Spring 2008. Press Release by PublishAmerica

PublishAmerica Presents The Bell Witch Unveiled at Last! by DJ Lyons

Frederick, MD April 4, 2008 -- PublishAmerica is proud to present The Bell Witch Unveiled at Last! The True Story of a Poltergeist by DJ Lyons of Knoxville, Tennessee.

John Bell of Adams, Tennessee, died on December 20, 1820. Why not? He was old. He was sick. He was comatose. Yet dozens of newspaper articles; a handful of published books, movies, videos, and websites; and countless amateur and professional storytellers all erroneously claim that John Bell was killed by a poltergeist.

Who was this poltergeist many called the Bell Witch? Newspapers, books, websites, and countless people familiar with the 1817-1821 haunting pointed the finger of blame at a neighbor woman, Cate Batts. Her alleged guilt was purely circumstantial. For the first time, this breakthrough publication reveals the actual identities and motives of the three poltergeists. These three male entities followed John Bell from his former home in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to Adams, Tennessee, seeking their revenge. Within the covers of this book, the Bell Witch is unveiled at last.

DJ Lyons earned her master's degree with a specialization in storytelling from East Tennessee State University in 1989. She has been a professional storyteller and writer ever since. This book's main goal? To bring light to a story that has been shrouded in fear and mystery for far too long. For more information regarding book-signings, interviews, storytelling performances, or to book her for a one-woman theater performance entitled The Bell Witch Unveiled, contact DJ Lyons at askdjlyons@yahoo.com or visit her website at Bell Witch Unveiled Website.

PublishAmerica is the home of 30,000 talented authors. PublishAmerica is a traditional publishing company whose primary goal is to encourage and promote the works of new, previously undiscovered writers. Like more mainstream publishers, PublishAmerica pays its authors advances and royalties, makes its books available in both the United States and Europe through all bookstores, and never charges any fees for its services. PublishAmerica offers a distinctly personal, supportive alternative to vanity presses and less accessible publishers.

Contact: Shawn Street
pr@publishamerica.com
Public Relations, PublishAmerica

http://www.publishamerica.com
Book Publishing by Publish America

5-07-1997
Press Release in the Portland Leader, TN
by Julie Durbin

The Elmer Hinton Memorial Library and the Nashville Community Foundation will sponsor a storytelling performance by professional storyteller DJ Lyons (sic - changed to my pen name). She will perform a One-Woman Theater Piece entitled The Bell Witch Unveiled At Last! The True Story Of A Poltergeist. The performance is scheduled for Thursday, May 15 from 7:00 PM until 8:30 PM. The evening includes a 45-minute storytelling performance followed by a question and answer session. All middle school and high school age, college age, and adult audiences are welcome to the free performance at the Elmer Hinton Memorial Library (no young children, please).

This carefully researched and investigated piece (told from Cate Batts' perspective) is for more mature audiences and reveals the true Bell Witch of Adams, Tennessee (1817-1821). To discover the true roots of this saga, the professional storyteller had to research the early years of Isle of Wight, VA, Rocky Mount, NC, and places in-between. This performance attempts to clear the name of Cate Williams Batts, a woman, according to Lyons, wrongly accused.

The story of the Bell Witch is probably one of the most widely documented ghost stories of all time. To put it briefly, a strange spirit haunted the family of Lucy and John Bell. After three years of this poltergeist-type activity, John Bell mysteriously died. The spirit or witch (as they called it) claimed the credit for killing John Bell. Then it continued its tortuous activities until Bell's teenage daughter, Betsy, agreed to break her engagement to Joshua Gardner. Only then did the poltergeist leave. It returned to resume haunting for a two-week period in 1828 and promised to return in 107 years.

As this performance suggests, there was actual rhyme and reason to this haunting. John Bell allegedly murdered two men and provoked a third into not being able to rest in peace. Strangely enough, it was not one of these men who was thought to be the ghost. Instead, a woman still living at the time, Cate Batts (often spelled Kate), received the blame.

It was claimed that Cate Batts possessed many psychic abilities - including that of being a healer. She was said to have never used her spiritual gifts for anything but good. So why did she get the finger of blame?

This first-person performance piece, told in the words of Cate Batts, will give an alternative viewpoint of what could have truly taken place. The performance will theorize who the actual perpetrators were and why.

Professional storyteller, DJ, invites everyone to delve into the world of the Bell Witch. It is possible that some will never view life or death the same again.

June 2008 Press Release by LaFollette Press

PROFESSIONAL STORYTELLERS TO BE AT LOUIE BLUIE FESTIVAL

June 2008 - From LaFollette Press in LaFollette, Tennessee
written by Charlotte Underwood ( charlotte@lafollettepress.com )

Folk stories will come to life at this year's Louie Bluie Festival.

Two professional storytellers will be featured in the Norris Highlands Folklife Tent at the Louie Bluie Music and Arts Festival on June 14.

"I think this will add huge new dimensions to the festival," said festival co-chair Joceyln Griffo. "The three main thrusts of our festival is to enhance and present the music, storytelling and art of the regional heritage," she continued.

One of the featured storytellers is Diane Hackworth. Though she has a masters degree in storytelling, Hackworth earned her storytelling credentials while growing up in Tennessee and hearing stories from her parents and grandparents.

At the festival, Hackworth will tell Jack Tales, which depict a fictional, well-rounded, self-reliant hero named Jack.

The Jack Tales were brought to Appalachia by Scotch-Irish immigrants, whose culture influenced the Appalachian notions of self sufficiency and taking care of one's own, according to Hackworth.

Another featured storyteller will be Debbie Dunn who is more widely known as DJ Lyons.

A professional storyteller since 1989, Dunn has spent the years traveling the United States telling stories and teaching storytelling. Her repertoire includes ghost stories, a one-woman theatre piece titled The Bell Witch Unveiled, as well as international and Appalachian folk tales.

At the festival, she plans to present The Bell Witch Unveiled, recounting the strange events, which allegedly happened to the Bell family of Adams, Tenn., from 1817 to 1935.

Not all the stories will be tall tales. There will be other storytellers performing at the festival as well. Former LaFollette residents Oscar Sheppherd and Fannie Kellogg will be on stage talking about the African-American community in Campbell County and what it was like when they were growing up in the area.

Local Civil War historian and author Greg Miller will also be giving a presentation about the Civil War and Campbell County.

There will be discussions and presentations about the stories and music of the Cumberlands and the blues genre as well.

"These professional storytellers are just going to be amazing. I don't think we've seen anything like this before," said Griffo.

For more information regarding the Louie Bluie Festival, log onto www.louiebluie.org or contact the host organization at CCCHighlanders@aol.com

Ghost Story: GOOD SPIRIT, BAD SPIRIT: THE BELL WITCH

Adam Southern, Guest Columnist

Bell Witch Unveiled author to speak at library by Adam Southern

The Daily Herald, Wednesday, June 25, 2008, Volume 109, No. 223, Columbia, Tennessee

While growing up, there was nothing more terrifying to me than the story of the Bell Witch.

My fear was so great, that in my rowdiest moment, just the mention of the so-called spirit could calm me down in a second's time. The thought of the Bell Witch getting after me was far worse than the threat of being grounded, whipped, or submitted to any other form of punishment conceived in my young mind.

To say the least, I was never one of the kids who stood in a dark bathroom saying "I'm not afraid of the Bell Witch" while waiting for her to appear in the mirror.

But the time came when I decided I was ready to conquer my childhood fears. So I purchased a copy of The Bell Witch of Tennessee, written by a Bell family member, Charles Bailey Bell, and read it from front to back.

What I read left me not only sleeping with my head under the covers but surprised as well.

I had been told all of my life to look for the good in a person, don't just see the bad. Well, after reading the book, it was plain to see that I had only been hearing the bad about the Bell Witch. "It" also had a good side.

"The spirit," as the family called it (not "witch"), was known to accompany the Bell children to the swimming hole, play mischievous tricks on the kids, and, believe it or not, sing and quote religious scripture. Lucy Bell, the mother, was especially fond of the spirit's singing and, in return, the spirit was fond of her.

The book mentions that Lucy Bell became deathly sick. The spirit sang religious songs to Lucy daily and left her bedside only long enough to come back with exotic and out-of-season fruits. In the end, the Spirit was given much of the credit for healing Lucy. Again, believe it or not. It seemed to be a pretty good ol' spirit, well, except for the fact that it beat and tormented Betsy, the eldest [sic, actually youngest] of the Bell daughters, and was blamed for the death of her father, John Bell.

Why the spirit was so bad on old John, we'll never know, nor will we ever know who the spirit was. The most common belief is that the spirit was conjured up by the Bell's neighbor, Kate Batts, whom John Bell had supposedly wronged in a land deal. No one knew for certain if Batts was the perpetrator; nevertheless, the name Kate has remained in the Bell Witch Legend for nearly 200 years.

But, did anyone ever stop to think if Kate Batts wasn't the cause of the mysterious spirit? She may be getting a bad rap for doing nothing!

The author of a new book, The Bell Witch Unveiled at Last, DJ Lyons, thinks so, and she is out to clear the name of Kate Batts and set the record straight.

Through many years of research, Lyons has reason to believe that the "Bell Witch" haunting began long before the Bell Family ever moved to Tennessee. Her theory suggests that the haunting began in the mountains of North Carolina, near the town of Rocky Mount. When the Bells decided to relocate to current day Adams, Tenn., the ghosts simply packed up and went with them.

This is a radical theory and one that if ever reaches mainstream, could change the way the world views Tennessee's famous haunting. This is why I have invited DJ Lyons to the library - to give the people of Maury County a chance to be among the first to hear this new twist on the old story.

Lyons will be at the Maury County Library at 8 p.m. Saturday, July 12, performing her 45-minute show, answering questions, as well as selling and signing copies of her book.

Please come to see, as I will, if the reputation of Kate Batts can be salvaged, or if her name will forever by synonymous with that of the Bell Witch.

You will know me. While she's talking about the witch, I'll be the skittish person hiding in the corner!

Adam Southern is a reference librarian at the Maury County Library.

Book Review written by Adam Southern, Reference Librarian at Maury Co. Public Library, Columbia, TN

July 19, 2008

Review of The Bell Witch Unveiled at Last!

All of my life, I have heard the story of the infamous Bell Witch of current day Adams, Tennessee. I have heard the story many times and in many different ways, but the most prevalent factor in all stories is that Kate (Cate) Batts was the cause of the "witching" and that she was solely responsible for sending old John Bell to his maker. So, when I learned of the book, The Bell Witch Unveiled at Last by D.J. Lyons, it was like a breath of fresh air. The book's sole purpose- to give a voice to the disenfranchised Cate Batts, who has been a whipping post for far too long. The book brings the legend to life in a very interesting way- through the words of Cate Batts herself.

The book paints a image of Batts that the reader can now associate with the legend. Cate Batts is no longer a faceless feature, but made alive by Lyons to tell her own tale, and by doing so, discloses the true identity of the mysterious Bell Witch.

Hold on to your pants, reader, because Cate Batts will take you for a ride back in time, to the small town of Adams, Tennessee and the home of the Bell Witch!

READ A READER REVIEW FROM TERESA - A TRAVELING TEACHER FROM THE USA ON A TWO-YEAR TEACHING SEBATICAL IN EGYPT.

I just finished your book! And...., Wow! I hear your voice, your mannerisms so clearly. Now I see why you were the perfect teacher for Conflict Resolution. My favorite chapter is 77. I feel that this chapter better helped me to learn forgiveness. My least favorite chapter is 81, Betsy Bell and Joshua. I do not like to hear about child abuse. When it is in the news, when I learn about it from friends who it happen to, I am sad. I am glad that I have not had this experience, but somehow, I internalize their suffering. Somehow, when I read about the abuse to Cate, I expected that. Knowing how strong Cate was, I knew that with her powers, she could succumb. However, I felt different for Betsy...she was so young. DJ, there is so much more I could say. This is the first book I have read where multiple people speak in first person. I believe you. I believe what you have written. I think I understand your message and purpose for this book. To me, it goes deeper than solving the mystery. Again, I refer to Chap. 77. As one is led through the events, through the dialogue, one begins to understand the underlying message which must be your purpose on this Earth Plane. Do I have it right?