The Bell Witch (Adams, Tennessee)

If you were to ask anyone in the Robertson Country, Tennessee area what they felt was the most famous haunting, you would probably get a single rounding call of, 'The Bell Witch."

The haunting started in the early 1800's after John Bell and his family moved to Adams, Tennessee (which was called Red River) at the time. In time, the Bell farm grew to about 328 acres. As an upstanding member of the community, Bell was also made an Elder of the local Baptist church. While living there, John and his wife had three more children- Elizabeth (often called Betsy), Richard, and Joel.

While tending his corn fields, Bell came across an odd creature just sitting in the corn rows. Bell shot at the creature, which he described as having a dog's body, but the head of a rabbit. With the shots, the animal simply vanished. He didn't think much about what had happened until later that night, when the sound of thumping on the outside of the log cabin started. The frequency and loudness of these thumings increased night after night. The family would search for whoever was causing the noises, but wouldn't find a soul in sight.

Bell's children would often complain of rats chewing on the bedposts, frightening them. The chew soon switched to blankets being yanked off the beds, and their pillows hurled into the corner by an unseen hand. Eventually, the family started to hear whispering sounds- like an old woman singing hymns.

The youngest daughter, Betsy, became a target for the entity's more brutal antics. Her hair would be pulled, she'd be slapped, with brusing and hand prints appearing on her face and body. It was around this time, that John Bell, decided to bring the problem to his closest friend, James Johnston. Johnston, and his wife stayed at the Bell house, and were witness to the things that had been happening to the Bells. Johnston challenged the spirit after being abused by it, saying, "In the name of the Lord, who are you- and what do you want?" For the rest of the night, things were somewhat more peaceful.

While in the beginning, the Bell's heard just feeble whisperings, the spirit's "voice" began to gain strength, until it was loud and clear. It was reported to sing, quote the Bible, and carry on intellegent conversations. During one conversation, it accurate quoted two sermon given that day... but in seperate locations. Reports of this haunting spread to Nashville, where Andrew Jackson- a Major General at the time, became interested in the case, and decided to visit and investigate it.

As he and his entourage approached the Bell ranch, a wagon suddenly stopped, unable to be pulled forward by the horses. Jackson and his colleagues tried to get the wagon to move- with no success. When the General ackknowled that it was the doing of the Bell Witch (as it was being called by this time), a woman's voice told them that it would see them later. The wagon then was able to be pulled by the horses. At the house, Jackson and Bell discussed various topics, waiting to see how the entity would "perform". The night was quiet, except for one notable occurance.

Among the group of people that came with Andrew Jackson, was a fellow that claimed to be a "witch tamer". He claimed that the reason for the Bell Witch not making an appearance was because it was afraid of the silver bullet in his pistol, as silver will kill any evil spirit it comes in contact with. Apparently, the "witch" took offense to this, and began to stick the "witch tamer" with pins, and beat him soundly. A final kick to his rear end, and he went out the door. Obviously angry, the spirit told Jackson that he had one more "fraud" in his group, and that she'd torment them the next night. Despite his men being terrified, Jackson wished to stay- in order to see who the "other fraud" was. It's not reported what happened after that, but Jackson and his men were seen in Springfield nearby in the morning.

Betsy, who had been born around the time that the Bell Witch made it's appearance, grew up, and became engaged to Joshua Gardner. The entity warned Betsy not to marry Gardner, but gave no reason. The two were taunted constantly during their engaement. On Easter Monday in 1821, Betsy broke of the engagement with Gardner, and the problems eased off a bit.

From pretty much the beginning of the haunting, the spirit made it known that it did not like John Bell, and that it would kill him. In 1819, Bell had started having strange periods of facial twitches, and problems swallowing. Fall of the next year saw him unable to leave the house, but still the witch tormented him. It would remove his shoes while he was walking, and slapped him when he'd have a seizure. All the while, she would be cursing and berating him- calling him, "Old Jack Bell" In the winter of 1820, Bell slipped into a coma, and passed away on the 21 December. Found afterwards in a cupboard was a vial of unknown liquid. The family gave some to the cat, which died immediately. At that moment, the Bell Witch claimed that it gave Bell a large dose the night before, and that it "fixed him". When thrown into the fireplace, the liquid shot a bright, blue flame up the chimney.

At his funeral, as friends and family began to leave, the voice of the entity rang out with laughter, singing a song about brandy. As if its job was done, the haunting ceased almost completely. The next year, however, Lucy, Bell's widow got a visit from the spirit. Lucy was informed that the Bell Witch would be leaving- but would be back in seven years. Seven years later, the phantom returned as it said it would, and it held discussions with John Bell, Jr about the origin of life, Christianity, and the requirment for a spiritual reawakening of the masses. The witch also made accurate predictions about the upcoming Civil War.

One day, the spirit informed the family that it would be back in 107 years, visiting Bell's most direct descendant. Dr. Charles Bailey Bell, wrote a book about the famous haunting, which was published in 1934- one year before the promised return of the Bell Witch. It is unknown whether or not, its promise was kept, however.

Even today, after 200 years, the Bell Witch is claimed to be responsible for strange events at the Bell property. Voices, strange lights at night, as well as mists, orbs and apparitions showing up in photos are often reported on the property. To this date, however, nobody know why the Bell family was tormented by the only entity to have claimed to have murderded someone...