The great mystery of the Bell Witch. The Bell Witch is a real prototype of the heroine of the film "The Blair Witch Project" Our Family Troubles Richard Bell read

Ghost of the Red River. 2005

A good mystical film with mega intrigue and an unexpected denouement.
Not a masterpiece, but everything is properly sustained in this genre, so what without a real basis:
"The Ghost of the Red River" is a story based on real events that took place in the United States (Tennessee) in the 19th century. 35 books have been written about the history of the Bell family, which was attacked by a mysterious spirit. All of them talk about how a curse fell on the respectable and respectable Bell family. At some point, a ghost began to come to their house, who sought the death of one of the family members.
But first about the movie:
Directed by Courtney Solomon (also directed Dungeon of the Dragons (2000)).

The writers also list Brent Monahan as the author of the novel.
Playing:
father of the family Donald Sutherland

Mother - Sissy Spacek. She played Carrie in the 1976 film of the same name.

The teacher is a very handsome actor James D'Arcy

The daughter of the family and the main character is Rachel Hurd-Wood. She is only 20 years old at the moment and she is well known to us from the main victim of the Perfumer, as well as roles in Solomon Kane and Dorian Gray. Oh, and her uncle is Hugh Laurie.

Son of the Family - Tom Fell





About reality what was found to get:
Although these terrible events took place a very long time ago, at the beginning of the 19th century, there has still not been a ghost in America that could cause more trouble than evil witch Bellov, earned the fame of the most famous ghost in the United States. “Dad, someone is walking under the window again,” little Richard said to his father, looking around in fright. John Bell, a wealthy Tennessee planter, turned on the light, took a strong club and went out into the yard. Once again, he tried to catch and teach a lesson to the scoundrel, who had been frightening his family for several nights. However, the courtyard was empty, and the old watchman swore that no one approached the house.

Rustles and squeaks outside the windows have long been a cause for concern for John Bell: the neighbors were full of gloomy stories about vengeful slaves who killed their masters and their loved ones. Bell also had slaves working on cotton plantations, it was 1817, and human trafficking in the southern states of the United States was still commonplace. Could any of his slaves have conceived evil? He had asked himself this question more than once, but he could not even suspect anyone: many slaves even loved him, because John was a zealous Christian and treated his bonded people like a human being.
It soon became clear that the slaves had absolutely nothing to do with it: strange sounds began to be heard already inside the house, but none of the outsiders were there. If only scratching sounds could be heard, everything could be attributed to rats, but the rumble of an invisible chain said that a real ghost had wound up in the house.

* * *
For almost a year, the invisible creature had fun, scaring the large Bell family with a variety of sounds, but then it decided to move on to more tangible actions. Children began to wake up at night because someone invisible tore off their blankets. Somehow, the ghost decided to play his bad joke on one of the Bells' guests, who stayed overnight with them. The blanket torn from him hung in the air, clearly outlining an invisible human figure. The guest turned out to be a non-timid ten - with a cry: "I caught a ghost!" - he pounced on the invisible man, grabbed him in an armful and tied the ends of the blanket.

The brave man wanted to burn the blanket along with the terrible contents in the hearth, but before he could take a few steps towards the fire, the room was filled with a terrible stench. The stench literally paralyzed the respiratory organs; leaving the ghost, the guest ran out of the room. When John, who ran up to the noise, and his guest decided to enter the room, the disgusting smell had already disappeared, and an apparently empty blanket was lying on the floor. Needless to say, after this incident, the guests at the Bells tried not to linger.

The ghost did not like such unceremonious treatment of him: after an attempt to burn him, he went on the offensive.

The first victims of the ghost were children. Terrible screams were heard first from one, then from another children's room. Someone invisible with terrible force was pulling Richard's hair, then Betsy's hair. Something had to be done, and John decided to consult with his friend James Johnson, who was distinguished not only by enviable courage, but also by certain knowledge in the occult sciences.

By the time he arrived, the ghost seemed to be gaining a voice.

Johnson listened with great curiosity to the smacking, hysterical cough of the invisible man and decided to try to talk to him. His attempt puzzled the apparition for a moment, but soon there was what seemed to be a contemptuous whistle in response.

Bell's friend did not leave his attempts to establish a dialogue with the invisible, and then one day he heard an indistinct whisper in response. With each passing hour, the voice of the invisible person grew louder, and the words more distinct. The scariest thing the ghost said only in the presence of Betsy, as if drawing strength from the girl's energy. For the poor child, this role of a kind of ghost relay was not easy: Betsy was dizzy, and she often lost consciousness. It even reached trance-like states, lasting up to 40 minutes. When Betsy was absent or unconscious, the apparition was silent. It was even suspected that the girl was engaged in ventriloquism, but it was not possible to prove this.

What did the ghost of the Bell family say? At first, of course, they tried to find out from him whose spirit it is, but they could not get an unambiguous answer to this question. The ghost sometimes said that it was the spirit of an unburied Indian woman, sometimes it was called the Black Dog, or it seemed to be Kate Butt, who was considered by everyone in the district to be a local sorceress.

Ultimately, the apparition was named the Bell Witch. The planter and his family were left alone with the raging spirit, which clearly suffered from a split personality. The fact is that the ghost behaved very ambiguously: for all its evil antics, it could sometimes do good deeds. Of particular interest are cases where it saved the life of John's youngest son, caught in a sand landslide. The child was already losing consciousness when he heard an encouraging voice nearby, and invisible hands literally pulled him out of the sand.

The ghost had a particular weakness for Lucy, Bell's wife. When she organized a Bible study circle and gathered with her friends in the house, the spirit treated them to fruits, which materialized directly from the air and fell to the shocked women on their knees. During Lucy's illness, the invisible man brought her nuts and even cracked them at her request. A real surprise was a basket of exotic fruits for the birthday of one of the children, which, according to the spirit, he delivered to the table directly from India.

However, such pleasant surprises from a ghost were extremely rare, much more often the spirit committed various dirty tricks. Especially the witch Bellov liked to give weighty slaps to members of the family. The effect of surprise, of course, was complete: John used to be walking around the house, and suddenly his head twitched from a blow, and a red palm print appeared on his cheek ... Even the guests got it from the spirit, but poor Betsy got the most beatings. They even tried to take her away from home for a while, but even while visiting a friend, she continued to get slapped regularly. It is curious that at the same time, in the Bell house, the invisible man continued to do his dirty tricks.

Most of all, the rich planter was furious with the witch for upsetting Betsy's engagement. The ghost at the guests let out such dirty words about the girl and her fiancé that Betsy ran away in tears and locked herself in her room. Immediately after this incident, John saw a whitish transparent silhouette in the corner of the living room, the planter grabbed his saber and shouted: “I will destroy you, fiend!” - rushed to strike at the ghost. Of course, he did no harm to the spirit, but it made him very angry.

The witch began to take revenge on the owner of the house. At first, it was as if a stick had been thrust into John's mouth: his jaw and tongue were stiffened to such an extent that he could neither eat nor speak. The planter's face twitched with convulsions, causing terrible grimaces. In 1820, while walking with her son, the witch pulled off his shoes several times, weakened John, who, in addition, received a strong crack from the spirit, sat down on a fallen tree and began to cry. The witch nevertheless broke the will of this strong and self-confident person.

Shortly after this incident, John fell into a coma. It turned out that the witch had changed his bottle of medicine for a vial of some suspicious liquid, which he apparently took. The turmoil at home was exacerbated by the declaration of the spirit that Elder Bell is no longer a tenant in this world. The arriving doctor decided to test the "medicine" of the witch from a bottle on a cat that turned up under the arm, and she immediately died. It became clear that old Bell would not last long, a few hours later the planter died. The cursed witch took revenge on the owner of the house.

Even after death, the ghost mocked poor John to his heart's content. During the funeral, heart-rending cries of the witch, then her daring songs were heard. It is not known whether the elder Bell stood up for his family in the next world or entered into an invisible battle with this evil spirits, but a few months later, when one day the whole family was sitting at the dinner table, there was a terrible roar, a cannonball fell into the fireplace and immediately exploded. After such a "spectacular" introduction, the witch's voice was heard: "I'm leaving, wait for me in seven years."

Of course, when this period passed, Lucy and her two sons, who from the whole family remained to live in the house, felt out of place. The witch kept her word, seven years later, suspicious sounds began to be heard in the house again, and the invisible man pulled the blankets off the sleeping ones. But whether the witch missed the presence of Betsy, or was struck by the indifference of the household, who agreed among themselves not to pay any attention to the spirit, this time the ghost disappeared, not having lasted in the house for two weeks. True, a couple of times in 1828 it visited the house of John Bell Jr., threatening him to return in 107 years ... Such a promise of a witch, most likely, did not frighten the Bells, hardly any of them intended to live so long.

* * *
Although this mysterious and tragic story happened a long time ago, researchers of anomalous phenomena are still arguing about this mysterious case. The fact is that the case of the Bellov witch had too many witnesses to be a hoax or fiction. Richard, son of John Bell, even wrote a book about the tyranny of the ghost called Our Family Troubles. Some consider this case a classic manifestation of a poltergeist, others see it as a riot of diabolical forces, others even insist on the hypothesis of a mass hallucination ... Well, a hallucination that lasts several years ... There is something in this, isn't it? Some suspect that John Bell was poisoned not by the invisible witch, but by some cunning killer. Like it or not, we have no way of knowing.

16.01.2015 20.01.2015 - admin

This legend is still unsolved and a lot of controversy arises around it. This story is in America the most famous case of such a phenomenon as a poltergeist.
The poltergeist always makes itself felt by sound: we can hear howls, hums, whispers, screams, etc. Sometimes things disappear or appear in the house, the door can open itself, water flows from the tap, a fire lights up. The poltergeist is very annoying with his antics. There is an opinion that poltergeists do not harm people, but there are always exceptions. The story of the Bell family is like this exception.
It all started in 1817. The young family settled in the community of Adams (Tennessee). John and Lucy were farmers and had nine children. John bought a large house for his family in Kate Butts, who later claimed that the farmer had deceived her. But the old woman was not believed, and she promised that she would punish John, even if she happened to rise from the coffin.
The Bell family was doing well. John started growing cotton. The community respected the farmer. But happiness did not last long. In 1817, John found an incomprehensible animal in his cornfield that had the head of a rabbit and the body of a dog. The man started shooting at him - the beast disappeared. After that, disasters began in the family. That same evening, someone started knocking loudly at the house, but no one was anywhere. The family could not understand where the knock came from. This happened every night. The family could not sleep because of this roar.
Bell at first thought it was one of his slaves taking revenge on him. But why, after all, he treated his slaves very well? John didn't understand anything. And now the sounds have already begun inside the house. The children could not sleep because someone was constantly taking off their blankets, biting their legs in bed, scratching on the glass, flapping their wings, growling, and so on. One day, little Richard got something in his hair. Other children also screamed: it happened to them too.
most annoyed by Betsy (she was 12 years old at the time). The girl was constantly covered in bruises and abrasions, the spirit pulled out even her hair! Then, when the knocking subsided, everyone began to hear the crying of the old woman. When John asked "Who are you?" she replied that she was the spirit of a witch. She became known as the "Bell Family Witch".
Somehow a guest came to Bellam, he stayed for the night. As soon as everyone went to bed, someone took the blanket from the guest, but he caught it, catching the ghost. They decided to burn the blanket with the witch, but when the guest approached the fireplace, the room began to stink so much that the guest left the witch and ran out.
The witch after that incident began to rage even more. The farmer's friend James Johnston performed a ritual in the house to drive out the spirit. The witch calmed down, but only for a couple of days. Then she began to take revenge on Betsy: the witch mercilessly was hers, pulled her hair. The girl now often fainted or went into a trance-like state. The spirit of the witch made itself felt only in the presence of Betsy.
General Jackson, who knows the farmer, comes to John Bell to look at the witch. In the evening, taking out a pistol, he boasted that he would tame the witch, but he felt terrible pain, as if needles were being pierced into him. The general and his people were afraid to spend the night in this house, and left the next morning.
The witch calmly mocked people further. A couple of years passed, Betsy was going to marry Joshua Gardner, but the witch got him in every possible way, and in 1821 Betsy and Joshua parted (it was just Easter Monday). The witch stopped torturing the girl and started on John, saying that she would bring him to death. From that moment on, John was sick: his tongue was very swollen (it did not even fit in his mouth). After some time, the farmer died: the witch poisoned him by changing the medicine. After John's death, the spirit disappeared for 7 years. Then, after tormenting the household a little again, she said that she would return in 107 years, but did not return.

January 16, 2013, 10:50 am

This legend is still being debated, but so far no consensus has been reached. The main question asked by researchers of the paranormal is what was it? What, for several years, tormented people, made their lives unbearable, poisoned their existence and, in the end, killed John Bell? Poltergeist (of course, in those days they didn’t know such a word, so they called the poltergeist an “evil spirit”), a vengeful ghost, or the curse of a neighbor, old Kate Batts? (Never, never quarrel with the neighbors, especially with the neighbors. The woman's curse has a special power. John Bell forgot about it - and look what came of it!) But whatever lived in the Bell house then, one thing can be said: this "something" really existed. There were too many witnesses to consider this a hoax or fiction. The story of the Bell family is the most famous, most sinister case of poltergeist in America. (For now, we will assume that this is a poltergeist). We all know the stories about "drumming" and we know that the poltergeist usually manifests itself acoustically: people hear sounds, but cannot find their source. In the apartments one hears hum, roar and noise, then blows to the walls, floor and ceiling, then quiet scratching or someone's barely audible whisper, then screams and groans. Sometimes the poltergeist is not limited to this. Objects begin to disappear and appear, doors open and close by themselves in the house, water begins to flow from closed taps, and things in the closet suddenly burst into flames. Also, it is generally accepted that the poltergeist drum is a generally harmless phenomenon, although annoying. As a rule, he never causes significant physical harm to people - there have been cases when a knife launched into the owner of the apartment stopped and fell before reaching the target. But there is an exception to this rule. It's called the Bell Witch.
Paranormal researcher Gilane Sherwood identifies five successive stages of poltergeist behavior: sensory (sensations and smells), communicative (groans, voices, screams), physical (touches, slamming doors, etc.), meaningful (thrown objects, deliberate actions aimed at to cause fear), aggressive (bites, blows, the appearance of blood on the walls, threatening inscriptions, the occurrence of unexplained painful conditions in the victim). Upon reaching the last stage, the poltergeist, having reached the peak of activity, suddenly subsides and after a while reappears, starting the cycle from the first stage. Let's see how it all happened with the Bells. This story began almost two hundred years ago, in 1817. Young farmer John Bell with his entire family (he had a large family: John himself, his wife Lucy and nine children) moved from North Carolina to the Red River Valley, Robertson County, Tennessee. He settled in the community of Adams, bought a plot of land and a spacious house from a woman named Kate Butts. Subsequently, Kate claimed that John Bell had deceived her during the deal, but Kate was old, did not enjoy special love from her neighbors, and no one listened to her claims: you never know what the old woman is talking about! And it was worth listening to. Many later recalled that "Old Butts" vowed to punish the deceiver, even if for this she had to return from the grave. Things were going well for John Bell and his family. Soon he was able to buy some more land, cleared the field and started growing cotton. Over time, John Bell made new friends, became a respected person, and his opinion was taken into account in the community. No one could have thought that very soon the quiet life of the Bells would come to an end. One day in 1817, John was walking around his cornfield when he came across a strange animal with the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit. Startled by the sight of a strange creature, Bell fired several shots at him and the beast disappeared. Probably, later the farmer more than once recalled this meeting - after all, it was from her that his misadventures began. Late in the evening of the same day, when the whole family was assembled, a knock was heard. It got louder and louder until finally there was a terrible noise. It felt like someone was pounding on the walls with all their might. Bell and his sons ran outside to catch the one who was knocking, but returned with nothing: no one was found near the house, the yard was empty, and the old watchman swore that no one even came close to the house. Several times during the evening the farmer walked around the house with a gun, trying to figure out what was wrong. The sound did not come from outside, but as if from the walls - but how could this be?! Did John Bell think that from that day on his life would change forever and that he, an ordinary person, faced face to face with something that had no explanation and from which it was impossible to defend himself? The knocking repeated every night, getting louder and louder until it became a roar. The Bell family sat awake. A strange knock caused anxiety and fear, but so far, for the time being, people's fears were connected, so to speak, with earthly affairs. The year was 1817, human trafficking flourished in the southern states, and there were rumors among the planters that slaves sometimes killed their masters or their loved ones. Bell also had slaves working on the cotton plantations, and, of course, the first thing he thought of was on them. Could any of his slaves plot evil and take revenge on the owner? But John was a zealous Christian, treated the slaves well, so that, on reflection, he was forced to admit that they had nothing to do with it. Soon strange sounds began to be heard already inside the house. It was as if some evil spirit had come to plague the family, and he began with the children. They woke up at night, because someone gnawed the legs of the beds, scraped the floor with their claws, pulled off the blankets, threw pillows on the floor. Sometimes you could hear an invisible door slamming, someone scratching the glass with their nails, and sometimes in the middle of the night there was a sudden flapping of wings and a growl over the children's beds. One night, the youngest son of the Bells, Richard, woke up because someone grabbed his hair. The boy screamed in pain and immediately heard the others screaming, whom the evil spirit dragged by the hair. Now it was no longer enough for the ghost to scare people: he began to harass them. Belov's youngest daughter, Betsy, who was then 12 years old, was especially hard hit. Her spirit was especially disliked. He either pinched her, then beat her (the bruises and abrasions on the girl’s body did not go away for weeks), then tore her hair out, then gave her slaps in the face. Shortly thereafter, the knocking and rumbling subsided. Now a faint, quiet voice could be heard in the house, very similar to the voice of an old, infirm woman. For days on end, the invisible woman mumbled, wept, or lamented, barely audible. "Who are you?" - John Bell asked her and immediately received an answer. “I am a witch,” a female voice replied. “I am the spirit of a witch!” Since then, the evil ghost has become known as the Bell Witch. By the way, she terrorized not only the owners. Once a guest spent the night in Bell's house. At night, when everyone had settled down, the guest's blanket suddenly flew off and hung in the air, clearly outlining an invisible human figure. The guest turned out to be not a timid one. He jumped up, grabbed a blanket in an armful and shouted to the owner that he had caught the ghost of a witch. They wanted to burn the blanket along with the witch in the hearth, but no such luck. Before the guest had time to take a step to the hearth, the room was suddenly filled with a terrible stench. The stench was so strong that the guest, leaving the captured ghost, rushed out of the room. When, after some time, John and his guest decided to enter the house, the nauseating smell had already disappeared, and the blanket was lying on the floor. From trying to catch her, the witch became even more furious. Driven to despair, John decided to consult with his old friend James Johnson, who was very knowledgeable in the occult sciences. First, Johnson and his wife came to the Bell house and spent one night there. The “witch” harassed them in the same way as the Bells themselves: kicked, pinched, pulled their hair. After James Johnston's blanket was repeatedly thrown to the floor and after several very tangible blows, Johnston jumped out of bed and loudly exclaimed: "I ask you in the name of the Lord God, who are you and what do you want?" He did not wait for an answer, but the evil ghost calmed down and the rest of the night passed quietly. The next morning, Johnston, after conferring with John Bell, decided to perform an exorcism ritual, which was supposed to forever expel the spirit of the witch from the house. This is how the exorcism took place according to the Catholic rite. I wanted to post a few more photos here, but then I thought that if someone is interested in exorcism, it's better to watch the movie "The Exorcist". By the way, in early Christianity it was believed that the ability to exorcise evil spirits is a special gift that both a priest and a layman can be endowed with, but from the year 250 one of the lowest positions in the church hierarchy was introduced - an exorcist, endowed with special powers. Exorcism was directly and unequivocally classified as a labor of faith, and, naturally, could not be performed by order or by virtue of appointment. Great (large) or solemn exorcism, has the goal of expelling the evil spirit from the possessed and freeing him from demonic influences. This sacramental can only be given by a bishop or a spiritual person who has been given the appropriate permission by the bishop. The rite is served according to the Roman ritual. Small, simple or personal exorcisms in Catholicism, unlike Orthodoxy, are not exorcisms in the full sense of the word and do not contain formulas of a great exorcism, for example, direct orders given to an evil spirit. Small exorcisms are prayers for the personal use of all believers, for example, in moments of temptation or torment caused by an evil spirit. These prayers are not full-fledged exorcisms, although they are aimed at liberation from demonic influences (with the exception of possession). Be that as it may, the exorcist from Johnston turned out to be unimportant: the spirit subsided for only a few days. For several days the Belov family enjoyed peace and quiet and hoped that their torment was over. Their dreams, alas, were not destined to come true. The vengeful ghost returned and brought down all his anger on Betsy. The witch dragged her by the hair so that the girl squealed in pain and fear, pinched her, punched her in the face several times. Parents began to fear for her life, especially since Betsy, who had never complained about her health before, suddenly began to lose consciousness, fell into a kind of trance and did not come to her senses for almost an hour. Now the spirit of the witch spoke only in the presence of Betsy, as if drawing vitality from the energy of the girl. When Betsy was absent or unconscious, the spirit of the witch was silent. It was even suspected that the girl was engaged in ventriloquism, but it was not possible to prove this. In the meantime, rumors about the "Witch of Bells" reached the city of Nashville, where Andrew Jackson, a general who was well acquainted with the two Bell brothers, John and Jesse Bell, became interested in them - they fought under his command in the battle of New Orleans. He decided to personally visit Belov and see with his own eyes what was happening there. General Jackson did not go on his way alone: ​​he was accompanied by several people. They rode in a large van, but as soon as they approached the Bells' land, the van suddenly stopped. The horses tried to move him, but he seemed to be rooted into the ground! In vain trying to push the van from its place, Jackson exclaimed that all this was nothing but the tricks of the "witch". As soon as he said this, a woman's voice, coming from nowhere, spoke to them. The woman said that now they could go on, but that they would meet again that evening. After that, the van started off and Jackson and his comrades continued on their way. In the evening, General Jackson and John Bell Jr. talked for a long time, recalled the past, and Jackson's companions patiently waited for the evil spirit to finally appear. Suddenly, one of Jackson's men, who was tired of waiting, decided to fool around. He took out a gun and declared that he would be a "witch tamer", now he would call her and kill her. And at that very moment the man began to scream in pain. Later, he said that at that moment he felt needles stick into him and someone began to beat him cruelly. The frightened "witch tamer" and the rest of the people began to beg Jackson to leave immediately. They did not spend the night in the "cursed" house, but settled down for the night in a wagon, in a field, but even there they were afraid of a vengeful spirit. It all ended with the fact that the next day, Jackson and his people left the Bell farm. General Jackson himself, the hero of the battle of New Orleans, recalling this incident, said: "I would rather fight the whole British army than deal with one Bell witch." Andrew Jackson later became President of the United States. No one succeeded in coping with the "Bell Witch". She tormented the family for several years, especially John himself and his daughter Betsy. When Betsy grew up, she began dating a young man named Joshua Gardner, who lived near the Bell farm. An engagement was announced, but the spirit of the witch announced that the wedding would not happen. He poisoned Betsy and Joshua, pursued them both in the house, and on the river, and in the field, threw stones at them, taunted, pulled their hair and, in the end, swore that if they got married, he would not give the newlyweds a minute rest. On Easter Monday, 1821, Betsy and Joshua's engagement was broken off. Having achieved her goal, the “witch” left Betsy alone, but set about John Bell: she announced that she would take him to the grave. From that day on, Bell's health began to deteriorate. In addition, he suffered a strange disease: his jaws were stiff, and his tongue was swollen to such an extent that it did not fit in his mouth. He could hardly eat and barely spoke. Attacks began that lasted for hours, followed by a nervous tic, which turned into convulsions. He almost did not go out anywhere, because during the time the witch pulled off his shoes, pushed and beat him. In the autumn of 1820, John Bell tried for the last time to get out of bed and walk to the farm, however, the witch did not allow him to do so. “Father staggered as if he had received a blow to the head,” recalls his son Richard, “and heavily settled on a log lying by the side of the road. His face twitched; grimaces quickly replacing one another distorted it.” John Bell's shoes fell off his feet. The boy tried to help his father put on shoes, but the shoes immediately fell off again. There was noise in the air at that time: frantic swearing, mocking singing and screaming. When everything calmed down and the convulsions stopped, the weakened John, who received in addition a strong crack from the spirit, sat down on a fallen tree and began to cry. The witch nevertheless broke the will of this strong and self-confident person. After that, John Bell fell ill and never got up again. On December 18, 1820, when the whole family gathered in the patient's bed, he was given his usual medicine. Immediately, his state of health deteriorated sharply, the agony began, which lasted until the morning. In the morning, John Bell breathed his last. The household found a small vial of medicine that Bell had taken the day before and, suspecting the worst, John Bell Jr. gave the pet cat a taste of this liquid. The cat died immediately. At this point, the "witch" triumphantly announced, "I gave Old Man Jack a good dose of this stuff last night and it helped him." Instead of sending the liquid for examination, John Bell Jr. threw a vial of the remaining liquid into the fireplace, so the cause of the elder Bell's death could not be determined. Having destroyed the eldest of the Bells, the witch seemed to have lost interest in the family. The house became quieter, only once, when the whole family settled down at the dinner table, there was a terrible roar and smoke poured from the fireplace. The witch's voice was heard: "I'm leaving, wait for me in seven years." And seven years later the witch showed up again. Of the entire family, only Lucy and her two sons lived in the house at that time. Suspicious sounds began to be heard again, again the invisible man pulled the blankets off the sleeping ones, but ... either the witch lacked the presence of Betsy, or she was struck by the indifference of the household, who agreed among themselves not to pay any attention to the spirit, only the ghost disappeared, threatening to return after 107 years. It was supposed to be 1935, but either the witch forgot about her promise, or John Bell, who was in the next world, managed to somehow resolve this issue, but only the more evil spirit never appeared in the house. Richard, son of John Bell, later wrote a book called "Our Family Troubles" about their experience. Another book, The Bell Witch, was published by Charles Bailey Bell, a doctor from Nashville. In total, more than thirty books have been written about this case and several films have been made. This mysterious and tragic story happened a long time ago, this mysterious case is still being debated. Some consider this case a classic manifestation of a poltergeist, others see it as a riot of diabolical forces, others insist on the hypothesis of a mass hallucination ... So what was it? And is Kate Batts, who once cursed the Bell family, involved here? We don't get to know...

John Stuart Bell
English John Stewart Bell
John Bell receiving an honorary degree from Queens University, July 1988.
Date of Birth	June 28(1928-06-28 )
Place of Birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Date of death	October 1(1990-10-01 ) (62 years old)
Place of death	Geneva, Switzerland
The country	Ireland
Scientific sphere	theoretical physics
Place of work	(English) Russian CERN
Alma mater	Queens University (Belfast)
Academic degree	PhD in Physics [d] ( ), honoris causa( ) and honoris causa ( )
supervisor	Peierls, Rudolf Ernst
Known as	Bell's inequalities
Awards and prizes	Fellow of the Royal Society of London (1972) Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1987) Dirac Medal from (1988) Hughes Medal (1989) Heineman Prize (1989)
John Stuart Bell at Wikimedia Commons

Biography

Childhood

John Stuart Bell was born on 28 June 1928 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to a poor Irish family. Since his father's name was also John, his family always called him by his middle name Stuart. In addition to John Stewart, father John and mother Annie had three more children: the eldest daughter Ruby and the younger sons David and Robert.

The mother dreamed of giving her children a good education, because, in her opinion, only a learned person could break through to a better life and, as she said, "wear a Sunday suit all week." John Stewart was among the top students in elementary school. "Maybe I was not the best, but out of three or four on top in the class." He began his studies at a school on Ulsterville Avenue (eng. Ulsterville avenue school), then moved to a school on Fane Street (eng. Fane street school). At the age of 11, instead of 14, he passed all the exams to continue his secondary education.

External images
Bombing of Belfast in 1941
(Belfast Telegraph Archive)
	Photo selection

However, the years 1920-1930 were the time of the greatest unemployment in Belfast, its shipbuilding and repair yards were practically empty, which led to a general decline in the economy in the city. Due to lack of funds, it was decided that only John Stewart, as apparently the most gifted of the children, would continue his studies after elementary school. At that time, full school education was not compulsory, and only elementary school was free.

The price of education in prestigious secondary schools in Belfast, even for one child, was too expensive for the family, so John Stewart entered the Belfast Technical High School (Eng. Belfast technical high school, at that time the approximate equivalent of a technical school). This school, however, had academic accreditation, that is, with its diploma it was possible to take exams for the university.

By the time John Stewart began high school classes, Britain had already entered World War II. The war revived the economy of Belfast, which became a major navy construction and repair yard. However, this also made the city a target for regular German bombardments. Especially destructive was the night "Easter" raid on April 15, 1941 (English) Russian. Then about 200 Luftwaffe bombers dropped tons of conventional and incendiary bombs on the city and shipyards. 955 people died, 1500 were injured, half of the city, including most industrial facilities, was destroyed. Fortunately, the Bell family was spared the trouble. No one was hurt, their house and school survived, in which classes soon continued.

Youth

After successfully graduating from technical school in 1944, the 16-year-old Bell spent a year as a laboratory assistant in the physics department at Queens University. Faculty teachers Professor Carl Emeleus and Dr. Robert Sloan sympathized with the gifted young man. They not only allowed him to use the faculty library, but also allowed him to listen to general lectures of the first year.

Finally, in 1945, funds for education were collected, and John Stuart Bell became a student in the physics department at the University of Queens. He studied brilliantly and in 1948 graduated with honors from the faculty with a specialization in experimental physics. At the same time, his interest in quantum mechanics was born - not in its practical application, but in the deep meaning of its provisions. In an interview with Jeremy Bernstein (German) Russian given shortly before his sudden death, Bell recalls being "overwhelmed" by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle:

It looked as if you could take such and such a stop - and then the position is determined, or such and such a stop - and then the momentum is determined. It sounded like you can do it any way you want. Only after some time I realized that this was not a matter of desire, but of equipment. I had to wade through this. Available books and lectures have not explained this clearly enough. I remember arguing about this with one of my teachers, Dr. Sloan. I got excited and practically accused him of dishonesty. He also got very excited and said, "You're going too far."

Original text (English)

It looked as if you could take this size and then the position is well defined, or that size and then the momentum is well defined. It sounded like if you were just free to make it what you wished. It was only slowly that I realized that it "s not a question of what you wish. It"s really a question of what apparatus has produced this situation. But for me it was a bit of a fight to get through to that. It was not very clearly set out in the books and courses that were available to me. I remember arguing with one of my professors, a Doctor Sloane, about that. I was getting very heated and accusing him, more or less, of dishonesty. He was getting very heated too and said, "You"re going too far".

The funds allowed Bell to study for another year, and he, again with honors, received a diploma in mathematical physics. On this course, its leader was the German scientist Paul Ewald, who fled the Nazi regime. (English) Russian, founder of X-ray diffraction analysis.

Carier start

Bell would have preferred to immediately begin work on his doctoral dissertation and come to grips with the theory of quantum mechanics. Financial considerations, however, forced him into the practice and he joined the British Department of Atomic Energy Research. (English) Russian in Harvel (English) Russian, from where he was soon transferred to the accelerator development group in Malvern (English) Russian. There he met his future wife Mary Ross, a physicist and mathematician from Scotland. They became husband and wife four years later, in 1954. Their marriage was strong, but childless. Being specialists in related fields, they helped each other both in life and in work. In the preface to his book The Expressible and the Inexpressible in Quantum Mechanics, published in 1987, Bell wrote: “Here again, I want to especially express my warm thanks to Mary Bell. When I look through these papers, I see her everywhere.”

In 1951, Bell received a year's leave to continue his education. He conducted it at the University of Birmingham under Professor Peierls. There he formulated his version of the CPT invariance theorem. However, a little earlier, similar theorems had already been independently proposed by Lüders and Pauli, who got the status of discoverers.

However, the leave was extended for the time needed to prepare and defend the dissertation. In 1956, Bell completed his dissertation on the analysis of CPT invariance and received his Ph.D. Valuable was the support acquired over the years by Peierls, who helped Bell, upon his return to Harvel, to transfer to a new research group on the theory of elementary particles.

Bell and his wife worked at Harvel until 1960, but they became less and less pleased with the steady transition of the entire project activity from basic research to applied nuclear physics. Therefore, both, without hesitation, accepted the proposal from CERN and moved to Switzerland.

Switzerland, CERN

At CERN, Bell's official specialization was particle physics and quantum field theory, but his true passion remained the theory of quantum mechanics, and it was achievements in this area that brought him main fame. Inspired by Bohm's ideas (see Bohm's Interpretation), Bell continued his analysis of the EPR paradox and formulated his inequalities in 1964. Bell's original formulation was an idealized concept, on the basis of which variants of inequalities for physical experiments were constructed. These are, first of all, the Bell - Clauser - Horn and Clauser - Horn - Shimoni - Holt inequalities (English) Russian .

Describing the situation around the EPR paradox in particular and the theory of quantum physics in general by the mid-1960s, Bell ironically calls it the “Why worry?” approach. (eng. Why worry?) :

It may be said that by trying to look beyond the formal predictions of quantum theory, we are only creating trouble for ourselves. It is useless to look beyond the observed phenomena: wasn't this the lesson that had to be learned before the creation of quantum mechanics became possible? More than that, this particular example once again teaches us that the entire experimental setup must be considered as a whole. We should not try to analyze it in separate parts, with separately spaced portions of uncertainty. By resisting the impulse to analyze and localize, we avoid mental discomfort.
This, as I understand it, is the orthodox view formulated by Bohr in his reply to Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen. Many are very satisfied with it.

Original text (English)

It can be argued that in trying to see behind the formal predictions of quantum theory we are just making trouble for ourselves. Was not precisely this the lesson that had to be learned before quantum mechanics could be constructed, that it is futile to try to see behind the observed phenomena? Moreover, we learn again from this particular example that we must not try to analyze it into separate pieces, with separately localized quotas of indeterminacy. By resisting the impulse to analize and localize, mental discomfort can be avoided.
This is, as far as I understand it, the orthodox view, as formulated by Bohr in his reply to Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen. Many people are quite content with it.

Bell was not alone in his doubts about the Copenhagen Interpretation, but he was the first to dare to break the taboo on the analysis of the physical picture of the world offered by this interpretation and on the further analysis of the EPR paradox. John Clauser, the first experimental tester of Bell's inequalities, later recalled that by asking questions about the EPR paradox in the 1950s, he most likely would have made himself unemployed. Questions about the foundations of quantum mechanics at the time, he said, were a sign of bad taste.

In 1982, Bell made his position even clearer:

Why didn't Bourne tell me then about this "pilot wave"? Even if only to point out its fallacy. Why didn't von Neumann consider it? Even more extraordinary, why after 1952

Paranormal researcher Gilane Sherwood identifies five sequential stages of poltergeist behavior:
sensory (sensations and smells),
communicative (groans, voices, cries),
physical (touching, slamming doors, etc.),
meaningful (throwing objects, deliberate actions aimed at causing fear),
aggressive (bites, blows, the appearance of blood on the walls, threatening inscriptions, the occurrence of unexplained painful conditions in the victim).
Upon reaching the last stage, the poltergeist, having reached the peak of activity, suddenly subsides and after a while reappears, starting the cycle from the first stage.
Let's see how it all happened with the Bells.
This story began almost two hundred years ago, in 1817.
Young farmer John Bell with his entire family (he had a large family: John himself, his wife Lucy and nine children) moved from North Carolina to the Red River Valley, Robertson County, Tennessee.
He settled in the community of Adams, bought a plot of land and a spacious house from a woman named Kate Butts.
Subsequently, Kate claimed that John Bell had deceived her during the deal, but Kate was old, did not enjoy special love from her neighbors, and no one listened to her claims: you never know what the old woman is talking about!
And it was worth listening to.
Many later recalled that "Old Butts" vowed to punish the deceiver, even if for this she had to return from the grave.
Things were going well for John Bell and his family. Soon he was able to buy some more land, cleared the field and started growing cotton. Over time, John Bell made new friends, became a respected person, and his opinion was taken into account in the community.
No one could have thought that very soon the quiet life of the Bells would come to an end.

The Bell House, bought from Kate Butts.

One day in 1817, John was walking around his cornfield when he came across a strange animal with the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit. Startled by the sight of a strange creature, Bell fired several shots at him and the beast disappeared.
Probably, later the farmer more than once recalled this meeting - after all, it was from her that his misadventures began.
Late in the evening of the same day, when the whole family was assembled, a knock was heard. It got louder and louder until finally there was a terrible noise. It felt like someone was pounding on the walls with all their might.
Bell and his sons ran outside to catch the one who was knocking, but returned with nothing: no one was found near the house, the yard was empty, and the old watchman swore that no one even came close to the house. Several times during the evening the farmer walked around the house with a gun, trying to figure out what was wrong.
The sound did not come from outside, but as if from the walls - but how could this be?!
Did John Bell think that from that day on his life would change forever and that he, an ordinary person, faced face to face with something that had no explanation and from which it was impossible to defend himself?
The knocking repeated every night, getting louder and louder until it became a roar. The Bell family sat awake. A strange knock caused anxiety and fear, but so far, for the time being, people's fears were connected, so to speak, with earthly affairs.
The year was 1817, human trafficking flourished in the southern states, and there were rumors among the planters that slaves sometimes killed their masters or their loved ones. Bell also had slaves working on the cotton plantations, and, of course, the first thing he thought of was on them. Could any of his slaves plot evil and take revenge on the owner?
But John was a zealous Christian, treated the slaves well, so that, on reflection, he was forced to admit that they had nothing to do with it.
Soon strange sounds began to be heard already inside the house. It was as if some evil spirit had come to plague the family, and he began with the children. They woke up at night, because someone gnawed the legs of the beds, scraped the floor with their claws, pulled off the blankets, threw pillows on the floor. Sometimes you could hear an invisible door slamming, someone scratching the glass with their nails, and sometimes in the middle of the night there was a sudden flapping of wings and a growl over the children's beds.
One night, the youngest son of the Bells, Richard, woke up because someone grabbed his hair. The boy screamed in pain and immediately heard the others screaming, whom the evil spirit dragged by the hair.
Now it was no longer enough for the ghost to scare people: he began to harass them.
Belov's youngest daughter, Betsy, who was then 12 years old, was especially hard hit.
Betsy Bell.

Her spirit was especially disliked. He either pinched her, then beat her (the bruises and abrasions on the girl’s body did not go away for weeks), then tore her hair out, then gave her slaps in the face.
Shortly thereafter, the knocking and rumbling subsided. Now a faint, quiet voice could be heard in the house, very similar to the voice of an old, infirm woman. For days on end, the invisible woman mumbled, wept, or lamented, barely audible.
"Who are you?" - John Bell asked her and immediately received an answer.
“I am a witch,” a female voice replied. “I am the spirit of a witch!”
Since then, the evil ghost has become known as the Bell Witch.
By the way, she terrorized not only the owners.
Once a guest spent the night in Bell's house. At night, when everyone had settled down, the guest's blanket suddenly flew off and hung in the air, clearly outlining an invisible human figure. The guest turned out to be not a timid one. He jumped up, grabbed a blanket in an armful and shouted to the owner that he had caught the ghost of a witch.
They wanted to burn the blanket along with the witch in the hearth, but no such luck.
Before the guest had time to take a step to the hearth, the room was suddenly filled with a terrible stench. The stench was so strong that the guest, leaving the captured ghost, rushed out of the room. When, after some time, John and his guest decided to enter the house, the nauseating smell had already disappeared, and the blanket was lying on the floor.
From trying to catch her, the witch became even more furious.
Driven to despair, John decided to consult with his old friend James Johnson, who was very knowledgeable in the occult sciences. First, Johnson and his wife came to the Bell house and spent one night there.
The “witch” harassed them in the same way as the Bells themselves: kicked, pinched, pulled their hair. After James Johnston's blanket was repeatedly thrown to the floor and after several very tangible blows, Johnston jumped out of bed and loudly exclaimed: "I ask you in the name of the Lord God, who are you and what do you want?"
He did not wait for an answer, but the evil ghost calmed down and the rest of the night passed quietly.
The next morning, Johnston, after conferring with John Bell, decided to perform an exorcism ritual, which was supposed to forever expel the spirit of the witch from the house.

This is how the exorcism took place according to the Catholic rite. I wanted to post a few more photos here, but then I thought that if someone is interested in exorcism, it's better to watch the movie "The Exorcist".

By the way, in early Christianity it was believed that the ability to exorcise evil spirits is a special gift that both a priest and a layman can be endowed with, but from the year 250 one of the lowest positions in the church hierarchy was introduced - an exorcist, endowed with special powers.
Exorcism was directly and unequivocally classified as a labor of faith, and, naturally, could not be performed by order or by virtue of appointment.
Great (large) or solemn exorcism, has the goal of expelling the evil spirit from the possessed and freeing him from demonic influences. This sacramental can only be given by a bishop or a spiritual person who has been given the appropriate permission by the bishop. The rite is served according to the Roman ritual.
Small, simple or personal exorcisms in Catholicism, unlike Orthodoxy, are not exorcisms in the full sense of the word and do not contain formulas of a great exorcism, for example, direct orders given to an evil spirit. Small exorcisms are prayers for the personal use of all believers, for example, in moments of temptation or torment caused by an evil spirit. These prayers are not full-fledged exorcisms, although they are aimed at liberation from demonic influences (with the exception of possession).
Be that as it may, the exorcist from Johnston turned out to be unimportant: the spirit subsided for only a few days.
For several days the Belov family enjoyed peace and quiet and hoped that their torment was over.
Their dreams, alas, were not destined to come true.
The vengeful ghost returned and brought down all his anger on Betsy.
The witch dragged her by the hair so that the girl squealed in pain and fear, pinched her, punched her in the face several times.
Parents began to fear for her life, especially since Betsy, who had never complained about her health before, suddenly began to lose consciousness, fell into a kind of trance and did not come to her senses for almost an hour. Now the spirit of the witch spoke only in the presence of Betsy, as if drawing vitality from the energy of the girl. When Betsy was absent or unconscious, the spirit of the witch was silent. It was even suspected that the girl was engaged in ventriloquism, but it was not possible to prove this.

In the meantime, rumors about the "Witch of Bells" reached the city of Nashville, where Andrew Jackson, a general who was well acquainted with the two Bell brothers, John and Jesse Bell, became interested in them - they fought under his command in the battle of New Orleans.
He decided to personally visit Belov and see with his own eyes what was happening there.
General Jackson did not go on his way alone: ​​he was accompanied by several people. They rode in a large van, but as soon as they approached the Bells' land, the van suddenly stopped. The horses tried to move him, but he seemed to be rooted into the ground!
In vain trying to push the van from its place, Jackson exclaimed that all this was nothing but the tricks of the "witch". As soon as he said this, a woman's voice, coming from nowhere, spoke to them. The woman said that now they could go on, but that they would meet again that evening. After that, the van started off and Jackson and his comrades continued on their way.

In the evening, General Jackson and John Bell Jr. talked for a long time, recalled the past, and Jackson's companions patiently waited for the evil spirit to finally appear. Suddenly, one of Jackson's men, who was tired of waiting, decided to fool around. He took out a gun and declared that he would be a "witch tamer", now he would call her and kill her.
And at that very moment the man began to scream in pain. Later, he said that at that moment he felt needles stick into him and someone began to beat him cruelly.
The frightened "witch tamer" and the rest of the people began to beg Jackson to leave immediately. They did not spend the night in the "cursed" house, but settled down for the night in a wagon, in a field, but even there they were afraid of a vengeful spirit.
It all ended with the fact that the next day, Jackson and his people left the Bell farm. General Jackson himself, the hero of the battle of New Orleans, recalling this incident, said: "I would rather fight the whole British army than deal with one Bell witch." Andrew Jackson later became President of the United States.
No one succeeded in coping with the "Bell Witch".
She tormented the family for several years, especially John himself and his daughter Betsy. When Betsy grew up, she began dating a young man named Joshua Gardner, who lived near the Bell farm. An engagement was announced, but the spirit of the witch announced that the wedding would not happen.
He poisoned Betsy and Joshua, pursued them both in the house, and on the river, and in the field, threw stones at them, taunted, pulled their hair and, in the end, swore that if they got married, he would not give the newlyweds a minute rest.
On Easter Monday, 1821, Betsy and Joshua's engagement was broken off.
Having achieved her goal, the “witch” left Betsy alone, but set about John Bell: she announced that she would take him to the grave.
From that day on, Bell's health began to deteriorate.
In addition, he suffered a strange disease: his jaws were stiff, and his tongue was swollen to such an extent that it did not fit in his mouth. He could hardly eat and barely spoke. Attacks began that lasted for hours, followed by a nervous tic, which turned into convulsions.
He almost did not go out anywhere, because during the time the witch pulled off his shoes, pushed and beat him.
In the autumn of 1820, John Bell tried for the last time to get out of bed and walk to the farm, however, the witch did not allow him to do so.
“Father staggered as if he had received a blow to the head,” recalls his son Richard, “and heavily settled on a log lying by the side of the road. His face twitched; grimaces quickly replacing one another distorted it.” John Bell's shoes fell off his feet. The boy tried to help his father put on shoes, but the shoes immediately fell off again. There was noise in the air at that time: frantic swearing, mocking singing and screaming. When everything calmed down and the convulsions stopped, the weakened John, who received in addition a strong crack from the spirit, sat down on a fallen tree and began to cry. The witch nevertheless broke the will of this strong and self-confident person.
After that, John Bell fell ill and never got up again. On December 18, 1820, when the whole family gathered in the patient's bed, he was given his usual medicine. Immediately, his state of health deteriorated sharply, the agony began, which lasted until the morning. In the morning, John Bell breathed his last.
The household found a small vial of medicine that Bell had taken the day before and, suspecting the worst, John Bell Jr. gave the pet cat a taste of this liquid. The cat died immediately.
At this point, the "witch" triumphantly announced, "I gave Old Man Jack a good dose of this stuff last night and it helped him."
Instead of sending the liquid for examination, John Bell Jr. threw a vial of the remaining liquid into the fireplace, so the cause of the elder Bell's death could not be determined.