The Bell Witch Ghosts and Hauntings/Folklore

In 1804, John Bell and his wife Lucy, packed up their belongings in North Carolina, and with all nine children in tow, moved to Tennessee. It would have been a nice, peaceful life, with John buying up parcels of land till he had accumulated just over 300 acres.

Unfortunately, during this period of buying up property, he had slighted his neighbour, Kate Batts. She believed John had cheated her on a land purchase and never forgave him. We can imagine the type of anger that would have eventuated between the two, but this would not stop at being just a neighbourly quarrel – this feud would become a thing of legend.

Kate Batts died sometime before 1817, and on her deathbed, still carrying a grudge towards John, she swore she would haunt the Bell family and all of their descendants.

Beginning in 1817, the Bell family began to experience strange occurrences in their home. It started out as a faint tapping and scratching on the walls, and soon a whispering voice could be heard. As the voice got louder over time it was identified as an old woman's, but still the words could not be made out.

It began its physical interferences of the Bell's by grabbing at the children's sheets and blankets, sliding it off them as they slept. Three of the bell children, sharing the one bed, were awakened by a scream one night, to find an invisible force tugging at their bed clothes.

From that point on the Bell family did not know what was going to happen next. Items were stolen or hidden about the house and property. The children were slapped and pinched. At night, the sound of the wooden posts and supports of the house could be heard being chewed on, and strange animals were seen out in the yard.

What seemed to be quite strange was the ghost focussed most of its more malicious activities on John Bell and his daughter Betsy (Elizabeth). Pinching, slapping and screaming at these two Bell's seemed to bring the ghost enjoyment. It would laugh when Betsy cried, or manage to cause John visible discomfort.

Soon the voice became clear enough that the family could tell what it was saying. It repeatedly told how it was going to kill John Bell, and would at times call other family members by name.

Soon enough, it got to a point where Betsy was being assaulted in her sleep, waking with cuts and bruises. Not knowing what else to do, John Bell invited his friend James Johnson for dinner, and to stay the night. He and his wife witnessed the haunting for themselves, including, what they now referred to as a witch, the reciting of hymns and scripture.

In 1818 word spread through the community of the 'Bell Witch', and with the family’s secret now out, John sought refuge in religion. One would think the church would be there for support and aid, but the Bell family was promptly excommunicated. Perhaps for harbouring a witch?

People flocked to the Bell home in order to experience the witch for themself, and experience it they did. The witch let herself be known, never seen, but always heard. She was never rude or mean to the guests, and even at times would shake their hands if offered.

It seemed like a very far out story, but it was taken very seriously in some quite high circles. General Andrew Jackson (who would go on to become the 7th President of the United States) gathered a group of friends and journeyed to the property in Adams, Tennessee, in order to experience the activity for himself and either prove it was somehow a hoax, or that it was a real haunting.

The group travelled to the Bell home, taking with them tents, provisions and other supplies, all loaded on a wagon. As they got close to the house, the wagon came to a complete stop and no one could force it to move. The wheels were each removed and examined, only to find they were clear and functioning normally.

Jackson, at a loss for any other explanation, jokingly claimed it must be the witches doings, to which a high pitch voice replied from across the road "All right General, let the wagon move on, I will see you again tonight." and the wagon did just that, and the group continued to the house.

General Andrew Jackson and his group had planned to stay the week, but ended up moving along the next day, having suffered their fair share of activity, and no way to prove it a hoax. They were pinched, slapped, had their hair pulled, all the while Betsy Bell screamed and shrieked from the abuses the witch was causing her. His experiences at the Bell home do not appear in his personal writings, but are told from other sources.

For reason I can not fathom, the Bell family stayed in their house through all this time, never moving on.

In October 1820 John Bell fell ill, many believed his illness to be a stroke, of which he was given a elixir to remedy some of the pain it was causing him. Although he could still go about his work, he did spend much of the time bed ridden, and by December he had failed to wake proper from a night’s sleep. His medicine was sent for, but in the bathroom cupboard was a strange vial. The witch began to taunt that she had switched the medicine for poison, and John would soon surely be dead.

The following day he went as the witch predicted, John Bell was dead at 70 years old. The Bell witch sang joyously at the close of John’s funeral, and could be continued to be heard as the family and friends filed away.

The following year, 1821, the witch said she was leaving, this happened just after she had forced a relationship between Betsy Bell and her childhood sweetheart to break apart, but would be back in seven years time.

The witch returned as promised in 1828, this time manifesting, appearing to John Bell Jr, John Bell’s son. She left Bell Jr with visions and prophecies of the future, and before she left him, she said she would return more than a century later in 1935.

It has not been told whether she kept that promise or not.

Nearby to the Bell house there is a cave known as the Bell Witch Cave. People have reported seeing strange figures and experiencing strange phenomena in the area surrounding it. Some believe this is where the Bell Witch resides when not taunting the family and its descendants.

How true a tale is all this?
Researchers who have looked into the history of the Bell Witch find many inconsistencies and cite that most of the material as told today come from records created several decades after the original series of events took place. One can not be certain that any of these events happened and at the very least will have been greatly exaggerated with each retelling.

Many versions of the story exist including changing who the protagonist of the tale is. However, all refer to a Bell Witch.

An actual terrifying haunting or a fantastic piece of folklore... you can make the call, but either way it makes for a good bit of reading