Family Notes and Other Data (The Centrahoma Poltergeist)

I first learned about the contemporary "America's Talking Poltergeist" case upon reading Fortean Times magazine #79.  Below are two photos of family members as seen in the article.

From left: Bill and Maxine Mc Wethy, Twyla Bell Eller and her daughter Desireé

Megan 'Fae' Ward (right) and Desireé Eller



When I arrived in Oklahoma on Thursday, August 10, 1995, my plan had been to visit Maxine Mc Wethy and her family after getting settled at my hotel room; however, the drive from the airport to my hotel took longer than planned.  I was fatigued after the flights and had a headache (rare for me) so I arranged to join the family at the house in Centrahoma the next morning.  Here are the notes I wrote at the hotel in Ada that afternoon:

Aug 10th — arrived in Ada and spoke to Maxine and Marla/'Fay' to get directions to house . . . Fay mentioned that Spirit allowed Maxine to hold its hand.  When asked how often it speaks, Fay said it talks (non-stop) and sometimes you holler at it and it won't talk unless it wants to.  They indicated it didn't talk during the [TV] Special taping.  Reminder to myself — get flowers for Sat. funeral as Maxine's husband died of prostate cancer.  Agreed to visit them around 10:30 a.m.; hopefully, I won't get lost.  Get gas!

There were parallels with cases of 'talking poltergeists' from previous epochs, including the 19th Century 'Bell Witch' case and 1930s 'Gef the Talking Mongoose' case on the Isle of Man.  In addition to extensively tape recording my conversations at the Mc Wethy house, I noted in a small tablet the ages of interview participants, the names of diverse manifesting entities, and some of the dates of the timeline of strange events. 

Below are two previously unpublished snapshots taken during my investigation.  I was curious to investigate the attic of the family's home.  When I was alone with Twyla, we removed the panel covering to the attic and I discovered that there were wasps in the attic and the heat there was sweltering.  We both were startled when a small object dropped out of the empty attic.  Later while on a tour of the vicinity with Twyla, we were walking at the side of the road.  As I was preparing to take a photo, we heard what sounded like a rock strike the fence and then I snapped another photo.

 

The events of my research expedition are chronicled as the first portion of the case study Testament (1997).  On Monday, my last day in Oklahoma, I visited the Coal County Library in Coalgate and made some photocopies from the Coal County Historical Magazine book (1986), finding verification for some of the things I’d learned.  Centrahoma's former name of 'Owl' had taken its name from nearby Owl Creek, a branch of Leader Creek, a tributary to Clear Boggy River while "an estimated 150 million tons of coal lies untapped beneath the surface of Coal County, according to government estimates."  The name Oklahoma is Choctaw, meaning "home of the red man."

I then went to the Chickasaw Nation building in Ada to see what I could learn about the area’s native American lore and traditions, hoping to learn about indigenous spiritual beliefs and perhaps find parallels with other worldwide spiritual teachings and religions.  I was told that many native American beliefs weren’t routinely shared yet there were many reasons Christianity was easy to grasp among those who believed in Ababinili, the Great Spirit — ‘He who dwells above the heavens.’  I was instructed that not only was here a sacred creation story but the deceased Native Americans in the vicinity would be buried with personal items to signify the knowledge of the individual going on to another life.  A small reprint entitled "The Chickasaws" by Dr. A. M. Gibson related how the territory became under the control of the United States government.
 

By the end of the momentous trip I was already planning a potential screenplay and case study book; however, I had no idea of how my life was about to evolve upon returning to Los Angeles as the 'unexplained phenomena' continued to occur in my presence.  As I reflected upon my circumstances, I realized that 'Michael' had always been involved in my life just as with the life of each member of the Centrahoma family and all Earth people as an omnipresent spiritual Force that may be recognized through circumstances often expressed with such words as synchronicity, psychic phenomena, mediumship and trance channeling, healing, and 'electronic voice phenomena'/'instrumental transcommunication.'  I remained in touch with the family via occasional telephone calls and spoke to some other family members via telephone, including Jerry Bell in Texas.  By the time of my final calls to the family, I'd realized that their expectation of becoming "rich" (I'd been told Michael once stated he was going to make the family rich) probably was best interpreted as pertaining to 'spiritual wealth' — based upon incidents chronicled in other cases of transcendental communication.

Below are the photocopies I made of family notes they'd been encouraged to make.  Click on each page for a magnified view.  There are mentions of manifesting entities identified as "E.T.," "Katy," "Leader" and the predominant "Michael."

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Maxine's notes were kept on a small note pad.  One the back side of page 4 Maxine's actual first name "Reva" is noted, along with a phone number of a woman apparently associated with the TV show "Encounters."

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Maxine's previous husband Jearld Carlton Bell was the son of Ardrey Bell and Zona Leona Swatsell Bell.  Maxine mailed me photocopies of four pages of Bell ancestry notes missing the third page after I expressed an interest in learning if the lineage of the Oklahoma family could be found to be associated with that of the Tennessee family of the 19th Century 'Bell Witch' talking poltergeist case.  I contacted Maxine's cousin Peggy Watts (Tape #37, Side #1) in an attempt to obtain more information.

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Photographs and drawings document messages found by the family.  Two photographs show what on the back of the photos was noted to be: "Michael (Ghost) made this design with bird gravel."  The dates given were: "Dec., 1992 or Fed., 1993."

As explained in Testament, the 1993 cryptograms and Arabic message (shown below) were left in lipstick on a mirror and copied by Maxine.  The Fortean Times article mentioned that the family discovered one of the mirror drawings to be the astronomical sign for Saturn and quoted Twyla: "He says he's from Saturn.  And that he got left behind."

 

 

On my second day of interviews, I accompanied family members to attend the memorial graveside services for the man I'd heard discussed as 'Carlton Bell.'  Chronicled events during the first Bell family talking poltergeist case included the burial of family patriarch John Bell (1750-1820).

"In Memory"