The merciless spirit who infamously tormented the Bell family in the 1800s is being revived just in time for the 200th anniversary of patriarch John Bell’s death in the upcoming documentary, ‘The Mark of the Bell Witch.’ The dramatized retelling of the film’s title witch’s reign of terror will be available to rent or own on such Digital HD platforms as Amazon Instant Video, Vimeo and VIDI Space next Tuesday, December 15. The investigative docudrama will also be distributed on Blu-ray and DVD the same day, exclusively from the STM (Small Town Monsters) Shop.
In honor of the movie’s release, ShockYa is premiering an exclusive clip from the feature, which is titled ‘Hanging Woman.’ In the clip, several narrators recount that John Bell’s youngest daughter, Elizabeth “Betsy” Bell, who’s portrayed by Amy Davies, and two of her brothers are spending time in the woods when they see something hanging from a tree. When the three children go to investigate, they see that the spirit of a woman is hanging from the tree. After a swift change in temperature, the children return home and tell the rest of the family what they saw, but no one believes them.
Noted urban legend documentarian, Seth Breedlove directed ‘The Mark of the Bell Witch.’ He describes the film as a dramatized retelling of the entire sordid tale of the merciless spirit who tormented the Bell family from 1817 to 1821 in Adams, Tennessee.
‘The Mark of the Bell Witch’ is the first attempted documentary of the famed piece of Appalachian folklore. The story of the Bell family, who encountered mysterious sounds in their home before they experienced a full-blown apparition who terrorized them for almost five years, is still taught in Tennessee schools today. Considered to be one of the only known cases of murder committed by a ghost in American history, the story of John Bell’s poisoning at the hands of the witch has been the subject of numerous television shows, books, songs and the 2005 horror feature film, ‘An American Haunting,’ which stars Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek.
The docudrama, which uses a historically minded approach to tell the case of the family’s haunting, also shows how the haunting has affected the local culture of Adams, Tennessee. ‘The Mark of the Bell Witch’ also features narration by genre actress Lauren Ashley Carter. In addition to Davies, the movie also features Thomas Koosed in the lead role of John Bell Sr., and Adrienne Breedlove as the Bell Witch.
‘The Mark of the Bell Witch’ can now be reordered on Vimeo, Blu-ray and DVD.
ShockYa is premiering an exclusive clip from director Seth Breedlove's docudrama, 'The Mark of the Bell Witch.'