The Bell Witch - An American Haunting
Written by Brent Monahan
Narrated by Cameron Beierle
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Brent Monahan
Brent Monahan was born in Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan in 1948, as a World War II occupation baby. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University in Music and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Indiana University, Bloomington. He has performed, stage directed and taught music and writing professionally. He has authored fourteen published novels and a number of short stories. Two of his novels have been made into motion pictures. Brent lives in Yardley, PA, with his wife, Bonnie.
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Reviews for The Bell Witch - An American Haunting
152 ratings14 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Creepy, sad, with a little humor, and 100% true. The end is shockingly sad. It's definitely worth your time.
Fantastic narration with a compelling story.
The movie An American Haunting is based on the Bell Witch. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I really liked this book and would like to do my own further studies on the subject. This was very fascinating and interesting how the witch came do be. I almost felt like shedding some tears by the book's end and I was surprised at the turn, so to speak, of the story. Very good and highly recommend!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That this is a true story makes it far scarier than fiction.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It was much more illuminating than anything else I had heard before or seen on tv . A good listen .
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The last twenty five pages or so took me so off guard and made me sit up, stop what I was doing, and had me entirely focused.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Being a Tennessean I have always heard of the Bell Witch, but never knew the details. A very interesting tale of Old Kate, as some referred to her, and her haunting of the Bell family, especially John Bell. At the end you will discover why the Bell Witch targeted John Bell.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book is written as one long chapter without any real breaks which makes it very difficult to read without sitting down and reading it in one sitting. Other than that I only have personal issues with the book and the ending to the story but this is not a reflection on the book or the author. It was a decent read.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This novel describes most of the significant Bell Witch facts as they have come to stand in American history/legend. The author chose the device of an unknown manuscript that gave inside information on the events of nearly 200 years ago, and took on the stance that this was as much a mystery (a murder mystery, no less) as it was a series of possible supernatural events. I didn't find this novel scary, but I don't know if I was supposed to. My own view is that this notorious case of a haunting witnessed by hundreds (including Andrew Jackson, if legend is correct) contains some unexplained elements but is also one that has grown in the telling over the decades. No one theory covers all elements here but the one that comes closest involves knowing participation by some of the family involved in the supposed poltergeist phenomena that surrounded them. Whatever else this matter was, it became deadly serious and the patriarch of the family did wind up dead, just as the spirit of the "witch" prophesied. More disturbing, true to her word, the witch did appear and she laughed at him at his funeral, as his casket was being lowered into the grave. I have read quite a bit about this disturbing folk history and have heard everything advocated from demonic presences to straightforward trickery. One recent claim was that the girl at the heart of the case was being molested by her father, that the pranks she claimed were a haunting were a cry for help, and that she got her revenge by poisoning her father to death. That may well be. Whatever the explanations are, the Bell Witch of Tennessee certainly deserves to be kept alive in memory, and it makes for a titillating study of the unexplained.
This was one of the best fiction chillers I have read in a long time. You never can quite tell whether it is fiction or fact. Chilling tale with a good twist at the end. - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/52.5 stars
From the blurb: "The Bell Witch took up residence with John Bell's family in 1818. It was a cruel and noisy spirit, given to rapping and gnawing sounds before it found its voices.
With these voices and its supernatural acts, the Bell Witch tormented the Bell family. This extraordinary book recounts the only documented case in U.S. history when a spirit actually caused a man's death.
[...]this book recounts the tale with novelistic vigor and verve. It is truly chilling."
Chilling? Not so much. I just kinda expect malevolent spirits to, you know... be malevolent. Just a quirk I have. So much of this book was about how this spirit would just sit down and have conversations with people regarding what it is and where it came from and what it wanted. There was surprisingly little poltergeist chaos wreaking after the initial start. I dunno, maybe the teller thought we'd get bored with that chaos and terror, and instead wanted to tell us all the mundane stuff about it, like... how it went out of its way to prevent injury or death to some or outright save others. Or when it touched that one guy's hand that time, in order to be "liked".
I had seen the movie, and so I knew how it went. I wasn't sure whether the resolution at the end of the movie would be a Hollywood re-write or not, and so I waited it out with the book to see. And I found out my answer about an hour before the audiobook ended. I could have stopped there, but I'm glad that I kept with it until the end. It didn't improve things very much for me, but I think that there was information in the book that wasn't in the movie, about the spirit's origin and manifestation, and I found that aspect very interesting. Hence the half star addition. ;)
The audio reader was very iffy for me. In the Editor's Note at the beginning of the book, he sounded very stiff and formal, but then when he started to read the story, he fell into this kind of Southern drawl that made me sigh with contentment. Unfortunately, he didn't keep it up. Boo!
I'm not a big fan of audiobook readers who "do" the voices. I usually just want the reader to read and let the characters speak for themselves. There were parts that were very well done, Old Kate's "main" voice, & John Bell's voice were both done well. But then, during straight narration, the reader would lapse into odd accents, or stumble over his words, or pause at inconvenient times (like the middle of a word). I heard something like a Scottish accent, hints of a Spanish one, a little bit of Minnesotan, etc. Every time one of these would slip in, I'd be like...
Yeah. So, this book? Not terrible, but not very good either. That is all. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Can a ghost kill? According to the "true" events captured in Brent Monahan's, An American Haunting, the answer is yes. An American Haunting takes place in 1800s America and describes the events surrounding the famed "Bell Witch" haunting from a first-person perspective. The narrator supposedly kept a meticulous journal of the paranormal experiences he witnessed in hopes of sharing this ghastly account with his progeny. The manuscript was found some years later and Brent Monahan was selected to investigate and publish the incident. I did not connect with this book on any level. The storytelling was intentionally dry in an attempt to facilitate the realism. The best I can say is that the book was short. Perhaps the story of "The Bell Witch" is true, but I did not have the energy upon completion to go on a fact finding mission. My recommendation would be to look elsewhere for ghost stories.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Wow! What an excellent book! I literally couldn't put this one down and read it in a day. Both creepy and humorous, this story really kept my attention. I don't want to give away any of the plot, so I will just say "Read it!" It's a quick and easy read and well worth the time.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I happened to be flipping through channels one evening and came across a movie titled "The American Haunting" in the beginning of the credits "Based on a true story". Not one to watch horror flicks (don't care for the gore) I was interested in the idea the events may be true. The movie was not that great, but I became very interested in the Bell witch, and found this book.The story begins present time when a manuscript is discovered that has never been open, the recipient turned it over to the Brent Monahan who converts the manuscript to book form. The manuscript is written by a school teacher who witnessed some of the events and later matter the daughter of John Bell. The story then begins in central Tennessee in 1811 John Bell has been taken in front of the church members by a citizen, Kate who tells him that his family will suffer.John took no heed Kate's statements. The family begins to hear faint noises of tapping, rats chewing wood but are unable to locate the sources of the sounds. The noises begin to get more intense and soon his daughter Elizabeth is dragged from her bed and slapped, but no one there. The family believes somehow Kate is behind this strange happenings. The family begins to loose sleep and are unable to prove what is happening. The begin to open their home to close friends to assist in finding the source of what is going on, which they are unable to do.As time goes on they begin to hear voices, and start calling this ghost "Kate's Witch". The witch begins to communicate with the members of the family and say she is there until John Bell dies, which will be very soon. The witch tends to disturb Elizabeth more then other members of the family. Many friends and outsiders come to home to uncover this mystery, but have no luck.I was really into the beginning of the story, but then it begins to drag. It was not written for entertainment, but more of the events that took place in the home. Eventually the last few chapters become interesting and the storyteller uncovers the mystery of the bell witch that left me in total shock.Very interesting, not a thriller or bestseller but worth the read. If you enjoy mystery and actual events then I recommend the read.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I like supernatural horror stories, and this one was diverting. It's a novel based on a "true" story, if you accept that any ghost stories are any more than balderdash, which I really don't. A family in 19th century Tennessee is haunted by a spirit which is malevolent enough to actually kill someone, but also has a witty and even a kind side. The book is not really scary, but it is intriguing, until it falls apart at the end with a glib, predictable resolution.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Interesting little horror stories supposedly based on a manuscript found in an old house. Recently made into a film which follows the book rather closely.