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by William Dorian

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

The Bell Witch Phenomenon, possibly the most famous American haunting, dates back to around 1820 in sleepy Adams, Tennessee. The spirit that haunted the John Bell family became more infamous than probably any entity, ever. Hundreds of visitors from across the young United States, and even from as far away as Europe, witnessed and heard the spirit's eerie and destructive shenanigans. The Bell Witch was some sort of disembodied spirit. "Kate" (as it was called) kept the Bell family up all night, almost every night, for three years, with pounding and scratching on the floors and walls, poltergeist activity teleporting physical objects around the house and neighborhood, and—most disturbingly—speaking out loud in clear, decisive, and often even humorous speech.

This precarious situation is certainly frightening enough, but just think how much more unsettling it would be to carry on a conversation with an invisible entity that was not even pretending to be anything but an invisible entity. Such was the case with the Bell Witch. Many reputable individuals were reported to have conversed with the invisible Kate on topics of religion and politics, or simply just to chat about neighborhood events—the most notable person being President Andrew Jackson, who, after witnessing Kate's antics and hearing her talk, made a hasty retreat back to his home in nearby Nashville.

At the time, many engaged Kate in conversation and lively banter. The spirit was known to simultaneously deliver sermons that were also being delivered at nearby churches by various pastors. When fact checked afterwards, it was discovered that Kate's sermons and those of local ministers were identical. "She" seemed to have the talent of listening to and relaying two different sermons to her own attentive audience at once.

Kate also sang to entertain the Bell matron, Lucy Bell, and brought her fresh grapes that appeared to materialize out of thin air. She is said to have had a beautiful voice, and Lucy seemed to enjoy the grapes. Indeed, the spirit was quite fond of Mrs. Bell, often reporting to Lucy the whereabouts of her numerous children.

The spirit, however, was not so kind to Lucy's daughter, Betsy. She kept Betsy awake at night, yanking the sheets off her bed, pinching her, and pulling her hair. In fact, Betsy seemed to have been the center of the haunting. When asked why she terrorized Betsy, Kate simply replied that she didn't want to see Betsy marry a young suitor named Joshua Gardner. The spirit never gave a reason for her distaste for Gardner, so that may not have really had anything to do with Kate's motives.

Mostly, though, Kate openly detested John Bell, ridiculing him to his face and to anyone else who wanted to listen. Eventually, after three years of tormenting the family, John Bell died—apparently due to having been poisoned by an overdose of his medicine. The spirit lingered for several weeks after John's death, engaging with the mourners and openly taking full credit for Old John's demise—and loudly singing "Roll Me Over in the Clover" during his funeral.

With its primary mission accomplished, the spirit left the remaining Bells in peace afterwards, supposedly briefly returning a year later and then once again years later for a brief visit with one of John's sons.

There have been many theories as to what the Bell Witch was. No one seriously believes it was an actual witch, but many have postulated that it was a demonic entity set on torturing the Bells. There is also the credible theory that the spirit was that of a Native American buried on the Bell farm. Indeed, one of the Bell sons found a human skeleton nearby and accidentally dropped a tooth between the boards of their home's porch. There is also the theory (one with which I tend to agree) stating Kate was an elemental spirit summoned many years earlier by the Native Americans and attached to the land. There is a Native American burial mound on the Bell farm atop the Bell Witch Cave. The cave was, up until recently, a tourist attraction. Patrons were led on a tour of the cave and given a lecture concerning the Bell Witch haunting. According to tour guides, it was common for visitors, especially women, to complain of having their hair pulled as they were shown the cave. Many believe the spirit that haunted the Bells is still there. If true, that would confirm the theory of Kate being an elemental spirit placed there to guard the Native American burial grounds.

Much more recently, only sixty miles from the Bell farm, and eerily similar, is the haunting of my family that took place during the last seventeen years. (I describe our haunting in detail in my book, The Holy Water Incident.)

In 2001, when my daughter, Brittany, was fifteen years old, she was possessed by disembodied, sinister entities. At the time, and for years afterward, we assumed that the entities were demonic. I contacted our parish priest seeking an exorcism, but was rebuffed. Eventually, we obtained an exorcism from a local psychic named Laurel. That exorcism worked, but my daughter was left with the ability (curse?) of being able to see, hear, and, most importantly, channel spirits. Even after the demonic activity seemed to have subsided, Brittany channeled spirits right and left for the next year, and then sporadically for many years afterward.

The most prominent spirit she channeled was an entity calling itself Spence, who claimed to be Brittany's guardian angel. During the exorcism, Britt voiced or channeled numerous spirits and demonic entities as Laurel fought for her deliverance. During the mayhem, Spence surfaced and offered to help aid Laurel in removing the other entities. The various entities all had different accents and varying voices; a few even spoke in foreign languages. Spence claimed to have been at one time one of the Fallen Angels. He spoke through Brittany with a lilting Irish brogue, saying he had incarnated as an Irish human in the nineteenth century (I suppose, just to see what it was like to be human). Laurel was convinced that Spence was telling the truth and that he was indeed assisting her in removing all the demonic entities. The exorcism lasted all night, and the sun was coming up by the time Laurel left.

Spence was a regular in our household during that first year when Brittany was regularly channeling spirits. Making many appearances, he was witty, affable—and usually hungry. He was always quite interested with what was in the refrigerator, and even accompanied us once to a restaurant for my mother's birthday party.

After that first year, however, Brittany's channeling almost stopped completely. Nevertheless, for the next seventeen years, Spence could still be counted on to make impromptu and usually inopportune appearances several times a year. I almost felt like he was a member of the family.

Brittany also continued to see and hear spirits, and all of us still occasionally heard strange, unexplained noises. Objects often repositioned themselves throughout the home without any human assistance, and it wasn't uncommon at all for disembodied voices to talk to Brittany and I through closed doors. Often she would hear me talking to her just on the other side of a door. She'd open the door to find that I wasn't there. Likewise, I often hear her talking to me on the other side of the door—only to find she wasn't even in the house.

This activity continued for seventeen years until, finally, a paranormal group came and cleansed the home and banned any demonic or negative spirits from entering.

Although Spence had me convinced that he was indeed some sort of spirit guide or guardian angel for Britt, after the paranormal group cleansed the house she had a revelation concerning our Irish friend. Perhaps because all spirits (including Spence) had been banned from our home, Britt could think more clearly about Spence. She came to me one day and announced that she had come to the conclusion that she didn't ever want to channel Spence again. She had decided that Spence was the demonic force that had possessed her. We haven't seen or heard from Spence or any other unwanted spirits in the home for nearly three years.

Another psychic friend of mine told me that she felt the land my home is built on was the cause of the unwanted spiritual activity and Britt's possession. That's what made me start thinking about the possibility that Spence (if he was the possessing entity) was an elemental spirit and not demonic. I started doing a bit more digging into the property on which my condo is built. There was nothing here before except a horse farm; however, not three blocks from our condo is the Trail of Tears—the route taken by the Cherokee nation when the US government forced them to relocate to a reservation in Oklahoma in 1838. Thousands of Native Americans died along the way. They were forced by US troops to keep walking regardless of the weather; they were not even allowed to stop and bury their dead. So, what if some Cherokee chieftain or shaman had died as they passed this area? They would have been forced to leave the body along the side of the road. Of course, this is pure supposition, but what if some powerful Cherokee shaman called forth an elemental spirit to guard over the land where the chieftain was left? An elemental, let's say like Spence, who for some reason known only to himself possessed the body of a fifteen year old girl whom he sensed had abilities nearly two centuries later?

Elementals are chaos spirits because they do not differentiate between good and bad as we do. Their purpose is to guard a piece of earth (or some other property in the physical realm) as called upon by a powerful shaman. The Bell's spirit, Kate, tortured poor Betsy Bell and supposedly murdered old John Bell; however, Kate loved the mother, Lucy, and sang to her and brought her good things to eat when she was sick. Kate frequently engaged visitors to the Bell home in lively conversation and cracked jokes. Spence possessed Brittany and caused my family seventeen years of anguish and pain—and yet, when Britt would channel him he was jovial, good natured, and friendly. Spence and I had numerous long conversations (usually over his favorite food). We joked and kidded to the extent that I was deceived into believing he was Brittany's champion, not her tormentor. I trusted him and liked him. But he wasn't what he seemed and quite literally made fools of us.

Both Kate and Spence equally displayed both negative and positive characteristics—just as it is reported that elemental chaos spirits do. There is evidence that they were both summoned by Native American shamans to protect an area of land deemed important to them.

Spence possessed, tortured, and abused my daughter—and also attempted to win over my family and me with friendliness and humor. Kate tortured and probably killed John Bell, but also treated Lucy Bell with great kindness—as well as displaying a friendly sense of humor to many who would visit the Bell farm.

Perhaps there is much more here that I'm missing, but I think the parallels between the Bell haunting and ours are noteworthy. I believe that Kate and Spence were/are elemental chaos spirits summoned by Native American shamans.

I am thinking about taking several reputable psychics up to the Bell farm and see if they can communicate with Kate to try and find out once and for all what this entity was. Then we continue with the same operation on the land surrounding my condo. I want answers.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2019. All rights reserved.

I have a question concerning wishes. Is it possible to speed up our original life plan by making "wishes?" If so, do we have to do so on a conscious level? I've noticed that when I make a wish for something, my life starts to change. I then wonder if I'm fulfilling my destiny - if I felt called to make that wish because it's part of my life plan - or if I am changing my destiny by nudging it in a new direction. I guess what I'm really asking is if we can change our destiny/life plan based on our desires after we incarnate, or if our desires are always guiding us to fulfill a set higher plan. Thanks!

- Maggie

Dreamchaser:

Every once in a while I get a question like this that I am so happy to answer in this public forum. You see, I do a lot of research of all kinds, and am always trying to learn something new, for I know my clients expect me to have some answers.

I used to think that we had a set purpose or destiny, and we had to find it and fulfill it. In my studies, however, I have learned that we have many options and many different choices.

In its own way, your destiny will find you. You will meet who you are supposed to meet and go where you are supposed to go. In the mean time, you can do whatever you want. You can make whatever choices you want, be whatever you want to be, and be with whomever you want to be with, and your "destiny" will still find you. If you look back over your life at its different twists and turns, in hindsight you will see that this is true.

Often we forget there is a whole web of activity happening all around us that we can't see. There is a whole host of beings that are working to help us clear a path and put us where we need to be. When you make a choice, the universe can and will shift according to that choice. Everything that is working for you and around you will shift according to the path that YOU choose.

One of your lessons in life is to learn how to become one with the Universe. You are to learn how to manifest and how to choose what you really want according to what is truly good for your soul. You will see your life change when you change your mind.

When you start asking for things or start consciously trying to manifest things, your life will change. Those forces working around you will move things so that you are in alignment with what you want. If you choose to move to another country, of course everything is going to have to shift to accommodate your new life. After you make a big decision like this, things will adjust accordingly.

I suggest everyone reading this article watch a movie called What the Bleep Do We Know. It will explain all of this to you not only from a metaphysical standpoint but from a scientific standpoint as well. Scientists have proven that our thoughts create what happens around us, and this movie explains how that happens in a simple way. We literally create our worlds with what we THINK. You are starting to learn that.

Don't worry if your world changes completely. Your soul knows its job and your soul will do its job. You just wish for whatever you want and live your life. Another good movie about manifesting is The Secret. I highly recommend both of these films.

I wish you an incredible life journey.

*****

Astrea:

I may be the wrong psychic to ask about Destiny, because I don't believe in it! I believe in choices and consequences, and that our job here on Earth is to be happy.

However, because of Free Will, sometimes our choices aren't the best, and we have to live with the consequences. Since we're not God, our highest Destiny (if such a thing exists) escapes most of us. Thus we have reincarnation, and get the chance to revisit and correct our mistakes one incarnation after another until we are Enlightened.

I believe that life plans are made consciously as we go. I don't know anyone who has ever made an "unconscious wish." Wishes are wants, and to want, you have to know you want something.

While we create our own paths, no matter how careful we are, there are seemingly random events that happen to everyone. Illnesses, others' choices and even death are things that no one can plan for. Like dances, life plans are temporal and change with our changing wants, needs and desires.

As for wishes, there is nothing like visualization for manifesting what we want. One of my psychic friends taught me this in the early eighties. At the time, I was driving around an old beater and needed a reliable car. One day when I was whining to her about the beater, she said, "You're not seeing the new car in the driveway. You have to SEE it to OWN it."

I took her at her word and began to imagine a little red sports car in my driveway. Three weeks later, one of the girls working with me had to give up her fancy car. It was the cutest, best car I ever owned - a bright red Toyota MR2. I drove him from 1984 until 2004. Of course, after that I had to begin to visualize how the heck I was going to earn the money for those car payments, but that worked out too.

Wishes can also be classified as prayers, so when we wish for something, Someone hears us. People who say that sometimes the answer to a prayer is 'no' don't get it. Our wishes can come true if we concentrate on doing what it takes to MAKE them come true.

What does this have to do with Destiny? Maybe nothing, maybe everything - but positive visualization, wishing and prayer WORK. Of course, you can't just sit in a room wishing without taking inspired action to make your wish come true, but even THINKING about having positive people and things in your life will help bring them to you.

If that is working towards your Destiny, great. Just remember that our job is to do everything we can without hurting anyone else, and to just be happy. So wish away, for even the act of wishing will put you in a more positive frame of mind to manifest whatever you want and need.