"Ghost Adventures": "Bell Witch Cave"

Jay Wasley, Zak Bagans, Billy Tolley and Aaron Goodwin were photographed with John Bell's descendant Robert H. Bell during production of the "Ghost Adventures" episode "Bell Witch Cave."

There are diverse incidents of 'unexplained phenomena' seen in the "Bell Witch Cave" episode of the ghost hunting 'reality'/documentary TV show "Ghost Adventures."  I first learned about the Tennessee Bell Cave investigation at the website The Anomalist.  The 2015 video is entitled "Ghost Adventures S10E05 Bell Witch Cave" (42.31 minutes).  The show is also available to watch on You Tube.  The episode presents footage recorded at the Bell Witch Cave and vicinity in Robertson County, where during the 1800s there were a variety of 'paranormal' occurrences that are extensively chronicled in testimonials of eyewitnesses and their relatives.  The incidents included the sightings of unfamiliar animals in 1817, prior to the beginning of the supernatural occurrences encompassing disembodied voices. 

The series is described at a Travel Channel webpage: "Join Zak Bagans and Aaron Goodwin as they investigate the scariest, most notorious, haunted places in the world."  A 'Bios' page informs: "Learn about our investigators, Zak Bagans and Aaron Goodwin, as they interview eyewitnesses and historians at each haunted location, arming themselves with the stories of the ghosts they will later provoke and confront during their dusk-to-dawn lockdowns."  Zak is described as "an action hero" who "leads the Ghost Adventures team into some of the most haunted places known to man, in search of evidence proving the existence of the supernatural."

After graduating from film school in Michigan, Zak moved to Las Vegas to pursue a career in documentary filmmaking.  There he met fellow Ghost Adventures investigator and cameraman Aaron Goodwin.  Their first paranormal investigations as a team took place all over Nevada, and the footage they captured led to an award-winning, nationally televised Ghost Adventures documentary.

 

An Oregon native, Aaron moved to Las Vegas where he fell in love with film and taught himself how to edit video and operate a camera.  Aaron gained experience by working as a cameraman on numerous TV shows.  He's worked on projects ranging from red-carpet movie premieres to sporting events.

The beginning of the video is a quick montage of clips (including distracting inserts of assorted spooky images) with Zak narrating: "The very first time on any paranormal television series we step inside the Bell Witch Cave."  The editing of the title montage is also frenetic with Zak heard making two conflicting statements: "There are things in this world that we will never fully understand.  We want answers."  He continues: "We have worked years to build our credibility, our reputation, working alongside the most renowned professionals in the field—"  Superimposed words identify Zak Bagans as "lead Investigator," Aaron Goodwin as "Investigator," Billy Tolley and Jay Wasley as "AV Techs Investigators" and then there are the designations "Electrical Engineers," "Parapsychologists," "Inventors" and even "Demonologists."  Zak's voiceover continues: "—capturing ground-breaking proof of the paranormal.  This is our evidence, our ghost adventures."
 

 Outside the Cave

Zak is first seen in Bellwood Cemetery (Adams, Tennessee) talking about ghosts and what he believes to be "forces that are much darker" with a quick insert of footage of a hissing woman.  Credits roll: Zak is Host/Executive Producer, Joel Townley is Executive Producer, Michael Yudin is Executive Producer, Ron Reggio is Producer/Editor, Joseph Tagglieri is Supervising Editor, Cory Lyons is Supervising Producer.  Accompanying the credits is a brief introduction of the Bell Witch legend mentioning "We have been given unprecedented access to investigate the Bell Witch Cave, where it is said [by whom?] a homicidal evil spirit still resides." 

The Bell Witch case is summarized in a few sentences emphasizing the menacing aspects.  It is also mentioned: "The Bell Witch has been the subject of numerous articles, books and even a major motion picture."  There are interviews with Walter and Chris Kirby, owners of the Bell Witch Cave and surrounding area where once lived the first Bell family involved with a poltergeist.  

The illustration captioned within the book as "Dean Turned To A Mule" inspires a blatantly incorrect comment that it is "depicting one of the strange creatures seen on the farm right before the hauntings began."  There is no source mentioned for another questionable comment: "They say that John Bell saw a dog with a rabbit's head right before the Bell Witch made her presence known."  Ingram's 1894 case study specifies "a strange animal, unlike any he had ever seen . . . probably a dog."  I had read about the Bell family 'talking poltergeist' haunting known as the 'Bell Witch' case prior to my 1995 research expedition to investigate a contemporary American ‘talking poltergeist’ case in Oklahoma.

William B. Porter, the great grandson of John Bell's son-in-law William Porter is briefly interviewed by Zak concerning what is chronicled as his ancestor's unsuccessful attempt to burn the witch "rolled up in the cover" (Ingram) on a bed.  Zak then says: "Because you're the same blood as your ancestor I would love to have you come inside the Bell Witch Cave with us."  William responds: "During a lockdown?"  Zak: "Yeah."  William: "Let's do it."  It is obvious that Zak has at best a superficial knowledge of the case.  He apparently hasn't read the 'Bell Witch' case study books.

Less than six minutes into the show, I decided the intermittent fast clips of staged horrors is a technique suggesting the filmmakers are uncertain that what they are filming will hold the attention of the audience otherwise.  Then, Robert H. Bell—identified as "Fifth Great-Grandson of John Bell"—is interviewed and can't help smiling upon hearing the question about the 'Bell Witch': "Is it still here and can it be evoked?"  Inside the cave, Chris Kirby describes having seen an  "a little boy standing over there by the crawlway . . . it looked like he walked into something."  Zak adds: "like a portal." 

Listening to the various conjectures, I realized that numerous aspects of the phenomena detailed in the case study books were being left unmentioned.
 

Drewry Bell House

 

 

The "Ghost Adventures" team is seen traveling to the dilapidated house still standing today that once belonged to Drewry Bell, one of the sons of John Bell (1750-1820).  Outside the house, an incident occurs that correlates with an incident chronicled to have occurred in the Bell Witch case.  Speaking to Walter Kirby, Zak is startled when a playful dog unexpectedly jumps against him.  The dog is mostly black with white streaks and has a prominent white spot on the head.  The animal has just reacted to the thought, "Is this somebody who will play with me?"  Readers of Ingram's An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch may recall that the haunting presence was quoted as saying "That was me" about different people and animals.  Eighty-five-year-old Mahala Darden told Ingram about the following incident.

On one occasion a little unknown black dog came to the house, cutting some antics.  Mr. Bell said he would shoot that dog, and started to get his gun.  Mrs. Bell interfered, telling him he must not.  The dog lay down on the floor and rolled over and over toward the door, and the minute the dog disappeared from the house the witch exclaimed, "Look out, Old Jack, here comes Jerusalem [one of the names of the 'witch family']."

As mentioned previously in my Centrahoma/Bell Witch cases blog articles, during one of my 1995 interviews with Maxine Mc Wethy, she recounted how the unseen 'Michael' said "HELP ME, MAXINE" in proximity to a pet dog, a black and white Australian Shepherd.

Another parallel is noticeable between something that happened to me in Oklahoma and one of the experiences of the "Ghost Adventures" team upon exploring the house of Drewry Bell (subtitled "Investigation Site #1").  Inside, Zak takes the precaution of wearing a respirator mask to prevent the inhalation of contaminants.  Full Spectrum cameras are implemented, resulting with images having distorted colors inside the dark house illuminated only by lights from the cameras.  The group reacts when it sounds like someone is heard walking in the abandoned site.  It is noticeable that with everything that occurs the men seem to be perhaps exaggerating their responses for the sake of the production.  People react differently when they know that they are being filmed.

Reaching the vacant rooms at the top of a staircase, Zak reacts when there is a percussive sound: "That was a huge bang right in front of me."  Trying to "make contact" with Drewry, the team utilizes an SP11 Spirit Box 'spirit communication device.'  Zak's voiceover: "It contains two separate spirit boxes that simultaneously sweep audio frequencies in the electromagnetic field in opposite directions preventing audio interference contamination."  After Aaron asks, "Do you know what land we're on?," it sounds like a voice says "YES" at 16:19 yet Aaron asks, "Did it just say Indian?"  Attempting to quickly interpret what is heard may lead to error.  The initial "YES" is the clearest of the utterances heard.  Zak's voiceover is then heard: "Watch very carefully.  Just before we receive our very first voice that we believe is saying 'Indian' a bright ball of light appears and then shoots right inside the Spirit Box.  Three voices immediately follow."  As the team discusses what seem to be EVP (or Instrumental Transcommunication/ITC) and the appearance of the apparent small orb, the men suddenly start shouting and stagger frantically.  Jay explains, "The whole house shook before anybody jumped."  Having dropped his camera, Zak finds that it is broken.

As chronicled in the case study Testament (1997) during my 1995 Oklahoma visit, while making a telephone call from my hotel room in Ada I called my brother in Los Angeles and after picking up the telephone he said, "My bed is shaking."
 

Inside the Cave

Next in the "Ghost Adventures" episode is shown the team's investigation of the Bell Witch Cave.  Zak introduces the team's 'trigger object' William Porter.  Zak comments: "So if there's anybody still alive that the Bell Witch hates, it's probably this guy because he has the same blood that tried to kill the Bell Witch."  Obviously, the team members are not readers of this blog.  In many articles since 2004 I've identified many insightful nonfiction books that can help people develop their understanding of 'unexplained phenomena.'
 

Zak Bagans (left ) and William B. Porter;
Some of the Equipment used (below)



 

After a camera and microphone were set up inside the cave, a very clear EVP message is reported to have been recorded: "LISTEN TO ME."  The voice is not distinctly male or female.

An infrasound experiment in the cave is said to have been set up by audio visual techs Billy and Jay.  The experiment is conducted where a very low infrasound is emitted throughout the cave.  Zak's voiceover is heard: "As the infrasound sound plays throughout the cave, penetrating the rock, we begin seeing strange lights inside . . . Our X Camera captures three strange mistlike bands of light . . . Soon after, a dark shadow appears in the lower lefthand corner." 

There is also an experiment with eight energy sensor light poles.  The experiment was created by engineer/inventor Bill Chappell and set up in the cave by Billy.  Zak's voiceover reports that Porter has heard what sounds like a rock being thrown from deeper in the cave and then another rock is heard falling in another area.  Zak's voiceover continues: "William's camera's audio captures a very creepy sound which to us—and I know this sounds crazy—resembles a pig grunting.  What adds to this being paranormal is that the electromagnetic light pole illuminates in sync with this unexplained grunting . . . as William was leaving a disembodied voice can be heard at the same exact moment that the pole lights up again, indicating to us that this is a spirit voice."  The recorded voice sounds like a woman: "Mmmm mmm."

 

Next the light poles begin brightly flashing.  Eventually Zak tells the others, "You guys, listen to me.  Listen to me . . ."  This may be a meaningful pattern in connection to the earlier EVP utterance of "LISTEN TO ME."  One of the Centrahoma incidents described to me had been a conversation heard twice: "It was like the house recorded the whole conversation.  It was playing it before it happened."

 

After some conjecture involving images on a Flir Thermal Camera, Billy expresses feeling some discomfort with his spine along with intense emotions.  The use of the Full Spectrum cameras causes the investigators' eyes to appear like bright discs, giving them an appearance that brings to mind movie special effects of demonic characters.  Speculative associations about the Flir images are made: (Zak voiceover) "Aaron makes a chilling connection as he keeps saying over and over that he can visualize an Indian chief with two horns on his head watching us.  Right now in this moment none of us are aware that a horned figure morphed into shape above Aaron out of this undulating mass that was also seen connecting to him as shown here through this anomalous shaft of energy."

Zak instructs Jay and Billy to go on a nocturnal visit to the site of 'John Bell's tomb[stone].'  Zak comments, "How crazy does this sound?" and Jay replies, "This is the craziest night."  Billy adds, "Real Blair Witch stuff right here."

Locked inside the cave with Aaron, Zak uses a 'structured light sensor camera.'  He asks, "Can you appear as a ball of light?" and then says, "Whoa whoa whoa there was just a ball of light man that just came right at my (BLEEP) camera."  He explains further: (voiceover) "This ball of light that manifests towards me from deep within the hole is the only ball of light that appears on my camera while we are inside the cave.  Not only that but at the same time this anomaly passes by me a voice is captured on my recorder."  The sibilant voice is heard to say: "HERE I COME."

There is a concluding voiceover by Zak: "The amount of evidence we gather during our stay at the Bell property proves that this place is a hotbed of paranormal activity.  And even though the hauntings above ground ended over 200 years ago we feel that this cave still plays host to the spirit that conducted the most famous haunt in American history."

Blogger 'paranormalhuntress' in an August 23 post commented about one of my recent Centrahoma/Bell Witch case study articles:
 

When you read stories like this it makes me wonder just what the hell all these paranormal tv people are doing.  Certainly not actually helping anyone.  Why not investigate stuff like this.  You can investigate this online and read carefully, there are a lot of things that tie into The Bell Witch.  Very interesting story.

As I've mentioned before: Those with some knowledge of such metaphysical concepts as 'oneness' or 'nonlocality' will have an advantage for understanding the spiritual force documented in this case.  Although the possibility of staging 'paranormal phenomena' must be considered when one considers the commercial necessities of sustaining a TV series on a long-term basis, the implications of some circumstances seen in the "Bell Witch Cave" episode seem not to be noticed by the adventurers — such as what occurred with the playful dog or with the shaking house.

The people who can corroborate the circumstances of the production are identified among the credits presented at the end of the show, including Director of Photography Michael Stodden, Sound Recordist Max Martinez, Line Producer Hugh Hansen, Graphics Samantha Corey, Online Editor Christine McLean, (spooky) Music by Michael Mouracade, and Writer Researcher[s] Jeff Belanger, Dave Schrader.