is the bell witch real?

[bluegirl]

Did this haunting actually occur or was it a hoax?

Thanks,

Lisa

[DrFidelius]

Actually occurring and hoax are not the only two choices.

Mistaken interpretations, storytelling exaggerations, rumour expansion, and movie promotion are all equally (if not more) likely explanations for the alleged haunting.

[picunurse]

Do you have a link or at least some background information? I’ve never heard the title before.

[Squink]

The Bell Witch

An investigation by the Middle Tennessee Skeptics concluded that the tale of the Bell Witch is largely an invention founded entirely on later elaborations of the diary of Richard William Bell. Bell’s diary was written some 30 years after the events they purport to describe, which took place when the author was a child of 5-10 years old. The investigation turned up no evidence that any of the other alleged participants in the events ever recorded anything of their experiences. In particular, there is no record in Andrew Jackson’s journals of his ever having visited the Bells, or of any encounter by him with a supernatural being.

[Equipoise]

@Squink

The Bell Witch

Thank you for that. Interested parties should keep that handy. There’s a movie coming out and I fear that the OP’s question will come up a lot. It might not get as bad as the Blair Witch nonsense, but there are sure to be some people who’ll think it’s real. The movie’s description at IMDB makes it clear that the filmmakers are going to try and push that POV:

Based on the true events of the only case in US History where a spirit caused the death of a man.

Argh.

[Operation_Ripper]

@bluegirl

Did this haunting actually occur

No, it didn’t. There is no such thing as magic. Hoaxes of course, are ever-present and eternal.

[Leaper]

The OP could be asking whether the Bell Witch is an actual legend, or one made up, as with the Blair Witch.

(As an aside, magic has little to do with ghosts, if one believes in an afterlife. Just saying that the two concepts aren’t necessarily linked.)