April 25 2001

2.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but Inaccurate
I picked up a copy of THE BELL WITCH: AN AMERICAN HAUNTING after one of my friends recommended it to me. Read more
Published on Mar 12 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars An American poltergeist haunting
Does there exist a student of the supernatural who has not heard of the Bell Witch? This is an exceptionally thorough retelling of that story, including details about the... Read more
Published on Feb 5 2001 by Laura Stam

2.0 out of 5 stars More like historical fiction
In "THE BELL WITCH," the author asks us to believe that he has recently discovered a manuscript which documents the only case in US history when a ghost actually kills... Read more
Published on Aug 30 2000 by tlcyrol

3.0 out of 5 stars THIS IS ONE BELL THAT DOESN'T RING TRUE!
In THE BELL WITCH: AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, Brent Monahan tells the remarkable story of the only documented poltergeist or spirit haunting to ever result in the death of a human... Read more
Published on Jun 21 2000 by David D. Warner

3.0 out of 5 stars More humorous than chilling
This book is certainly an entertaining read, however this is due to the Bell Witch's numerous witty retorts and sharp tongued jabs. Read more
Published on Jan 15 2000 by kingsransom

4.0 out of 5 stars Bell Witch
This book is hard to put down. I read it in 2 days. However, I believe some accounts reported in this book are true & others are false. Read more
Published on Dec 14 1999 by mybarn@hotmail.com

1.0 out of 5 stars The Monahan Book
After reading the book several times and comparing various aspects of the story to various and little-known factual details, I learned that while very well-written, Monahan's book... Read more
Published on Dec 1 1999

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