October 10, 2025 • 51 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, join us as we delve into our favorite
dark tales and paranormal mysteries.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Venture with us beyond the safe places that exist in daylight.
As we go Beyond the Shadows, true crime, paranormal hauntings, UFOs,
cryptids and unsolved mysteries, conspiracy theories, past lives, reincarnation and
all the like are.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Just a few of the topics that we will tackle.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
If it haunts your fucking dreams, then it will be
on our show. Do you know what the most fighting
in the world is.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
On the shuttles where you found me at you can't
see me in the deepest blacks when your heart starbus
and then you see their cracks, all these creepy things
that you why at track Well, the demens be where
the actions at. So this enough you want it, UFOs,
all the ghosts, We got everything that you want.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It won't do you know what the thing in the
world is?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Hi, and welcome back to episode one hundred and sixty
one of Beyond the Shadows.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Welcome back you shadow bastards. That's been coming up a
lot lately. I've just seeing a lot of that in
our emails. And yeah, it's tie, It's not just tie,
but it is tie. First off, I want to thank
Gina Sorrows from the UK. She gave us a nice
review on Apple get a few more on Spotify. We
(01:32):
appreciate those. Like I said, we can't see who gives those,
but we appreciate you for doing that.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Also, we're running really low on fire Pits, guys, real low.
You know, when we first did this show, we took
a risk right off the get go and decided that
we were going to do fire Pits, you know, with
you guys's stories and stuff. And we've been super lucky.
You know. We started out it was stories from our
friends and families and a couple of few of our
(02:00):
stories thrown in there. But I mean the stories have
been coming all along. You guys have kept us going.
But we are running low. We need more. We do
have a few, but we need more stories. So if
you got him, please get him in Beyond the Shadows
two o seven at gmail dot com. So what you
got in the news?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So last week we get two officers with the Lubbock,
Texas Mounted Patrol. They stop a man for walking in
the middle of the road rather than on the sidewalk.
It seems a little. Sometimes they'll just let that go, right,
you just crossing the fuck. It's like jawalk, Come on, man.
So anyway, after they started talking to him, they noticed
(02:40):
the man is acting stiff and nervous, so they asked
him if they could search his pockets. Forty two year
old Joseph Ramirez tells them no, which is never a
good answer because they're gonna do it anyway.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
At that point if they ask if one of.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
The officers then makes a joking comment about how he
has a drug smelling horse. Poor Joseph missed a joke
and he takes off run. Now he's fucking no matter what,
they got their probable cause. Now he's gonna be high
as ship to think he's gonna run two horses. It's
a mounted patrol, like they gonna catch you. Oh yeah,
(03:13):
they catching and fast thoroughbred can't catch a drugged out dude.
You know you're fucked. So I think he actually ditched
the drugs during his flight. But they got him for
tampering with physical evidence with the intent to impair. I've
never heard that charge before, but that is where they
get him for. And of course the evading arrest.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Right, so he made things worse.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, he could could have just talked it out with
the horse and he would have.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, it would have been good. Gi him a carrot.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
We got a sixty year old man from Guadaloupe. He
recently rubbed a supermarket at gunpoint. After the robbery was done,
he casually ate some cheese, drank some wine, then just
strolled out to his car to wait, just stood there
it bystanders said it almost seemed like he was waiting
to be caught, and it turns out he was. Oddly enough,
(04:02):
his grandson is in prison and having a hard time
on the inside. He's been attacked by inmates several times,
and Grandpa I just wanted to help him out.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
This guy is a real one.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, he's mister Yaggi.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
But the planned bagfire because the judge decided he did
not need to go to prison because his crime, for
his crimes, because his record was clean and he was
a genuine nice gutch. He didn't get prison.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
He got punched the judge in the face. Parole and
a bunch of that ship.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
But I mean, I don't know how much your street
cred is gonna go up when your grandpa comes in
a prison, save your ass.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
But good on the grandpa. Grandpa seems like a badass.
Good on Gray for trying, Yeah, no doubt so.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
The grandson remains fucked to our time. I don't.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And a drink.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
A thirty three year old truck driver from the UK
named Nathan Rimington recently ordered a six point six pound
bag of Harribo Cola flavored gummy bears. Three days later,
he ended up in the emergency room with severe abdominal pain, sweating,
high blood pressure, and a cold sweat. He was diagnosed
with acute to reticulate us particulates. It turns out that
(05:15):
eating six point six pounds of gelatinous candies in less
than three days isn't good for you.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
What a bitchit six point six that's it?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Who the fuck would have known that? That's not help?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I don't know do that every weekend. He ended up
being in the hospital for like then, dude, I remember
when I was in the say.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Rationing them out. But he's a truck driver right the.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Whole time, right there, and you can't get away from it.
Was probably his meal. When I was in the Air Force,
it was right at the end of desert storm. I
went over and they were sending like all of the
big companies were sending stuff to the soldiers over there,
and they sent like piles and piles of candy. I
mean there was just tons of it. And I remember
(05:56):
huge bags of those gummy We eat those by the
fifth fall. There's so many fucking gummy bears. So I mean,
I survived.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
This guy seems kind of like gummy bear is one
of those candies I will eat if they're in front
of me, but I don't even really enjoy them. Oh
my god, I love I'll shuffle from my mouth just
because they're there. It's like candy corns the same way.
I don't like them, though.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Buy a bag.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Every year, I buy a bag and I'm like, those
look good. They're not good.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
They're not good.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I eat five or six gross candy corn is awful.
But they change the shape and I'll try it again.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Oh, this will be good.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It's a candy pump It's a candy pumpkin.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
We'll give that a shot again, just as gross. I'm
gonna hold out for the ghost.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
An eighty year old woman from hangs Out Shyinga recently
began experiencing back pain. She didn't see a doctor, take
aspurn or any other such trivial remedy. She did, however,
have family and members gather live frogs, but she didn't
tell them what the frogs were for a few days later.
She did finally go and see the doctors, but not
(06:58):
for the back pain. It was for the un bearable
stomach pain she was now experiencing as a direct result
of the eight live frogs she swallowed. She had severe
parasitic infection and the doctors found this sparganum tapeworm in
her system as well. She spent two weeks in the hospital,
(07:19):
which gave doctors plenty of time to check out her
back while she was there.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
You know how steward does she feel finding out that
it's actually nine frogs that you need? She just cut it,
just cut a short one. You'd have been fine.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
You can't cut out ingredients like that. Yeah, the ninth
frog would have balanced everything. She would have been in
harmony that moment.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
She was so close right there.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Over the past year, six thousand students at nine campuses
of ACU or the Australian Catholic University have been accused
of cheating using AI. During investigation, the students transcripts were withheld,
often costing the students' jobs and graduate positions. The university
took the position that it was up to the students
(08:06):
to prove their innocence rather than for the school to
prove their guilt. It was basically an AI program that
read flagged the students in the first place, where it
was AI trying to catch AI's basically what.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
AI flag them for using AI.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
The university says they are working on their procedures and
trying to resolve any issues, but they've seriously fucked some
of the students in that program. But oh yeah, the
accusations of cheating. I don't know how as the tuition
works out in Australia, but in America you pay through
the nose and it's probably the same there. So you
got these kids paying forty fifty thousand a year and
at the end, rather than getting your diploma, they're getting
(08:46):
accused of cheating so they don't get their papers. I mean,
what a fucking scam this thing is.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
At least I knew if this was me, I deserved
it because I did. I mean, these guys, can you
imagine you're that close to oh yeah, yeah, and then
they say, there's no proof that they actually did No.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
They're throwing out rough numbers because they're still looking into it.
But it sounds like at least three quarters of these
students didn't do anything wrong, so maybe a quarter of
them were cheating, which it's probably standard these days. If
he I was available when I was at age, oh,
I'd be at all kinds of.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Dumber than I am. Now you think my reading sucks? Now,
if I had a I could have done it for.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Me, I'd be fully dar Vader in that world doing
all kinds of creepy ship. But most of these kids
didn't do anything. They pay all that money into the
end they get fucked like that's not the way it's
supposed to work.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Now that sucks. Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So that's it for the news this week. What do
you get going on?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Well, since the spooky season, I had to do a
ghost and I think we'll call this one now as
the Bell Tolls. We're gonna do the bell Witch.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Oh nice, just place Metallica right now. The bell tolls
were right back, guys.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
You know what. In the early nineteenth century, Tennessee was
a land of opportunity, drawing families from the worn out
fields of the eastern state to its fertile valleys. Robertson County,
(10:17):
nestled in the states north, was rolling hills, dense forest,
and winding rivers, where settlers carved out farms and built
tight knit communities around Baptist and Presbyterian churches. Outsteps John
Bell and his family in eighteen oh four, seeking a
fresh start. In eighteen oh four, Tennessee was still a
(10:39):
young state, having joined the Union just eight years earlier.
Its promise of cheap land and abundant resources lured thousands
from Virginia and the Carolinas, where over farm soil no
longer yield enough substance for growing families. You know, I
didn't really think about this, but you know, the fields
(11:01):
would have got wiped out real quick. Back then, there
was no fertilized I mean, they used manure and stuff
like that, but there was no fertilizer like what we
have today. And they didn't rotate crops and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Now they were warn about fast for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Robertson County, centered around the Red River, was a magnet
for these immigrants or migrants. Its rich looms supported corn, tobacco,
and livestock, while the creeks and springs provided water for
mills and households. The county settlers, mostly Scottish Irish descendants,
(11:35):
brought with them a deep Protestant fate, making churches like
Red River Baptists the heart of social and spiritual life.
Neighbors gathered for Sunday services, barn raisings, and harvest festivals,
forging bonds in the lands still shadowed by the occasional
presence of the Cherokee and Creek tribes. John Bell born
(11:58):
in seventeen fifty in North Carolina was a man shaped
by the American Revolution. As a young private in North
Carolina's militia, he served during the seventeen eighty one Yorktowns Campaign.
After the war, he settled into farming, marrying Lucy Williams
(12:20):
in seventeen eighty two. Lucy was born in seventeen sixty.
She came from a family of modes modest planters and
was known for her resilience. Together they raised a large family,
of course, they all had large families back then.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Eight kids, you were prudes exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Jess was born in seventeen eighty two. Drury seventeen eighty five.
John Junior seventeen eighty seven. Elizabeth, who went by Betsy,
was seventeen ninety four, Joel eighteen oh one, Alexander eighteen
oh three, and by eighteen oh four her Uterus fellow.
North Carolina's depleted soil and the raising land prices pushed
(13:05):
John to seek new prospects. Tennessee's was bountiful, with cheap
land grants, thriving game, and access to the Ohio River trade.
This convinced him to relocate. John purchased three hundred and
twenty eight acres along the Red River for three hundred
(13:25):
and twenty dollars. That's not even a dollar an acre.
That's close to the prices today, a bargain reflecting the
speculate speculative nature. The property, near what would later become
the town of Adams, featured a fertile hollow ideal for farming,
(13:46):
and a creek sustainable for milling. By eighteen ten, the
Bells had built a sturdy log cabin with black walnut
walls and clayed chinking. You know what that is stuff
they stick in the gaps, surrounded by outbuildings for livestock
and storage. The family at this time had three slaves.
(14:07):
By the name of Dean. He was the older field hand.
Vienna was a skilled cook, and their teenage son little Dean,
who tended horses. While slavery was less widespread in Robertson
County than in the Deep South, this was still case. Unfortunately.
That's how it was in these days. Yeah. Life on
(14:27):
the Bell's farm was a cycle of labor and faith.
Mornings began with milking cows and harnessing oxen for plowing.
John rotated. He did rotate. That was one of the
things about him. He said, a little bit ahead of
his time. He rotated corn and tobacco crops to preserve
the soils for keep it fertile.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
That is smart, this way ahead of his time, right, Yeah,
it really is. How would they have known that early?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
This practice set him apart from less forward thinking neighbors.
Lucy managed the household spinning wool and preserving It goes
my phone, that's never happened. It's my mom. Should we
answer it?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
All?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Right? There was a rotating corn and tobacco crops. I
read that Lucy was spinning wool and preserving vegetables while Betsy,
the older daughter, studied under Richard Powell, a local Schoolmaster
Paul taught a reading, arithmetic, and etiquette. Can you imagine
etiquette being one of you my kid could use now,
neither of us took an etiquette No, obviously, they had
(15:32):
to prepare her for marriage and domestic life, you know.
And Sundays that was reserved for worship at the Red
River Baptist Church, where John was selected as an elder
in eighteen oh nine. John's role extended beyond the farm
as he's also a justice of the peace. He would
(15:52):
deal with disputes over stray live stocks or boundary lines,
earning a reputation for fairness. Bye, I would can you
imagine having to deal with especially property lines. Back then
here here in Maine, everybody moved all the rocks to
the We have rock walls everywhere because they moved them
to the edge of the land out there. I mean,
(16:14):
you get a steak in the ground somewhere.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
We still have that year. A lot people fuck with
the steak in the ground, and that leads to big disputes.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Even with the walls. They said that the farmers used
to go out and they would slowly move the walls
over into that. That's a lot of rock that is
so much work. Those rocks are not living, build those
in the first place, moving them just to get a
couple extra feet of land, and fuck it ain't worth it.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Who really wins there?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
By eighteen seventeen, the Bell's holdings had grown to over
one thousand acres, and their farm was a hub of activity.
The wharf eighteen twelve had recently ended, with sons jess
Drury and John Junior serving under Andrew Jackson at the
Battle of New Orleans in eighteen fifteen. Their return brought
pride in stories of victory, reinforcing the family's standard standing
(17:04):
in the community. The summer of eighteen seventeen shattered the
Bell's tranquility. On a hot July afternoon, John walked through
his cornfield and inspecting stocks plagued by bors, he spotted
an odd creature, dog sized, with a sleek body but
the head of a rabbit, its eyes wide and unblinking. Instinctively,
(17:29):
John raised his hunting rifle and fired. The shot echoed,
but the creature vanished, leaving only a faint whiff of
something sharp like burnt air. Shaken. John dismissed it as
a trick. Over the heat. It's just a trick. He
just he could have just shot Steve. The next morning,
Steve looked a lot like a rabbit today because it
(17:51):
was so fucking hot hot? How was I supposed to know?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
He shouldn't have been there when it was over ninety dreams.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
He thought it was a trick of the heat from
long hours under the sun. He told no one, fearing
he had shot his name, he'd sound foolish. That night,
as a family gathered for supper, though, the first unmistakable
sign emerged. A loud, rhythmic thumping struck the cabin's exterior walls,
like hammer blows from unseen hands. The sound encircled the house,
(18:22):
pausing then resuming for nearly ten minutes. John grabbed a
lantern and searched outside, expecting to find a prankster or
an animal. The ground was unmarked. The night still, the
younger boys, Joel and Alexander, huddled near John Junior, who
(18:43):
scanned the dark corners of the room. The disturbance persisted
night after night. The thumping returned, sometimes soft, sometimes so
forceful it rattled tin cups on the table. John patrolled
the property, checking fences and out buildings, but found no cause.
By August, the noise moved indoors, scratching sounds like claws
(19:06):
on wood. Drury woke up one night to his quilt
yanked to the floor. John Junior skeptical and battled hardened
strung twine across the doorways to catch intruders, but the
lines they stayed untouched. While the chaos grew, Whispers began
faint at first, like a woman humming. John confided in
(19:30):
James Johnston, a trusted neighbor and deacon at the Red
River Baptist Church. Johnston spent a night at the farm
in September of eighteen seventeen. As the household slept, the
disturbances intensified. Johnson's blankets were torn from his bed, and
a sharp slap struck his cheek, leaving a welt that
(19:51):
glowed red. By morning. He earned. He urged john to
seek church. Elders had hesitated, weary of ridicule, And can
you imagine back then how much rheticule? Back then they'll
hang you for being a witch.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
For yeah, I mean the but like, yeah, your house
is possessed, burned to your daughters. We'll call it a day.
It's all calls in the morning. Yes, So you don't.
I wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Back then, a chance superstition was a delicate topic. Neighbors
might shun the bells, or as unhinged or worse, cursed
words spread regardless, though, by autumn, whispers of the bell
Witch reached the Red River gritsmell. Curious visitors arrived. That's
(20:38):
the other thing. Back then, there was no television, there
was no movie. There's nothing to do. Yeah, shit's going on.
They're showing up at your house. Watch the haunting, curious visit,
especially if there's a murder. We've covered that so many times.
Murder showtime.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Let's go watch the Bells are Fucked episode four, Right now.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Curious visitors arrived housewives with bundles of sage preachers with crosses,
hoping to witness and to banish the entity. The disturbance
seemed to thrive on attention. The thumping grew louder, and
the whispers sharpened into voice. They started quoting psalms with
(21:16):
eerie precision. Oh Jack, your days are numbered, it taunted John.
Betsy's nights became a torment. Invisible fingers tugged her hair,
leaving welts on her scalp. The farm suffered cornfields withered
despite ample rain, Livestock drew skittish, refusing to enter the
(21:38):
Barnes John's health, which was great before, now faltered. A
persistent cough and fatigue plagued him. The community response was mixed.
Some offer sympathy, others kept their distance, fearing divine just
I'd have kept my distance just because they had a
fucking witch. I've dated a few. A few enterprising neighbors
(22:02):
charged visitors to glimpse the haunted farm, turning it into
a spectacle. Can you imagine your neighbors is set up?
If I can come one, come home.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
The little viewing posts right.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
By early eighteen eighteen, the family stood at a crossroads.
There once perfect life unraveled under the force they could
neither explain nor escape. By eighteen eighteen, the Bells family's
farm was no longer the peaceful haven it had been.
The strange disturbances that began the previous year, it escalated
(22:36):
into something way more sinister. The entity now called Kate
by the family was no longer just mysterious noises. They
should have came up with a better name than Kate
case just not scary. That's a reason for that. Not
They knew that it's both. He spoke clearly, manipulated objects,
(23:02):
and inflicted physical harm. From eighteen eighteen to eighteen twenty one,
Kate's presence dominated the household, transforming daily life into a
gauntlet of fear and fascination, the Bell's attempt to cope,
and the influx of visitors, most notably Andrew Jackson himself,
(23:22):
who came to witness the phenomena that locals were beginning
to call the Bell witch. On one chilly February evening,
as the Bell sat down to a dinner, the voice interrupted,
Old Jack, you're hoggin' the gravy, it snapped, addressing John
Bell by a nickname he despised. The family froze forks
(23:44):
halfway to the mouth as the voice seemed to emanate
from the fireplace. No one was there, yet the words
were as clear as if a guest had spoken. The
voice soon became a regular presence, awful, often quoting Scripture, Psalms,
or Genesis, but with a mocking twist, as if taunting
(24:04):
the family's Baptist faith. That would be my luck. I
get a ghost that would fucking taunt me like a life.
Don't suck it up, case antics grew physical, and in
March eighteen eighteen, a family bible sailed off of a
parlor shelf, landing open with pages fluttering as if caught
(24:26):
in a breeze. John Junior inspected the book for strings
or tricks, but found nothing. A week later, chairs in
the dining room toppled during a prayer, falling to the
floor with no apparent cause. The most alarming incident came
in June eighteen nineteen, when the heavy oak dining table
flipped upside down during supper, spilling plates and stew across
(24:52):
the room. John checked the table's legs for sabotage, but
they were intact. The family began eating in ships. Wary
of Kate's disruption, Betsy bore the brunt of Kate's malice.
Nearly every night, she awoke to sharp tugs on her hair,
as if invisible fingers were yanking it from her skulp.
(25:16):
She'd get red welts, like I said before, and sometimes
not just on her head, but on her arms. They
were shaped like handprints, and by mid eighteen eighteen, faint
scratches or mark her face, fading only after hours. Kate
seemed obsessed with Betsy's engagement to Joshua Gardener, a twenty
(25:36):
five year old Miller's son. When the couple strolled along
the Red River, Kate's voice would boom, Betsy, he'll lead
you to ruin one Sunday and eighteen n right, I.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Just cockwock from the other side, just yelling at the trees.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
It's this, this spirit witch whatever.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Didn't ever even stay at the house. Man to follow
them all over the right.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
That's the worst. That's the worst kind you no freedom, dude,
adn't get anyhow.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
We'll go to the point. She won't be there, guess who. Anyways, Betsy,
he'll lead you to ruin. On Sunday eighteen nineteen, during
a community picnic at this at Sabbath Springs, Kate's cackle
echoed so loud that picnickers fled, leaving baskets of fried
(26:31):
chicken and corn bread behind. Joshua, though undeterred he's getting some,
he proposed to Betsy in eighteen twenty, but Kate's relentless
interference cast a shadow over their plans. The Bells tried
everything to stop Kate. Jarn scarred the cabin for loose
(26:51):
boards or hidden pranksters. I mean after how many years
is he gonna keep looking? Yeah? He set up the
twine traps like before around beds and doorways, hoping to
catch a culprit, but disturbances continued unchecked. Lucy turned to
her faith, leading nightly prayers and brewing herbal remedies.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I thought the houses were pretty small back then. There's
only so many places somebody can be hiding.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
You know, shit right. She sprinkled salt in the corners,
a folk remedy against evil spirits, but Kate scoffed. That
won't keep me out. Lucy John Junior attempted to confront
Kate directly. What do you want with us? He demanded
one night. The response was a chilling laugh, followed by
(27:38):
a gust that blew out the candles. The younger children,
Joel seventeen and Alexander fifteen, were terrified but curious, whispering
about Cherokee legends of forest spirits. Drury, quieter and more reserved, withdrew,
his sleep disrupted by blankets yanked to the floor. The
(28:02):
enslaved members of the household. I don't know how else
to put that. Dean, Vienna and Little Dean faced their
own torments Dean's Dean was the field hand, reported invisible
lashes across his back, leaving welts that married like he
would he had been whipped. Vienna, the cook found her
(28:23):
pots boiling over or cracking without heat. Little Dean challenged
Kate to show herself, only to be shoved against the
smokehouse wall one night in eighteen twenty, bruising his shoulder.
Yet Kate occasionally showed a softer side, particularly with Lucy.
(28:45):
One evening, a broom swept to swept the kitchen floor unaided,
and Lucy found the laundry folded in neat stacks, as
if Kate sought to ease her burden. John sought advice
from Richard Pole, Betsy's former school pau In, an intellectual
with an interest in the occult text, visited the family
(29:07):
in late eighteen eighteen. He thought that Kate might be
a collective delusion or a ventuiloquit, a Van Triloquist trip,
but his theories crumbled when Kate addressed him in tongue
he couldn't identify, possibly Hebrew or Cherokee. I'm the spirit
of one wronged here long ago, she claimed, alleging John's
(29:33):
plowing had disturbed her resting place. It's possible that. I mean, yeah,
as far as things go, but I mean, boys, you'd
really given it to him. She's very angry about that.
I guess if you're a witch. Paul scribbled notes furiously,
and he grew his curiosity grew in really intense. Though
(29:55):
whispers in town suggested his frequent villain visits stemmed from
a fund of Betsy, complicating his role as an impartial observer.
So he had a little hots for Betsy. It sounds
like the most prominent visitor I mentioned earlier arrived in
April eighteen nineteen, Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle
(30:16):
of New Orleans. Fresh from his campaign against the Creed,
Jackson was traveling to Nashville when tales of the Bell
Witch piqued his interest. A skeptic with a taste for adventure,
he brought soldiers, horses and a supply wagon. As he
approached the farm, the wagon sank into a mud patch
(30:37):
near the Red River, immovable. Despite the men's effort, Kate's
voice rang out, turned back, Old Hickory, your witch, tamers
of fraud. Jackson, startled by his private nickname, pressed on,
intrigued at the farm, the bells offered hospitality, rose venison, cornbread,
(30:58):
and Lucy's apple pie. That night, Kate unleashed chaos. Blankets
were torn from soldier's bed, and one man yelped as
if an invisible hand slapped his face, leaving a stinging mark.
A self proclaimed witch tamer in Jackson's group, armed with
a silver bullet, boasts that he could banish Kate. Before
(31:20):
he could act, Kate's voice bellowed, You're no match for me.
An unseen force hurled him through the cabin door, landing
him in the dirt. The soldiers rattled demanded to leave.
Jackson stayed until dawn, confiding to John, this is a
force beyond reckoning. He departed, vowing never to return. Other
(31:42):
visitors flocked to the farm. Red River Baptist preachers attempted exorcisms,
wielding crosses in scripture, but Kate countered with mocking, with
mocking reciting of their own sermons. One evening, she sang
Methodist hymn so perfectly that a visiting preacher mistook it
(32:04):
for the divine until her laughter revealed the ruse. Nashville newspapers,
sensing a sensation, sent reporters whose stories spread the tale
through Tennessee. Kate's cruelty intensified. John's face had red marks
from her slaps, and his speech grew slurred, as if
his tongue were seized or maybe at a stroke. Betsy's
(32:28):
torment peaked. Kate's warning about Joshua Gardner, he'll die young,
mark my words so doubts. In eighteen twenty The couple
planned a June eighteen twenty one wedding, but Kate sabotaged
her outing during a horseback ride. Their rains snapped unexplainably
(32:48):
at a church social Kate shrieks drowned out the music. Exhausted,
Betsy ended the engagement in April eighteen twenty one, returning
Joshua's ring under a will tree. He left for Kentucky,
where he died in eighteen thirty six, fulfilling Kate's grim prophecy.
(33:09):
But Kate wasn't always malicious. She sang lullabies to Joel
and Alexander. You'd like to be everyone else in the house,
and those two get a lullaby like fuck you last
mass of every night I'm sleeping.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
You wait your term, bitch, I'm singing a song you
with you in a minute.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
To Lucy, she offered mid midwife advice, suggesting herbs like
foxglove for childbirth pain, which proved effective. Her contradictions baffled
the family. One moment she torment him, the next a sage.
Kate also made bold predictions to John Junior. She spoke
(33:51):
of a great war in eighteen sixty one and of
take of a talking wire across the sea. By eighteen
twenty one, farms struggled, crops failed despite John's careful rotation,
and livestock panicked in the livestock's panicking in their stalls.
(34:11):
The community was divided. Some saw Kate as a genuine spirit,
others suspected fraud or madness. Gossip about Pile's interest in
Betsy fueled tensions, further isolating the family. Kate's presidents, now
a public spectacle, drew krows that disturbed daily life. Can
you imagine people showing up your your house, just daily,
(34:34):
coming to look at the bell witch?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Watch you get mocked right, look at him.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
She's slapping him in the face again, slap him again.
He's getting his ask kids patch him in the dank
John's you put coins in get to pick where they
get slapped. By late eighteen twenty, the Bell's family farm
was a place of exhaustion and dread. The spirit known
as Kate had tormented them for years, turning their once
(35:01):
driving homestead into a battleground.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
In autumn of eighteen twenty, John, now seventy, began to falter.
A man who had once strolled his fields with confidence,
overseeing crops and settling community disputes, was now plagued by
physical ailments. His face twitched uncontrollably, as if pulled by
(35:25):
invisible strings, and his hands trembled, making it hard to
hold the plow or a pen. His speech slurred. His
slurred speech alarmed his family. I mean, all this stuff
could be attributed to the fact that he was seventy
back in the eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Well, yeah, it could be. I mean, the lifespan back
then wasn't that.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Long, Stoce. I mean, this dude was seventy.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
It's probably a collection of ailments.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
I mean, how many people you think made it to
seventy back then?
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Not many, Not many at all.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Lucy noticed that John had a persistent cough that left
him weak. By October, he could barely walk without leaning
on a cane or his son's. The family called for
the doctors from Springfield, doctor Samuel Harrison and doctor William Battle.
They diagnosed a nervous fever, but their remedies bitter herbs.
(36:18):
You got a nervous fever. Take these fucking dandelion You
should be better in the morning.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Get drunk twice. Cut off your hand. Calls on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
You need an ear nail. They offered no relief. Kate's
voice mocked him from the air. You quacks can't save him.
Kate's torments intensified alongside John's illness. Old Jack, your time's
running out, she taunted, her voice echoing from the cabin's rafters.
(36:57):
John was stubborn to the end. He tried to dismiss her,
but his strength waned. Betsy, now twenty three, sat by
his side, reading psalms to sue them, while John Junior
and Drury kept vigil. On December nineteenth, eighteen twenty, John
(37:18):
laid in bed, barely conscious. A small glass vial appeared
on his bedside table, containing a clear, odorless liquid. No
one knew where it came from. Lucy swore she hadn't
placed it there, and the children were equally baffled. Just
desperate and delirious, John drank a sip, mistaking it for medicine.
(37:42):
Within minutes, he slipped into a deep coma, his breathing shallow.
By noon on December twentieth, John's breath stopped. Lucy wept,
clutching his hand, while Betsy and her younger brothers, Joel
and Alexander hurtled together. The Red Her Baptist Church Cemetery
hosted the funeral two days later, on December twenty second.
(38:06):
Three preachers or reverends, James Meadore met her, Joshua Harrelson
and Thomas Garrett led the service. Neighbors crowded the graveyard,
offering condolences but whispering about the strange events at the
Bell's farm. Kate disrupted, singing tavern songs about whiskey and revery.
(38:34):
As the preacher spoke, Jack's gone and I sent him,
she sang. As the coffin was lowered into the frozen earth,
chilling the mourners. Back at the farm, John Junior found
a mysterious vial half empty. Suspicious, he tested a drop
on a stray cat near the barn. That's cool, Kitty, Kitty.
(38:56):
The animal convulsed, foaming at the mouth, and died within minutes.
Kate's voice laughed, A double dose of old Jack, just
a taste for the beast. John Junior hurled the viol
into the fireplace, where it erupted into a blue flame,
releasing a sharp, almond like scent. I couldn't I saw
(39:18):
that in the writing, and I cannot remember what it
is that gives off that scent.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Is arsenic? Is arsen That's what I was thinking, Always
an almond scent.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
The family was convinced Kate had poisoned John, though how
a spirit could produce a physical substance remained a mystery.
The incident deepened their fear. After John's death, Lucy faced
the daunting task of managing the farm as a widow.
Kate's behavior shifted, her malice, tempered by the moment of
(39:52):
eerie helpfulness. In January eighteen twenty one, Lucy awoke to
find the kitchen floors swept clean and a broom propped
neatly against the wall. On another occasion, this happened before too,
laundry left on the line was folded into very nice stacks,
as if carefully, as if by careful hands. Lucy torn
(40:15):
between gratitude and uneas murmured prayers of thanks but kept
a weary eye. Kate's kindness was unpredictable. I mean, how
the fuck are you gonna You're gonna trust the ghost
and be thankful, which.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
I'll kill one of your family members every two years,
but I'll do the laundry every now and again.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
So think I'm gonna help you out. Yes, I killed him,
but look how nice he said, Look at these but
I'll mop Look at these hospital corners I folded on
your bed.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
How many people would take that deal these days? All right?
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Well? Uh, Drury now helping run the farm face face
her wrath. In February eighteen twenty one, when half his
wheat field was slashed down over night, as if by
an invisible blade, he stayed up with a lantern, hoping
to catch the culprit, but saw only shadows. Betsy's still
(41:10):
reeling from her broken engagement to Josh, found temporary reprieve.
Kate rarely targeted her. Now, perhaps satisfied with John's demise,
She's like I made her miserable that she could. In
April eighteen twenty one, Kate gathered the family for a
(41:30):
final address. As they sat by the Kate saying, come on,
come on, have an announcement. Hold on, Kate wants you.
Kate's calling as they sat by the hearth, her voice
rang out from above. I'm leaving this place. I had
enough of your shit. This is literally what they claimed.
(41:53):
She said, I'm leaving this place, but I'll return in
seven years to speak with John Junior. Mind your ways.
A gust of wind roared through the cabin, slamming shutters
in extinguishing candles. Then silence. The thumps, scratches, and voices ceased.
The bells waited, expecting a trick, but days passed without incident.
(42:16):
They began repairing the farm, replanting fields, calming livestock, hoping
for normalcy, but haunted by Kate's promise tudor a word.
Kate returned in April eighteen twenty eight, So for seven
years nothing. John Junior, now forty one and operating a
mill nearby, was prepared. For three weeks. He met with
(42:40):
Kate in the cabin's parlor, lit by flickering candles. He
recorded her words in a note book, his hand steady
despite the eerie setting. Kate spoke of grand ideas, life
emerging from ancient seas, lost civilization swallowed by oceans, and
(43:00):
a coming war in eighteen sixty one, where Kin would
fight Kin, she would obviously the Civil War. She predicted
inventions like a wire to carry voices across the seas,
foreshadowing the Transatlantic Cable. Some prophecies hit the mark woman
suffrage in nineteen twenty the Civil War, while others, like
(43:23):
a presidency that never occurred missed. She urged John Junior
to live justly, warning churches grow fat on rule, thin
on grace. In late May, Kate announced, I'll come again
in one hundred and seven years to your kin. That's
so specific. In seven years, I had a friend that
(43:45):
Alas is saying me me in the park at seven
oh one, it's the same shit. A win swept through
and she was gone. John Junior sealed his notes, sharing
them only with trusted family. In nineteen thirty five, doctor
Charles Bailey Bell, John's great grandson and a neurologist, awaited
(44:09):
Kate's promise return. His nineteen thirty four book, The Bell Witch,
A Mysterious Spirit, compiled family's accounts, including John Junior's eighteen
twenty eight notes, Adams buzzed with anticipations. Locals reported whispers
in the bell Witch Cave, a limestone cavern on the
(44:29):
old farm, and shadows at dusk. Newspapers covered the visual,
and some residents kept watch with lanterns. No defined manifestation occurred,
though faint voices were reported. Possibly the win Charles Disappointed
died in nineteen forty five, leaving the question unresolved.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Disappointed the Witch didn't come visit him again. Exact torment,
the fam a couple of family members. I'd like to
be rid of Kate.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Today. The bell Witch Cave draws thousands annually, offering tours
and ghost hunts. Adams host festivals with re enactors and storytellers,
keeping Kate alive. The Bellwich endures. That's the story.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
I wrote down one question, and I want to cut
you off while you're doing it. I don't know if
you know the answer, but obviously you mentioned Andrew Jackson,
future President of the United States, obviously a well read,
well remembered Did he ever mention this or is it
just other people that mentioned it?
Speaker 1 (45:34):
As far as did.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
He write of it?
Speaker 1 (45:35):
As far as I know other people, I don't think
he wrote wrote of it, it would.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Carry a lot more clout of Andrew Jackson himself mentioned
it rather than somebody else saying Andrew Jackson witnessed it, right,
because anybody can say that, it doesn't mean it's true, right, absolutely,
It's a fascinating tale.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
It's just too it's just too much, you know what
I mean. I mean with this one, I say, maybe
the story started out and there truly was some type
of haunting, but the extent that it goes to, like
this thing is gonna have a full conversation with you too.
I mean, it's just too it's just too much for me,
(46:12):
you know what. You know what I mean. It's just
some are believable, but you know, like blankets flying, being
pulled and flown over your head happened to my wife's family,
this stuff like that. But a whole vial of poison
shows up on the night stand and then you know,
stuff like that. It's just just too much for me.
(46:33):
I mean, obviously the folklore is going to grow as
time goes on. Yeah, so I mean, maybe this isn't
the original story and it's been blown up over time
or whatever, and it was a fact, But I mean
from the things you hear from this story, I rate
it really low on the fact of it being true
as it's written. One Now, maybe true.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
What attend was the bell Witch reel at all?
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Well? To say that she was real? I mean, if
that many people thought something was going on, maybe maybe
five or.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Six, but they were all related. Yeah, I'm not saying that. Well,
I mean, you know, one member of the family lies,
they might all lie. I'm not saying they were right.
I'm saying that now most your witnesses here, this.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Story happened the way that it's written, in the way
that I presented it, and I put that way down
at like a two or three. The fact that there
was something there, there's a good possibility there was the
fact that it was the way the story is written
very unlikely.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Is there a house there today?
Speaker 1 (47:31):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
I'm sure it's not at the house, but they're probably
a house.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
I'm sure there's something on the property.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
So, oh, it's a cool story. I've definitely heard of
the belt which before I've never dug too deeply into it.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Now that was my first time.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
Yeah, so nicely done. All right, all right, guys, we're
gonna head over the fire pit.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
Catch you over there, I guess you know what saw
it is. I can't try to have fire for it,
all right, Guys, Like I mentioned before, we need those
fire pits. Anything that you would talk about with your
(48:08):
friends around the firepit. Beyond the Shadows two seven at
gmail dot com or any of our socials. This one's
coming to us from Jimmy Lovelady.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Jimmy's one of our ogs.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
He is for sure. We appreciate him.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
Hello, Shadow family, Get another firepit for y'all. So, like
I've said before, I grew up in central California outside
of a town called Porterville. We lived on a cotton farm,
so as kids did back then, we played outside all
the time, riding bikes, playing sports, or just using our imaginations.
When I was about twelve or thirteen, I was playing
(48:43):
in our front yard. It was an overcast day, but
it wasn't raining. I looked up in the sky and
that's when I saw something moving just under the cloud cover. Now,
back in the eighties there was a series called v
I remember that, the Singing the Sky. I looked like
one of those transport vehicles from that show. It had
(49:03):
windows on the side and when it turned up into
the clouds. You could distinctly tell there were red lights
on the back of it. It made no noise, and
it just disappeared. I knew right away I had just
seen a UFO. I didn't tell anyone because I knew
my family wouldn't believe me. That evening, as my dad
was watching the local news, I was in the kitchen
cleaning up from dinner when I overheard a man getting
(49:25):
interviewed because he saw something in the sky that day.
I ran into the living room and saw that this
guy had seen the same thing I did. He drew
a picture of it and it looked exactly like what
I had saw. This guy lived in Fresno, California, which
is about sixty miles from where I lived. I told
my mom that I had seen that same thing, but
(49:46):
I don't remember what she said to me. It sounds crazy,
but I know what I saw that day, and to
think that someone sixty miles away saw the same thing. Anyway,
keep up the great work on the stories, guys, till
next time. Semprifi Jimmy, that's awesome. It's a good story,
and it's it's short, and it's yeah pertinent details and
it's it's convincing.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
I don't have that ability to if something like that happens,
I'm telling everybody, and they're gonna make fun of my
I don't have the ability to not say anything because
they're gonna pick, they're gonna ridicule. I just take the ridicule.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Jimmy capped short. Sweet, you would have been like I
was wearing red pants.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
I just had a pony sandwich. By the time you
get to the story, no one cares anymore. Yeah, they're done.
I couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Well, told Jimmy, I believe.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Show up all the time.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Yep. I remember the show too. It was a good show.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
I don't remember. I remember seeing it after the fact.
I don't think it's.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
So awesome. Appreciate the story, Bud, the rest of you
get them into us, and that's gonna wrap it for
this one. We will catch you in the next one later, guys,
Hey, everybody, join us as we delve into our favorite
dark tales and paranormal mysteries.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Venture with us beyond the safe places that exist in daylight.
As we go Beyond the Shadows, true crime, paranormal hauntings, UFOs,
cryptids and unsolved mysteries, conspiracy theories, past lives, reincarnation and
all the like are.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Just a few of the topics that we will tackle.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
If it haunts your fucking dreams, then it will be
on our show. Do you know what the most fighting
in the world is.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
On the shuttles where you found me at you can't
see me in the deepest blacks when your heart starbus
and then you see their cracks, all these creepy things
that you why at track Well, the demens be where
the actions at. So this enough you want it, UFOs,
all the ghosts, We got everything that you want.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
It won't do you know what the thing in the
world is?
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Hi, and welcome back to episode one hundred and sixty
one of Beyond the Shadows.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Welcome back you shadow bastards. That's been coming up a
lot lately. I've just seeing a lot of that in
our emails. And yeah, it's tie, It's not just tie,
but it is tie. First off, I want to thank
Gina Sorrows from the UK. She gave us a nice
review on Apple get a few more on Spotify. We
(01:32):
appreciate those. Like I said, we can't see who gives those,
but we appreciate you for doing that.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Also, we're running really low on fire Pits, guys, real low.
You know, when we first did this show, we took
a risk right off the get go and decided that
we were going to do fire Pits, you know, with
you guys's stories and stuff. And we've been super lucky.
You know. We started out it was stories from our
friends and families and a couple of few of our
(02:00):
stories thrown in there. But I mean the stories have
been coming all along. You guys have kept us going.
But we are running low. We need more. We do
have a few, but we need more stories. So if
you got him, please get him in Beyond the Shadows
two o seven at gmail dot com. So what you
got in the news?
Speaker 2 (02:19):
So last week we get two officers with the Lubbock,
Texas Mounted Patrol. They stop a man for walking in
the middle of the road rather than on the sidewalk.
It seems a little. Sometimes they'll just let that go, right,
you just crossing the fuck. It's like jawalk, Come on, man.
So anyway, after they started talking to him, they noticed
(02:40):
the man is acting stiff and nervous, so they asked
him if they could search his pockets. Forty two year
old Joseph Ramirez tells them no, which is never a
good answer because they're gonna do it anyway.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
At that point if they ask if one of.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
The officers then makes a joking comment about how he
has a drug smelling horse. Poor Joseph missed a joke
and he takes off run. Now he's fucking no matter what,
they got their probable cause. Now he's gonna be high
as ship to think he's gonna run two horses. It's
a mounted patrol, like they gonna catch you. Oh yeah,
(03:13):
they catching and fast thoroughbred can't catch a drugged out dude.
You know you're fucked. So I think he actually ditched
the drugs during his flight. But they got him for
tampering with physical evidence with the intent to impair. I've
never heard that charge before, but that is where they
get him for. And of course the evading arrest.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
Right, so he made things worse.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, he could could have just talked it out with
the horse and he would have.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah, it would have been good. Gi him a carrot.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
We got a sixty year old man from Guadaloupe. He
recently rubbed a supermarket at gunpoint. After the robbery was done,
he casually ate some cheese, drank some wine, then just
strolled out to his car to wait, just stood there
it bystanders said it almost seemed like he was waiting
to be caught, and it turns out he was. Oddly enough,
(04:02):
his grandson is in prison and having a hard time
on the inside. He's been attacked by inmates several times,
and Grandpa I just wanted to help him out.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
This guy is a real one.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah, he's mister Yaggi.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
But the planned bagfire because the judge decided he did
not need to go to prison because his crime, for
his crimes, because his record was clean and he was
a genuine nice gutch. He didn't get prison.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
He got punched the judge in the face. Parole and
a bunch of that ship.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
But I mean, I don't know how much your street
cred is gonna go up when your grandpa comes in
a prison, save your ass.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
But good on the grandpa. Grandpa seems like a badass.
Good on Gray for trying, Yeah, no doubt so.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
The grandson remains fucked to our time. I don't.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
And a drink.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
A thirty three year old truck driver from the UK
named Nathan Rimington recently ordered a six point six pound
bag of Harribo Cola flavored gummy bears. Three days later,
he ended up in the emergency room with severe abdominal pain, sweating,
high blood pressure, and a cold sweat. He was diagnosed
with acute to reticulate us particulates. It turns out that
(05:15):
eating six point six pounds of gelatinous candies in less
than three days isn't good for you.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
What a bitchit six point six that's it?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Who the fuck would have known that? That's not help?
Speaker 1 (05:26):
I don't know do that every weekend. He ended up
being in the hospital for like then, dude, I remember
when I was in the say.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Rationing them out. But he's a truck driver right the.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Whole time, right there, and you can't get away from it.
Was probably his meal. When I was in the Air Force,
it was right at the end of desert storm. I
went over and they were sending like all of the
big companies were sending stuff to the soldiers over there,
and they sent like piles and piles of candy. I
mean there was just tons of it. And I remember
(05:56):
huge bags of those gummy We eat those by the
fifth fall. There's so many fucking gummy bears. So I mean,
I survived.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
This guy seems kind of like gummy bear is one
of those candies I will eat if they're in front
of me, but I don't even really enjoy them. Oh
my god, I love I'll shuffle from my mouth just
because they're there. It's like candy corns the same way.
I don't like them, though.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Buy a bag.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Every year, I buy a bag and I'm like, those
look good. They're not good.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
They're not good.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
I eat five or six gross candy corn is awful.
But they change the shape and I'll try it again.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Oh, this will be good.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
It's a candy pump It's a candy pumpkin.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
We'll give that a shot again, just as gross. I'm
gonna hold out for the ghost.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
An eighty year old woman from hangs Out Shyinga recently
began experiencing back pain. She didn't see a doctor, take
aspurn or any other such trivial remedy. She did, however,
have family and members gather live frogs, but she didn't
tell them what the frogs were for a few days later.
She did finally go and see the doctors, but not
(06:58):
for the back pain. It was for the un bearable
stomach pain she was now experiencing as a direct result
of the eight live frogs she swallowed. She had severe
parasitic infection and the doctors found this sparganum tapeworm in
her system as well. She spent two weeks in the hospital,
(07:19):
which gave doctors plenty of time to check out her
back while she was there.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
You know how steward does she feel finding out that
it's actually nine frogs that you need? She just cut it,
just cut a short one. You'd have been fine.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
You can't cut out ingredients like that. Yeah, the ninth
frog would have balanced everything. She would have been in
harmony that moment.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
She was so close right there.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Over the past year, six thousand students at nine campuses
of ACU or the Australian Catholic University have been accused
of cheating using AI. During investigation, the students transcripts were withheld,
often costing the students' jobs and graduate positions. The university
took the position that it was up to the students
(08:06):
to prove their innocence rather than for the school to
prove their guilt. It was basically an AI program that
read flagged the students in the first place, where it
was AI trying to catch AI's basically what.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
AI flag them for using AI.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
The university says they are working on their procedures and
trying to resolve any issues, but they've seriously fucked some
of the students in that program. But oh yeah, the
accusations of cheating. I don't know how as the tuition
works out in Australia, but in America you pay through
the nose and it's probably the same there. So you
got these kids paying forty fifty thousand a year and
at the end, rather than getting your diploma, they're getting
(08:46):
accused of cheating so they don't get their papers. I mean,
what a fucking scam this thing is.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
At least I knew if this was me, I deserved
it because I did. I mean, these guys, can you
imagine you're that close to oh yeah, yeah, and then
they say, there's no proof that they actually did No.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
They're throwing out rough numbers because they're still looking into it.
But it sounds like at least three quarters of these
students didn't do anything wrong, so maybe a quarter of
them were cheating, which it's probably standard these days. If
he I was available when I was at age, oh,
I'd be at all kinds of.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Dumber than I am. Now you think my reading sucks? Now,
if I had a I could have done it for.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Me, I'd be fully dar Vader in that world doing
all kinds of creepy ship. But most of these kids
didn't do anything. They pay all that money into the
end they get fucked like that's not the way it's
supposed to work.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Now that sucks. Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So that's it for the news this week. What do
you get going on?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Well, since the spooky season, I had to do a
ghost and I think we'll call this one now as
the Bell Tolls. We're gonna do the bell Witch.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Oh nice, just place Metallica right now. The bell tolls
were right back, guys.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
You know what. In the early nineteenth century, Tennessee was
a land of opportunity, drawing families from the worn out
fields of the eastern state to its fertile valleys. Robertson County,
(10:17):
nestled in the states north, was rolling hills, dense forest,
and winding rivers, where settlers carved out farms and built
tight knit communities around Baptist and Presbyterian churches. Outsteps John
Bell and his family in eighteen oh four, seeking a
fresh start. In eighteen oh four, Tennessee was still a
(10:39):
young state, having joined the Union just eight years earlier.
Its promise of cheap land and abundant resources lured thousands
from Virginia and the Carolinas, where over farm soil no
longer yield enough substance for growing families. You know, I
didn't really think about this, but you know, the fields
(11:01):
would have got wiped out real quick. Back then, there
was no fertilized I mean, they used manure and stuff
like that, but there was no fertilizer like what we
have today. And they didn't rotate crops and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
Now they were warn about fast for sure.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Robertson County, centered around the Red River, was a magnet
for these immigrants or migrants. Its rich looms supported corn, tobacco,
and livestock, while the creeks and springs provided water for
mills and households. The county settlers, mostly Scottish Irish descendants,
(11:35):
brought with them a deep Protestant fate, making churches like
Red River Baptists the heart of social and spiritual life.
Neighbors gathered for Sunday services, barn raisings, and harvest festivals,
forging bonds in the lands still shadowed by the occasional
presence of the Cherokee and Creek tribes. John Bell born
(11:58):
in seventeen fifty in North Carolina was a man shaped
by the American Revolution. As a young private in North
Carolina's militia, he served during the seventeen eighty one Yorktowns Campaign.
After the war, he settled into farming, marrying Lucy Williams
(12:20):
in seventeen eighty two. Lucy was born in seventeen sixty.
She came from a family of modes modest planters and
was known for her resilience. Together they raised a large family,
of course, they all had large families back then.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Eight kids, you were prudes exactly.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Jess was born in seventeen eighty two. Drury seventeen eighty five.
John Junior seventeen eighty seven. Elizabeth, who went by Betsy,
was seventeen ninety four, Joel eighteen oh one, Alexander eighteen
oh three, and by eighteen oh four her Uterus fellow.
North Carolina's depleted soil and the raising land prices pushed
(13:05):
John to seek new prospects. Tennessee's was bountiful, with cheap
land grants, thriving game, and access to the Ohio River trade.
This convinced him to relocate. John purchased three hundred and
twenty eight acres along the Red River for three hundred
(13:25):
and twenty dollars. That's not even a dollar an acre.
That's close to the prices today, a bargain reflecting the
speculate speculative nature. The property, near what would later become
the town of Adams, featured a fertile hollow ideal for farming,
(13:46):
and a creek sustainable for milling. By eighteen ten, the
Bells had built a sturdy log cabin with black walnut
walls and clayed chinking. You know what that is stuff
they stick in the gaps, surrounded by outbuildings for livestock
and storage. The family at this time had three slaves.
(14:07):
By the name of Dean. He was the older field hand.
Vienna was a skilled cook, and their teenage son little Dean,
who tended horses. While slavery was less widespread in Robertson
County than in the Deep South, this was still case. Unfortunately.
That's how it was in these days. Yeah. Life on
(14:27):
the Bell's farm was a cycle of labor and faith.
Mornings began with milking cows and harnessing oxen for plowing.
John rotated. He did rotate. That was one of the
things about him. He said, a little bit ahead of
his time. He rotated corn and tobacco crops to preserve
the soils for keep it fertile.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
That is smart, this way ahead of his time, right, Yeah,
it really is. How would they have known that early?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
This practice set him apart from less forward thinking neighbors.
Lucy managed the household spinning wool and preserving It goes
my phone, that's never happened. It's my mom. Should we
answer it?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
All?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Right? There was a rotating corn and tobacco crops. I
read that Lucy was spinning wool and preserving vegetables while Betsy,
the older daughter, studied under Richard Powell, a local Schoolmaster
Paul taught a reading, arithmetic, and etiquette. Can you imagine
etiquette being one of you my kid could use now,
neither of us took an etiquette No, obviously, they had
(15:32):
to prepare her for marriage and domestic life, you know.
And Sundays that was reserved for worship at the Red
River Baptist Church, where John was selected as an elder
in eighteen oh nine. John's role extended beyond the farm
as he's also a justice of the peace. He would
(15:52):
deal with disputes over stray live stocks or boundary lines,
earning a reputation for fairness. Bye, I would can you
imagine having to deal with especially property lines. Back then
here here in Maine, everybody moved all the rocks to
the We have rock walls everywhere because they moved them
to the edge of the land out there. I mean,
(16:14):
you get a steak in the ground somewhere.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
We still have that year. A lot people fuck with
the steak in the ground, and that leads to big disputes.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Even with the walls. They said that the farmers used
to go out and they would slowly move the walls
over into that. That's a lot of rock that is
so much work. Those rocks are not living, build those
in the first place, moving them just to get a
couple extra feet of land, and fuck it ain't worth it.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Who really wins there?
Speaker 1 (16:41):
By eighteen seventeen, the Bell's holdings had grown to over
one thousand acres, and their farm was a hub of activity.
The wharf eighteen twelve had recently ended, with sons jess
Drury and John Junior serving under Andrew Jackson at the
Battle of New Orleans in eighteen fifteen. Their return brought
pride in stories of victory, reinforcing the family's standard standing
(17:04):
in the community. The summer of eighteen seventeen shattered the
Bell's tranquility. On a hot July afternoon, John walked through
his cornfield and inspecting stocks plagued by bors, he spotted
an odd creature, dog sized, with a sleek body but
the head of a rabbit, its eyes wide and unblinking. Instinctively,
(17:29):
John raised his hunting rifle and fired. The shot echoed,
but the creature vanished, leaving only a faint whiff of
something sharp like burnt air. Shaken. John dismissed it as
a trick. Over the heat. It's just a trick. He
just he could have just shot Steve. The next morning,
Steve looked a lot like a rabbit today because it
(17:51):
was so fucking hot hot? How was I supposed to know?
Speaker 2 (17:54):
He shouldn't have been there when it was over ninety dreams.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
He thought it was a trick of the heat from
long hours under the sun. He told no one, fearing
he had shot his name, he'd sound foolish. That night,
as a family gathered for supper, though, the first unmistakable
sign emerged. A loud, rhythmic thumping struck the cabin's exterior walls,
like hammer blows from unseen hands. The sound encircled the house,
(18:22):
pausing then resuming for nearly ten minutes. John grabbed a
lantern and searched outside, expecting to find a prankster or
an animal. The ground was unmarked. The night still, the
younger boys, Joel and Alexander, huddled near John Junior, who
(18:43):
scanned the dark corners of the room. The disturbance persisted
night after night. The thumping returned, sometimes soft, sometimes so
forceful it rattled tin cups on the table. John patrolled
the property, checking fences and out buildings, but found no cause.
By August, the noise moved indoors, scratching sounds like claws
(19:06):
on wood. Drury woke up one night to his quilt
yanked to the floor. John Junior skeptical and battled hardened
strung twine across the doorways to catch intruders, but the
lines they stayed untouched. While the chaos grew, Whispers began
faint at first, like a woman humming. John confided in
(19:30):
James Johnston, a trusted neighbor and deacon at the Red
River Baptist Church. Johnston spent a night at the farm
in September of eighteen seventeen. As the household slept, the
disturbances intensified. Johnson's blankets were torn from his bed, and
a sharp slap struck his cheek, leaving a welt that
(19:51):
glowed red. By morning. He earned. He urged john to
seek church. Elders had hesitated, weary of ridicule, And can
you imagine back then how much rheticule? Back then they'll
hang you for being a witch.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
For yeah, I mean the but like, yeah, your house
is possessed, burned to your daughters. We'll call it a day.
It's all calls in the morning. Yes, So you don't.
I wouldn't.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Back then, a chance superstition was a delicate topic. Neighbors
might shun the bells, or as unhinged or worse, cursed
words spread regardless, though, by autumn, whispers of the bell
Witch reached the Red River gritsmell. Curious visitors arrived. That's
(20:38):
the other thing. Back then, there was no television, there
was no movie. There's nothing to do. Yeah, shit's going on.
They're showing up at your house. Watch the haunting, curious visit,
especially if there's a murder. We've covered that so many times.
Murder showtime.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Let's go watch the Bells are Fucked episode four, Right now.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Curious visitors arrived housewives with bundles of sage preachers with crosses,
hoping to witness and to banish the entity. The disturbance
seemed to thrive on attention. The thumping grew louder, and
the whispers sharpened into voice. They started quoting psalms with
(21:16):
eerie precision. Oh Jack, your days are numbered, it taunted John.
Betsy's nights became a torment. Invisible fingers tugged her hair,
leaving welts on her scalp. The farm suffered cornfields withered
despite ample rain, Livestock drew skittish, refusing to enter the
(21:38):
Barnes John's health, which was great before, now faltered. A
persistent cough and fatigue plagued him. The community response was mixed.
Some offer sympathy, others kept their distance, fearing divine just
I'd have kept my distance just because they had a
fucking witch. I've dated a few. A few enterprising neighbors
(22:02):
charged visitors to glimpse the haunted farm, turning it into
a spectacle. Can you imagine your neighbors is set up?
If I can come one, come home.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
The little viewing posts right.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
By early eighteen eighteen, the family stood at a crossroads.
There once perfect life unraveled under the force they could
neither explain nor escape. By eighteen eighteen, the Bells family's
farm was no longer the peaceful haven it had been.
The strange disturbances that began the previous year, it escalated
(22:36):
into something way more sinister. The entity now called Kate
by the family was no longer just mysterious noises. They
should have came up with a better name than Kate
case just not scary. That's a reason for that. Not
They knew that it's both. He spoke clearly, manipulated objects,
(23:02):
and inflicted physical harm. From eighteen eighteen to eighteen twenty one,
Kate's presence dominated the household, transforming daily life into a
gauntlet of fear and fascination, the Bell's attempt to cope,
and the influx of visitors, most notably Andrew Jackson himself,
(23:22):
who came to witness the phenomena that locals were beginning
to call the Bell witch. On one chilly February evening,
as the Bell sat down to a dinner, the voice interrupted,
Old Jack, you're hoggin' the gravy, it snapped, addressing John
Bell by a nickname he despised. The family froze forks
(23:44):
halfway to the mouth as the voice seemed to emanate
from the fireplace. No one was there, yet the words
were as clear as if a guest had spoken. The
voice soon became a regular presence, awful, often quoting Scripture, Psalms,
or Genesis, but with a mocking twist, as if taunting
(24:04):
the family's Baptist faith. That would be my luck. I
get a ghost that would fucking taunt me like a life.
Don't suck it up, case antics grew physical, and in
March eighteen eighteen, a family bible sailed off of a
parlor shelf, landing open with pages fluttering as if caught
(24:26):
in a breeze. John Junior inspected the book for strings
or tricks, but found nothing. A week later, chairs in
the dining room toppled during a prayer, falling to the
floor with no apparent cause. The most alarming incident came
in June eighteen nineteen, when the heavy oak dining table
flipped upside down during supper, spilling plates and stew across
(24:52):
the room. John checked the table's legs for sabotage, but
they were intact. The family began eating in ships. Wary
of Kate's disruption, Betsy bore the brunt of Kate's malice.
Nearly every night, she awoke to sharp tugs on her hair,
as if invisible fingers were yanking it from her skulp.
(25:16):
She'd get red welts, like I said before, and sometimes
not just on her head, but on her arms. They
were shaped like handprints, and by mid eighteen eighteen, faint
scratches or mark her face, fading only after hours. Kate
seemed obsessed with Betsy's engagement to Joshua Gardener, a twenty
(25:36):
five year old Miller's son. When the couple strolled along
the Red River, Kate's voice would boom, Betsy, he'll lead
you to ruin one Sunday and eighteen n right, I.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Just cockwock from the other side, just yelling at the trees.
Speaker 4 (25:54):
It's this, this spirit witch whatever.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Didn't ever even stay at the house. Man to follow
them all over the right.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
That's the worst. That's the worst kind you no freedom, dude,
adn't get anyhow.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
We'll go to the point. She won't be there, guess who. Anyways, Betsy,
he'll lead you to ruin. On Sunday eighteen nineteen, during
a community picnic at this at Sabbath Springs, Kate's cackle
echoed so loud that picnickers fled, leaving baskets of fried
(26:31):
chicken and corn bread behind. Joshua, though undeterred he's getting some,
he proposed to Betsy in eighteen twenty, but Kate's relentless
interference cast a shadow over their plans. The Bells tried
everything to stop Kate. Jarn scarred the cabin for loose
(26:51):
boards or hidden pranksters. I mean after how many years
is he gonna keep looking? Yeah? He set up the
twine traps like before around beds and doorways, hoping to
catch a culprit, but disturbances continued unchecked. Lucy turned to
her faith, leading nightly prayers and brewing herbal remedies.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
I thought the houses were pretty small back then. There's
only so many places somebody can be hiding.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
You know, shit right. She sprinkled salt in the corners,
a folk remedy against evil spirits, but Kate scoffed. That
won't keep me out. Lucy John Junior attempted to confront
Kate directly. What do you want with us? He demanded
one night. The response was a chilling laugh, followed by
(27:38):
a gust that blew out the candles. The younger children,
Joel seventeen and Alexander fifteen, were terrified but curious, whispering
about Cherokee legends of forest spirits. Drury, quieter and more reserved, withdrew,
his sleep disrupted by blankets yanked to the floor. The
(28:02):
enslaved members of the household. I don't know how else
to put that. Dean, Vienna and Little Dean faced their
own torments Dean's Dean was the field hand, reported invisible
lashes across his back, leaving welts that married like he
would he had been whipped. Vienna, the cook found her
(28:23):
pots boiling over or cracking without heat. Little Dean challenged
Kate to show herself, only to be shoved against the
smokehouse wall one night in eighteen twenty, bruising his shoulder.
Yet Kate occasionally showed a softer side, particularly with Lucy.
(28:45):
One evening, a broom swept to swept the kitchen floor unaided,
and Lucy found the laundry folded in neat stacks, as
if Kate sought to ease her burden. John sought advice
from Richard Pole, Betsy's former school pau In, an intellectual
with an interest in the occult text, visited the family
(29:07):
in late eighteen eighteen. He thought that Kate might be
a collective delusion or a ventuiloquit, a Van Triloquist trip,
but his theories crumbled when Kate addressed him in tongue
he couldn't identify, possibly Hebrew or Cherokee. I'm the spirit
of one wronged here long ago, she claimed, alleging John's
(29:33):
plowing had disturbed her resting place. It's possible that. I mean, yeah,
as far as things go, but I mean, boys, you'd
really given it to him. She's very angry about that.
I guess if you're a witch. Paul scribbled notes furiously,
and he grew his curiosity grew in really intense. Though
(29:55):
whispers in town suggested his frequent villain visits stemmed from
a fund of Betsy, complicating his role as an impartial observer.
So he had a little hots for Betsy. It sounds
like the most prominent visitor I mentioned earlier arrived in
April eighteen nineteen, Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle
(30:16):
of New Orleans. Fresh from his campaign against the Creed,
Jackson was traveling to Nashville when tales of the Bell
Witch piqued his interest. A skeptic with a taste for adventure,
he brought soldiers, horses and a supply wagon. As he
approached the farm, the wagon sank into a mud patch
(30:37):
near the Red River, immovable. Despite the men's effort, Kate's
voice rang out, turned back, Old Hickory, your witch, tamers
of fraud. Jackson, startled by his private nickname, pressed on,
intrigued at the farm, the bells offered hospitality, rose venison, cornbread,
(30:58):
and Lucy's apple pie. That night, Kate unleashed chaos. Blankets
were torn from soldier's bed, and one man yelped as
if an invisible hand slapped his face, leaving a stinging mark.
A self proclaimed witch tamer in Jackson's group, armed with
a silver bullet, boasts that he could banish Kate. Before
(31:20):
he could act, Kate's voice bellowed, You're no match for me.
An unseen force hurled him through the cabin door, landing
him in the dirt. The soldiers rattled demanded to leave.
Jackson stayed until dawn, confiding to John, this is a
force beyond reckoning. He departed, vowing never to return. Other
(31:42):
visitors flocked to the farm. Red River Baptist preachers attempted exorcisms,
wielding crosses in scripture, but Kate countered with mocking, with
mocking reciting of their own sermons. One evening, she sang
Methodist hymn so perfectly that a visiting preacher mistook it
(32:04):
for the divine until her laughter revealed the ruse. Nashville newspapers,
sensing a sensation, sent reporters whose stories spread the tale
through Tennessee. Kate's cruelty intensified. John's face had red marks
from her slaps, and his speech grew slurred, as if
his tongue were seized or maybe at a stroke. Betsy's
(32:28):
torment peaked. Kate's warning about Joshua Gardner, he'll die young,
mark my words so doubts. In eighteen twenty The couple
planned a June eighteen twenty one wedding, but Kate sabotaged
her outing during a horseback ride. Their rains snapped unexplainably
(32:48):
at a church social Kate shrieks drowned out the music. Exhausted,
Betsy ended the engagement in April eighteen twenty one, returning
Joshua's ring under a will tree. He left for Kentucky,
where he died in eighteen thirty six, fulfilling Kate's grim prophecy.
(33:09):
But Kate wasn't always malicious. She sang lullabies to Joel
and Alexander. You'd like to be everyone else in the house,
and those two get a lullaby like fuck you last
mass of every night I'm sleeping.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
You wait your term, bitch, I'm singing a song you
with you in a minute.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
To Lucy, she offered mid midwife advice, suggesting herbs like
foxglove for childbirth pain, which proved effective. Her contradictions baffled
the family. One moment she torment him, the next a sage.
Kate also made bold predictions to John Junior. She spoke
(33:51):
of a great war in eighteen sixty one and of
take of a talking wire across the sea. By eighteen
twenty one, farms struggled, crops failed despite John's careful rotation,
and livestock panicked in the livestock's panicking in their stalls.
(34:11):
The community was divided. Some saw Kate as a genuine spirit,
others suspected fraud or madness. Gossip about Pile's interest in
Betsy fueled tensions, further isolating the family. Kate's presidents, now
a public spectacle, drew krows that disturbed daily life. Can
you imagine people showing up your your house, just daily,
(34:34):
coming to look at the bell witch?
Speaker 2 (34:36):
Watch you get mocked right, look at him.
Speaker 4 (34:39):
She's slapping him in the face again, slap him again.
He's getting his ask kids patch him in the dank
John's you put coins in get to pick where they
get slapped. By late eighteen twenty, the Bell's family farm
was a place of exhaustion and dread. The spirit known
as Kate had tormented them for years, turning their once
(35:01):
driving homestead into a battleground.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
In autumn of eighteen twenty, John, now seventy, began to falter.
A man who had once strolled his fields with confidence,
overseeing crops and settling community disputes, was now plagued by
physical ailments. His face twitched uncontrollably, as if pulled by
(35:25):
invisible strings, and his hands trembled, making it hard to
hold the plow or a pen. His speech slurred. His
slurred speech alarmed his family. I mean, all this stuff
could be attributed to the fact that he was seventy
back in the eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Well, yeah, it could be. I mean, the lifespan back
then wasn't that.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Long, Stoce. I mean, this dude was seventy.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
It's probably a collection of ailments.
Speaker 1 (35:48):
I mean, how many people you think made it to
seventy back then?
Speaker 2 (35:50):
Not many, Not many at all.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
Lucy noticed that John had a persistent cough that left
him weak. By October, he could barely walk without leaning
on a cane or his son's. The family called for
the doctors from Springfield, doctor Samuel Harrison and doctor William Battle.
They diagnosed a nervous fever, but their remedies bitter herbs.
(36:18):
You got a nervous fever. Take these fucking dandelion You
should be better in the morning.
Speaker 2 (36:28):
Get drunk twice. Cut off your hand. Calls on Tuesday.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
You need an ear nail. They offered no relief. Kate's
voice mocked him from the air. You quacks can't save him.
Kate's torments intensified alongside John's illness. Old Jack, your time's
running out, she taunted, her voice echoing from the cabin's rafters.
(36:57):
John was stubborn to the end. He tried to dismiss her,
but his strength waned. Betsy, now twenty three, sat by
his side, reading psalms to sue them, while John Junior
and Drury kept vigil. On December nineteenth, eighteen twenty, John
(37:18):
laid in bed, barely conscious. A small glass vial appeared
on his bedside table, containing a clear, odorless liquid. No
one knew where it came from. Lucy swore she hadn't
placed it there, and the children were equally baffled. Just
desperate and delirious, John drank a sip, mistaking it for medicine.
(37:42):
Within minutes, he slipped into a deep coma, his breathing shallow.
By noon on December twentieth, John's breath stopped. Lucy wept,
clutching his hand, while Betsy and her younger brothers, Joel
and Alexander hurtled together. The Red Her Baptist Church Cemetery
hosted the funeral two days later, on December twenty second.
(38:06):
Three preachers or reverends, James Meadore met her, Joshua Harrelson
and Thomas Garrett led the service. Neighbors crowded the graveyard,
offering condolences but whispering about the strange events at the
Bell's farm. Kate disrupted, singing tavern songs about whiskey and revery.
(38:34):
As the preacher spoke, Jack's gone and I sent him,
she sang. As the coffin was lowered into the frozen earth,
chilling the mourners. Back at the farm, John Junior found
a mysterious vial half empty. Suspicious, he tested a drop
on a stray cat near the barn. That's cool, Kitty, Kitty.
(38:56):
The animal convulsed, foaming at the mouth, and died within minutes.
Kate's voice laughed, A double dose of old Jack, just
a taste for the beast. John Junior hurled the viol
into the fireplace, where it erupted into a blue flame,
releasing a sharp, almond like scent. I couldn't I saw
(39:18):
that in the writing, and I cannot remember what it
is that gives off that scent.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
Is arsenic? Is arsen That's what I was thinking, Always
an almond scent.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
The family was convinced Kate had poisoned John, though how
a spirit could produce a physical substance remained a mystery.
The incident deepened their fear. After John's death, Lucy faced
the daunting task of managing the farm as a widow.
Kate's behavior shifted, her malice, tempered by the moment of
(39:52):
eerie helpfulness. In January eighteen twenty one, Lucy awoke to
find the kitchen floors swept clean and a broom propped
neatly against the wall. On another occasion, this happened before too,
laundry left on the line was folded into very nice stacks,
as if carefully, as if by careful hands. Lucy torn
(40:15):
between gratitude and uneas murmured prayers of thanks but kept
a weary eye. Kate's kindness was unpredictable. I mean, how
the fuck are you gonna You're gonna trust the ghost
and be thankful, which.
Speaker 2 (40:29):
I'll kill one of your family members every two years,
but I'll do the laundry every now and again.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
So think I'm gonna help you out. Yes, I killed him,
but look how nice he said, Look at these but
I'll mop Look at these hospital corners I folded on
your bed.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
How many people would take that deal these days? All right?
Speaker 1 (40:49):
Well? Uh, Drury now helping run the farm face face
her wrath. In February eighteen twenty one, when half his
wheat field was slashed down over night, as if by
an invisible blade, he stayed up with a lantern, hoping
to catch the culprit, but saw only shadows. Betsy's still
(41:10):
reeling from her broken engagement to Josh, found temporary reprieve.
Kate rarely targeted her. Now, perhaps satisfied with John's demise,
She's like I made her miserable that she could. In
April eighteen twenty one, Kate gathered the family for a
(41:30):
final address. As they sat by the Kate saying, come on,
come on, have an announcement. Hold on, Kate wants you.
Kate's calling as they sat by the hearth, her voice
rang out from above. I'm leaving this place. I had
enough of your shit. This is literally what they claimed.
(41:53):
She said, I'm leaving this place, but I'll return in
seven years to speak with John Junior. Mind your ways.
A gust of wind roared through the cabin, slamming shutters
in extinguishing candles. Then silence. The thumps, scratches, and voices ceased.
The bells waited, expecting a trick, but days passed without incident.
(42:16):
They began repairing the farm, replanting fields, calming livestock, hoping
for normalcy, but haunted by Kate's promise tudor a word.
Kate returned in April eighteen twenty eight, So for seven
years nothing. John Junior, now forty one and operating a
mill nearby, was prepared. For three weeks. He met with
(42:40):
Kate in the cabin's parlor, lit by flickering candles. He
recorded her words in a note book, his hand steady
despite the eerie setting. Kate spoke of grand ideas, life
emerging from ancient seas, lost civilization swallowed by oceans, and
(43:00):
a coming war in eighteen sixty one, where Kin would
fight Kin, she would obviously the Civil War. She predicted
inventions like a wire to carry voices across the seas,
foreshadowing the Transatlantic Cable. Some prophecies hit the mark woman
suffrage in nineteen twenty the Civil War, while others, like
(43:23):
a presidency that never occurred missed. She urged John Junior
to live justly, warning churches grow fat on rule, thin
on grace. In late May, Kate announced, I'll come again
in one hundred and seven years to your kin. That's
so specific. In seven years, I had a friend that
(43:45):
Alas is saying me me in the park at seven
oh one, it's the same shit. A win swept through
and she was gone. John Junior sealed his notes, sharing
them only with trusted family. In nineteen thirty five, doctor
Charles Bailey Bell, John's great grandson and a neurologist, awaited
(44:09):
Kate's promise return. His nineteen thirty four book, The Bell Witch,
A Mysterious Spirit, compiled family's accounts, including John Junior's eighteen
twenty eight notes, Adams buzzed with anticipations. Locals reported whispers
in the bell Witch Cave, a limestone cavern on the
(44:29):
old farm, and shadows at dusk. Newspapers covered the visual,
and some residents kept watch with lanterns. No defined manifestation occurred,
though faint voices were reported. Possibly the win Charles Disappointed
died in nineteen forty five, leaving the question unresolved.
Speaker 2 (44:53):
Disappointed the Witch didn't come visit him again. Exact torment,
the fam a couple of family members. I'd like to
be rid of Kate.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Today. The bell Witch Cave draws thousands annually, offering tours
and ghost hunts. Adams host festivals with re enactors and storytellers,
keeping Kate alive. The Bellwich endures. That's the story.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
I wrote down one question, and I want to cut
you off while you're doing it. I don't know if
you know the answer, but obviously you mentioned Andrew Jackson,
future President of the United States, obviously a well read,
well remembered Did he ever mention this or is it
just other people that mentioned it?
Speaker 1 (45:34):
As far as did.
Speaker 2 (45:35):
He write of it?
Speaker 1 (45:35):
As far as I know other people, I don't think
he wrote wrote of it, it would.
Speaker 2 (45:40):
Carry a lot more clout of Andrew Jackson himself mentioned
it rather than somebody else saying Andrew Jackson witnessed it, right,
because anybody can say that, it doesn't mean it's true, right, absolutely,
It's a fascinating tale.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
It's just too it's just too much, you know what
I mean. I mean with this one, I say, maybe
the story started out and there truly was some type
of haunting, but the extent that it goes to, like
this thing is gonna have a full conversation with you too.
I mean, it's just too it's just too much for me,
(46:12):
you know what. You know what I mean. It's just
some are believable, but you know, like blankets flying, being
pulled and flown over your head happened to my wife's family,
this stuff like that. But a whole vial of poison
shows up on the night stand and then you know,
stuff like that. It's just just too much for me.
(46:33):
I mean, obviously the folklore is going to grow as
time goes on. Yeah, so I mean, maybe this isn't
the original story and it's been blown up over time
or whatever, and it was a fact, But I mean
from the things you hear from this story, I rate
it really low on the fact of it being true
as it's written. One Now, maybe true.
Speaker 2 (46:54):
What attend was the bell Witch reel at all?
Speaker 1 (46:58):
Well? To say that she was real? I mean, if
that many people thought something was going on, maybe maybe
five or.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Six, but they were all related. Yeah, I'm not saying that. Well,
I mean, you know, one member of the family lies,
they might all lie. I'm not saying they were right.
I'm saying that now most your witnesses here, this.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Story happened the way that it's written, in the way
that I presented it, and I put that way down
at like a two or three. The fact that there
was something there, there's a good possibility there was the
fact that it was the way the story is written
very unlikely.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Is there a house there today?
Speaker 1 (47:31):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 2 (47:32):
I'm sure it's not at the house, but they're probably
a house.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
I'm sure there's something on the property.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
So, oh, it's a cool story. I've definitely heard of
the belt which before I've never dug too deeply into it.
Speaker 1 (47:42):
Now that was my first time.
Speaker 2 (47:43):
Yeah, so nicely done. All right, all right, guys, we're
gonna head over the fire pit.
Speaker 1 (47:48):
Catch you over there, I guess you know what saw
it is. I can't try to have fire for it,
all right, Guys, Like I mentioned before, we need those
fire pits. Anything that you would talk about with your
(48:08):
friends around the firepit. Beyond the Shadows two seven at
gmail dot com or any of our socials. This one's
coming to us from Jimmy Lovelady.
Speaker 2 (48:18):
Jimmy's one of our ogs.
Speaker 1 (48:20):
He is for sure. We appreciate him.
Speaker 2 (48:22):
Hello, Shadow family, Get another firepit for y'all. So, like
I've said before, I grew up in central California outside
of a town called Porterville. We lived on a cotton farm,
so as kids did back then, we played outside all
the time, riding bikes, playing sports, or just using our imaginations.
When I was about twelve or thirteen, I was playing
(48:43):
in our front yard. It was an overcast day, but
it wasn't raining. I looked up in the sky and
that's when I saw something moving just under the cloud cover. Now,
back in the eighties there was a series called v
I remember that, the Singing the Sky. I looked like
one of those transport vehicles from that show. It had
(49:03):
windows on the side and when it turned up into
the clouds. You could distinctly tell there were red lights
on the back of it. It made no noise, and
it just disappeared. I knew right away I had just
seen a UFO. I didn't tell anyone because I knew
my family wouldn't believe me. That evening, as my dad
was watching the local news, I was in the kitchen
cleaning up from dinner when I overheard a man getting
(49:25):
interviewed because he saw something in the sky that day.
I ran into the living room and saw that this
guy had seen the same thing I did. He drew
a picture of it and it looked exactly like what
I had saw. This guy lived in Fresno, California, which
is about sixty miles from where I lived. I told
my mom that I had seen that same thing, but
(49:46):
I don't remember what she said to me. It sounds crazy,
but I know what I saw that day, and to
think that someone sixty miles away saw the same thing. Anyway,
keep up the great work on the stories, guys, till
next time. Semprifi Jimmy, that's awesome. It's a good story,
and it's it's short, and it's yeah pertinent details and
it's it's convincing.
Speaker 1 (50:07):
I don't have that ability to if something like that happens,
I'm telling everybody, and they're gonna make fun of my
I don't have the ability to not say anything because
they're gonna pick, they're gonna ridicule. I just take the ridicule.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
Jimmy capped short. Sweet, you would have been like I
was wearing red pants.
Speaker 1 (50:23):
I just had a pony sandwich. By the time you
get to the story, no one cares anymore. Yeah, they're done.
I couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Well, told Jimmy, I believe.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (50:34):
Show up all the time.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Yep. I remember the show too. It was a good show.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
I don't remember. I remember seeing it after the fact.
I don't think it's.
Speaker 1 (50:46):
So awesome. Appreciate the story, Bud, the rest of you
get them into us, and that's gonna wrap it for
this one. We will catch you in the next one later, guys,
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