Off Topic Thread!!!

Forgiveness is not a gift to the person that wronged you. It is a gift to yourself so that you may go on with your own life in peace.

I have already done an ATS search for the Bell Witch, and haven’t found any posts on the topic, which surprises me.

Basically, when north-central Tennessee was settled at the beginning of the 19th century, the Bell family of pioneers in Adams county were plagued by a supernatural presence which had a great deal of hatred for the patriarch, John Bell. John Bell died after being poisoned—he and others claimed that the witch poured a bottle of unknown contents into his mouth while he was sleeping. Back in those days, any supernatural entity was referred to as a witch, since witch meant any form of paranormal/e.s.p. activity; i.e. “water-witching” for dowsing.

I think the Bell Witch case is probably the single best documented haunting in the U.S. With several hundred eyewitnesses over the course of at least three generations, and claims of paranormal presence in Adams county which continue to this day. It is claimed that Future POTUS Andrew Jackson journeyed to visit the Bell Witch, but his horse refused to go within sight of the farmhouse. Many residents of that area will not say “Bell Witch” except when giving directions, for fear that they will be attacked, even as much as 20 or 30 miles from the cave.

Here is my own experience:

I have an endless appetite for the paranormal, although I am generally a skeptic. That is one reason I don’t usually post on this paranormal forum; many here seem to believe anything. Anyway, I had heard the story of the Bell witch from a friend while watching the “Blair Witch Project.” He was really p.o.’d at the movie, claiming that they had ripped off a TRUE story of his native Tennessee, ruining the name, and making up their own bad plot. He said that “Blair Witch Project is to Bell Witch as Bram Stoker is to Vlad the Impaler.” He stomped out of the movie.

I was in central Tennessee about 5 years ago now. I was staying at the home of a group of friends just north of Nashville, and I told them over Sunday brunch that I wanted to go see the Bell Witch. We talked about how several of them had heard that if you sat up till midnight, staring into a mirror and saying “I hate the Bell Witch,” she will appear in the mirror and reach out and scratch your face. They all said it was a crock, even though none of them had been there or researched it. I talked about my theories of the paranormal. I told them that even if there were no truth to the legend, it would be an interesting anthropological expedition, to visit the little town in the grips of the B.W. We all went to different rooms to take a nap. For my part, I dreamed of I was looking in the mirror over the dresser in the room I was napping in, and that instead of my reflection, there was a gray humanoid shape in the mirror, that slowly resolved into the image of an old hag in a shawl. She was cussing me for doubting her. I woke up with my hair standing on end. The other adults in the house were waking up, too. It seems we had EACH dreamed of the Bell Witch at the same instant.

None of us took the idea seriously, but now we definitely wanted to go and see the B. W. site. I got on the internet, and found a phone number for tours. I talked to the daughter of the family who runs the site. She sounded like a teenager and said her dad gave the tours, but that he and the rest of the family were ill. She added that if we wanted to come, she would give us a tour.

We ran to the car and zoomed off with an atlas in one hand and cameras in the other. The countryside is beautiful, rolling hills covered with corn and tobacco fields. We got lost several times, but finally found the tourist sign pointing to the Bell farm. The Bells have moved away decades ago. There are only two direct members of the family still alive, from what I remember. They don’t live in North America any more, and only contact the caretakers via lawyer.

We showed up and the young lady who was very sweet and produced THICK photo albums of various phenomena that had been photographed on the property, as well as copies of newspaper and magazine accounts of the Bell Witch. She recited a rehearsed lecture, and did a fair job of covering up her boredom as she went. She also had several thin books for sale, and I bought one of each.

The girl asked if we had flashlights. She kept going in the house and talking to her mom. She had walkie-talkies, and kept testing them over and over. I could tell that she was generally frightened, but assumed it was just a show for the tourists.

She led us down a gravel path, down to the river below the homesite. You could not have found the cave without a guide, even with the path, which disappears into the rocky face of a steep hill that must be scaled to get into the cave. There are handrails in the tough spots, but you need to be basically fit in order to get to it. Turns out the cave is directly below the house, but was undiscovered until members of the Bell family had already started dying off.

The girl gave an in-depth account of the history of the B.W., and pointed out different parts of the cave. It was nearly 100 F outside, but was in the low 70’s in the cave. There are blind, eyeless shrimp and crayfish in the creek that flows in the darkness of the cave. Her dad had installed lights in the ceiling, about a hundred yards into the cave. I realized that the girl was honestly shaking, and in her presentation about every “page” of information, she’d stop and call her dad by walkie-talkie, to tell him everything was still o.k.

She took us to the end of the lighted portion. She apologized but said that she would not take anyone any further, since flashlights often went dead for no reason. I noticed that she held onto a wall the whole time. She said that more than once the lights had failed during a tour, and she had had to crawl out in the dark by herself, leading other tourists who were mad and scared.

As we were talking in the central chamber of the cave, I noticed a cloud of mist forming between us while we were conversing. I asked the others if they saw it too. All said yes, including the guide. At first I speculated that the cloud was formed by warm air from the outside entering the cave and moving over the ice-cold water. But the mist was about 45 ft. from the brook, and was not swirling in any air currents. I walked around it, trying to find what was causing it. No one else could find an explanation. None of us are smokers. The girl was totally freaked out, and started calling for her dad on the walkie talkie, but it was totally dead. I tried it myself, and the power LED on the unit wouldn’t light up. It didn’t even click when you keyed the mike, which most will do if they have any power at all. I got two pictures that came out. I wish I owned a scanner so I could post them. They were taken with a disposable Kodak and printed on regular glossy film. I didn’t know about getting them made to a floppy disc back then.

Anyway, all of us got pictures, and made our way out of the cave. The lights started flickering as we went out, and I will admit that my heart was racing and I was leaving. The lights finally failed as we saw the light coming in from the entrance. I will confess that I felt some presence, which seemed to cling to us the rest of the afternoon, until we had left Adams county, TN.

I remember asking the girl if she was related to the Bells and she said no. Her father had lost his job in Nashville, and saw an ad in the paper, for farm labor. The job turned out to be overseeing the Bell farm. The lawyers said he could operate it as a tourist attraction if he wished. She said that a number of families had tried over the years, none staying more than about 5 or 6 years. So I don’t know if her family is still doing it, or even if it’s still open as a tourist attraction.

I will say that the “fog” seemed aware; as soon as I commented on it, I thought it began moving TOWARDS me. My friends told me (once we were out of the county) that they had the same impression. I remember that I continued to have weird dreams for about 6 months afterward.

Personally, I believe the Bell Witch is a type of psychic vampire, that has learned to survive the first death, and forestall the dissolution of the psychic or astral body/self by feeding off of the strong emotions of others, especially their fear.

I also got the feeling that the Bell Witch was not a ghost or human disembodied spirit, but was an elemental that had developed consciousness, and enjoyed scaring the whole county.

I had occasion to interview a one-time county officer of Adams County a year or two later, and she told me that she agreed with my conclusions. She said that the creature could sense when anyone in town was thinking about ‘her,’ and would come if they continued to focus on her. She told about her son giving her a lift to the dentist, and his car stalling out when he had begun talking about what the Bell Witch ‘really was.’ She thought that the entity had basically migrated to the town of Adams, because there were more people there to be fed by, and that the town itself seemed more haunted that the Bell farm does now.

Here are some websites:
www.bellwitch.org...
www.bellwitchfansite.com...
www.ghosts.org...

Anyway, as soon as I can locate a scanner (maybe at kinko’s?) I’ll post the two or three pics I still have.

If you want to visit the Bell Witch Cave, I think you can find a website or call Adams, TN city hall, since it they hope to capitalize on the tourism that ought to come, but never seems to. Maybe too many people leave scared?

For those of you, keeping tabs on these things:

Who's On - There are a total of 135 registered members and 1350 visitors on AboveTopSecret.com domains right now.

aggroskater, AirForce1, Al Davison, Amuk, Anjaba, apachepaving, apocalypticon, astral_ice, Atomic Platypus, B Sage, BigPimpin, Blaine91555, bluenorth, Boatphone, Boondock78, Bosanac, bsbray11, bushfriend, Byrd, C0le, cashlink, ceci2006, ch1466, Cherish, cmdrkeenkid, ConspiracyNut23, cosmokatt7, Cowboy1, cpr12r, Creedo, CrossCountryRunna, Cug, Cypher, damefool, darkelf, DarkHelmet, darthmarc, decidedlyundecided, DeusEx, df1, djsly, DoylieGuy123, dperry4930, dr_strangecraft, eaglewingz, echelon, EnronOutrunHomerun, Enyalius, fookerboy69, Foreverglad, generaldisarray, grantrl78, hadren, Harvestfreak, Hellmutt, High Ryder, HowardRoark, infinite8, JamesinOz, Journey, jta79, juju4ever, justgeneric, Kismet, Kyonshi, launchpad, Legalizer, loam, LoganCale, lost_shaman, ludaChris, Lysergic, Majic, MCory1, Mechanic 32, megamanXplosion, Mephorium, missed_gear, Mr Mxyztplk, Mr Spock, mrmulder, nightwing, OgdenEnigma, parrhesia, penglund, penroc3, picklewalsh, pkpao, ProudCanadian, queenannie38, Riddle, riley, rizla, Rogue Shadows, rottonralph101, S1LV3R4D0, sacrifice, Saint Michael, santigwar, sdcigarpig, Seekerof, Shadowbear, shadowblade, Shadowflux, Shane, Shawnna, Sir Solomon, Skibum, skitzo, snafu7700, snowflake_obsidian, Stunkums, suggums, Sun Matrix, sweatmonicaIdo, swintersVT, Telos, The Collective, TheHorseChestnut, ThePieMaN, TrappedSoul, trek315, ufia, Umbrax, USAFSF, vincere7, whaaa, whadayawant, whoa_was_me, Willard856, Wings, WolfofWar, Zaphod58, Zeratul, _Jeevom_,

:shk:

It's so final...............

What I look like when I wake up in the morning....

[size=24]The Spotted Owl.....


[size=20]vs..........
Darth Vader




[size=24]Who Will Win ???






Please don't reply to the above, that could be considered a response that could lead to this becoming a topic. That would lead to total anarchy within this thread due to the fact that this is an off topic thread.

Thank-you,
anxietydisorder..............

Meanwhile, at the rave.......

More cats need to express themselves



The world would be a better place...............................


[size=16]EDIT: Oh God !!!
Did I just make this a topic about cats ???????

[edit on 21/4/2006 by anxietydisorder]

[size=0]Yes you did! Join the club, mate. btw - your font is bigger than mine!

[size=26]I've always been very proud of my font size.

No shame here.............



EDIT: Is it just me, or did my font size shrink ?

[edit on 21/4/2006 by anxietydisorder]

And now for something completely different:

I've had a Cold for 2 months, and it keeps changing. For the last three days it's attacked my throat and tonsils, and it's getting on my nerves. I've tried everything, Socks with eyes, dancing cats, even Darth Vader, but nothing works.

I can't swallow without pain, my jaw aches and the "throat soothers" aren't working

Try chewing on a hair ball!...

Darn, you made get back On-Topic.

Mods, deduct another 1000 points for my indiscretion.

Originally posted by Mechanic 32
And now for something completely different:

I think I'll call it a night.
It's after 5:00 AM now.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............

And that's a for anxious! Get off-topic!

And G'night!

And by the way....

Errr.....Everyone lost it.

Time to make the coffee. Incredibly sunny day but cold. I dreamed i was in a big house and a hurricane hit and water was everwhere...
Suprisingly, i woke up dry.

Well, its nice to see everyone *cough*except Mechanic*cough* staying off-topic. Carry on.

I'm just too cool!