I was just reading the link that was pasted here quite a long time ago:
http://www.resologist.net/ryook005.htm
And this bit interested me:
In the September of 1931, James Irving, his wife Margaret and their daughter Voirrey, started to hear strange noises like a wild animal, which emanated from the attic of the farmhouse. Curiously the "voice" behind these noises started to develop. In a similar way to a baby learning to speak, the cries started to turn into the words spoken by James Irving and were repeated parrot fashion by the unseen creature. In a very short space of time, the being had effectively learned to speak a good level of English!
Soon the creature, apparently a mongoose by the name of Gef, introduced itself to the Irving family. He told them that he had been born on June 7, 1852, in Delhi, India.
Why is this interesting? Because this is almost the EXACT THING that happened in the
Bell Witch case. In that one, it started with scratching, animal sounds, and it eventually learned to talk over a period of time, and it originally appeared as animal (and a few times human) form. As I recall, it parrotted speach as well when it began, and it made statements much the same as Gef did about it's origins.
Total freakout!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
EDIT because, after reading the whole account, it's almost exactly the same as the Bell Witch!!! Aside from the similarities I already noted:
Both expressed love and concern for some of the people in the house hold. Gef held Voirrey in highest regards, while for the Bell Witch it was the family matriarch who was it's favorite.
Gef claimed the be poisoned, while the Bell Witch apparently poisoned John Bell.
Both sang entertainingly.
Both would report the doings of area inhabitants from far away, something that couldn't have been known to somebody just using ventrilliquism.
Both stories were popular in the press of the day.
Both were shot and killed - the Bell Witch in an early animal manifestation, Gef supposedly at the end of his.
Even the appearance anomolies seems similar - Gef was supposed to be a mongoose, but pix looked inconclusive when they showed anything at all. When the Bell Witch manifested as creatures, they seemed at first to be a particular animal (a larege black bird, for example) but upon further inspection didn't look quite like a natural creature.
DOUBLE EDIT to add that apparently I'm not the only person who can see the similarity - there was a guy who posted to the Bell Witch thread who included a link to his theory, which is definately linking the two phenomenon. I think the idea is definately worth discussing - what was going on?