Monday, January 16, 2012
Stories and Such!
I just wanted to let everyone know that most of the storied I put on here are NOT my work. A lot of them can be found on Wikipedia.org. I'm just sharing stories with you that I have enjoyed.
The Bell Witch
The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a poltergeist legend from Southern United States folklore, involving the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee. The legend is the basis of the films The Bell Witch Haunting (2004) and An American Haunting (2006) and also was the inspiration behind the cult 1990s film The Blair Witch Project.
An artist's etching of the Bell home, originally published in 1894!
According to the legend, the first reported manifestation of the haunting occurred in 1817 when John Bell, Sr., encountered a strange animal in a cornfield on his large farm in Robertson County, on the Red River, near Adams, Tennessee. Bell shot at the animal, described as having the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit. At a later date the Bell family claimed to hear knocking and gnawing noises on the outside walls of their house. These noises eventually moved inside the dwelling. Some time after the noises began, Betsy Bell (the family's youngest daughter) claimed to have been assaulted by an invisible force. The legend continues with the poltergeist gaining strength, moving various objects about, speaking and having conversations with the family and guests. It identified itself as "Kate Batts", a neighbor of the Bells that John had apparently upset in some way.
An artist's etching of the Bell home, originally published in 1894!
According to the legend, the first reported manifestation of the haunting occurred in 1817 when John Bell, Sr., encountered a strange animal in a cornfield on his large farm in Robertson County, on the Red River, near Adams, Tennessee. Bell shot at the animal, described as having the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit. At a later date the Bell family claimed to hear knocking and gnawing noises on the outside walls of their house. These noises eventually moved inside the dwelling. Some time after the noises began, Betsy Bell (the family's youngest daughter) claimed to have been assaulted by an invisible force. The legend continues with the poltergeist gaining strength, moving various objects about, speaking and having conversations with the family and guests. It identified itself as "Kate Batts", a neighbor of the Bells that John had apparently upset in some way.
Bell Sr., later in life, suffered frequent facial seizures, often rendering him speechless (although Bell's Palsy is named after a different Bell). He died on December 20, 1820. A small vial containing a very powerful poison he allegedly ingested was found near his body. When some of the contents were force-fed to the family cat, the animal died. The vial was then disposed of in the fireplace.
Pat Fitzhugh's retelling of the Bell Witch legend concludes with a statement to the effect that some people believe that the spirit returned in 1935, the year when the witch claimed it would return ("one hundred years and seven" past 1828), and took up residence on the former Bell property. Other sources say that 1935 brought nothing out of the ordinary to the Bell descendants or the surrounding community.
The earliest written account is at page 833 in the Goodspeed History of Tennessee, published in 1887 by Goodspeed Publishing.
The most famous account is recorded in the 1894 book An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch of Tennessee by Martin Van Buren Ingram. A reprint of this book (most of the copies of the original book with a white cover have disappeared), which has come to be called the "Red Book" is similarly hard to find. Also, in the middle 1960s a faithful reproduction of the Ingram book in paperback with a white cover and gold printing was sold by subscription to direct descendants of John Bell, Sr. This book too is almost impossible to find today. The original book by Ingram, as well as all the reprints, cites the earlier (though no known copies exist) Richard William Bell's Diary: "Our Family Trouble". Richard Williams Bell lists several witnesses, including General (later President) Andrew Jackson. However, no mention of the Bell Witch was ever made by Jackson in any of his letters, journals or papers.[1]
What is known as the Black Book was written much later and it re-told a lot about the Bell Witch, from Ingram's book. It was published in 1934 by Dr. Charles Bailey Bell, great-grandson of John Bell.
Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey by Kathryn Tucker Windham includes the story of the Bell Witch.
The Guidebook for Tennessee, published by the Works Project Administration in 1939, also contains an account that differs from Ingram's on pages 392–393.
And artist's drawing of Betsy Bell, originally published in 1894!
Found on Wikipedia.org
Bloody Mary
All most everyone has heard this story at some point. My mom told me about it when I was very little.
Bloody Mary is a ghost or witch featured in modern American folklore. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is called three times or sometimes more while in a dark room, depending upon the version of the story, often as part of a game or dare.
One of the more common ways participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror (usually in the dark) and repeat her name 3 times, though there are many variations including chanting more than 3 times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, rubbing one's eyes, running the water, or chanting her name thirteen times with a lit candle. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say, "Bloody Mary, I killed your baby." In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a young mother whose baby was stolen from her, making her mad with grief, eventually committing suicide. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent might say "I believe in Mary Worth." This is similar to another game involving the summoning of the Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight. The game is often a test of courage and bravery, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would proceed to kill the summoner in an extremely violent way, such as ripping their face off, scratching their eyes out, cutting their head off, driving them insane, bringing them into the mirror with her or scratching their neck, causing serious injury or death. Some think if she doesn't kill the one who had summoned her then she will haunt them for the rest of their life. Other versions tell that if one chants her name thirteen times at midnight into a mirror she will appear and the summoner can talk to a deceased person until 11:08a.m., when Bloody Mary and the dead person asked to speak to will vanish. Still other variations say that the querent must not look directly at Bloody Mary, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent's future, particularly concerning marriage and children
Bloody Mary is a ghost or witch featured in modern American folklore. She is said to appear in a mirror when her name is called three times or sometimes more while in a dark room, depending upon the version of the story, often as part of a game or dare.
One of the more common ways participants attempt to make her appear is to stand before a mirror (usually in the dark) and repeat her name 3 times, though there are many variations including chanting more than 3 times, chanting at midnight, spinning around, rubbing one's eyes, running the water, or chanting her name thirteen times with a lit candle. In some versions of the legend, the summoner must say, "Bloody Mary, I killed your baby." In these variants, Bloody Mary is often believed to be the spirit of a young mother whose baby was stolen from her, making her mad with grief, eventually committing suicide. In stories where Mary is supposed to have been wrongly accused of killing her children, the querent might say "I believe in Mary Worth." This is similar to another game involving the summoning of the Bell Witch in a mirror at midnight. The game is often a test of courage and bravery, as it is said that if Bloody Mary is summoned, she would proceed to kill the summoner in an extremely violent way, such as ripping their face off, scratching their eyes out, cutting their head off, driving them insane, bringing them into the mirror with her or scratching their neck, causing serious injury or death. Some think if she doesn't kill the one who had summoned her then she will haunt them for the rest of their life. Other versions tell that if one chants her name thirteen times at midnight into a mirror she will appear and the summoner can talk to a deceased person until 11:08a.m., when Bloody Mary and the dead person asked to speak to will vanish. Still other variations say that the querent must not look directly at Bloody Mary, but at her image in the mirror; she will then reveal the querent's future, particularly concerning marriage and children
Bloody Mary Worth is typically described as a child-murderer who lived in the local city where the legend has taken root years ago, somewhere in the west. There is often a specific local graveyard or tombstone that becomes attached to the legend and a destination for legend trips.
On the other hand, various people have surmised that the lore about taunting Bloody Mary about her baby may relate her tenuously to folklore about Queen Mary I, also known as "Bloody Mary," whose life was marked by a number of miscarriages or false pregnancies. As a result, some retelling of the tale make Bloody Mary the queen driven to madness by the loss of her children. The mirror ritual by which Bloody Mary is summoned may also relate to a form of divination involving mirrors and darkness that was once performed on Halloween. While as with any sort of folklore the details may vary, this particular tale encouraged young women to walk up a flight of stairs backwards, holding a candle and a hand mirror, in a darkened house. As they gazed into the mirror, they were supposed to be able to catch a view of their future husband's face. There was, however, a chance that they would see the skull-face of the Grim Reaper instead; this meant that they were destined to die before they married.
Found on Wikipedia.org
Friday, January 13, 2012
Welcome to my little spooky spot on the web. I have all ways been a big fan of Halloween and everything spooky. I get that from my mom, she was all ways in to anything spooky. So I figured I would just a blog for all the other spook fans out there. Not sure what all I'm going to put on here just yet but I hope you enjoy it.!
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