The hauntings of the Bell family Witch
This photogrpah illustrates the state marker on Highway 41 North in Adams telling visitors about the Bell Witch legend.
In the early 1800’s John Bell and his family moved from North Carolina to Red River Tennessee. Bell bought a large log home and some land for his family. The Bells gained stature in the community, acquiring additional land and clearing a number of fields over several years.
In 1817 John Bell was inspecting his cornfield when he came across an animal sitting in the corn. There have been various descriptions as to what the animal looked like. Amongst these are that the animal was a wolf, a black dog and even that the animal had the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit. Bell shot at the animal and it disappeared. He then returned home for dinner and thought nothing more of the incident.
That evening the Bells began hearing ‘beating’ sounds on the outside walls of their home. The sounds continued and increased. Each night Bell and his sons rushed outside to investigate only to return empty handed. More was to follow. The Bell children began waking in the night. They complained of noises at their bedposts, their bedcovers being pulled and their pillows being thrown to the floor. The noises continued but now there were whispering voices too. The voices were too weak to understand but sounded like an old woman crying or singing.
Around this time Betsy Bell, the youngest daughter of John Bell, began to bare the brunt of some physical encounters with the entity. It pulled her hair, slapped her and would often leave visible marks on her face and body for days at a time.
After a year of disturbances John Bell confided in his closest friend and neighbour James Johnston. Johnston and his wife decided to spend a night at the Bell house where they experienced the activity first hand. After repeatedly having the bedclothes removed and being slapped, Johnston jumped out of bed and shouted:
“I ask you in the name of the Lord God, who are you and what do you want?”
There was no reply and the rest of his overnight stay was uneventful.
Over time the spirit’s voice became stronger. The Bell case being one of a few poltergeist cases where the entity could actually speak. The spirit was able to quote scripture in the bible, sing hymns and carry intelligent conversation. Guests at the Bell farm were often horrified when the spirit verbally attacked them and would divulge their secrets to others who were present. The spirit once quoted, word for word, two sermons that took place thirteen miles apart at the same time.
Word of the Bell disturbances spread and nobody knew who or what the spirit was or the reason for its torment of the family.
In 1819 General Andrew Jackson heard of the events at the Bell farm. Bell’s sons John Jnr and Jesse both fought under Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. Jackson, taking with him a large wagon and several men, decided to pay the Bells a visit. He travelled from Nashville to the Bell property. As the wagon approached the house it suddenly stopped. Despite the horses trying to pull it, the wagon would not move. Jackson tried for several minutes to get the wagon to move but to no avail. Jackson said out loud that it must be the ‘witch’ preventing them from going any further, to which a female voice gave an unexpected reply. The voice said Jackson and his men may proceed and that ‘she’ would see them later. The party were then allowed to continue on to the house as the wagon once more moved on.
Inside Jackson and John Bell had a long talk and waited to see if the spirit would manifest itself. After several hours of waiting one of Jackson’s men drew his pistol. He declared himself a ‘witch hunter’ and said he would kill the witch. The man then almost immediately screamed and began moving erratically around the room. He claimed he was being struck with pins and beaten and then ran out of the house.
The spirit announced there was another ‘fraud’ amongst Jackson’s men and that ‘she’ would expose them the following night. Jackson’s’ men were terrified. Despite them spending the night in tents in the field pleading with the General to leave, Jackson insisted on staying. He maintained he wanted to know who the other ‘fraud’ was. However, by midday the following day he and his men left.
Andrew Jackson later became the President of The United States Of America.
He is quoted as saying:
‘I’d rather fight the entire British Army than deal with the Bell Witch.’
Betsy Bell had become interested in a young man named Joshua Gardner. The couple agreed to engagement, despite this the spirit told Betsy Bell not to marry him. Wherever the two went the spirit taunted them. Whether it was the river, the cave or the field, the spirit persisted on trying their patience. Eventually it became too much for them and on Easter Monday 1821, Betsy met Joshua by the river and broke off the engagement. Betsy and Joshua’s schoolteacher, Richard Powell had showed an interest in Betsy. He wanted to marry her when she was older, although he had been secretly married to a woman in nearby Nashville. Powell was believed to have studied the occult. More significantly, the attacks on Betsy decreased after her engagement to Joshua was ended.
The spirit continued to show a dislike for John Bell. As his health deteriorated the spirit would torture him even more. Going as far as to slap his face while he was having seizures. It seemed the spirit was determined to see it’s vow through to kill John Bell. Although it seemed to take great pleasure in tormenting John and Betsy Bell, the spirit seemed to be indifferent to other family members. It even seemed to have been fond of Mrs Bell, whom the spirit referred to as ‘Luce’.
During the haunting Mrs Bell became very ill with pleurisy, the spirit decreased activity to allow Mrs Bell to rest more. It would offer to sing a song or a hymn for her in the hope of aiding her recovery.
The spirit often said to others that:
‘Luce is a good woman.’
During her illness Mrs Bell stopped eating completely. The spirit pleaded for her to eat something fearing for her life. When Mrs Bell still would not eat the spirit offered to go and get her some walnuts from the forest. Minutes later the spirit asked Mrs Bell to hold out her hands. When she did a shower of walnuts is reported to have fallen into her palms. The spirit asked Mrs Bell:
‘Say Luce…why don’t you eat the nuts?’
Mrs Bell answered she had no way of opening them. Seconds later witnesses reported hearing cracking sounds and seeing the shells crumbling. An unseen force was opening them. Later, when Mrs Bell recovered from her illness, the activity increased again.
On the morning of December 20th 1820 John Bell died from a nervous system disorder. The family found a small vial of liquid John Bell had taken the night before. John Bell Jnr gave some of the contents to the family cat and the cat died almost instantly. Almost immediately the spirit spoke:
‘I gave Ol Jack a big dose of that last night and that fixed him.’
John Jnr threw the vial into the fireplace and a bright blue flame shot up the chimney.
At John Bell’s funeral the spirit was heard to laugh loudly. Mourners leaving the burial site reported hearing the spirit sing a song about a bottle of brandy. Following the death and burial of John Bell the spirit activity itself died down.
In April 1821 the spirit told Lucy Bell, the Bells other daughter, that it would return in seven years time. In April 1828, seven years later, the spirit returned as promised. The visit involved the spirit discussing such profound topics as the origins of life and Christianity with John Bell Jnr. During the three week visit the spirit is said to have predicted the American Civil War, World War I, The Great Depression and World War II. Upon leaving the spirit again promised to return, this time in 107 years. The spirit said it would visit John Bell Jnr’s closest descendent.
In 1935, 107 years later, John Bell Jnr’s closest living descendent was Charles Bailey Bell. Charles was a doctor and lived in Nashville. He had written a book on the ‘Bell Witch’ that was published prior to 1935 and he died in 1945. Nothing was ever published as to whether he received the promised visit from the spirit.
The ‘Bell Witch’ is however believed to have returned in 1935 and taken up residence in Adams, Tennessee. This area was once a part of the Bell farm.
Today the cause of the Bell families haunting nearly 200 years ago is believed to be the source of many paranormal incidents in the Adams area. On the land where the old Farm once stood is a cave, which has since become know as the Bell Witch Cave (see left).
In the 1990’s a picture was taken of a girl sat outside the cave entrance. When the photograph was developed, there appeared to be a man stood behind her. An expert analysis of the picture concluded this was not a double exposure.
Faint sounds of people talking and children playing have been heard around the area. Unexplained lights have been witnessed too.
The cause of the Bell’s torment and the ongoing activity witnessed regularly remains unexplained. Many theories for the haunting exist and vary from person to person. Some believe the spirit to be that of Kate Batts. Kate was an old neighbour of John Bell who believed he cheated her in a land purchase. Modern research has found that Mrs Batts actually outlived John Bell. It is recorded that the spirit once referred to itself as ‘ Kate Batts’ Witch’ however.
One thing we can be sure of regardless of the cause, something ‘happened’ on the Bell farm in the early 1800’s and it is still reported to be ‘happening’ at the Old Bell farm nearly 200 years later.
This article had been kindly supplied by Jason Day, and is as such © Jason Day.
Society Of Paranormal Investigation, Research, Information & Truth
Related Articles:
|
