The Law of Attraction and the Bell Witch on October 4, 1993

When did you next get ATTRACTED to the Bell Witch saga?

Three years passed. As a professional storyteller living in Kingsport, Tennessee, I was self-employed. I would travel the country telling stories and teaching storytelling. Only in Knoxville, Tennessee, did I have a pseudo agent. This agent booked me to tell ghost stories in a Knoxville high school on October 28, 1993.

In early September, I sent the art teacher a letter, detailing four ghost stories that high school students find very “cool” and entertaining. I instructed her to choose two out of the four stories for me to perform. I told her that closer to the time, I would give her a call and she could tell me which stories she had selected.

On October 4, 1993, I experienced the most bizarre booking phone call of my life. As close as I can recall, I will detail the gist of the conversation. After exchanging pleasantries, I asked, “Did you receive my letter?” Receiving an affirmative answer, I asked if she had decided which two stories she would like me to perform.

Art Teacher: Well, I don’t have the letter with me right now. You know, what I would really like you to do is to perform the story of the Bell Witch.

DJ Lyons: I’m familiar with the story; however, it is not one that I perform.

Again, I tried to lead her back to choosing two of the four stories I knew to be very successful performance tales. After talking for a bit, using exactly the same tone of voice and inflection, just as if we had freshly launched the conversation, she said:

Art Teacher: You know, what I would really like you to do is to perform the story of the Bell Witch.

I increased my song-and-dance act and outlined some of my experiences back in 1990. Once again, I tried to lead her back to selecting two of the four stories. Abruptly, she interrupted. Once again, using exactly the same tone of voice and inflection, just as if we had freshly picked up the telephone and begun talking, she said:

Art Teacher: You know, what I would really like you to do is to perform the story of the Bell Witch.

I increased my song-and-dance act even more. I provided additional reasons why I did not perform the story of the Bell Witch. A fourth and final time, using exactly the same tone of voice and inflection, just as if we had never exchanged even one sentence or idea, she said:

Art Teacher: You know, what I would really like you to do is to perform the story of the Bell Witch.

Just as abruptly, I said, “I look forward to coming to your school on October 28th. I will be performing Story A and Story C on my list. Thank you very much. Good-bye.”

I hung up the phone in a hurry, before she could make her request a fifth time. Then I sat there staring at the phone in shock and consternation. What was going on? What was The Universe trying to tell me?

I was married at the time. I went upstairs and told my husband about this bizarre conversation. He did not know what to make of it, either. I spent the rest of that day in a bit of a daze.



What happened that caused you to embrace, rather than reject, the story of the Bell Witch?

I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. I also believe in God, Jesus, angels, karma, reincarnation, and past lives. I had a strong inkling that this booking and conversation did not happen by accident. I also kind of knew where this was leading. But sometimes, I just prefer to hear things from human lips rather than from a spirit guide from the Other Side.

Okay, can you tell that I am stalling a bit? It’s just that I have been so closeted about my beliefs for such a long time that it activates my fight-or-flight instinct a bit to reveal my truth. Notice I did not say THE truth. I said MY truth.



What did Einstein say about the use of our brain power? How does this impact our life?

Indulge me as I stall a bit longer. Einstein said that we use less than 10% of our brain power. Therefore, there is 90% of our brain power available to us to be used or accessed at any time.

I believe that our fight-or-flight instinct comes from that 90% area that alerts us when danger is afoot so that we can generate enough energy to hightail it out of there or to find some way to defend ourselves.

I believe that the uncanny way many mothers and some fathers sense when their kids are up to something or in danger comes from that 90% region. For example, years ago I was talking to my sister-in-law in the living room. Suddenly, she jumped up, ran out of the room, up the stairs, and caught her youngest daughter just as she was about to fall backwards off a bookshelf she had decided to climb. Can you think of other examples you have experienced either as a child or as a parent of a child?

I believe that when we take multiple-choice tests, we get a gut feeling or hunch that the answer is B. Then our intellect will proceed to talk us out of that first instinctual sense of knowing that comes from that 90% region. We proceed to erase B and select either A, C, or D. Later on, we receive the test back from the teacher. What’s the only one we missed? That question.

I believe that when someone we love is in trouble or we are extra fearful for our own safety, from that 90% region comes a brief period of super human strength. For example, you are being chased by a mean dog. Didn’t you find yourself running faster than you had ever run in your life? Or you’ve heard the story of the elderly woman, seeing her grandchild pinned beneath a car, was able to lift the car off this little one long enough to pull him or her to safety. Or you see a dear friend or loved one falling off a cliff or out of a tree you both had climbed. Suddenly, you find yourself with sufficient strength to pull this person out of harm’s way.

I believe that women’s intuition comes from this 90% region.

I believe that cats and dogs and babies, when you see them suddenly turn their head to stare avidly at something that appears to be invisible to our eyes, they are tapping into that 90% region and “seeing” angels, “invisible friends,” ghosts, or whatever else it is that they are seeing.

I believe that each and every one of us was born with some form of psychic ability. This ability that comes from that 90% region has been socialized out of many of us. Some of us managed to hold on to that ability or to regain that ability in later life.

Okay, okay, I’ve stalled long enough. I am simply trying to de-mystify and normalize something that may appear to you to be odd or strange or unnerving. I do not consider myself to be psychic. I do consider myself to have a psychic ability to be a channel. In other words, I am able to hear in my head spirit guides, angels, and ghosts from the Other Side. Rarely, I can hear those voices with my human ears. But most of the time, it all goes on inside of me.

How do I know that it is not my voice? I have talked to myself for years. I even answer myself back sometimes. I know my own internal voice so well that I know when it is not my voice. A few of my Spirit Guides and Angels have been with me for so many years that I recognize their voices just like I would recognize the voice of my mother should she call me up on the telephone. I also know it’s them because I experience a feeling of unconditional love coming from them to me that is truly comforting and beyond words.



Don’t we all have that ability to be a channel?

In a way, I believe we all have this channeling ability.

Haven’t you ever been driving and suddenly felt directed to get out of a truck driver’s blind spot? That voice in your head that says, “Quick, change lanes!” is a guide or angel you channeled. I like to call this particular spirit my Road Angel. My Road Angel keeps me absolutely safe while I drive.

Have you ever driven to work or on a trip and didn’t even recall half the drive? I truly believe that our particular Road Angel takes over the wheel for us, nudging us when we need to be more alert as we are about to hydroplane or hit a dog running across the road, instructs us how to deal with black ice, reminds us that it is Saturday and we can turn off that “automatic pilot” inclination to drive to work instead of to the location you are really heading, etc. I bet you can think of a bunch more examples where you felt an inner voice nudge you, prod you, remind you, assist you, and guide you in some way. Listening to that voice is a form of channeling.

Have you ever been struggling to remember a name or a particular word? You finally give up and think about other things. A few minutes or hours later, your subconscious mind or one of your guides suddenly gives you the answer you were seeking. That is a form of channeling.

Has your power ever gone out at night? Since you cannot rely on your alarm clock, you program yourself to wake up at your normal time so you can get up to go to work. Give or take five or ten minutes, your body suddenly wakes you up at the requested time. That is a form of channeling.

That voice that helps us on multiple-choice tests is a form of channeling.

Have you ever been showering, hiking, driving, daydreaming, or doing some other activity and suddenly experienced an epiphany that solved the problem or invention or creation you were working on in some inspired kind of way? That is a form of channeling.

Have you ever listened to your women’s intuition or your men’s intuition? That is a form of channeling.

Have you ever prayed to God or Jesus or some other Higher Power and felt you received an answer? That is a form of channeling.

In other words, I look and act just like a normal person. I don’t go around chanting in public or acting in a way that would attract undue attention. My mother does consider me to be her most eccentric child, however, as I don’t fit into a box. I love and embrace change. I am not religious but am extremely spiritual. God is not something that I acknowledge only on Wednesday evenings or Sunday mornings. Instead, God is an ever-present 24/7 part of my life. Not that I am perfect by any stretch of the imagination. I am all too human. Instead, my effort to “love God and love man” in a non-judgmental way, as instructed by Jesus, is an ever-expanding work in progress.

Okay, okay. Have I stalled long enough? So back to that Oct. 4th day in 1993, I knew that I could have asked my Spirit Guide what was going on. I already had a strong hunch that I knew what was going on. But I decided that I would much rather hear it from human lips. So I tabled the discussion until two days later when I would be meeting with a psychic who lived in Bristol, Tennessee.

Stay tuned to what happened next.

Thanks so much! Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Best Wishes to you all,
DJ Lyons
Author of “The Bell Witch Unveiled At Last!
The True Story Of A Poltergeist”
http://www.askdjlyons.com

The Law of Attraction and the Bell Witch in 1990

How did I get ATTRACTED to the Bell Witch Saga?

It all begins with the answer … wait for it … here it comes … It’s a long story. How many times have you responded to a question with those words?


When did you first get ATTRACTED to the Bell Witch Saga?

That’s an easier question. It all began in 1990. In 1989, I earned my masters with a specialization in storytelling at ETSU (East Tennessee State University in Johnson City , TN ). My former storytelling professor had decided to begin a Tennessee Storytelling Journal centered around the Halloween theme. She was also going to hold her first Halloween Storyfest at the ETSU 900-seat auditorium. She requested that I research the story of the Bell Witch, write it up as a story to be featured in her journal, and then perform that story at her evening of storytelling.

I must admit that I was not very familiar with that story. Other than Sixth Sense, I don’t watch scary movies. Even though I love reading, hearing, and telling ghost stories, I don’t even read many scary books. Plus, from 4th grade on, I grew up in East Tennessee. That story was not a common topic of conversation among the people I knew.

On the other hand, if I had grown up in Middle Tennessee, I probably would have been familiar with that story from infancy onward. For those of you who are not familiar with this widely-documented ghost story, the family of John and Lucy Bell was haunted by a poltergeist from 1817 to 1821. Even Andrew Jackson was reported to have had a run-in with this spirit most commonly called Kate or the Bell Witch.

I went to some of my professional storytelling friends to ask them what they knew of the tale. A Knoxville, Tennessee, storyteller told me that she had performed the story for years. During performances, she frequently experienced lights flickering or going out and her sound system malfunctioning. Twice, a psychic in the audience told her that she saw a ghostly figure looming over her during the performance. A second storyteller reported feeling an invisible hand pulling on her arm during her rendition of the Bell Witch. A third storyteller said, “I heard that anybody who tells the story of the Bell Witch is cursed.”

What was my reaction? “I want my Mommy!” From long years of a big brother who had me totally convinced that the boogie man hung out under my bed, in my closet, and down in the basement when I had to retrieve a canned vegetable for my mother, I do NOT fancy scary sounds and things that go bump in the night.

Talk about the “Fear Factor”!!! Heart pumping hard, my Fight-or-Flight adrenaline rush instinct highly activated, I gingerly entered the Kingsport Public Library to begin my research on the infamous story of the Bell Witch.

The Kingsport Public Library in Tennessee is lovely now, inside and out. But in 1990, it was sadly in need of renovations. With visions of the “Amityville Horror” dancing through my head, I approached the front desk. I found out that there were no “Bell Witch” books available for check-out. Instead, I had to go to the archive section of the library to read the existing books on the subject. A helpful librarian took me upstairs via the creaky-sounding elevator and showed me the rather dark, dank room housing all their archival material. Taking the four books to a table, I sat down and began to read.

These are the books I studied: The Bell Witch At Adams by Gladys Barr, The Secrets Of The Bell Witch by J. M. Hockenheimer, An Authenticated History Of The Famous Bell Witch by M. V. Ingram, and A Mysterious Spirit by Charles Bailey Bell.
Even though I was alone for most of the time, the hairs on the back of my neck would raise occasionally as I felt some kind of dark-feeling presence with me. Through a filter of fear, I found this all very unnerving. I also found the story details quite disturbing. According to the archives, John Bell was murdered by the poltergeist and his teenage daughter, Betsy Bell, was tortured until she agreed to end her engagement to the love of her life, Joshua Gardner.

Over the course of a few days, I finished reading all the available materials on the subject. I almost literally wrote the story at arm’s length. I wrote the story from the point-of-view of Betsy Bell, the teenage daughter, and found the whole experience quite distasteful. I handed this tale to the storytelling professor for inclusion in her Tennessee Storytelling Journal; however, I refused to perform such a depressing story at the festival. Instead, I told a wonderful fiction tale by Frances Caffrey called “Black Bubblegum.”

Then I swiped my hands together in a dismissive fashion as I emphatically declared, “I will NEVER have anything to do with the story of the Bell Witch again.”

What is it they say? Never say never!

Tune in to my next blog as my Bell Witch Saga continues.

Thanks so much! Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Best Wishes to you all,
DJ Lyons
Author of “The Bell Witch Unveiled At Last!
The True Story Of A Poltergeist”
http://askdjlyons.com