hear it. The journal's connection to the Bell Witch legend was discussed by local historian David Britton during a television broadcast produced for the Discovery Channel in November, 2020. Leigh Eric Schmidt writes that Enlightenment writers by the late 18th Century utilized ventriloquist theory as a naturalistic explanation for religious expression of supernatural voices such as those found in democratized Christianity of the Great Awakenings and shamanic practices of Native Americans. Schmidt argues this secularized explanation of supernatural voices as a form of deception and illusion led to the adoption of ventriloquism by stage magicians of the first decade of the 19th Century. These early popular performances, from predominantly white male stage magicians, concurrently led to the democratization of the secular theory across the United States. The cultural change left religious interpretations of such voices to more marginalized groups and secular interpretations of those beliefs as provincial or "rustic." This shift also led to the Spiritualist movement of the mid-19th Century to find greater expression among women. The Saturday Evening Post The publications New England Farmer of Boston and the Green Mountain Freeman of Vermont in January and February 1856 published an article regarding the Bell Witch legend and the publications ascribed the origin of the text to the Saturday Evening Post. The Farmer was a weekly agricultural journal. The Freeman was affiliated with the abolitionist Liberty Party. The unidentified author described the apparition as the 'Tennessee Ghost' or 'Bell Ghost,' and stated the event occurred 30 years or more from the time the article was written. There are three human characters in the account, Mr. Bell, his daughter Betsey Bell, and Joshua Gardner. The author stated that the voice, which spoke freely about the house from all directions, would not manifest itself until the lights were extinguished at night. The phenomenon attracted wide interest. The author claimed to have become well acquainted with Mr. Gardner. When the ghost was asked how long it would remain, it replied, "until Joshua Gardner and Betsey Bell get married." The author goes on to state that Betsey Bell had fallen in love with Joshua Gardner and had discovered the skill of ventriloquism. The author states that Ms. Bell then used her skill to attempt to convince Joshua Gardner to marry her. When they did not marry, the apparition disappeared. M. V. Ingram, in his An Authenticated History Of The Bell Witch, wrote that