1. "Make your own coffin (purse)"
Posted by kimberly on Mar-2nd-03 at 11:40 AM

I found this: http://www.phobe.com/coffins/index.html, and, for
some reason these little Victorian coffin shaped purses reminded
me of Lizzie.

Gee, the places you hang out!
Where ya been, otherwise?
Did you like my true ghost story in the Privy?  ("Cocoanut Grove Fire")

Oooo, how did I miss this post earlier?  Thanks, Kimberly.  That would be a perfect accessory for a Halloween costume! 

Yes I did, I love hearing people's encounters like that -- and
I do love getting scared, I have these two tattered paperback
books that I always liked to read at bedtime, one is called 
Strange Unsolved Mysteries by Margaret Ronan  (c. 1974) and the
other is Strange but True by David Duncan (c. 1973). These are
filled with those kinds of stories -- my favorite is called "The Night Thing"
and it was about hoof prints found in the snow in an English village in 1885.
That one gives me chills.

http://www.spartechsoftware.com/dimensions/creatures/DevilsFootprints.htm

Ah!  "The Devil's Footprints"!

I LOVE that story!
I just counted my books on "The Unexplained" and there are 19, not including my bound volumes of past issues of The Fortean Times.  (Tried that mag. yet?  It's British)

Then I counted my Ghost books and there was a similar number!
I used to buy books that specifically had "ghosts in photographs".  I collected those two decades ago.

I have always been very interested in anamolies, like fish falls and SHC, giant squid, and Loch Ness and Lake monsters.

Oooooh!! That is the story!! My book lists the date as
February 8, 1885 though.

"As the snow melted, the tracks blurred. The prints began
to resemble a cloven hoof. Who but the Devil had a cloven
hoof? Who but the Devil would peer into the dwellings of
God-fearing folk and mark the sinners?

Women and children hid in their homes behind barred door and
shutters. The men fetched their dogs. Armed with muskets,
pistols, clubs, and pitchforks, they grimly tramped the
countryside. Apparently nobody paused to consider how to
capture the Devil once he was cornered."

Ooo, I remember that story!  And coming from New Jersey, we had the Jersey Devil in the Pine Barrens.  Did you ever read the story about the boy who went to the well on a winters night?  His family heard his cries for help, went out to look for him and found his footprints ended in the snow at the well.  They could hear his cries for help above them in the air until they faded away. 

I haven't heard that one -- I just LOVE spooky stories
like that. And The Jersey Devil is quite popular
online -- we have The Bell Witch here in Tennessee -- the way
I heard it growing up was different than the way they
tell it now -- it is like a whole new story. I guess
the Jersey Devil is the same way?

I remember Stef as a yougster being so INTO the "Bell Witch".
That was her favorite scary story.


(Message last edited Mar-4th-03  11:33 PM.)

I'm trying to remember the way I always heard it -- I can't
remember the exact details but I know it was almost an
entirely different story than the one I'm seeing online now.
It had some of the same elements -- everyone being attacked
and that type thing -- but I think the "relationship" was
different. I think it was always told that she was a spurned
woman, something along those lines. Now I've seen the story
told as a bad business deal rather than love turned to hate.....

I knew people related to the Bells. It was a poltergeist, as I recall. The activity centered around the girl who was going through puberty. Began as knockings, poundings, then stuff would fly around the room. It escalated and eventually the family got hurt. Malicious spirit. Then the father, as I recall, was poisoned and he died. They blamed it on the bell witch. It went on and on and then finally stopped.

I will look at the web site and see if they get it right. 

YUP, that's that story as I remembered it. He did a good job on that site too. I love the way the navagation buttons tun into ghosties when you click on them!

http://www.bellwitch.org/home.htm

(Message last edited Mar-5th-03  10:53 PM.)

The old Bell School is an antique store now -- I got to
go there in 1997 or so & it was crammed full of stuff --
and I was a wee bit spooked. They had a store window
dummy & I just saw it out of the corner of my eye & I
jumped -- that was about the wildest thing that took place
that day. The last time I was up that way was in 2001 & I
think it was still a store then (now?). Well worth a look
if anyone is in the area.

http://www.bellwitch.org/bschool.jpg

How funny!  I posted a link to the same site as Stefani did on my spiritualism thread.  Like I said, great minds think alike. 

When does it start getting weird? Everyone
getting the same idea?

This one, at least is explainable.  Let us bust myths when we can...myth-busters!
It was me.
I copied the Bell-Witch messages and sent them to Stef because she is my Bell-Witch expert.  I included the link that you posted , Susan, so she could check if the *new* version was differring from the *old* version.
She posted her answer and included your link.  She had checked it out.

NOW, that said, it IS weird that when the *Spiritualist* topic first arose I thought Bell-Witch as did Kimberly elsewhere etc.
It still IS a major coincidence but Stef's involvement was due to me.  I couldn't quite remember the details.
I kept getting them confused in my memory with those Fox sisters!