BASED ON A TRUE STORY
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"Bell Witch Haunting” movie
In Spite Of Mysterious Delays, “Bell Witch Haunting” Is
Released.
Forget Stephen King’s books, forget the Poltergeist movies, and as far as that goes, forget any ghost
story you have ever read or seen on TV or in films. Truth is stranger than fiction. There is a “true” ghost in Tennessee
that will put any fictional apparition to shame. It’s called the
Bell Witch.
The recent release of the feature film “The Bell Witch Haunting” was a great relief to director Ric White
and producer Linda Thornton after almost a year-and-a-half of post-production and wondering if the legendary
spirit was ever going to let them finish the film. “I was warned by several people not to make a film on the Bell
Witch”, said White. “Several production companies have tried over the years and something always happens and the projects
are never completed.” That “something” almost ended Willing Hearts Productions’ project when the office where
White was editing mysteriously caught on fire in June of 2003. A fax machine that had been on for over two years in the
editing suite, suddenly decided to catch on fire one day and burned part of the building. This followed an unexplained
fire during the shooting of the film that took the life of the Bell Witch museum curator, who was found with her
hand on the front door trying to get out of her burning house. A few months after White’s office burned, another
unexplained fire broke out at the Red River Baptist Church (which was depicted in the movie) and part of the
historic building was destroyed. Three unexplained fires surrounding the Bell Witch haunting happened within months of
filming the movie. White continued to edit at home (after recovering from the fire and losing edited footage),
where he began to experience further strange activities. “For several months there was a feeling of being watched,
strange foul odors, a turned off cell phone that rang and constant problems with the editing equipment”, White
said. “We had to re-edit most of the film several
times and had the computer fixed three times in three months; it
still would crash, flicker and lock up constantly.” Many people believe that the Bell Witch, one of
America’s most famous entities, still resides in a cave in Adams, Tennessee on what used to be the Bell property. All
sorts of strange paranormal activity is said to happen in and around the cave including people hearing voices and
children playing, being touched by unseen forces, orbs manifesting and photos and videos either not working
properly or picking up strange images. The Bell Witch haunting and cave phenomena have been featured in
countless magazine and newspaper articles, books, and on radio and several television shows, most recently a special on
Country Music Television called “Most Shocking... Ghost!” that aired in October 2004, which included footage
from “The Bell Witch Haunting” film.
Following the story of one of the world’s most famous and
well documented ghost stories ever, "The Bell Witch
The encounters escalated, and the Bells'
thirteen-year-old
daughter, Betsy, began experiencing brutal physical
encounters with the entity. It relentlessly pulled
her
hair, beat and slapped her, often leaving visible
prints on
her face and body for days at a time.
Quickly, the entity's voice strengthened;
it
carried on intelligent conversations, and answered
questions from visitors. Although the Spirit
tormented many
people, including the Bells’ slaves, she seemed to
adore
Lucy Bell, John’s wife. Over a four year period,
hundreds
of people spoke with the Spirit and witnessed its
wonderful
and horrifying demonstrations; and ever so many
detectives,
wise men, witch doctors and conjurors came to
exercise
their skills on the Spirit and tried to rid the
Bells of
their tormentor; all were brought to grief by the
Spirit
and left confessing the phenomena was beyond
comprehension.
Yet, those who witnessed the demonstrations knew
that it
had a wonderful power of intelligence, possessing
great
knowledge of men and things; a spirit that could
apparently
read minds, tell men’s secrets, repeat sermons word
for
word and sing every song in the hymn book. It often
assumed
a pious character, enjoying religious discussions
and
quoting scripture with absolute accuracy.
The Spirit often expressed its dislike for
"Ol’
Jack Bell" and vowed to kill him. As John Bell's
health
grew worse, the Spirit would torture him more
severely by
relentlessly beating him while he was experiencing
seizures. On the morning of December 20, 1820, John
Bell
took his last breath; and when the family found a
small
vial of unidentified liquid, the Spirit suddenly
spoke up
exclaiming, "I gave Ol' Jack a big dose of that last
night,
and that fixed him!" John Bell’s funeral was one of
the
largest ever seen in Robertson County, hundreds of
people
attended, including the gloating Spirit, who
cheerfully
offered mourners a concert of brawny drinking songs.
“‘The Bell Witch Haunting’ movie is a
haunted
house adventure that mixes history, a frightful
ghost story
and a great suspense plot. This true story of terror
from
an unseen evil is chilling and unforgettable”, said
Linda,
the film’s producer. “What kind of being was this
that was
gentle to his wife, but tormented John Bell to his
death?
Why was it so full of contradictions; kind to some,
vengeful to others; angelic at times, demonic at
others?”
Linda asked. “No one knows, but there seems to be a
lot of
evidence that something is still around today.”
After several set backs and almost losing the film
to the
fire, “The Bell Witch Haunting” premiered this past
summer
(2004) and has been shown in theaters in Tennessee
and
Kentucky. In May of 2004 Willing Hearts Productions
signed
with Shoreline Entertainment to distribute the film.
In
September of 2004 sales of the DVD, which includes
deleted
scenes and behind - the- scenes footage, began on
the
website www.thebellwitchhaunting.com. The film also
opened
the 2004 Mid-South paranormal convention and some of
the
footage was used in the October CMT Special. “The
response
to the film has been phenomenal”, Linda said. “It
has been
incredibly positive in terms of both turn out for
the
screenings and reaction to the film. It has been
extremely
well received.” The movie has received nothing but
high
praise from Bell Witch enthusiasts. Pat Fitzhugh,
Bell
Witch author and historian, wrote in his review
“Whether
you are a Bell Witch expert, novice or armchair
historian,
I think you will enjoy and learn from “The Bell
Witch
Haunting” film. I highly recommend that you go see
it and
get the DVD as well - you will probably want to
watch it
again and again.”
“Was it the Bell Witch or just an amazing set of
coincidences, we’ll never know. All I know is it has
been a
difficult year”, said White. “But with the
excitement and
enthusiasm we have had over the film, it has been
well
worth it.”
To find out more about the Bell Witch
story or
order the DVD, you can go on the website
www.bellwitchhaunting.com; you can also order the
movie by
calling (615)264-8999.
"Bell Witch Haunting” movie
|
Haunting" movie is a powerful supernatural historic
thriller based on terrifying actual events that took
place
in Tennessee from 1817 to 1821, in which a spirit
tormented
John Bell and his family, leaving him in a
terrifying fight
against the vengeful ghost to save his children and
his own
life. The haunting is the only known case where a
spirit
actually took credit for killing someone. After
visiting
the Bells’ home, future President Andrew Jackson
said, "I
vow I would rather fight the entire British army
single-
handed than face the Bell Witch again!"
The haunting started as unexplained noises
around
the Bell house beginning as scratching and knocking
sounds
and soon progressed to the sounds of dogs fighting,
chains
being dragged around and "beating" sounds on the
outside
walls of their house. It wasn't long until the
children
began complaining of more terrifying things--having
their
bed covers pulled off, being touched and pinched by
a
seemingly invisible force. Soon, they heard what
sounded
like faint, whispering voices--too weak to
understand--but
sounded like a feeble old woman crying or singing
hymns. 
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