Bell Witch Haunting

Maybe one of the most famous and documented cases, the Bell Witch and the Bell Witch Cave is indeed spooky.
According to most reports, the disruptions started one evening in 1817 with strange rappings on the windowpanes of the Bells' cabin near Clarksville, Tennessee. Twelve-year-old Elizabeth "Betsy" Bell started to to complain of an invisible rat gnawing on her bedpost at night, and the whole family, including the parents, John and Luce, experienced the midnight confusion of getting their covers plucked from their beds.

When the Bell family got up one morning, stones littered the floor of their living room and the furniture had been knocked over. The children, Betsy, John, Drewry, Joel, and Richard, were goggle-eyed and spoke of ghosts and goblins. John Bell lectured his family severely. They would keep the problem to themselves. They did not want their family to become the subject for common and distasteful gossip.

That evening, Richard was woke up by something pulling his hair, lifting his head off of the pillow. Joel began yelling at his brother's predicament, and from her room, Betsy began howling that the gnawing rat had begun to pull her hair, too.

Most of the family awakened the next day with sore scalps, and John Bell reversed his decision. It was obvious that they needed help. That day he would confide in James Johnson, their nearest neighbor and closest friend.

Johnson accompanied his friend to the cabin that evening. The tale that Bell told was an incredible one, but Johnson knew that his neighbor was not given to flights of fancy. While he watched at Betsy's bedside that night, Johnson saw the young girl receive several blows on the cheeks from an invisible force. He adjured the spirit to stop in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and there was no activity from the ghost for several minutes, but then Betsy's hair received a yank that brought a cry of pain from her lips. Again Johnson adjured the evil spirit, and it released the girl's hair.

Johnson concluded that the spirit understood the human language and that Betsy was the center of the haunting. He met with other neighbors, and they decided to help the Bell family as best they could. A committee kept watch at the Bell house all night to try to placate the spirit, but all this accomplished was to bring about an especially vicious attack on the unfortunate Betsy. A number of neighbors volunteered their own daughters to sleep with Betsy, but this only managed to terrorize the other girls as well. Nor did it accomplish any useful purpose to take Betsy out of the cabin into the home of neighbors—the trouble simply followed her there and upset the entire house.

By now the haunting had achieved wide notoriety, and the disturbances were thought to be the work of a witch, who had set her evil spirits upon the Bell family. Each night the house was filled with those who sat up trying to get the "witch" to talk or to communicate with them by rapping on the walls. The disturbances soon became powerful enough to move outside the cabin and away from Betsy. Neighbors reported seeing lights "like candles or lamps" flitting through the fields, and farmers began to suffer stone-throwing attacks from the Bell Witch.

These particular attacks seemed to have been more in the nature of fun than some of the other manifestations of the spirit. Young boys in the area would often play catch with the witch if she happened to throw something at them on their way home from school. Once an observer witnessed several boys get suddenly pelted with sticks that flew from a nearby thicket. The sticks did not strike the boys with much force, and, with a great deal of laughter, the boys scooped the sticks up and hurled them back into the thicket. Once again, the sticks came flying back out. The observer cut notches in several of the sticks with his knife before the boys once again returned the witch's volley. He was able to identify his markings when the playful entity once again flung the sticks from the thicket.

The witch was not so gentle with the scoffers who came to the Bell home to expose the manifestations as trickery. Those who stayed the night invariably had their covers jerked from their beds. If they resisted the witch's yanking, they were slapped soundly on the face.

Spiritists, clergymen, reporters, and curiosity seekers had waged a ceaseless campaign to urge the witch to talk and declare herself and her intentions. At last their efforts were rewarded. At first the voice was only a whistling kind of indistinct babble, then it became bolder—a husky whisper speaking from darkened corners. At last, it became a full-toned voice that spoke not only in darkness but also in lighted rooms and, finally, during the day as well as the night. Immediately the charge of ventriloquism was heard from the skeptical. To put a halt to the accusations of trickery, John Jr. brought in a doctor, who placed his hand over Betsy's mouth and listened at her throat while the witch's voice chatted amicably from a far corner of the room. The doctor decreed that the girl was in no way connected with the sounds.

From the beginning of the witch's visitation, it had minced no words in its dislike of John Bell, Betsy's father. The spirit often swore to visitors in the Bell home that she would keep after him until the end of his days.

To a visitor's question concerning its identity, the witch once answered that it was a spirit who had once been very happy, but it had been disturbed and made unhappy. Later, the witch declared itself to be the spirit of an Indian and sent the family on a wild bone chase to gather up all of its skeletal remains. If her bones were all put back together, she would be able to rest in peace, the entity lied to them.

Later, the witch told the family with a merry cackle that she was the ghost of old Kate Batts, a woman who had been an eccentric recluse and who had earned the appellation of "witch" from the citizens of Clarksville. When the word spread that it was the ghost of old Kate who was haunting the Bells, the entire mystery became much more believable to several doubting neighbors.

The Bell home became crowded, indeed, when the witch's "family" moved in with her. Four hell-raisers named Blackdog, Mathematics, Cypocryphy, and Jerusalem, each speaking in distinct voices of their own, made every night party time during their stay with their "mother." The sounds of raucous laughter rattled the shingles of the Bell home, and witnesses noted the strong scent of whiskey that permeated every room in the house.

When two local preachers arrived to investigate the disturbances, the witch delivered each of their Sunday sermons word for word and in a perfect imitation of their own voices.

The Bell Witch was adept at producing odd objects apparently from thin air. Once, at one of Mrs. Bell's Bible study groups, the ladies were showered with fresh fruits. Betsy's friends were treated to bananas at one of her birthday parties. Although the father, John Bell, was the butt of malicious pranks and cruel blows, the witch looked after Mrs. Bell solicitously. Once when she was ill, the witch was heard to tell her to hold out her hands. When Luce Bell did so, a large quantity of hazelnuts dropped into her palms. When Mrs. Bell weakly complained that she could not crack them, family members and neighbors watched in wide-eyed fascination as the nuts cracked open and the meats were sorted from the shells.

Next to the materialization of fruits and nuts, the witch was especially fond of producing pins and needles. Mrs. Bell was provided with enough pins to supply the entire county, but sometimes the witch would impishly hide them in the bedclothes or in chair cushions— points out.

John Jr., Betsy's favorite brother, was the only member of the family besides the mother who received decent treatment from the witch. The invisible force often whipped Joel and Richard soundly, and Drewry was so frightened of the witch that he never married, fearing that the entity might someday return and single out his own family for particular attention. John Jr. was the only one of Betsy's brothers who could "sass back" at the witch and get away with it. The witch even went to special pains to get John Jr. to like it, and the mysterious entity often performed demonstrations of ability solely for his benefit.

The cruelest act perpetrated on Betsy was the breaking of her engagement to Joshua Gardner (or Gardiner). Friends and family acclaimed the two young people to be ideally suited for one another, but the witch protested violently when the engagement was announced. The witch screamed at Joshua whenever he entered the Bell home and embarrassed both young people by shouting obscenities about them in front of their friends.

A friend of the family, Frank Miles, learned of the witch's objection to Betsy's engagement and resolved to stand up to the evil spirit on her behalf. He challenged the entity to take any form it wished, and he would soon send her packing. Suddenly his head jerked backwards as if a solid slap had stung his cheeks. He put up his forearms to block a series of facial blows, and then dropped his guard as he received a vicious punch in the stomach. Miles slumped against a wall, desperately shaking his head to recover his senses.

Frank Miles looked helplessly at Betsy Bell, who watched the one-sided boxing match. Reluctantly, he picked up his hat and coat. A man couldn't fight an enemy he couldn't see.

General Andrew Jackson (1767–1845), Old Hickory himself, decided to have his try at defeating the witch. An old friend of John Bell, Jackson set out from The Hermitage accompanied by a professional "witch-layer" and several servants. As his party approached the Bell place, Jackson was startled when the wheels of his coach suddenly froze and the full strength of the horses could not make them budge an inch. A voice from the bushes cackled a greeting to Jackson and uttered a command that "unfroze" the wheels. The general and his men realized that the element of surprise was lost. The witch knew they were coming.

That night the witch-layer fled in terror when the witch attacked him, and General Jackson's men followed him out the door. According to the old stories, Jackson told John Bell that fighting the witch was worse than having faced the British at the battle of New Orleans. Old Hickory wanted to stay for a week and face down the spirit, but his committee of ghost chasers had had enough, so he left with his men.

With the decisive defeat of her champions, Miles and Jackson, Betsy had no choice but to give in to the witch's demands and break her engagement with Joshua Gardner. On the night on which Betsy returned the ring, the witch's laughter could be heard ringing victoriously from every room in the house.

Shortly after the entity had accomplished the severing of Betsy's marriage agreement with her fiancé, it once more began to concentrate its energy on the destruction of John Bell. Richard was walking with his father on that day in December of 1820 when John Bell collapsed into a spasmodically convulsing heap.

John Bell was brought home to his bed where he lay for several days in a weakened condition. Even during the man's illness, the witch would not leave him in peace, but continued to torment him by slapping his face and throwing his legs into the air. On the morning of December 19, 1820, John Bell lapsed into a stupor from which he would never be aroused. The witch sang bawdy songs all during John Bell's funeral and annoyed the assembled mourners with sounds of its crude celebration throughout the man's last rites.

After the death of her father, the witch behaved much better toward Betsy. It never again inflicted pain upon her and actually addressed her in terms of endearment. During the rest of the winter and on into the spring months, the manifestations decreased steadily. Then, one night after the evening meal, a large smoke ball seemed to roll down from the chimney of the fireplace out into the room. As it burst, a voice told the family: "I'm going now, and I will be gone for seven years."

True to its word, the witch returned to the homestead in 1828. Betsy had entered into a successful marriage with another man; John Jr. had married and now farmed land of his own. Only Mrs. Bell, Joel, and Richard remained on the home place. The disturbances primarily consisted of the witch's most elementary pranks—rappings, scratchings, pulling the covers off the bed—and the family agreed to ignore the unwanted guest. Their plan worked, and the witch left them after two weeks of pestering them for attention. The entity sought out John Jr. and told him in a fit of pique that it would return to one of his descendants in "one hundred years and seven."

Dr. Charles Bailey Bell should have been the recipient of the Bell Witch's unwelcome return visit, but Bell and his family survived the year 1935 without hearing the slightest unexplained scratch or undetermined rapping. Charles Bell has written the official record of the mysterious disturbances endured by his ancestors in The Bell Witch: A Mysterious Spirit, or Our Family Troubles (reprint of pamphlet, 1985).

Today, the abandoned homestead of the Bell family is owned by a private trust, and no visitors are allowed to explore the property. The only site connected with the legends of the Bell Witch and open to the public is the Bell Witch Cave, which continues to produce accounts of unusual lights and eerie images on photographs.

The Smurl Family Haunting

The Smurl Haunting was an alleged demonic possession in the United States, on which the film The Haunted was based.

The claimed incidents began in 1974 and lasted until 1989 in the home of Jack and Janet Smurl in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. Whether the haunting was genuine or an elaborate hoax is debated.

The Smurl house was split. Jack and Janet lived in one half of the abode while Jack's parents, John and Mary, lived in the other half of the double-block house on Chase Street.

According to the Smurls, the first signs of paranormal activity began in 1974. They reported that a television set burst into flames, and a stain appeared on a carpet overnight. Water pipes began to leak even though they were repeatedly resoldered by a plumber, and scratches resembling those from a large cat appeared on paintwork and bathroom fittings.

By 1977, the reported events were escalating. Toilets flushed without human intervention, footsteps were heard on the stairs, chest drawers opened and closed unaided, radios worked when they were not plugged in, rocking chairs rocked while empty, and a sour smell filled the house.

In 1985, John and Mary claimed to hear loud, obscene language, and Jack and Janet's house often became extremely cold.

Two days after this, an icy cold swept the house and a strange black human shape allegedly materialised in the kitchen in front of Janet. It was about five feet nine inches tall, and with no facial features. It later appeared to Mary Smurl in her kitchen.

The violence and frequency of the events continued to escalate.

In 1986, the family brought in a controversial pair of demonologists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, who announced the house was haunted by three minor spirits and a powerful, evil demon. They tried to persuade the demon to leave by playing holy music and praying. The alleged demon reacted by shaking mirrors, dressers and drawers.

Jack alleges he was raped one night by a scale-covered succubus with a young girl's body and an old woman's head. Janet also claimed she was sexually assaulted by a shadowy humanoid figure (described as an incubus), and that pig noises were heard from the wall cavities. The attack on Janet and the shadowy apparition are similar to the description of the attacks on Carla Moran that were portrayed in the movie, "The Entity".

The Smurls brought in Father Robert McKenna. He conducted two exorcisms in Latin and more than fifty Catholic Masses, which allegedly infuriated the demon further. The demon was said to follow them on a vacation to the Poconos and harass Jack at work.

It was at this point the Smurls appeared on television on a Philadelphia talk show called The People are Talking hosted by Richard Bey. The demon allegedly reacted by raping Jack again, and appearing to him as a half-man, half-pig. Janet was throttled and thrown about by invisible forces.

One obvious question that skeptics always ask is why the couple did not move out of their house if the attacks were so violent and distressing. The Smurl's response being that the demon could apparently follow them anywhere; having shown this to them when they abandoned the house for a week only to be intensly harassed at the campground where they were staying.

According to the TV Movie, The Haunted, the Smurl family moved some years later, only to have the spirit follow them. They were haunted until, in 1989, a church-sanctioned exorcism finally ended their horror.

In the early 2000's, tenant Richard Lloyd was found deceased after an apparent drug overdose.

Phelps Mansion Poltergiest

In 1848 the Rev. Eliakim Phelps moved to Stratford,CT. He was a former widower with grown children who had recently remarried a younger woman with three kids of her own, Rev. Phelps was looking for a home big enough to accommodate his growing brood. He found and purchased the house at 1738 Elm Street from George R. Dowell, a former sea captain who had built the large residence. The family moved in and all was well … for a while.

On the morning of Sunday, March 10, 1850, the Phelps family returned from church services to find their house in a curious state. All the doors were open and the rooms were in complete disarray as if ransacked by thieves, except nothing valuable had been stolen. However, in a bedroom, one of Mrs. Phelps’ nightgowns was laid out on a bed, sleeves over chest (like a body in a coffin would be posed), with stockings at the bottom. The house was straightened; Rev. Phelps then sent the family back to church for afternoon services while he hid and waited in case the perpetrators returned. What happened instead is that while he was upstairs, the action was going on downstairs — when he went down to investigate, he found the dining room was filled with 11 lifelike effigies posed in various forms of devotion, intricately created from their clothes.

According to accounts from the time, that was the beginning of a period of very unusual happenings, manifestations that paranormal investigators now would classify as “poltergeist activity.” Over the next six months, many odd things occurred, including (but not limited to): other effigies appearing, one Phelps son being carried across a room by invisible hands, other family members being pinched and slapped by unseen forces, objects randomly moving through the air, silverware was bent and twisted, furniture overturning on its own , windows breaking; food materializing from nowhere and pelting the family; and perhaps most notoriously, all manner of mysterious noises sounding at all hours — loud rappings, knockings and poundings as well as unexplained cries and shouts.

As you might expect, these activities brought a lot of attention to the Phelps house, as well as a slew of professional investigators and skeptical newspaper journalists eager to document the wild events. Despite the intense focus on the family and the house, no earthly perpetrator was ever determined.

Many theories as to the cause of the Phelps Mansion hauntings have been suggested: Some suggest Rev. Phelps had a strong interest in mysticism, and may have had a seance a few days before the activities occurred that inadvertently opened a portal to another dimension; others believe that the Phelps family was being tormented by the restless spirit of Goody Bassett, a woman who in 1651 had been hung as a witch near the property; and still there are those who think that the two of the Phelps children — Anna, 16, and Henry, 11 — were conduits for supernatural activity, as it seems many poltergeist cases surround prepubescent children and young teenagers.

Whatever the reason, after the beleaguered Phelps family moved to Philadelphia for the winter of 1850-51 (where they were undisturbed) and returned to Stratford the following spring, they were no longer bothered by any paranormal activities. They lived in the mansion for another eight years without incident, then sold it to Moses Y. Beach in 1859, whose family owned the house for decades without any problems. It passed through different owners before ending up in the possession of Maude Thompson in the early 1940s, who converted it into a nursing home.

Whatever forces that had haunted the big mansion on Elm Street seemed to return in the early 1970s. Staff and residents of the nursing home reported hearing strange noises and having odd experiences, while emergency alarms would go off without provocation. Ed and Lorraine Warren were called in to investigate, but like the ghost hunters from over a century before, were unable to find anything definitive.

A short time later, the house was partially destroyed by a fire. The remaining structure was then eventually demolished altogether, although mere flames were hardly enough to consume the legend of Phelps Mansion.

Haunted Cemeterys

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 - New Orleans
Multiple ghosts are said to haunt this famous New Orleans cemetery, but one ghost dominates the others - Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. The ornate cemetery is the oldest cemetery in New Orleans - a place of ornate above-ground tombs and mausoleums, winding footpaths and crumbling memorials.

Old Western Burial Ground - Baltimore
The Old Western Burial Ground in Baltimore is the final resting place of Edgar Allan Poe, fifteen generals from the Revolutionary War and War of 1812, and other famous individuals. Part of the graveyard can now only be accessed by way of catacombs below Westminster Presbyterian Church where ghosts are said to walk...

Resurrection Cemetery - Chicago
One of America's favorite ghost stories is the tale of the vanishing hitchhiker, Resurrection Mary. Resurrection Cemetery, located in Justice, Illinois, has been home to this famous spirit since the 1930's. The famous burned and twisted bars at the gate of Resurrection Cemetery were removed to discourage onlookers

Stull Cemetery - Stull, Kansas
This quiet cemetery located between Topeka and Kansas City, in the town of Stull, Kansas, is listed by many haunting guides as one of the Seven Portals to Hell and one of the most haunted cemeteries in America. Steven Jansen, director of the Watkins Community Museum of History thinks the legends started as a "fraternity prank" in the 1970s, however, and have no basis in truth. The locals do their best to deter visitors on Halloween due to repeated vandalism in the cemetery, and it is even said that a local knocked down the burned-out church on the property - site of the supposed "gateway to hell."

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery - Chicago
This abandoned Chicago burial ground is the subject of numerous legends and ghostly tales. More "than 100 different reports of strange phenomena have been collected about the place... including actual apparitions, unexplained sights and sounds, and even glowing balls of light."

El Campo Santo Cemetery - San Diego
The now-restored 1849 Roman Catholic cemetery is a popular place for ghost sightings. Some of the graves here were covered over by a street, and others have been desecrated over the years, reportedly leaving the residents restless.

Greenwood Cemetery - Decatur, Illinois
One of the most famous haunted cemeteries in the midwest, Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur, Illinois, is the site of numerous ghost stories and legends. The Civil War section is the most famous, said to be haunted by the ghosts of Confederate prisoners.

Hollywood Forever Cemetery - Los Angeles, California
Formerly known as Hollywood Memorial Park, this Los Angeles, California, cemetery to the stars is reportedly haunted by starlet Virginia Rappe, who allegedly died after a night of debauchery with comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Clifton Webb is also reported to haunt his mausoleum here, and a "Lady in Black" is often seen in front of Rudolph Valentino's crypt.

Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery - Ohio
Fresh flowers often mysteriously appear on the grave of a Confederate soldier who is buried here, believed to have been left behind by the famous "Lady in Gray," The ghostly widow, who has been seen walking among the tombstones, lost her husband at the confederate prison camp which existed on this spot during the Civil War.

Silver Cliff Cemetery - Colorado
Ghost sightings in this haunted cemetery date back to the 1880's. Ghosts of pioneers are believed to be the cause of the blue balls of light that float over the graves.

Stepp Cemetery - Chicago
A number of eerie legends and tales of paranormal activity have arisen from Stepp Cemetery, one of the most famous haunted cemeteries in the state of Indiana.

Union Cemetery - Easton, Connecticut
A favorite cemetery for ghost photographers, Union Cemetery is most famous for the "White Lady" who has been seen by many walking through the cemetery at night. Other ghosts, including Indian spirits, are also said to haunt the graveyard.

A Look At The "Entity"

A look into the heart of terror, the veil of evil and hell are peeled back as demons are unleashed into a normal woman's life...... or not......lets decide for ourselves.... Can alcohol abuse invite demonic possession? Or was this lady another victim of satan?


The investigation on August 22, 1974, in Culver City California was to be like any other one Dr. Barry Taff had done. Believing that this would be an open and shut case they showed up at Doris Bither’s house. Not expecting much. Little did they know this would be one of the biggest cases in the annals of paranormal history.

Dr. Barry Taff and his associate Kerry Gaynor were overheard talking about the paranormal by a woman in a local bookstore. The woman approached the two men and told them that her house was haunted. She gave Kerry Gaynor some details of the haunting, in which Gaynor told her that he would discuss this with his associate.

Dr. Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor arrived at the 11547 Braddock Dr. Culver City home on August 22, 1974. Doris Bither, a petite woman, in her 30s greeted them. Doris Bither lived in the small home with her six year-old daughter and her three sons. Her daughter was six years old, and her boys were ten, thirteen and sixteen.

The house at the time was in shambles. Squalid living conditions and a tumultuous relationship between the mother and male children is what investigative team observed upon their first visit. The investigators reported a feeling of overpressure in their ears while being inside the home. According to Taff, the house was twice condemned by the city.
From what is known, Doris Bither suffered abuse from her parents as well as had several abusive relationships with men. There was obvious tension between the three young boys and the mother. The psychodynamics of the home were extremely negative. It seems that the boys, especially the eldest, would harbor some dark and resentful feelings towards their mother. The unconscious mind that is troubled by a physically or verbally abusive environment and negative upbringing is like a lightning rod to paranormal activities. Either attracting poltergeist activity or psychosomatically creating it.

Doris Bither claimed that spirits would physically attack her. The reports ranged from Doris walking around her home and bumping into the ghosts, to actual spectral rape. Of course, Taff and Gaynor were skeptical of all this. Ghost apparitions are a hard thing to prove and collect evidence for (from a scientific perspective). “Ghostly rape” is even harder to believe. It was not until they saw the bruises in her inner thighs and all over her body, as well as people outside the family corroborating by testifying that they had also seen apparitions that both investigators started to take heed as to what Doris was saying. Doris claimed that the ghosts were of Asian men. The children, also saw these beings. The visions were so frequent that they children dubbed one of the more prominent ghost as “Mr. Whose-it.”

The claim of rape by these beings is one of the most interesting aspects of the case. Doris Bither reported that two of the beings were the smallest ones and would hold her down while the biggest or tallest one of them would rape her. Dori’s eldest son would admit to seeing her mother being tossed around the room. In one instance he tried to intervene and was thrown across the room by the unseen force.

To both investigators, this must have been the most bizarre claim to date. How can you prove “spectral rape” or even claim it? it would seem that a person would have to be insane to even admit this. The team decided to setup shop and brought in high-speed cameras and photographers as well as other investigators to help capture something on tape. In a famous report, all investigators and equipment, as well as Doris, were in the small bedroom. Cramped and anxious to see any paranormal activities, they decided to have Doris conjure up the beings by having her call them. Doris began swearing and yelling at the spirits while 30 or so investigators were crammed in her room.
To much surprise, lights started manifesting around the room. As Doris kept provoking the beings, a greenish mist started to form in a corner. As if it was coiling, the green mist started swirling and growing. Within seconds the form of a man’s upper torso started to become visible in the mist. Very large and a lot of muscles is what they reported seeing. The torso of the being did not show facial details, but did show the investigators musculature. From what they gathered, this was a male entity. An investigator soon fainted after seeing this.

No matter how many high-speed cameras were setup to capture this, or that the team even had professional camera men present; none of this ever came out on film. The pictures only shows what appears to be a free floating arc light in the middle of the room as well as some light orbs. The most famous and incredible of these photographs is the one that shows Doris sitting on a bed, investigators surrounding her and the free floating arc of light in the middle of the picture. What’s incredible and equally unbelievable is that the arc of light appears smooth, even though this is a room with corners and one would expect bends in the arc as when someone uses a projector to display an image and the image hits corners in a room. The image will bend. The photographic evidence produce by the team shows the arc of light floating above Doris Bither with no bends, even though behind it, we see the room’s corner.


Conjuring up the ghosts, an arc of light is photographed (Doris Bither sitting on the bed)

Dr. Taff also reported that the eldest son would go on a say that the activities intensified when ever he played certain music. Black Sabbath & Uriah Heep were the albums played. The songs that mention or were about devil worshiping is what seemed to upset the poltergeist. Asking the boy to play the songs in question, Dr. Taff did observe that the lights and orbs did increase.

The investigative team observed lights and poltergeist activity for about two and a half months. As time went by, the activities decreased.

It is important to point out a few factors in this case; Doris’ addiction to alcohol and her being abusive and belligerent almost on a daily basis, as well her unwillingness to seek help for her abuse and deal properly with it. Because of her refusal to properly deal with her own psychotic issues, I believe that her energy and the energy in her home manifested itself as poltergeist phenomenon.

We have to take into consideration that the paranormal activities were extremely powerful only when Doris was present in the home. Doris almost always in a drunken stupor seemed to be the center of it all. While intoxicated, Doris would attract the phenomenon almost on queue. There were times when she was present with the team and was not under the influence of alcohol that the poltergeist did not manifest itself. Which we can only conclude that when Doris’ mind was clouded and her inhibitions minimized, her psychic kinetic energy took over.

It is not a far stretch of imagination to say that there were some very concerning underlying themes in this case. Let’s take for example how Doris claimed that there were three entities that attacked her. These entities controlled her life and to some extent oppressed her. It will not be a stretch, from a psychological stand point, that these entities could have been a physical manifestation of the relationship Doris had with her own three sons. From the reports of Dr. Taff, we know that her relationship with her sons was not a Norman Rockwell painting. As I discuss this event with my fiancee, she makes a very good and intelligent point: Doris had suffered abuse almost all her life. The fact that she abused alcohol and self-medicated to avoid the post-traumatic stress from her abuse could have had a metaphysical effect in her life.

My fiancee has the following thoughts. One, Doris Bither could have been extremely psychic or “sensitive”. Doris could have had a great talent, but her own refusal to deal with her past abuse and the fact that she self-medicated and kept her mind clouded did not let her use that talent. Instead, because of her addiction and self hate, she could have manifested this poltergeist as another way (besides the alcohol) of attacking herself.

My fiancee is an intelligent person, and extremely gifted in psychiatry. Especially abnormal psychology. It is from her, that I take the following theories:

Doris Bither and her sons (especially the eldest) could have been psychic. It is well known that parents sometimes pass down their psychic abilities to their kids. In other words, psychic parents produce psychic kids. If the parent was psychic, and the kids were psychic, the tumultuous relationship in the home could have produced a staggering amount of psychic kinetic energy. Enough energy to physically manifest poltergeist activity. The feelings that Dori’s kids could have had against her and her addiction can be represented by the Hephaestus Syndrome. Hephaestus being the Greek god of fire and metallurgy, was kicked off Mount Olympus by his abusive mother. Hephaestus held a very turbulent relationship with his mother. Chaos and love combined in a love/hate relationship.

The same way Doris’ sons could have had a relationship with Doris. A strong love/hate relationship fueled by past abuse, alcohol and psychic abilities is a powerful concoction for poltergeist or psychic kinetic energy. We can formulate this manifestation of the “spectral rape” by Doris’ description of her attackers: two of the smaller entities held her down, while the biggest one raped her. We can speculate that the Bither household was very unstable. Her coming-of-age son (the biggest one of her three sons) was probably harboring some resentful feelings towards his mother and her lifestlye. She in turn, saw her son as another man in her life trying to control her or attack her; therefore in turn subconsciously materializing the rape or attack on herself and using her current feelings and occupants in the house as the basis for the rape. This would not corroborate with her son testifying that he was too attacked and thrown across a room, but psychic kinetic energy can be powerful enough to affect physical objects from what I’ve studied.

Another theory my fiancee mention could be that Doris Bither could have attracted 3 evil spirits into her life. It could be argued that Doris Bither could have been abused by three influential men in her life (father, uncle, grandfather or someone she trusted). The combination of her self-medicating and having psychic abilities as well as self-loathing could have made her into an attractive victim to malevolent forces. Her turbulent lifestyle and energy as well as her kid’s energy could very well have manifested her feelings into something very evil in a metaphysical level. Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome and psychic abilities can have a great effect one a person. A person that does not know about their abilities and/or is under the influence of a drug can have a great effect on their surrounding environment. Take into consideration the infamous “Bell Witch” haunting.

The Bell Witch Haunting is an old legend. In 1817, John Bell reporting poltergeist phenomenon. The case was made famous by the reports of then General Andrew Jackson (who later became president of the U.S). John Bell’s daughter, Betsy Bell, was at the center of this haunting. She was physically attacked by the ghost(s). There is a theory floating out there that the child was extremely psychic and had suffered from sexual abuse (possibly from her father). Accounts of levitation, spectral noises and disembodied voices were reported. The theory states that all this phenomenon could have been produced by Betsy Bell herself. Living in an unpleasant environment and seeking help, she started to manifest these attacks.

After Doris Bither left her Culver City home, the phenomenon was ceased to exist in the house. Future residents of the house have not reported anything out of the ordinary. The house remains to this day ghost free and is in good conditions.

Dr. Barry Taff reported that Doris Bither moved from Culver City to Carson CA. From Carson to San Bernadino CA, and from San Bernadino to Texas and finally back to San Bernardino. While jumping around the two states, Doris reported that the phenomenon “followed” her and her family to every place they moved to. Feeding the notion that the poltergeist phenomenon was a manifestation of her unstable environment and mind. He also reports that her psychological state is made apparent when she reported being impregnated by the ghost. Medical test showed her to not be pregnant but suffering from an ectopic or hysterical pregnancy.

No one can say for sure what could have been going on with the family in that small Culver City house. Since Doris Bither has not been heard of since the late 80s or 90s (depending on some reports) and her kids have not come forward, we cannot know for certain.

Ghost Pictures 2013

--> Taken in 1929 at the Walsh-Fanham Wood Mill









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In 1995 an old building (the Town Hall) in Wem,England caught fire. A local took this photo. The town had caught fire many years before in 1677 and was said to be started by a little girl with a candle, Jane Cherm. Her ghost has been spotted in the town over the years.
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Taken at the grave of singer Jim Morrison in Paris in 1997. (behind Brett Meisner and to the right)


Taken by rock author Brett Meisner
The photo was examined by dozens of paranormal & photographic experts & even by the F.B.I. laboratory with no explanation. The only thing the experts do agree on, is that the photo has not been altered nor doctored in any way.
He never noticed the apparition in the pic until years later while going thorough the photos.
Brett says he has been plagued with bad luck ever since the discovery & is trying to get rid of it. A spiritual advisor & close friend of his believes the photograph is part of the curse & he must get rid of it, but no one will take it off Brett`s hands.
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This picture taken in 1936 at Raynham Hall Mansion was published in the December 16, 1936 edition of Country Life Magazine in the U.K. It has been dubbed "The Brown Lady" & has a 300 plus year history. Many believe it is the ghost of Lady Dorothy Townshend, wife of Charles Townshend who lived in Raynham Hall in Norfolk England in the early 1700`s.
Dorothy was suspected by her husband of infidelity & legal records say she died & was buried in 1726. However, many believe the funeral was a sham & suspect that Charles locked her away in a remote corner of the house til her death many years later.

Dorothy is said to haunt the staircase in Raynham Hall & was even seen by King George IV while staying in the mansion in the early 1800`s. Colonel Loftus also reported seeing her in 1835 & said her face was pale & it appeared that her eyes had been gouged out. A few years later Captain Frederic Marryat observed her gliding through the halls with a sarcastic look on her face. He fired his gun at her, but the bullet passed right through her.
Many say The Brown Lady still haunts those halls today.
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This photo was taken with infrared film at the Toys `R` Us store in Sunnyvale California in 1979. Pictures were also taken with a regular camera, but the ghost didn`t show up on that film. You can see the shadowy figure leaning against the wall.

According to the store manager Jeff Lyndon, weird things kept happening. A skateboard would roll down the isle of the store & crash into the wall, objects would fly 20 feet across the room & hit employees, toys would topple from their shelves, & a doll would cry "mama" every time they put it in a box. One night they neatly stocked the store shelves & closed the store for the night, when they returned to open up the next morning the shelves were in complete disarray.

Some employees were too scared to go in certain parts of the store alone, so
in 1979 they called in psychic Sylvia Browne. According to Sylvia, the shadowy figure is that of John or Johan Johnson. Johnson was a mentally handicapped man at the turn of the 20th century that was in love with a Elizabeth Tafee. Tafee lived on a ranch where the the store now sits & she ignored Johnson. Johnson has haunted the premises ever since his death a few years later.
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This photo was taken in 1963 by Reverend K. F. Lord at the Newby Church in North Yorkshire, England. Reverend Lord was taking a picture of his alter & says he was alone in the church at the time.

This very controversial photo has been the object of attack by skeptics over the years because of the way that the shrouded figure is looking directly into the camera & because of the expression it`s making. Skeptics say it looks as though it is posed. But after photo experts carefully examined the print, they determined that it is not a double exposure.

The Newby Church was built in 1870 & as far as anyone knows has never had any history of hauntings or ghosts. Photo experts estimate the shrouded figure to be nine feet tall.










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San Diego Haunted House

The Whaley House, in San Diego,CA. was once the home of Thomas Whaley, one of
the original settlers here.It was also a courthouse, a theatre and a general store. The
house was built on the execution site of a common thief, his footsteps were heard by
Whaley after he moved into the dwelling . Whaley’s daughter later commited suicide
in the house after her husband left her. Though her ghost hasn’t been seen, both of
her parents’ have more than once. A girl has been seen in the dining room and is
believed to be a playmate of Mr. Whaley’s children who snapped her neck on a
clothesline out back. A parapsychologist once saw a small dog bounding down the hallway;
the Whaleys had owned a little terrier, Dolly. Definately one of the creepier places in
southern California.

The Haunted Night Club

Hell's Gate
Bobby Mackey's Music World is a nightclub located in Wilder, Kentucky that is self-proclaimed as "the most haunted nightclub in the USA".

For many years, it has been subject to visits from curiosity-seekers, tourists, paranormal investigators and media reporters. It stands on the site of an old slaughterhouse that was closed in the early 1890’s. Only a well in the basement remains from the original building, and was believed by police to be the resting place of the decapitated head of Pearl Bryan, murdered by her boyfriend Scott Jackson and his friend Alonzo Walling. Pearl’s head was found in the well (originally used to drain the blood of slaughtered animals), commonly called Hell's Gate; legend claims it was used in satanic rituals at the slaughterhouse. The ghosts of the victim and the murderers are believed to haunt the building to this day.

The nightclub is owned by Bobby Mackey and his wife Janet (March 17, 1948 - February 15, 2009). They purchased the building in 1978 with the intention of turning it into a country bar. Mackey was a well-known singer in northern Kentucky and had recorded several albums. He actually scrapped his plans to record in Nashville in order to renovate the old tavern. Once the bar was opened, it immediately began to attract a crowd.

Mackey's first employee, Carl Lawson, was also one of the first to witness the hauntings; he lived alone in an upstairs apartment in the building. "I’d double-check at the end of the night and make sure that everything was turned off. Then I’d come back down hours later and the bar lights would be on. The front doors would be unlocked, when I knew that I’d locked them. The jukebox would be playing the 'Anniversary Waltz,' even though I’d unplugged it and the power was turned off. Not to mention that the 'Anniversary Waltz' isn't even on the jukebox," he reported.

One night while cleaning up in the basement, he discovered a diary purportedly belonging to a woman named Johanna, who supposedly committed suicide in the building during the 1930s, after the death of her lover. Rumors had it that she also haunted the building. The paranormal activity seemed to be the most prominent in the basement, around the sealed-up well. Lawson decided to sprinkle some holy water into the well, but the supernatural activity in the club escalated. Mackey didn't believe Lawson's claims until his wife admitted that she'd once been violently pushed down a flight of stairs by what she believed was a ghost (she reported that she looked up the stairs, saw a shadowy image, and heard a voice scream "Get out!"). At the time of this encounter, Janet was, like Johanna and Pearl Bryan before her, five months' pregnant.

Lawson was reportedly possessed by a ghost after a psychic inspected the building; the entity claimed to be Alonzo, one of Pearl Bryan's murderers. A local priest performed an exorcism on Lawson and expelled the spirit. Shortly afterwards, a wall in the bar caught on fire; firefighters couldn't figure out how the fire started.

Author Douglas Hensley wrote a book entitled Hell's Gate about the hauntings at the nightclub and has been involved with many of the investigations. Strange activities continue at the nightclub and several individuals have reportedly been physically assaulted by spirits. One customer even tried to sue Bobby Mackey in 1994, claiming he was attacked in the restroom by a ghost; the case was later dismissed.

The nightclub has been investigated by Ghost Adventures. In it the lead investigator, Zak Bagans was attacked and scratched on his back. They also capture a figure, which appears to be the figure of Alonzo Walling. They also captured some EVPs.

In 2008 Jeff and Shannon Sylvia led a three day two night investigation of the country music club while filming for the Hell's Gate Movie. They were joined with paranormal researchers Eric Singleton of the North American Paranormal Society (N.A.P.S.), and Demonologist/Exorcist Pastor Greg P. (G.P.) Haggart. The researchers witnessed shadow people, odd laughing, clawing sounds from Carl's old upstair room and full body apparitions. During the final night of the investigations an ovilisk session was performed and witnesses watched as Pastor Haggart was attacked by a demonic entity reportedly while leaving the dance floor area. As the investigations came to a close on the final night, Pastor Greg P. Haggart prayed the investigators out. While he prayed witnesses watched as tables and chairs moved.

The nightclub remains one of the strangest haunted sites in the Midwest and has proven to be a major attraction for ghost hunters and enthusiasts alike.

**Sources/Wilkipedia,National Geographic,Doug Hensley