Before I start the review proper, I should note that one really get thing about this audio book was the reader. He was great.

The Bell Witch is a famous American haunting. Monahan claims that this is an account written by Richard Powell who married Betsy Bell, the young woman who was one of the people haunted by the Bell Witch. So this is one of those fact mixed with fiction books that yanks my chain.

The problem with the claim is that the narrative doesn't quite make sense and is put in a vaccum. I think the conclusion is interesting, but Powell's narrative leaves out certain details, like all the time he was crushing on Betsy he was married. While a narrative written to your daughter wouldn't mention that, if this was truly a work of non-fiction shouldn't the editor note that?

And if you don't, why don't you edit out the problematic language?

And those are major problems. And yet, I wonder if this version isn't simply about gender and victimhood. Considering that the teller is a man who married a girl who is younger enough to be his daughter and who he has been in love with since she was 12, he is, in fact, a bit of predator. Considering her parent's history this too is rather interesting. So I wonder if that is the deeper point here - a point about gender and abuse.

The terrible ending ruined any interest in this book I had. Also I am not thrilled that a book touted as being non-fiction (it is not) is not non-fiction. I got this book because it was recommended to me by someone who suggested this for books about ghost stories and haunted houses.

This fictionalized story is told in the first person by Richard Powell. The author, Brent Monahan, takes a first person narrative approach by having Richard Powell address a letter to his daughter to be read after his death and only if his wife, her mother, Betsy Bell Powell seems to become "afflicted."

All of the characters in this book existed. The author took the documented cases of the Bell Witch and tried to turn what happened into a made for tv movie (that would appear on Lifetime) with an older Richard Powell in love with Betsey but heartsick over their age difference and the fact she was in love with a local boy more her age.

I ended up reading a website today that talks about The Bell Witch so I was able to root out certain parts of the story that were fictionalized or the author chose to ignore (Richard Powell was married before he married Betsey) and the fact that many in the community suspected him to be involved with making up The Bell Witch.

I have to say that the writing for the most part was well done, but the author taking turns to note the racist terrible things the supernatural entity that was known as Old Kate and the Bell Witch was off-putting as hell. I don't know if these are actual recorded things the entity supposedly said, but if he made it up to make it sensational, ugh to him. Also certain things have been disproved (General Andrew Jackson did not go to visit the Bell home) and I wonder why the author left them in.

The author included drawings that had been made previously in this book, that added an air of authenticity about it.

The flow to the book wasn't that great, and I think it's because it dragged a ton. Until you almost get to the end of the book, I felt like I was reading the most boring diary ever.

The setting of the Bell Home didn't seem like a real place to me. I think because I had a hard time envisioning the home that they all lived in.

The ending made me sigh and roll my eyes. Based on what came before, the hypothesis of the author doesn't make a lot of sense. And once again the author left out a lot of things about these real life people.

I enjoyed this, though I'm not quite sure how much of it was "real" and how much was not (and that is half the fun!)

 

I admit I did see the revelation towards the end that

her father had been sexually absuing her,

(spoiler show)

but although I had thought of it very early on as a possibility, by the time it came back up I had forgotten it enough that I was surprised again.

 

 

It was eerie and I thought the "witch" herself was an interesting character. The voice given to her in the audiobook helped quite a bit in establishing that, as did deciding, for reasons unknown to me but probably relating to some kind of insanity, that I ought to listen to this at night as my bedtime book. I liked that she was multi-dimensional and had different reactions to different people; it was intriguing to try to figure out "why" (if there is a "why" in what is supposedly a real haunting).

 

The main character's interest in the young girl was a little creepy, though given the time period I suppose it is not quite as skeevy as it seems today. He was a decent enough narrator, and I liked the framing of this as something he is passing down to his daughter. I wish he had had a more active roll throughout the story, but given this is based on a real incidence, I suppose there's not much to be done about that.

 

Betsy Bell, for all that she seemed to be one of the main centers of the paranormal activity, did not come through with a whole lot of character. It is probably made worse that the voice for her in the audiobook was pretty atrocious. I literally had to pause the first time I heard it and laugh; it is an awkward attempt by a man to sound like a young woman, and it very much sounds like it. Even by the end of the book, I never felt like I knew her, though I did understaand her a little better.

 

In the end, this was creepy and enjoyable, and I'm glad I read (heard?) it. I had heard the name "The Bell Witch" in passing previously, so I came in with no knowledge of what to expect, and I feel like that is the best way to experience the story.

 

   Well The Bell Witch was not at all what I was expecting, and I liked it so much more for it! I was totally thinking this was going to be your typical haunting ghost story, the title, the creepy cover, the real history at play here, everything leads you to believe that's exactly what you will get.

 

 

Even the beginning of the book starts out giving you what you thought you wanted, random objects moving on their own, a voice rambling out of no where. The poor inhabitants of the Bell manor are being accosted by something they can't see or touch, unfortunately for them the "witch", as the entity ultimately becomes known as, can see and touch them, and she does so menacingly.

 

What started as the usual haunting symptoms quickly escalated and went far beyond anything I could have foreseen. What the witch ended up being was something I've never quite seen before. It was crazy how her presence, and her antics, quickly became a source of relief from the heavier undertones of the question, and answer, of WHY she was there to begin with. It was an interesting read for me in that sense, to have something so awful, I mean completely stomach turning going on, but have this witch, the character that you would think would be the source of this turmoil, end up instead being an antihero of sorts and your only reprieve from the unjust situation that lead to this haunting. It was amazing to me to actually laugh out loud at some of the things this witch would do or say!

 

 

It was hard to think that was possible with the heaviness of the other things going on. I really appreciated this aspect of the story.

 

   Although the witch could be humorous and insightful at times, she also made it clear from the beginning that she was there for retribution of sorts, to right a wrong that had been done. She was not shy about voicing that she was there for certain members of the Bell family, and to ultimately kill the patriarch, Jack Bell. Even with that being known, she left the why of it as a journey they would all take together and that some parties would also endure individually too. This witch ended up becoming a mirror of sorts, where some of these characters had to take a long hard look at themselves, and those around them, and start to realize and accept things that had been going on unacknowledged for awhile. Terrible, damaging things. I'd say that there was a clear message here of the potential dangerous repercussions from not expressing one's true feelings. The very real sense that things like anger, bitterness, hatred, etc. can all fester and build into something we might not recognize within us anymore, and even take on a life all it's own. I love the way the author brought those ideas to life, it was wonderfully done.

 

   While there are obviously quite a few things to gush about here, there were also some things that were not as thrilling too. I was honestly pretty underwhelmed by almost every character in this story, other than the witch that is.

 

 

The witch stole the show here, and I felt that everyone else was playing second fiddle to her orchestra. There were also times where things seemed to drag out and the story wasn't progressing as much as I wanted it too. I figured out what was going on here pretty early on, and it became frustrating at times that the characters were taking such a long time to come to the same conclusions. I get that their acceptance was the journey, but after awhile I couldn't help but to want someone to shout it from the roof tops and for some justice to be doled out. Although I suppose the slow building torture, the witch being there day in and day out may have been the ultimate form of justice, for no one could take a day to try and forget the horrors of it all when it was so clearly in their faces. Still, after so much I was as eager as the Bell's to see it all come to an end.

 

 

All in all it was an intelligent and fresh take on a rather famous documented ghost story. It was a great blend of fact and fiction and an interesting journey.

The Bell Witch - Sharon Sigmond Shebar,J... The Bell Witch is a very well-known, true story of the Bell family, who between 1817 and 1820 were haunted by a spirit. It tormented the family, played tricks and even for a time, was nice. However, it returned to being quite mean and even townspeople had heard the witch speak.Today descendants of the Bell family believe that witch is still tormenting the family.I know there are a number of books on the Bell Witch, but this is the only one my library had. It's only over a little 60 pages long, but still informative and well-written. If you're looking for every single detail of the haunting, including what has happened to the Bell family of today, you won't find it in this short book. But you'll still find quite a bit of information about the haunting and including some information about the descendants of the Bell family.