Pervert Ghost

An American Haunting (2005) is based on the FACTUALLY DOCUMENTED Bell Witch saga in witch, uh, which a ghost of a freshness-expired parishioner of the black arts torments a Tennessee family in 1817. Off to a good start.

The Bell family daughter is visited nightly by an unseen force that rips at her nightshirt and blankets and throws her around the room as if an empty beer can. Her screams are making it tough for anyone else to get some rest.

This goes on and on until the Bells invite a preacher over for dinner and the holy moly man sees for himself the demonic transactions. Through flashbacks we see glimpses of things that in the end add up to something worse than a ghost, who everybody believes is the totally upset spirit of a neighbor John Bell (the dad) swindled out of a land business deal. If only it was that easily explained.

Deviating from the FACTUALLY DOCUMENTED Bell Witch story, the conclusion, while steeped in the supernatural, reveals that John Bell had a hankerin’ for his nubile young daughter and made unwanted midnight visits to her room. Ugly subject matter made worse by disguising it as a ghost story.

The real Bell Witch isn’t gonna like this one bit.