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Johnson and their sons were constant in their attentions, and the ministers of the local churches lent spiritual comfort. The Bells' pastor was Reverend Fort, of the Drakees Pond Baptist Church. The Methodist ministers, James and Thomas Gunn, were closely connected with the family by ties of kinship as well as affection. Jesse Bell, John and Lucy's oldest son, had married Martha Gunn, the daughter of Reverend Thomas, and in due course three more of the Gunn girls would marry into the Bell family
    In the presence of these pious and intelligent gentlemen the demonstrations not only continued but increased. Strange lights were seen around the fields and farmyard; sticks and pieces of wood pelted the boys when they came in from work in the evening. Mr. Johnson insisted that the manifestations were produced by a guiding intelligence, and he continued to question it: "How many fingers am I holding up?" "How many people are present?" Eventually answers came, by means of raps or scratches. It never occurred to this innocent gentleman, untrained in the techniques of the spiritualist seance, to demand that the Spirit reply to more complex enquiries by spelling out its responses alphabetically. He exhorted the Spirit to speak—and it did.

FIVE
    Picture the scene, gentlemen, in all its antique charm: the women in their prim print dresses and aprons, the sober, bearded faces of the men, eerily shadowed by the glow of the fire. A few candles and lamps added to the illumination, but by modern standards the room was dark and the furnishings were of Spartan simplicity—straight wooden chairs, braided rugs made by Mrs. Bell and her servants, a cupboard holding the glasses in which Mr. Bell was accustomed to serve his excellent whiskey; on the wall, perhaps, a sampler embroidered by Betsy, with pious Biblical verses worked in colored wools. Picture, as well, the looks of surprise and horror and morbid fascination as that first faint whispering reply is heard.
    At first the Spirit had trouble speaking, as if it were experimenting with a type of apparatus unfamiliar to it, or in poor repair. The initial sounds were faint and broken, interspersed with whistling breaths; but as the audience continued to question it the voice gained strength and distinctness. Its first coherent utterance seems to have been a repetition of Mr. Johnson's prayer and hymn delivered on the night he first encountered the Spirit. The voice sounded exactly like his.
    The response to this performance must have gratified the Spirit. On succeeding occasions it demonstrated an astonishing knowledge of Scripture and a talent for debate. Its own voice was exceedingly sweet; it enjoyed singing and knew every hymn in the book.
    Intrigued as they were by this insane parlor game, some of the visitors never lost sight of their main interest—to discover what the entity was and why it had come. If they could learn its origin and purpose, they might find out how to get rid of it. After hours of interrogation the voice finally answered the oft-repeated question.
    "I am a spirit who was once very happy, but have been disturbed and made unhappy."
    A thrill ran through the assembled group when this faltering explanation was heard. Excited questions followed. Why was it unhappy? What had happened to disturb it?
    Solemnly the mysterious voice explained that it was the spirit of a person who had been buried in the nearby woods. "My grave has been disturbed, my bones disinterred and scattered. One of my teeth was lost under this house and I am here looking for that tooth."
    Ridiculous, of course! But we can hardly blame the beleaguered Bells for grasping at any straw. One of the family recalled a half-forgotten event of three or four years earlier, when some of the farmhands, clearing land, found a group of graves. Old Indian cemeteries were common in the region. Mr. Bell ordered his men to work carefully around it without disturbing the dead.
    However, his son Drewry mentioned the discovery