An American Haunting (2005) Trailer
An American Haunting (2005) Trailer - In 2006, in Red River, Tennessee, a teenager has frequent nightmares.
Her mother reads an old letter from 1817 written by her ancestor, Lucy
Bell. After a dispute of lands judged by the church, her husband John
Bell is cursed by his opponent Kathe Batts, who has a fame of being a
From this moment on, an entity threatens John and her daughter
Betsy Bell, attacking the girl during the nights.
With the support of
Betsy's school teacher Richard Powell, who tries to find rational
explanations for the manifestation; her brother John Bell Jr.; and their
friend James Johnston, who unsuccessfully tries to exorcize the entity
from the house, the family does their best to protect Betsy in the
Whilst modern research and even some earlier accounts of the legend seem to suggest that the poltergeist only referred to itself as Kate Batts, as she may have outlived John Bell, there have never been any accounts of Betsy Bell creating the Bell Witch to protect herself.
The allegations of John Bell's sexual abuse and subsequent death are new additions to the story.
The movie adds and subtracts many things from the traditional legend of the Bell Witch.
For instance, the movie ends with the idea that Betsy created the Witch to protect herself from her father's abuses, while the traditional legend tells that the family still believed that the witch was Kate Batts.
Though it cannot be ruled out because abuse may have been too delicate a topic during the time period, this may have been invented to explain why the poltergeist seemed to warn the other members of the Bell family.
John Bell's actual death in legend has traditionally been the fault of the poltergeist, Kate Batts or otherwise.
In the film, a muddled turn of events seems to instead suggest that Betsy is responsible for John's death, and that his wife is complicit in the act.
At both the beginning and end of the film we see a sepia toned photograph of Powell and Betsy together.
However since their meeting is stated to be in 1817/18 this is impossible as an artifact since it predates the invention of photography.
When the father fires his musket into the house we see a crisp 3 inch hole. If such a weapon was fired at a range such as to cause a clean hole, the hole would be the same diameter as the musket's bore, around one inch.
It was the oldest son/brother who fired the musket into/at the house not the father as previously stated.