TerishD
Number of posts : 1441 Age : 64 Location : Ringgold, Louisiana Current Mood : Registration date : 2008-07-21
| Subject: The Bell Witch June 6th 2009, 8:19 am | |
| Not really a book, although there has been a lot written about the Bell Witch. I have just spent time in Adams, Tennessee, and came back impressed.
Now, you have to understand the setting of the Bell Witch. She appeared in the early years of the 1800s. This is before photography and most of our conveniences. The people do not have a lot to show: basically the house.
The Bell Witch however is a well documented case. You will thus read about the Bell Witch in a number of ghost books. Just as you hear about the missing squadron when reading about the Bermuda Triangle, the Bell Witch is a constant topic when talking about hauntings.
The present owners of the property do not hype the Bell Witch. They bought the property expecting some revenue from tourists, but the man was putting his focus on cutting hay and planting. He ran the little 'business' matter-of-factly without going into recitations of the Bell Witch. The lady handled us tourists, but again there was a more practical presentation. She had a good mind for what she was seeing in the cave, and spoke more of getting in various scientists to properly perform some investigation into certain features of the cave. She pointed out some fossils, where some ancient coral was present in the stone, and where she stopped some diggings in the cave (to find another section of the cave) due to a concern about a strata. The stories of the Bell Witch were treated more as icing on the cake than as the main focus of her presentation. I believe that if I come back in a few years there will be more substance to what I heard this time.
The cave also impressed my father and I. We have been in many caves (going into Mammoth Cave today). The Bell Witch cave had none of the 'improvements' found on usual cave tours. We walked into the cave through the stream path, and climbed on the geological features. I had to lecture my step-son about not touching certain things. Considering that we were not walking on a smoothed trail, the owner could not fuss about her guests having to reach out to steady themselves when stones under their feet shifted, but many underground 'growths' are done by water which processes are hindered by the oils on our hands. The lady talked of the geology she recognized, but I took time to point out to my sons more facts about what they were seeing. Overall, it was an interesting time.
I thus recommend a trip to Adams, Tennessee. Once again, do not go expecting the usual 'niceties' of a tourist trap. Don't go expecting to be scared by the Bell Witch. You will be dealing with plain folk simply showing off what they have. A sense of it all being real however does settle upon you, and in leaving you could find yourself enraptured by the Bell Witch. | |
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