Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 20:50:27 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Story Submission
yourname Maria
email BigCoffinHunter@aol.com
I just wanted to add a couple things. First, Richard Powell, Betsy Bell's husband ,did indeed want the manuscript he wrote to be made public. In the last paragraph of his manuscript, he states to daughter: "I hope that you will have the courage to see that (his story) is made public. There is much that can and should be learned here." This was to be done aftr both he and Betsy passed away.
Also, by the way, the author who compiled that manuscript was Brent Monahan and the title was "The Bell Witch, An American Haunting."
I am a new follower of this, so don't have a lot of knowledge on the subject yet, but appreciate you reading this over.
Maria
From: "Michael Plett" (mplett@ix.netcom.com)
To: obiwan@ghosts.org
Subject: My visit to the cave.
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 1999 22:13:40 -0600
I sent a cynical letter to this website a couple of months ago, and since then I have been most fortunate to venture into the cave before on Labor day weekend, before the fire. It was probably the most real and incredible experience I was ever able to witness. My fiance and I brought a poloroid camera and a ton of film to see if we could catch anything unusual photographically. We took turns posing on the rock that sits in front of the cave's entrance. My picture looks double exposed, but with a different face coming out of mine. The picture of my fiance has white clouds all over him. We also took photos of the cliff that looms over the entrance. These pictures have those familiar "light globes" that are found in photos of the cave. We were the first to meet with our tour guide, Candy, who had a lot of great stories to share. We lingered slowly behind the rest of the tour group and for the entire length of time in the cave, I had a very hard time controlling my camera. Again, this was a polaroid, a no-brainer. The whole camera would snap shut before I could take a picture, and would pop open and snap photos when I wasn't even touching it. I probably looked like a moron to the rest of the tour group. So I finally gave up and handed over the camera to my fiance. As we left the back room of the cave near Eagle's Rock, I felt something or someone cold lean up against me from behind. I yelled at my fiance, thinking that he was the one shoving me to the point that I was falling over the wet stones in my path. It turned out he was several feet away from me in the far corner of the back room. He was feeling something strange too, so he started snapping a bunch of photos. When the pictures developed, every single on taken in the back room showed neon fomations in gold, red and green, in all different shapes, in all sorts of areas in the room. In the room where there are no exposed lights. The family of women who run the tours made me promise that I would send them copies of the photos. But because I am such a procrastinator, I still haven't sent them.
Anybody who doubts the hauntings of the bell witch cave has got to take the pilgrimage to see for themselves. They may never be the same afterwards.
From: JCook56050@aol.com
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 08:58:46 EST
Subject: Answer to your question on Obiwan site
To: MrShank2000@aol.com, obiwan@ghosts.org
Dear Richard,
The arrow ingraved into the wall (or in this case you may be talking about the arrow ingraved into the obolisk inside the wall) of the Bellwood Cemetery is a geographical marker. It was placed there by the designer-builder, Lesley Covington in the 1950's as an indicator of true magnetic north. He uses this to give reference to his directions on the obolisk indicating where the original home and grave of John and Lucy Bell may be found. However, it has been found by measurment that those directions are somewhat off by about fifty or so feet.
As for walking around, on, or through the main plot (which is reserved only for the direct members of the Bell family) I'm afraid that nothing will push you off of a grave or prevent you from an impolite action in the area except perhaps a legal authority. As with any cemetery, I recommend respect when viewing or visiting those who have passed to the other side.
The Bell Foundation continues to take very good care of the grounds. As for the cemetery, it is possibly one of the finest sites of its type in Tennessee built during that period. Covington was a wealthy contractor from the northeast and one generation seperated from the Bell name. Unfortunately, he did not count on the fact that many of the Bells did not prefer to be buried there. So, due to personal or family preference, many of the stones and plots within the wall are unoccupied as grave sites at this time.
Jack Cook
jcook56050@aol.com
From: JCook56050@aol.com
Date: Wed, 17 Nov 1999 10:07:29 EST
Subject: Your comments on the Obiwan ghost site
To: cparker@startribune.com, obiwan@ghosts.org
Dear Catherine,
Thought you might want some background on where the concept of Betsy Bell and incest came from in the Bell haunting.
Back around the turn of the century many theorists seemed to be writing detailed accounts of apparitional activity and how such things could be explained by personal torment and emotional problems initiated by sexual abberations. This all came originally from the work of Dr. Sigmond Freud who pioneered the concept of subsconscious influence in human psychological disturbances.
Dr. Freud had a student in Europe by the name of Dr. Nandor Fodor, a psychoanalyst by profession, who eventually wrote many influential papers on the effects of the subconscious mind on the formation of hauntings and parapsychological manifestations. Fodor himself was responsible for many personal studies on the phenomenon of the poltergeist during his lifetime. His most outstanding public works on this subject were published under the titles, "The Haunted Mind" (1959) written by Fodor and "Haunted People: Story of the Poltergeist Down Through the Centuries" (1951) co-written with Hereward Carrington.
In both works Dr. Fodor (who very much agreed with Freud's views) put forward the idea that Elizabeth Betsy Bell had formed an entity outside of herself in the spirit realm to exact a kind of subconscious vengeance upon her father for committing some kind of sexual acts upon her. Fodor terms this "subconscious psychosis."
Unfortunately, Dr. Fodor had to rely upon the only known document written firsthand about the haunting by Martin Van Buren Ingram, "The Authenticated History of the Bell Witch". Ingram's book is not entirely forthcoming concerning the background of the Bell family or any of the affected families involved in the haunting. Ingram also does not get very deeply into community activities or the history of the region. Thus, in a sense, Nandor Fodor was basing his theories entirely upon the more modern cases he had investigated and upon the only data he had at hand. In all fairness, many of the cases he had studied pointed to the incest problem as a possible cause for some poltergeist hauntings.
Dr. Nandor Fodor is a very learned and engaging scientist for his time, and sheds very good light upon a most puzzling element of human experience. He continues to this day to be used as a source for many parapsychological terms and definitions. His theories are no longer considered state-of-the-art. But, the idea of Betsy Bell being abused sexually by her father must be called into question when all of the facts from family records and historical documents point to other more reasonable causes (if you can call a haunting reasonable!).
As for a novel that puports to tell the story from the point of view of Betsy's husband, Richard R.P. Powell...... well, I've been reseaching this incident for twenty years, and I would literally jump for joy if I could find anything more written by Mr. Powell besides his book written on mathematics (you can find a copy in the Tennessee State Library and Archives in Nashville, Tennessee). In fact we know a great deal about his activities as sheriff and state representative of Robertson County. We know a great deal about his personal problems and the stroke that made him an invalid for so many years. But so far, we can't even find his grave in Cedar Hill. Folks in Robertson County have been searching for him for many years. Did he ever write something on the Bell Spirit? I do not know. But, I suspect not, since his family continued to try to keep the haunting out of the public eye down through the years.
I suppose the best we can do about whether a publication holds the truth is to demand that when a book or story is issued that attempts to sound authoritative, it should include a very good bibliography with references.
Jack Cook
jcook56050@aol.com
The Bell Witch Information Page
This page (http://www.ghosts.org/bell/bellcomments3.html) last updated April 17, 2005.