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Title: Mysterious Spirit: The Bell Witch of Tennessee by Charles B. Bell, Harriet P. Miller ISBN: 0-918450-13-6 Publisher: Elders Bookstore Pub. Date: 01 April, 1985 Format: Paperback List Price(USD): $14.95

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Average Customer Rating: 2.67 (3 reviews)

Rating: 2
Summary: And?
Comment: Charles Bailey Bell's book about the goblin that haunted his ancestors is a simple rehash of an earlier work by M.V. Ingram, which is acceptable because the Ingram account is the first and only original written source of the stories involved.

What I expected was not only the standard Ingram rehash, but something of value in addition to the stories themselves. I found nothing of that sort save a few previously untold stories, all of which I have serious doubts about. Nobody will unravel the mystery of the Bell Witch, and that is not expected, but Charles Bell could have at least added some historical facts and color to the story.

The same stories over and over again carry some value if they are rendered in an understandable way. I found Bell's writing, albeit good, almost as confusing as Ingram's. Stories alone will not get it. This publication needs to be some "bite" in the form of additional information if it is to be a useful read.

Bell got off to an excellent start with his book, but finished it prematurely in my opinion.

Rating: 1
Summary: A Biased Account of the Bell Witch
Comment: Bell spends entirely too much time idolizing his great-grandfather, John Bell. Hardly a page doesn't go by where Bell repeats the same silver-coated words about him. It almost seems like the younger Bell is trying to cover something up.

Some of the stories told are almost unbelievable and have no bibliographic or footnote indicators of their sources. A prime example of this is Bell's relating discussions between his grandfather, John Bell jr, and the witch. Page after page of direct quotes made me believe there is some document that substantiates these discussions, but alas, nothing. Even a description of how Bell came into possession of such a document--if one even exists--would have been helpful and give more credibility to the account of the discussions. Were there really discussions or did Charles Bell use them to voice his own views of religion?

Charles, come back from the grave and set the record straight.

Bell's writing skills are much better than those of another Bell Witch author, MV Ingram, but the book still contains many distracting errors.

I recommend this book only if you are interested in seeing John Bell immortalized and reading an interesting discussion that allegedly took place between John Bell, jr and the witch.

Rating: 5
Summary: The story as told by a decendant of the Bell family.
Comment: This book was written by Charles Bailey Bell, who was the grandson of John Bell Jr. and great grandson of John Bell, who was supposedly killed by the spirit itself. Mr. Bell made his family angry by writing this book back in the 1930's but the reason he did it was the spirit was suppose to return around the time this book was written.Since he is a member of the Bell family, this book understandably is kind to John Bell Sr. and the Bell family as a whole. John Bell Sr. was found guilty of cheating Kate Batts at one time and the author touches on this subject. This is a pretty detailed telling of the story. One thing about this book that is really diffrent from the others is the author goes into more detail about the "witch's" conversations with his grandfather John Jr. John Bell Jr. was respected by the witch and treated kindly by her even when the other members of his family were not. Since she held him in high esteem she told him things about the future and even the disant past. She even decribes watching the day Christ was crucified. The witch never gave a straight answer about who she was or where she came from but many have concluded from what she said that she was some sort of demon or evil spirit. She never bad mouthed God and often talked about the divinity and glory of Jesus Christ. I won't go into details about her conversations but they really are facinating and some even unsettling. She predicted the Civil War ,World War I, and World War II. If you want to read a more complete version of the story(not to take away from the others who have wrote great versions of this story) get this book. One thing though, there are some misprints and some times it is a little hard to follow the way they put it togather, but it doesn't really affect the story. they are easy to look over. Also this book is really two books in one. There is a second part written by Harriet Parks Miller. She pretty much retells the Bell Witch story without as much detail, not to say she doesn't do a good job, she does. She does have a chapter on the Surrency Ghost in Georgia which is similar to the Bell Witch story. All in all I enjoyed this book and I think anyone with an intrest in the supernatural, history , folklore or even a good story will too.