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...

"Annabelle"

If you've ever heard of the Amityville Horror case, or watched the TV series "Paranormal State", then you mostly likely know of Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens are well respected demonologists that have investigated many cases of poltergeist activity, and even cases of possession. They are also famous for their Occult Museum, which houses many of the items that were either the cause, or involved in their cases.

One such item is "Annabelle".

In the 1970's, the Warrens investigated case surrounding three young friends, after an Episcopal priest recommended the case to them. The occurance involved spirit communication, and physical attacks.

One of the friends, a nurse named Donna, had received the doll from her mother as a birthday gift. The activity started about a year later, when "Annabellle" started moving. When Donna and her friends left the apartment, the doll would be on the bed, arms at its side, and legs stretched out. Upon returning home, the three would find the arms folded in the doll's lap, and the legs crossed, or in other positions. Experimenting, they would arrange the doll in a random position, only to come back to find it in a differant position.

In addition to shifting poses, "Annabelle" would travel from room to room. One night, they found the doll kneeling in a chair. When they tried to position the doll in a kneeling position themselves, it would only fall over due to support in the legs. The doll, though usually kept in Donna's room (with the door closed no less), would be found on the sofa as well.

And then there were the notes. The women stated that the writing looked like that of a small child, and would read, "HELP US," or "HELP LOU," even though Lou wasn't in trouble. The notes would also be written in pencil on parchment, despite there being no pencils or parchment in the apartment.

Suspecting that maybe someone had a key, and was playing a cruel joke, the friends did whatever they could to find evidence of such trickery. They found none. It was around this time that things started to become something you'd find in a horror movie... except for the fact that it was actually happening...

One night, after returning home, Donna and the others found blood on the back of "Annabelle's" hand... and three drops of blood on its chest. They also reported to the Warrens that a small statue lifted up, and moved across the room before tumbling to the floor- in plain view of everyone present.

Consulting a medium, they were informed that a seven year old girl by the name of Annabelle Higgins had died on the property. The spirit they contacted claimed that they were the only ones that could understand her, since everyone else around them were adults- and more concerned about jobs, etc. Annabelle Higgins just wanted to be loved, and proposed to the women that she be allowed to "move into" the doll and stay with them. Being nurses, and compassionate towards the suffering of others, they agreed, and named the doll "Annabelle".

As the Warrens interviewed Donna, Angie and Lou, the latter professed a belief that "Annabelle" was actually a voodoo doll of some kind, but that the others didn't believe him. Lou recounted that the doll gave him bad dreams. In one dream, Lou woke up to find the doll at the foot of his bed, slowly moving up his body to his chest. "Annabelle" reached to either side of his neck, and he felt himself being strangled. No matter how hard he struggled, the doll's grip could not be broken until he woke up in reality.

Another night, when it was just him and Angie in the apartment, they heard a noise in Donna's room. Suspecting a possible prowler, Lou went to investigate. After carefully opening the door, and flicking the switch, he discovered the doll on the floor in the corner. He then got the sensation of someone behind him, and turned. Even though there was nobody in the room, something slashed Lou across the chest. Angie told the Warrens that it looked like claw marks. There were three up and down, and four left to right. Lou said that they'd felt hot- as if they were burns, but that within a couple of days, they'd healed fully.

Shortly after that, the church got in touch with Ed and Lorraine Warren. After the interview, the Warrens concluded that "Annabell" was not a little girl- but rather an non-human, negative entity... a demon. This demon had been manipulating the doll to create fear, weakening the friends in order to begin a campaign of human possession. By giving the doll recognition, and giving the entity permission to be a part of their lives, the three had put themselves in jeapordy. Since Lou had been the one to see through the charade of a little girl spirit, the demon wanted to get him out of the way.

The priest that contacted the Warrens was called, and came to bless the apartment and it's occupants. The blessing went without mishap. Afterwards, at Donna's request, and because they felt it was safter to do so, Ed and Lorraine Warren decided to take the doll, in case the entity's attachment to "Annabelle" was completely severed.

It wasn't.

On the drive home, the Warrens had place the doll in the back seat. At every dangerous curve in the road, their new car would start to stall, causing their power steering and brakes to fail. They barely avoided colliding with oncoming traffic three times before Ed sprinkled holy water on the doll. The Warrens were then allowed to proceeded without trouble.

For several weeks, the Warrens kept "Annabelle" in Ed's office at home. It would levitate, and teleport around the house- seeming to enjoy sitting in Ed's easy chair. A black cat would also appear, stalk around the office, as if making an inventory of the objects and books within, before returning to the side of the doll, and vanishing. Lorraine often heard growling noises echoing through the house, and the same growling appeared on their answering machine.

One priest, no quite believing in the strange occurances challenged the doll by saying, "You're just a rag don't, Annabelle. You can't hurt anything," before tossing the doll back onto its chair. After being warned by Lorraine to drive carefully, because she sensed an accident coming, the priest left. He later phoned back, saying that his brakes had failed, and had barely escaped a fatal accident.

While speaking with a priest in a room with the doll present, the priest saw a wall ornament move, and a twenty-four inch Boar's tooth necklace exploded loudly, drawing the other guests to the room. One person took a quick photo, which showed two rays of light going from the doll towards the priest.

Now, "Annabelle" sits in the Warrens Occult Museum in a glass fronted display box with a warning not to tap the glass... probably the most famous doll in paranormal history...

The Great Amherst Mystery (Amherst, Nova Scotia)

September 1878 saw the beginning of one of Canada's most famous poltergeist cases- the Great Amherst Mystery. Daniel Teed, wife, Olive Cox Teed took Mrs. Teed's 19 year old niece, Esther Cox into their Princess Street house, unaware of the unusual events that were to begin taking place.

Shortly before moving in with her aunt, Esther had been the victim of an attempted rape by Bob MacNeal- a local shoemaker with a bad reputation. She escaped with minor injuries, but many suspect that the incident left a deeper psychic wound that lead eventually into the strange occurances that followed.

Like many poltergeist, it began with little things: small fires that would start and go out by themselves, unexplainable noises and voices, and knocking on the floor, walls and ceiling. Eventually, other phenomena started to make themselves seen, such as Esther Cox seeming to bulge and inflate like an overblown balloon, her fingers and toes even swelling to extremes, before suddenly deflating back to normal. These events would seem like something out of a horror novel, if they hadn't been witness by numerous people in the community. One event was especially unnerving, indeed. On the wall, above Esther's bed, appeared the words, "Esther Cox,

you are mine to kill".

It became common belief that it was Esther that was haunted, rather than the house, when the inexplicable occurances followed her elsewhere. A Baptist service was interrupted by the knockings and rapping sounds coming from the front pew, even though she was sitting at the back of the church. As she fled in humiliation from the church, the loud sounds ceased.

Automatic writing and spiritualist were used in an attempt to find out what was causing these mysterious events surrounding Esther. One session of automatic writing brought forth a spirit

claiming to be Miss Maggie Fisher, who had attended the same school as Esther, but had died in 1867. Neither had known each other personally, though they had been aware of each other at school.

Some coincidences at this time cast doubts on the validity of the spiritual connection. Other spirits had names far too similar to people around her- and Bob MacNeal specifically, to be considered honest spirits. Names like Bob Nickle (same first name, similar last name, and same profession), a 60 year old spirit; Mary Fisher (Maggie Fisher's sister); Peter Teed, John Nickle, and Eliza MacNeal. Many feel that theses spirits were actually the psychic manifestation of Esther Cox's emotional trauma due to the attempted rape by Bob MacNeal.

Possibly seeing how all the coincidences might point at his somehow being the root cause of the events plaguing Esther Cox, MacNeal claimed that Bob Nickle had been haunting him as well for several years... as if to say that this spirit was the cause of MacNeal's own violent acts.

In an attempt to turn her problems to her advantage, Esther, and actor Walter Hubbell, went on tour in 1879, hoping to make some sort of living by recounting her experiences to those willing to pay. She met Hubbell when he'd travelled to Amherst for the sole purpose of seeing the ghostly mainifestations himself. Unfortunately for them, things did not go well. A riot broke out one night when a rival theatre owner leapt up and started heckling them. Soon, the crowd joined in and got out of hand.

There was one last major poltergeist event in Esther's life before things settled down somewhat. Arthur Davison, another resident of Amherst, was kind enough to hire Esther to work on his ranch. Even though he was a skeptic, he did acknowledge seeing repeatedly poltergeist activity while Esther lived there. Things climaxed at the ranch when his barn caught fire, and burnt to the ground.

Accused of arson by Davidson, Esther was convicted and sentanced to four months in prison. She was released after only one month due to public support rallying behind the woman who was beset by supernatural occurances.

After the barn burning incident, the poltergeist seemed to disipate to minor annoyances. Esther was even able to find a measure of happiness by marrying first Mr. Adams of Springdale, Nova Scotia- and later Mr. Shanahan of Brockton, MA. Esther Cox Shanahan passed away in 1912. To date, this case has been one of the most famous supernatural cases of Canadian history.