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http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20110 ... -the-world

All around the world.

iHaunt wrote:All around the world.

That makes sense. After all, the entire world is a very scary place!

You know, right here in middle Tennessee (Adams, I think), we have the Bell Witch story. That is an authentic American story about a haunting or poltergeist activity that took place early in the 19th century. It was famous all over the US and is still talked about today. I believe the father of the Bell family actually died, supposedly because of the ghost or witch. To date it is the only case I've ever heard of where someone actually died through a supernatural encounter. Even today, nobody can really figure out what happened.

There was a movie made about this a few years back, called An American Haunting. It had a good cast--Sissy Spacek, Donald Sutherland. I was somewhat dissatisfied with it, though, because they tried to suggest a psychological explanation for the haunting, when really no one knows what happened.

It's an interesting story, and the movie isn't bad. It's just that the explanation they settle on really maligns the family, especially the father, and I don't think anyone knows what really happened.

I've heard of the Bell Witch, Murf. I didn't like the film either...

The basic paranormal version of the story more-or-less goes like this:
There was a witch who made her home in a cave on the Bell property. Mr. Bell was pissed and tried to kick her off his land (I can't remember if she died/was murdered or not), but she cursed him...something about his family being terrorized and his death being the only thing that would stop the hauntings. Blah.

... so he goes home and weird things start to happen to his daughter. She has fits, sees things, hears voices. The family swears they hear footsteps and hear things banging. They see objects flying through the air. They also swear the daughter is possessed. Things get progressively worse.

At some point, Mr. Bell falls deathly ill... he eventually dies and the hauntings stop. (Some say it was the Bell Witch's spirit who finally strangled him.)

So... was it the curse?

The non-paranormal version goes like this:
There's a derelict living in a cave on the Bell property and they have an altercation. Mr. Bell goes home and his daughter freaks out because she thinks he's abused the woman in the cave like he does to her (the daughter). She flips out because she's already emotionally damaged. Mr. Bell gets sick and the daughter poisons him to get rid of her abusive father.

All-in-all, I couldn't say whether I believe the haunting is real or the story is just a coincidence-- though I lean more towards "coincidence" because the facts are so tarnished by an embellished story. The movie tried to combine both versions of the story... and it ended up with a big "what the hell?" at the end.... because it doesn't explain a lot... Just be prepared to be confused at the end.

Well, I felt the movie was trying to give the whole story a psychological explanation, but then, some of the stuff that is shown happening really couldn't happen unless something supernatural were involved. So, yeah, the combination of the two story lines doesn't really work. They needed to pick one or the other.

For me, sitting in my Dentists chair! Ouch!!! I hate drills! LOL

Undertaker wrote:For me, sitting in my Dentists chair! Ouch!!! I hate drills! LOL

That's a good one! So true too!