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kjthenerd3's review against another edition
5.0
Completely unprepared for the last 20 pages. On my way to recommend this to everyone.
jimmyjamesnickels's review against another edition
2.0
I spent several years living in an area which prides itself on it's supernatural history, which is a polite way of saying you couldn't go more than a city square without running into a yet another charlatan leading a walking ghost tour. Getting down to brass tacks for most of these 2spoopy4me ghost stories, past down in some cases nearly 400 years, a lot of times the very basic scary story wasn't actually very scary. Almost every single time, it was easy to see how overactive imaginations or bored, salacious gossips took over otherwise mildly strange events and blew them up into something they weren't. But the bare bones of these so-called real or factual ghost stories themselves? In my opinion, nothing that would raise so much as a goosebump of fear.
Now...this isn't to indicate these stories were bad or boring, no. I think the truly interesting part of these pieces of oral folklore comes not in the restless dead in their winding sheets crying woe, but in the fascinating snapshot it gives of the attitudes and beliefs of the times in which they were set. That's basically what we're dealing with here, with The Bell Witch. It's not at all scary, however it is interesting.
Went into this one with a scattering of knowledge about the famous Bell Witch haunting, also I've seen the really awful 2005 movie with Donald Sutherland. The story details the paranormal attacks on the Bell family of Tennessee, focused initially on pre-teen daughter Betsy Bell but eventually the events grew in strength and magnitude to include the entire community. Brent Mohanan's book is listed as fiction, however he claims to be posting the manuscript or journal of Richard Powell, a school teacher who went on to marry Betsy Bell (...I don't know about you, but I'm side eyeing hella hard here...). There are footnotes throughout the book explaining details, also apparently Powell's journal corroborates evidence provided in other accounts of the Bell Witch case as well as expands on them. This I wouldn't know as I haven't read these other accounts. Purely speculating, as this is listed as fiction and not a non-fiction account of the events (and you absolutely can have ghost books in non-fiction), is it truly lifted from Powell's manuscript? Or was that just Monahan's device for telling the story?
Anyway, the basic question to be asked about a scary story book is pretty simple: Is it scary? And no, The Bell Witch isn't scary in the slightest. It's a ghost story seemingly written by a person who only the vaguest academic idea what ghosts or witches actually are or do. I suppose arguing about the rules of the paranormal seems pedantic and silly, because if you believe then ~they~ can do whatever ~they~ want booga booga boo. But The Bell Witch really just stretches the bonds of credulity. It's like the scene in The 40 Year Old Virgin where Steve Carrell's character describes sex; this guy has absolutely no idea what he's talking about.
The activities of the "witch" are beyond fantastical; she is able to time travel and read minds, to word for word recite sermons which occurred at opposite sides of the county at the same time. The abilities of the witch to converse intelligently, openly with whoever caught her attention were unbelievable. Eventually, the witch saves the lives of several people and children as well as other acts of charity. It all sounds completely and utterly unbelievable. And it's just not scary. Not at all. It's not tense, it's not atmospheric or chilling, it's just unbelievably exaggerated and weird. All a reasonable person can do is smile politely and gently chide "That didn't happen."
It was moderately enjoyable to try and piece together the truth in the exaggerations and weirdness. If you approach the book in the guise of whodunnit or whydunnit, you might be able to force some enjoyment out of it. Beyond the unbelievably goofiness of the witch's antics, the book is about what you'd expect for an 1800s journal: rather dry and pretty dull. Trying to piece things together for myself was thought provoking, especially in light of what happens in the last section of the book. It's something of a twist ending, and if you find yourself bored and wanting to toss this one into your "Did not finish" pile, I suggest you stick with it through the end for the ah hah moment. Personally, my theory is as follows:
No, I think the truth in the matter lies in poor Betsy Bell's awful confession at the end. No deep spoilers here, but Betsy clearly had her reasons for fabricating the fits and activities early on in the haunting, Perhaps it wasn't Betsy who involved Kate at all, but her father John Bell finding a way to handidly explain his daughter's peculiar behavior and the strange goings on in his home. Or maybe it was a way for Betsy to defer scruitiny by accusing someone else. You don't have to be an expert in how witchcraft was dealt with historically to know that women that Kate Bass--a poor and possibly even uncouth widow who was generally disliked in the community-- was extremely vulerable. She may or may not have swindled John Bell in a business deal, which lead to him being humiliated by losing face and standing in his community. He tried to literally demonize Kate Bass for revenge and possible to recoup his financial losses. I believe more than a few of the Salem Witches went on trial and died due to their slights against the powerful families in town.
Then again, Salem went down over a hundred years before the Bell Witch matter. People were more enlightened, thankfully. So for whatever reason, at least in this manuscript it doesn't sound like poor Kate Bass suffered greatly as a result of the accusations against her, though it is clear she lost much good faith and charity in the community. It is a huge oversight and disappointment to not hear Kate's story, but whatever.
I think word spread like wildfire and the stories got more and more exaggerated, and the next thing they know the Bells have a virtual side show going on in their home. The fact Powell goes out of his way to claim the Bell family never took payment for the tons of visitors strikes me as a lie. And if not the Bells themselves, then the community at large stood to gain financially from the increase of visitors. As for the fantastical powers and abilities of the witch? Lies, y'all. Lies and exaggerations. Powell at one point makes mention of ventriloquism and the ability to throw one's voice. Yup. Parlor tricks. The willingness to believe is a powerful thing.
As for John Bell mysteriously becoming ill and then dying, well again the witch was a handy source of income for his family. Some of his symptoms remind me of tetanus, though I'm no doctor. As for Powell himself, well I'm tempted to write him off as a gross old man, thirty some years old and perving on a tweenager. But at the time, a grown man with a child bride was not as disgusting as it is today. I could believe he was played hard by the Bell family, who found in him a naive and successful out-of-towner to take their daughter off their hands. The match Betsy made for herself, with a boy only three years older than she, was unsuitable to them for whatever reason.
But this is all just speculation on my part. Who knows what the truth really was. I do wish this book was better, more interesting and involved. I think a well rounded, non-fiction account exploring other perspectives of the case would have been a better idea if the source material really is legit. Instead, this was dry and boring, interesting only if you want to put on your detective cap.
If you want to learn a little more about the Bell Witch case, you may as well give this book a go. If you're looking for a scary or interesting ghost story, give it a pass.
Now...this isn't to indicate these stories were bad or boring, no. I think the truly interesting part of these pieces of oral folklore comes not in the restless dead in their winding sheets crying woe, but in the fascinating snapshot it gives of the attitudes and beliefs of the times in which they were set. That's basically what we're dealing with here, with The Bell Witch. It's not at all scary, however it is interesting.
Went into this one with a scattering of knowledge about the famous Bell Witch haunting, also I've seen the really awful 2005 movie with Donald Sutherland. The story details the paranormal attacks on the Bell family of Tennessee, focused initially on pre-teen daughter Betsy Bell but eventually the events grew in strength and magnitude to include the entire community. Brent Mohanan's book is listed as fiction, however he claims to be posting the manuscript or journal of Richard Powell, a school teacher who went on to marry Betsy Bell (...I don't know about you, but I'm side eyeing hella hard here...). There are footnotes throughout the book explaining details, also apparently Powell's journal corroborates evidence provided in other accounts of the Bell Witch case as well as expands on them. This I wouldn't know as I haven't read these other accounts. Purely speculating, as this is listed as fiction and not a non-fiction account of the events (and you absolutely can have ghost books in non-fiction), is it truly lifted from Powell's manuscript? Or was that just Monahan's device for telling the story?
Anyway, the basic question to be asked about a scary story book is pretty simple: Is it scary? And no, The Bell Witch isn't scary in the slightest. It's a ghost story seemingly written by a person who only the vaguest academic idea what ghosts or witches actually are or do. I suppose arguing about the rules of the paranormal seems pedantic and silly, because if you believe then ~they~ can do whatever ~they~ want booga booga boo. But The Bell Witch really just stretches the bonds of credulity. It's like the scene in The 40 Year Old Virgin where Steve Carrell's character describes sex; this guy has absolutely no idea what he's talking about.
The activities of the "witch" are beyond fantastical; she is able to time travel and read minds, to word for word recite sermons which occurred at opposite sides of the county at the same time. The abilities of the witch to converse intelligently, openly with whoever caught her attention were unbelievable. Eventually, the witch saves the lives of several people and children as well as other acts of charity. It all sounds completely and utterly unbelievable. And it's just not scary. Not at all. It's not tense, it's not atmospheric or chilling, it's just unbelievably exaggerated and weird. All a reasonable person can do is smile politely and gently chide "That didn't happen."
It was moderately enjoyable to try and piece together the truth in the exaggerations and weirdness. If you approach the book in the guise of whodunnit or whydunnit, you might be able to force some enjoyment out of it. Beyond the unbelievably goofiness of the witch's antics, the book is about what you'd expect for an 1800s journal: rather dry and pretty dull. Trying to piece things together for myself was thought provoking, especially in light of what happens in the last section of the book. It's something of a twist ending, and if you find yourself bored and wanting to toss this one into your "Did not finish" pile, I suggest you stick with it through the end for the ah hah moment. Personally, my theory is as follows:
Spoiler
It probably doesn't need to be pointed out, but just in case I don't think anything paranormal in the slightest was happening here. I found it extremely weird, how no one ever really confronted Kate Bass about her role in summoning this witch or demon. At one point I think mention is made that she cheerfully took credit for it, but she was never really taken to task or questioned or really involved in the matter. Why? I find that odd as hell, if your neighbor was tormenting you in some way, I think you'd try to resolve things with the neighbor before renting out your living room so people could watch.No, I think the truth in the matter lies in poor Betsy Bell's awful confession at the end. No deep spoilers here, but Betsy clearly had her reasons for fabricating the fits and activities early on in the haunting, Perhaps it wasn't Betsy who involved Kate at all, but her father John Bell finding a way to handidly explain his daughter's peculiar behavior and the strange goings on in his home. Or maybe it was a way for Betsy to defer scruitiny by accusing someone else. You don't have to be an expert in how witchcraft was dealt with historically to know that women that Kate Bass--a poor and possibly even uncouth widow who was generally disliked in the community-- was extremely vulerable. She may or may not have swindled John Bell in a business deal, which lead to him being humiliated by losing face and standing in his community. He tried to literally demonize Kate Bass for revenge and possible to recoup his financial losses. I believe more than a few of the Salem Witches went on trial and died due to their slights against the powerful families in town.
Then again, Salem went down over a hundred years before the Bell Witch matter. People were more enlightened, thankfully. So for whatever reason, at least in this manuscript it doesn't sound like poor Kate Bass suffered greatly as a result of the accusations against her, though it is clear she lost much good faith and charity in the community. It is a huge oversight and disappointment to not hear Kate's story, but whatever.
I think word spread like wildfire and the stories got more and more exaggerated, and the next thing they know the Bells have a virtual side show going on in their home. The fact Powell goes out of his way to claim the Bell family never took payment for the tons of visitors strikes me as a lie. And if not the Bells themselves, then the community at large stood to gain financially from the increase of visitors. As for the fantastical powers and abilities of the witch? Lies, y'all. Lies and exaggerations. Powell at one point makes mention of ventriloquism and the ability to throw one's voice. Yup. Parlor tricks. The willingness to believe is a powerful thing.
As for John Bell mysteriously becoming ill and then dying, well again the witch was a handy source of income for his family. Some of his symptoms remind me of tetanus, though I'm no doctor. As for Powell himself, well I'm tempted to write him off as a gross old man, thirty some years old and perving on a tweenager. But at the time, a grown man with a child bride was not as disgusting as it is today. I could believe he was played hard by the Bell family, who found in him a naive and successful out-of-towner to take their daughter off their hands. The match Betsy made for herself, with a boy only three years older than she, was unsuitable to them for whatever reason.
But this is all just speculation on my part.
If you want to learn a little more about the Bell Witch case, you may as well give this book a go. If you're looking for a scary or interesting ghost story, give it a pass.
jgintrovertedreader's review against another edition
3.0
I don't think this was written all that well, but it really creeped me out. Of course, I'd also just had all my wisdom teeth pulled and I was loopy on pain meds when I read it, so that might have something to do with it.
marie_lit's review against another edition
4.0
Good book, pretty scarry but still at moment pretty unbelievable, especially when the witch's conversations with some of the guests... I mean if this is supposed to be true, then sources other then the writer/witness should be famous too, that should have been written all over the press...?
But still, very interesting story.
But still, very interesting story.
joelkarpowitz's review against another edition
2.0
I like a good ghost story quite a bit. This was not that. The last fifteen pages were all right, but not worth the hundred and whatever pages that came before. A ghost that has conversations with everyone all the time is about as far from scary as you can get.
proseandpostre's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 ⭐️ Very frightening in the beginning, and then a bit of a mystery. I wasn't expecting the reasoning behind the haunting, but in hindsight it makes sense. Scary/Sad
bawright1987's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't actually finish this because it just drug on and on; which is hard to believe when the book is only 200 pages long!
megoosh258's review against another edition
5.0
This book was very cool to read and know some of the area that it took place in and that it is, at least in part, a true story. Very creepy and interesting.