About

"Test everything; keep that which is good"
1 Thessalonians 5:21

      Middle Tennessee Skeptics was founded in 2002 to document research into the premiere paranormal event in Middle Tennessee - the Bell Witch Legend.  No other story has so captured the imagination of the residents of Middle Tennessee. They have Bell Witch festivals and annually stage recreations of this folktale.  The movie the America Haunting is an adaptation of our local myth.
      The internet has hundreds of pages discussing the Bell Witch.  Virtually all of it focuses on and rehashes the story created by Marvin Ingram in 1894.  Some authors claim to have found independent evidence, but that is not true.  Such records do not exist.  Many researchers have searched for decades for SOURCE documentation but have found nothing.  The content on this website is about as complete recording of a rational examination as exists about the legend.
      In late 2008 we halted our work and concluded nothing more was to be found.  The spooky tale spun by Marvin Ingram may be based very loosely on events that might have occurred between 1816 and 1820, but the total absence of independent corroboration makes even that supposition highly unlikely.
      We are now in the process of broadening the scope of this website and associated blog to provide more emphasis on other topics that are typically involved in skeptical analysis.

NO AGENDA AND NO DESIRE FOR COMMERCIALIZATION

MTS has no hidden agenda, not asking anyone to buy anything, has no commercialism, and is independent of any political affiliation. MTS hopes readers think critically about any claim, thereby saving themselves money, time, prolonged illness, or their life.

Let us know if you see any errors in the facts (or typos). Please send us an e-mail with the pertinent and specific information.  General comments like "your facts are wrong," or "you need a spell-checker" don't help us fix the problem. 

COPYRIGHTS AND RULES FOR USE

You won't find a long list of legal restrictions as to what you are free to use from this WEB Site.  If you find something here (excluding of course links to other sites that plaster them with LEGAL warnings) to promote critical thinking (and not your pocketbook), feel free to borrow it under FAIR USE provisions of Copyright Law.  We do ask that you give proper attribution. or we might require you to return our stuff.

However, in some cases we have included works by authors other than those at MTS.  That information is by their permission.  Likewise, if you want to use their stuff, you will also need to get their permission.

At this time we are in the process of rebuilding 

the old website to be administered by this blog