September 25, 2024 • 29 mins
What if a ghostly force could shatter the tranquility of your home and torment your family for years? Get ready to uncover the spine-chilling legacy of the Bell Witch, a tale that has baffled and intrigued enthusiasts for over two centuries. Join me, Carole Townsend, as I take you to the heart of Adams, Tennessee, where John Bell and his family encountered a malevolent entity that turned their lives into a nightmare. From strange animals lurking in the shadows to violent attacks on John and his daughter Betsy, the legend becomes undeniable when even neighbor James Johnson encounters the paranormal firsthand.
Explore the witch's eerie influence beyond the Bell home, impacting John Bell Jr. and his brothers during the Battle of New Orleans and catching the attention of Major General Andrew Jackson himself. The relentless torment of John Bell Sr. culminates in his mysterious death, which the witch claims responsibility for, while Betsy Bell’s life is turned upside down, leading to a broken engagement. We ponder the possibility that the Bell Witch could have been something more sinister or symbolic, reflecting the historical and emotional turmoil of the time. As a special treat, I’ll also introduce our next tale of Southern lore: the tragic case of Floyd Collins in a Kentucky cave. Don’t miss this deep dive into stories that continue to haunt and fascinate us.
I love hearing from listeners. Please write a review and rate the show. And please, tell your friends and share episodes on your social media.
You can connect with me by clicking the links below.
Facebook:
Instagram:
Website:
Tiktok:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carole Townsend (00:06):
The town of Adams, tennessee in Robertson
County, is a bucolic, quaintlittle burg located just north
of Nashville on the fringe ofAppalachia, with a population of
about 650 people.
Its rolling green hills andrural flavor invite visitors to
slow down just a bit to take ina part of Tennessee that almost
(00:28):
seems to have stood still withthe passage of time.
In spite of its small, quietlyconservative population and
pastoral ambience, adamsTennessee has its own place in
the annals of shadowy Southernhistory.
Ghost hunters, priests, amateurdetectives, historians and
(00:52):
paranormal enthusiasts flock tothis tiny town every year in
search of its most infamousresident, the Bell Witch.
The Bell Witch.
Here in the South we love ourstories.
We begin in childhood huddledaround campfires, whispering of
(01:15):
things best spoken in the dark,confiding in our small trusting
circles.
Why is that, do you suppose?
I have researched andinvestigated southern history
for more than 20 years and Ibelieve it has to do with this
region itself.
There's a lot that hangs in theether here and much that is
(01:36):
buried deep in the soil.
There's beauty here in thesouth.
There's beauty here in theSouth and shame and courage, and
, make no mistake, there is evil.
There's always been the elementof the unexplained, the just
(01:59):
out of reach that we can allfeel but can never quite
describe, and the best place fortelling tales about such things
is the comfort and safety of anold front porch.
So I invite you tonight to comeup here with me, settle back
into a chair and get comfortable, pour yourself a drink if you
like, and I'll share with yousome of the tales best told in
(02:19):
the company of friends, talesthat prove that truth really is
stranger than fiction, and I'llturn on the light.
You're going to want that.
I'm Carol Townsend.
Welcome to my front porch.
The following podcast containsmaterial that may be disturbing.
(02:43):
Listener discretion is advised.
The legend of the Bell Witch,now more than 200 years old, has
been called America's greatestghost story.
You and I both know that tolive up to that billing, this
tale must indeed be somethingspectacular.
(03:04):
But is the Bell Witch simply afolk tale?
Is the witch something conjuredby someone's imagination 200
years ago?
The stories passed on from onegeneration to the next?
Or were there actual events,true things that were witnessed
by so many people that theirretelling was, and still is
(03:27):
necessary?
Well, sit back and getcomfortable, pull that blanket a
little tighter around you as weexamine the remarkable legend
of the Bell Witch.
Back in the early 1800s, johnBell and his family moved from
North Carolina to Red River, nowAdams, tennessee.
(03:50):
John, his wife Lucy and theirchildren lived in a large
farmhouse on several hundredacres of land and they farmed
much of the rich riverbottomland.
In a short time John wasensconced as elder in the Red
River Baptist Church.
By all accounts, the Bellfamily was happy.
(04:13):
They were hardworking and theywere a tight-knit clan
well-respected in theircommunity.
In 1817, the family'swell-being would change.
In 1817, the family'swell-being would change.
One late afternoon, when Johnwas surveying his land and
inspecting one of his cornfields, he spotted a strange-looking
(04:33):
animal sitting in one of therows of corn, staring intently
at him.
It was rather large, with thebody of a dog but with the head
of a rabbit.
Startled, john shot at thecreature several times.
Sure, he had hit and probablykilled the animal.
He was shocked to see that ithad simply vanished instead.
(04:56):
We read in several handwrittenaccounts later that John's
sighting of this unusualcreature was likely the very
first manifestation of theentity that became known as the
Bell Witch.
That very evening, the housedark and its inhabitants sound
(05:18):
asleep.
The family heard beating soundson the outside of the log home.
The frequency and intensity ofthe pounding sounds increased in
the coming nights, with Johnand his sons reaching for their
firearms and running outside tocatch the culprit or the
prankster, who seemed to takesuch delight in disturbing and
(05:39):
frightening the family.
Not once did they find anyonelurking outside or running away
in the dark cover of night.
In the weeks that followed, thedisturbances grew more
threatening, with the Bellchildren waking in the night,
crying that someone had hit orscratched or pinched them.
(06:01):
Their covers were being pulledoff their beds as they slept and
they heard gnawing sounds onthe bedposts.
When their parents would comerunning to their aid, they too
heard sounds like rats chewingthrough wood.
In time, the entity found avoice.
(06:22):
It began speaking in faint,feeble tones, and sometimes it
just whispered.
At other times the voicesounded like an old woman
singing hymns.
And then something else changed.
The spirit began attacking thebell's youngest daughter, betsy,
slapping her and pulling herhair.
(06:42):
The attacks were clearlypainful ones, leaving welts and
bruises on the young girl's body.
The entity appeared to begin tofocus its hatred and its
malevolent intent on Betsy andon John specifically.
Now being an elder in thechurch.
(07:06):
John swore his family to secrecyabout these strange, terrifying
occurrences.
His fear was that he would beremoved as a church elder and
that his family would be shunnedfrom their religious community.
Two hundred years ago, thatpunishment was the equivalent of
death itself, as the church wasthe lifeblood of all such small
(07:28):
communities.
Eventually, though, the attacksbecame so brutal and so
upsetting that John confided inhis neighbor and closest friend,
james Johnson.
Johnson also served as a pastorin the small community.
Served as a pastor in the smallcommunity, skeptical James
(07:51):
appeased his friend by promisingto bring his wife and spend the
night in the Bell home.
By doing so, he could eitherwitness the manifestations
himself, or he could comfort andsoothe his friend and convince
him that all of the occurrencescould be rationally explained.
On the night that James and hiswife spent in the Bell home, the
evening began peacefully enough, with the families enjoying
(08:14):
supper together before retiringto bed after dark.
It was then, however, witheveryone tucked away in bed and
sleeping, that the Johnsonsexperienced the same terrifying
disturbances that the Bells hadbeen enduring.
Their covers were ripped awayfrom them and flung across the
room, and James was brutallyslapped in the face, as the
(08:38):
story goes, he jumped out of bedand shouted in the name of the
Lord, who are you and what doyou want?
And after that, it is said,there were no disturbances for
the rest of the night.
The next morning, before Jamesand his wife left, he explained
to his friend that he believedthat the culprit was likely an
(08:59):
evil spirit, the kind that theBible talks about.
Word began to spread throughoutthe valley that there was an
invisible being of some sort atthe Bell home, and soon people
began traveling to the home tosee the phenomenon for
themselves.
It's said that John never onceturned away a traveler, often
(09:21):
letting them stay overnight andeven feeding them.
Many of these travelers wouldask the spirit the same
questions that James Johnson hadasked Once.
The witch answered that she hadbeen happy at one time, but
that her grave had beendisturbed and her bones
scattered.
Another time, the witchanswered that she had been
(09:42):
searching for one of her teeth,which she claimed was thrown
under the floorboards of thehouse, and she couldn't rest
until she found it.
These claims later brought tomind a memory that had, at the
time, seemed insignificant.
One of John Bell's farmhands,while out clearing land, one day
(10:03):
, discovered a mound of NativeAmerican graves.
John Bell said that the graveswere likely those of Indians and
he instructed his men to workaround the marked area as best
they could.
However, a few days later, johnJr told one of his friends
about the discovery and the boyswent back to the site and dug
(10:24):
disinterring the bones.
And the boys went back to thesite and dug disinterring the
bones.
They were looking for relicsthat they had heard Native
Americans buried with their dead, but they found none.
Instead, they took a jawboneout of the grave and carried it
to the house, where John Jr'sfriend, in frustration, threw it
against a wall.
The jarring blow knocked out atooth and that tooth fell
(10:49):
between the cracks of thefloorboards.
Seeming to gain amusement withher antics, the Bell Witch would
later change her own story,claiming this time to be an
early immigrant who had broughta large sum of money to the area
but had then died.
Before divulging its locationto anyone, she claimed to have
(11:10):
returned to make sure that BetsyBell got all of that money.
When people then begged thewitch to tell them where the
money was buried, she happilyprovided very specific
instructions on how theexhumation was to be performed.
She named certain people in thetown that she wanted to do the
digging and she specified JamesJohnson, whom she called Old
(11:33):
Sugar Mouth, to be the guardianof the money and see that the
right thing was done with it.
The team set out the nextmorning and worked until they
were exhausted, but no money wasfound.
Later, it's said, the witchwould tell that story again and
again, cackling loudly andgetting those listening to laugh
(11:54):
too.
Interestingly, the bell witchseemed to be very fond of Lucy,
john's wife and the children'smother.
She spoke kindly to Lucy andalways took her side in any
family disagreements.
Another interesting developmentwas the witch's ability to
mimic all of the area preachers.
Her knowledge of biblicalscriptures was vast and she
(12:18):
often sang hymns while thosepreachers were present.
Another favorite demonstrationof the witch's powers was her
willingness to answer questionsthat people asked about others
in the town.
Once Lucy asked the witch whatone of her neighbors was doing
at that very moment, the witchreplied that she didn't know but
(12:39):
would be right back.
Within less than two minutesthe witch reported back to Lucy
exactly what the neighbor wasdoing trying to scrub mud off of
a pair of new work boots,having just finished his
breakfast.
Later, lucy asked her neighborwhether this was true, and
astonished, he answered that yes, it was.
(13:05):
People talked as they will farand wide about the witch that
inhabited the Bell home.
People of all walks continuedto visit the home.
Detectives, confident that theycould expose the mystery,
offered all kinds of possibleexplanations.
Some took the witch at her word, believing her to be a Native
(13:27):
American whose grave had beendisturbed.
Some claimed the entire matterto be witchcraft, not that of a
witch who inhabited the home,but the work of nearby witches
who were up to no good.
Others claimed the Bell Witchto be an evil spirit bent on
driving the Bell family andeventually, others mad.
(13:50):
Still others claimed that theBell family members themselves
were up to some trickery in thehopes that the spectacle would
draw crowds and make money.
Eventually, and in yet anotherstrange twist, the Bell Witch
revealed that she was actuallythe ghost of a woman named Kate
(14:10):
Betts.
You see, john Bell had acquiredsome land from Kate years
earlier and Kate accused Bell ofcheating her on the deal.
For years.
She told everyone who wouldlisten about John Bell's
unscrupulous character and histheft of her land.
And there's something elseabout John and Kate that the
(14:31):
witch did not reveal.
John and Kate, who both hailedfrom North Carolina, were lovers
before he married Lucy.
One day, kate's body wasdiscovered next to a well near
her home, but the cause of deathwas never determined.
It was said that John killedKate because she was such a
(14:55):
moody, unpleasant woman and thather spirit followed him to take
her revenge.
Could this explain the witch'shatred for John?
It could, I suppose.
Could this explain the witch'shatred for John?
It could, I suppose.
You see, kate died in 1817, andthe Bell hauntings began in
(15:16):
1817.
Over time, the spirit's voicegrew louder and stronger, often
singing spiritual hymns andquoting scripture.
It even carried on intelligentconversation and once it quoted
two separate sermons, word forword, preached on the same day,
13 miles apart, word of theextraordinary and unexplainable
(15:41):
things going on in that smallTennessee town began to spread
and eventually, as the tale goes, major General Andrew Jackson
himself got wind of the strangephenomena.
Now John Bell Jr, along with histwo brothers, drury and Jesse,
fought the British Army underMajor General Jackson in the
(16:04):
Battle of New Orleans In 1819,.
When Jackson heard about thedisturbances in the Bell home,
he decided to pay the Bells avisit and just see for himself
what was really going on.
When Jackson and his entourageapproached the Bell homestead,
it seems the wagon they werepulling got stuck, though the
(16:26):
men could see no reason for theproblem.
The horses strained and pulledto free the wagon, and the men
even tried to push while thehorses pulled, but it wouldn't
budge.
Finally Jackson, exclaimed bythe eternal boys this is the
witch.
And the witch replied All right, general, let the wagon move on
(16:48):
and I will see you againtonight.
The wagon then rolled alongeffortlessly.
That evening at camp, aself-proclaimed witch hunter
said he had a silver bullet andregaled the men with tales of
his witch hunting days.
Jackson whispered to acolleague I'll bet this fellow
(17:11):
is a coward.
By God, I do wish the thingwould come so I can see him run.
Silence followed, and then camethe sound of footsteps
approaching the men from behind.
The witch's voice stated Allright, general, I am on hand and
ready for business.
She sneered and told the witchhunter to shoot, but his gun
(17:32):
would not fire.
The hunter was then struck byan invisible force, screamed in
pain when being stuck repeatedlyby unseen needles, cried that
he had been grabbed by the noseand then fled in fear from the
tent.
The witch then reportedlyexclaimed how that devil did run
and beg.
I'll bet he won't come throughhere again with his horse pistol
(17:56):
to shoot me.
I guess that's fun enough fortonight, general.
You can go to bed now.
I will come tomorrow night andreveal to you another rascal in
this crowd.
In this version of the story,jackson was eager to stay, but
his party had had enough of thewitch and her antics and they
returned to Nashville shortlythereafter.
(18:17):
There are no official travelrecords or accounts of Jackson's
visit to the Bell home, and onemight expect to see such
records when a major general andsoon-to-be-elected president
had been out gallivanting aroundthe hills of Tennessee hunting
witches.
Then again, the seventhpresident of the United States
(18:39):
is known to have been a biteccentric, so it's quite
possible that he did indeed goout of his way to meet the Bell
witch in person.
We'll likely never know, as thestory continues.
Once the witch dispatched MajorGeneral Jackson and his men,
(18:59):
she turned her sights back toJohn Bell.
The witch would ridicule him,calling him Old Jack Bell and
repeatedly vowing to kill him.
In the spring and summer of 1820, john began experiencing
troubling maladies.
His face twitched.
He couldn't swallow without agreat deal of pain and by that
(19:21):
fall he was confined to thehouse, having become very weak
and unable to walk longdistances.
And even during his confinement, the witch would torture him by
removing his shoes when hetried to walk, often causing him
to fall.
He would experience seizuresand the witch would slap him.
When they commenced and whenthey tapered off, she cursed him
(19:44):
and she promised she would killhim.
On December 19, 1820, johnslipped into a coma and on
December 20, he breathed hislast.
The witch cackled with glee,claiming to have been poisoning
John all along.
(20:05):
Shortly after John's passing,his wife found a strange vial of
black liquid in a kitchencupboard.
When Lucy picked it up toexamine it, the witch screamed
that she had given old Jack abig dose of it the night before
and that had fixed him.
John Jr took the vial from hismother and sprinkled a few drops
(20:26):
of the liquid on their cat'stongue.
Within minutes, the cat wasdead.
John Jr tossed the vial intothe fireplace and he and his
mother both claimed to have seenbright blue flames flare and
shoot up the chimney.
With John dead, the witch seemedto grow still stronger, her
(20:46):
powers more numerous andversatile.
She continued to torment Betsy,having added her strong
disagreement with the younggirl's engagement to a young man
named Joshua Gardner.
The couple had the blessings oftheir parents and Gardner was
well-liked in the town.
The Bell Witch, however, hadother ideas.
Repeatedly, she would scream atBetsy, demanding she break off
(21:10):
the engagement.
Her demands became relentless,coming both day and night, and
the physical abuse directed atBetsy increased.
The couple couldn't strollalong the banks of the river or
explore the cave on the Bellproperty, or even walk the
fields on the Bell farm withoutthe witch following them,
(21:31):
taunting and nagging, sometimespushing or kicking both of them
from behind as she railed atthem.
The young girl became sodistressed and frightened that
on April 21st 1821, easterSunday, she broke off her
engagement to Joshua Gardner.
Now, as it happens, there wasanother man in the town who had
(21:54):
expressed interest in marryingBetsy.
His name was Professor RichardPowell, a school teacher, and he
was several years her senior.
It has been said that he was amathematical genius and that he
dabbled in the occult and inventriloquism.
Clearly, there is very littlethat is known for a fact about
(22:17):
the Bell Witch.
It's difficult to separateactual occurrences with the
inevitable changes in a storythat has passed down through
generations.
What is known is that thislegend has survived, however
changed, for more than 200 yearsNow.
I am not here to prove or todebunk the legend of the Bell
(22:39):
Witch.
Honestly, I'm not qualified todo either.
I'm simply a storyteller andI'm here, as always, to tell the
tale.
I have read countless accountsof this piece of Southern
folklore and each of themdisputes this detail or that
occurrence as I have recountedthem here.
But interestingly, each of themalso has uncanny similarities.
(23:04):
Two the Bell Witch legend hasbeen referenced or repeated in
dozens of films, documentaries,books and even in songs all over
the world.
I can't be sure why somelegends persist through the ages
and some fizzle and die asquickly as modern-day urban
legends.
I do know that the Bell Witchlegend and stories very similar
(23:29):
to the tale are set and stilllive on in other southern states
like Kentucky, mississippi andGeorgia.
In early accounts, the spirititself provides its origin,
stating I am a spirit.
I once was very happy, but I'vebeen disturbed and made unhappy
(23:49):
.
I am the spirit of a person whowas buried in the woods nearby
and the grave was disturbed, mybones disinterred and scattered
and one of my teeth was lostunder this house.
This quote was taken from abook titled Our Family Trouble,
written by a member of the Bellfamily.
Of course, this claim cannot beverified, but a number of
(24:14):
Indian burial mounds have beenfound in the region.
The tale of the Bell Witch thengives a nod to the shameful
treatment of Native Americans inthis country, particularly in
the South, and particularly byAndrew Jackson.
Jackson.
(24:38):
The witch also seemed to have astrong dislike for the family's
slaves, tormenting them day andnight, beating them and refusing
to allow them into the house.
A Bell slave named Dean claimedthat he had encountered the
witch many times.
It appeared frequently in theform of a large black dog or a
wolf, sometimes with two heads,sometimes with no head.
Dean also claimed to have beenturned into a mule several times
(25:02):
by the witch.
Her attacks became so frequentand frightening that he carried
with him at all times an axe anda witch ball made by his wife
as protection from the witch'sinfluence, and a witch ball made
by his wife as protection fromthe witch's influence.
Conjurers, holy men andexorcists, it is said, made the
(25:26):
pilgrimage to the Bell home toremove the malevolent spirit
from the home and the grounds,and each time the men were
mocked, ridiculed and sentpacking by the ever-stronger
spirit and sent packing by theever-stronger spirit.
Today, adams, tennessee, hasbuilt an entire tourist industry
around the Bell Witch Farm andthe Bell Witch Cave which sits
(25:47):
on that property.
Strange occurrences have takenplace inside that cave and
they've been attributed to thespirit.
Strange occurrences have takenplace inside that cave and
they've been attributed to thespirit.
In one instance, betsy and someof her friends were exploring
that cave.
One of the boys got stuck and avoice cried out I'll get him
out.
The boy felt hands grasping hisfeet and pulling hard and he
(26:10):
was freed.
The story goes on to claim thatthe spirit then gave the cave
explorers a lecture onrecklessness.
Has the legend of the Bell Witchbecome a money-making sham,
something to be checked off abucket list when traveling
through Tennessee?
Or was there an actual hauntingthat has been told and retold,
(26:33):
getting stretched in manydirections, much like that old
game called gossip?
Remember that one Childrenwould sit in a circle and the
first child would whispersomething in the next child's
ear, and so on and so forth,until the last child would utter
what he had heard.
Inevitably, what the firstchild spoke was far different
(26:56):
from what the last child heard.
What I think warrants a closerlook with respect to the Bell
Witch and, frankly, with respectto other rich tales of the
South, is where and why theyoriginate and how they remain
alive for more than 200 years.
Why do they fascinate us so?
Psychologists and historianstell us that through these
(27:21):
stories, the people of a regioncome to terms with certain
historical events.
By spinning such tales andhanding them down, the Bell
Witch legend alone gives a nodto slavery, to the treatment of
Native Americans, to unrequitedlove, to jealousy, to dishonesty
(27:42):
, to murder and more.
Perhaps these tales tell usmore than we think they do.
Then again, there's always thepossibility that the Bell Witch
was exactly that A witch, a seer, an evil spirit, a poltergeist,
(28:03):
a vengeful, murdered lover.
I hope you'll join me next timewhen we explore the terrifying
case of Floyd Collins and histragic experience in a Kentucky
cave.
I'm Carol Townsend, veterannewspaper journalist and
(28:26):
six-time award-winning author.
You can find me on social mediaand check out my website at
caroltownsendcom on social mediaand check out my website at
caroltownsoncom.
As always, thanks for listeningand if you're enjoying these
tales of Southern history andlore, I hope you'll tell your
friends, subscribe to thispodcast on Spotify, apple Play,
(29:00):
iheart and anywhere you listen.
My team and I benefited fromthe following research and
writings to bring this tale toyou.
Our Family Trouble the story ofthe Bell Witch of Tennessee by
Richard Williams Bell.
Wikipedia.
The Bell Witch and the BellWitch Cave.
The Bell Witch, the scariestghost story in Tennessee, from
(29:22):
the Customs House Museum andCultural Center.
The town of Adams, tennessee in Robertson
County, is a bucolic, quaintlittle burg located just north
of Nashville on the fringe ofAppalachia, with a population of
about 650 people.
Its rolling green hills andrural flavor invite visitors to
slow down just a bit to take ina part of Tennessee that almost
(00:28):
seems to have stood still withthe passage of time.
In spite of its small, quietlyconservative population and
pastoral ambience, adamsTennessee has its own place in
the annals of shadowy Southernhistory.
Ghost hunters, priests, amateurdetectives, historians and
(00:52):
paranormal enthusiasts flock tothis tiny town every year in
search of its most infamousresident, the Bell Witch.
The Bell Witch.
Here in the South we love ourstories.
We begin in childhood huddledaround campfires, whispering of
(01:15):
things best spoken in the dark,confiding in our small trusting
circles.
Why is that, do you suppose?
I have researched andinvestigated southern history
for more than 20 years and Ibelieve it has to do with this
region itself.
There's a lot that hangs in theether here and much that is
(01:36):
buried deep in the soil.
There's beauty here in thesouth.
There's beauty here in theSouth and shame and courage, and
, make no mistake, there is evil.
There's always been the elementof the unexplained, the just
(01:59):
out of reach that we can allfeel but can never quite
describe, and the best place fortelling tales about such things
is the comfort and safety of anold front porch.
So I invite you tonight to comeup here with me, settle back
into a chair and get comfortable, pour yourself a drink if you
like, and I'll share with yousome of the tales best told in
(02:19):
the company of friends, talesthat prove that truth really is
stranger than fiction, and I'llturn on the light.
You're going to want that.
I'm Carol Townsend.
Welcome to my front porch.
The following podcast containsmaterial that may be disturbing.
(02:43):
Listener discretion is advised.
The legend of the Bell Witch,now more than 200 years old, has
been called America's greatestghost story.
You and I both know that tolive up to that billing, this
tale must indeed be somethingspectacular.
(03:04):
But is the Bell Witch simply afolk tale?
Is the witch something conjuredby someone's imagination 200
years ago?
The stories passed on from onegeneration to the next?
Or were there actual events,true things that were witnessed
by so many people that theirretelling was, and still is
(03:27):
necessary?
Well, sit back and getcomfortable, pull that blanket a
little tighter around you as weexamine the remarkable legend
of the Bell Witch.
Back in the early 1800s, johnBell and his family moved from
North Carolina to Red River, nowAdams, tennessee.
(03:50):
John, his wife Lucy and theirchildren lived in a large
farmhouse on several hundredacres of land and they farmed
much of the rich riverbottomland.
In a short time John wasensconced as elder in the Red
River Baptist Church.
By all accounts, the Bellfamily was happy.
(04:13):
They were hardworking and theywere a tight-knit clan
well-respected in theircommunity.
In 1817, the family'swell-being would change.
In 1817, the family'swell-being would change.
One late afternoon, when Johnwas surveying his land and
inspecting one of his cornfields, he spotted a strange-looking
(04:33):
animal sitting in one of therows of corn, staring intently
at him.
It was rather large, with thebody of a dog but with the head
of a rabbit.
Startled, john shot at thecreature several times.
Sure, he had hit and probablykilled the animal.
He was shocked to see that ithad simply vanished instead.
(04:56):
We read in several handwrittenaccounts later that John's
sighting of this unusualcreature was likely the very
first manifestation of theentity that became known as the
Bell Witch.
That very evening, the housedark and its inhabitants sound
(05:18):
asleep.
The family heard beating soundson the outside of the log home.
The frequency and intensity ofthe pounding sounds increased in
the coming nights, with Johnand his sons reaching for their
firearms and running outside tocatch the culprit or the
prankster, who seemed to takesuch delight in disturbing and
(05:39):
frightening the family.
Not once did they find anyonelurking outside or running away
in the dark cover of night.
In the weeks that followed, thedisturbances grew more
threatening, with the Bellchildren waking in the night,
crying that someone had hit orscratched or pinched them.
(06:01):
Their covers were being pulledoff their beds as they slept and
they heard gnawing sounds onthe bedposts.
When their parents would comerunning to their aid, they too
heard sounds like rats chewingthrough wood.
In time, the entity found avoice.
(06:22):
It began speaking in faint,feeble tones, and sometimes it
just whispered.
At other times the voicesounded like an old woman
singing hymns.
And then something else changed.
The spirit began attacking thebell's youngest daughter, betsy,
slapping her and pulling herhair.
(06:42):
The attacks were clearlypainful ones, leaving welts and
bruises on the young girl's body.
The entity appeared to begin tofocus its hatred and its
malevolent intent on Betsy andon John specifically.
Now being an elder in thechurch.
(07:06):
John swore his family to secrecyabout these strange, terrifying
occurrences.
His fear was that he would beremoved as a church elder and
that his family would be shunnedfrom their religious community.
Two hundred years ago, thatpunishment was the equivalent of
death itself, as the church wasthe lifeblood of all such small
(07:28):
communities.
Eventually, though, the attacksbecame so brutal and so
upsetting that John confided inhis neighbor and closest friend,
james Johnson.
Johnson also served as a pastorin the small community.
Served as a pastor in the smallcommunity, skeptical James
(07:51):
appeased his friend by promisingto bring his wife and spend the
night in the Bell home.
By doing so, he could eitherwitness the manifestations
himself, or he could comfort andsoothe his friend and convince
him that all of the occurrencescould be rationally explained.
On the night that James and hiswife spent in the Bell home, the
evening began peacefully enough, with the families enjoying
(08:14):
supper together before retiringto bed after dark.
It was then, however, witheveryone tucked away in bed and
sleeping, that the Johnsonsexperienced the same terrifying
disturbances that the Bells hadbeen enduring.
Their covers were ripped awayfrom them and flung across the
room, and James was brutallyslapped in the face, as the
(08:38):
story goes, he jumped out of bedand shouted in the name of the
Lord, who are you and what doyou want?
And after that, it is said,there were no disturbances for
the rest of the night.
The next morning, before Jamesand his wife left, he explained
to his friend that he believedthat the culprit was likely an
(08:59):
evil spirit, the kind that theBible talks about.
Word began to spread throughoutthe valley that there was an
invisible being of some sort atthe Bell home, and soon people
began traveling to the home tosee the phenomenon for
themselves.
It's said that John never onceturned away a traveler, often
(09:21):
letting them stay overnight andeven feeding them.
Many of these travelers wouldask the spirit the same
questions that James Johnson hadasked Once.
The witch answered that she hadbeen happy at one time, but
that her grave had beendisturbed and her bones
scattered.
Another time, the witchanswered that she had been
(09:42):
searching for one of her teeth,which she claimed was thrown
under the floorboards of thehouse, and she couldn't rest
until she found it.
These claims later brought tomind a memory that had, at the
time, seemed insignificant.
One of John Bell's farmhands,while out clearing land, one day
(10:03):
, discovered a mound of NativeAmerican graves.
John Bell said that the graveswere likely those of Indians and
he instructed his men to workaround the marked area as best
they could.
However, a few days later, johnJr told one of his friends
about the discovery and the boyswent back to the site and dug
(10:24):
disinterring the bones.
And the boys went back to thesite and dug disinterring the
bones.
They were looking for relicsthat they had heard Native
Americans buried with their dead, but they found none.
Instead, they took a jawboneout of the grave and carried it
to the house, where John Jr'sfriend, in frustration, threw it
against a wall.
The jarring blow knocked out atooth and that tooth fell
(10:49):
between the cracks of thefloorboards.
Seeming to gain amusement withher antics, the Bell Witch would
later change her own story,claiming this time to be an
early immigrant who had broughta large sum of money to the area
but had then died.
Before divulging its locationto anyone, she claimed to have
(11:10):
returned to make sure that BetsyBell got all of that money.
When people then begged thewitch to tell them where the
money was buried, she happilyprovided very specific
instructions on how theexhumation was to be performed.
She named certain people in thetown that she wanted to do the
digging and she specified JamesJohnson, whom she called Old
(11:33):
Sugar Mouth, to be the guardianof the money and see that the
right thing was done with it.
The team set out the nextmorning and worked until they
were exhausted, but no money wasfound.
Later, it's said, the witchwould tell that story again and
again, cackling loudly andgetting those listening to laugh
(11:54):
too.
Interestingly, the bell witchseemed to be very fond of Lucy,
john's wife and the children'smother.
She spoke kindly to Lucy andalways took her side in any
family disagreements.
Another interesting developmentwas the witch's ability to
mimic all of the area preachers.
Her knowledge of biblicalscriptures was vast and she
(12:18):
often sang hymns while thosepreachers were present.
Another favorite demonstrationof the witch's powers was her
willingness to answer questionsthat people asked about others
in the town.
Once Lucy asked the witch whatone of her neighbors was doing
at that very moment, the witchreplied that she didn't know but
(12:39):
would be right back.
Within less than two minutesthe witch reported back to Lucy
exactly what the neighbor wasdoing trying to scrub mud off of
a pair of new work boots,having just finished his
breakfast.
Later, lucy asked her neighborwhether this was true, and
astonished, he answered that yes, it was.
(13:05):
People talked as they will farand wide about the witch that
inhabited the Bell home.
People of all walks continuedto visit the home.
Detectives, confident that theycould expose the mystery,
offered all kinds of possibleexplanations.
Some took the witch at her word, believing her to be a Native
(13:27):
American whose grave had beendisturbed.
Some claimed the entire matterto be witchcraft, not that of a
witch who inhabited the home,but the work of nearby witches
who were up to no good.
Others claimed the Bell Witchto be an evil spirit bent on
driving the Bell family andeventually, others mad.
(13:50):
Still others claimed that theBell family members themselves
were up to some trickery in thehopes that the spectacle would
draw crowds and make money.
Eventually, and in yet anotherstrange twist, the Bell Witch
revealed that she was actuallythe ghost of a woman named Kate
(14:10):
Betts.
You see, john Bell had acquiredsome land from Kate years
earlier and Kate accused Bell ofcheating her on the deal.
For years.
She told everyone who wouldlisten about John Bell's
unscrupulous character and histheft of her land.
And there's something elseabout John and Kate that the
(14:31):
witch did not reveal.
John and Kate, who both hailedfrom North Carolina, were lovers
before he married Lucy.
One day, kate's body wasdiscovered next to a well near
her home, but the cause of deathwas never determined.
It was said that John killedKate because she was such a
(14:55):
moody, unpleasant woman and thather spirit followed him to take
her revenge.
Could this explain the witch'shatred for John?
It could, I suppose.
Could this explain the witch'shatred for John?
It could, I suppose.
You see, kate died in 1817, andthe Bell hauntings began in
(15:16):
1817.
Over time, the spirit's voicegrew louder and stronger, often
singing spiritual hymns andquoting scripture.
It even carried on intelligentconversation and once it quoted
two separate sermons, word forword, preached on the same day,
13 miles apart, word of theextraordinary and unexplainable
(15:41):
things going on in that smallTennessee town began to spread
and eventually, as the tale goes, major General Andrew Jackson
himself got wind of the strangephenomena.
Now John Bell Jr, along with histwo brothers, drury and Jesse,
fought the British Army underMajor General Jackson in the
(16:04):
Battle of New Orleans In 1819,.
When Jackson heard about thedisturbances in the Bell home,
he decided to pay the Bells avisit and just see for himself
what was really going on.
When Jackson and his entourageapproached the Bell homestead,
it seems the wagon they werepulling got stuck, though the
(16:26):
men could see no reason for theproblem.
The horses strained and pulledto free the wagon, and the men
even tried to push while thehorses pulled, but it wouldn't
budge.
Finally Jackson, exclaimed bythe eternal boys this is the
witch.
And the witch replied All right, general, let the wagon move on
(16:48):
and I will see you againtonight.
The wagon then rolled alongeffortlessly.
That evening at camp, aself-proclaimed witch hunter
said he had a silver bullet andregaled the men with tales of
his witch hunting days.
Jackson whispered to acolleague I'll bet this fellow
(17:11):
is a coward.
By God, I do wish the thingwould come so I can see him run.
Silence followed, and then camethe sound of footsteps
approaching the men from behind.
The witch's voice stated Allright, general, I am on hand and
ready for business.
She sneered and told the witchhunter to shoot, but his gun
(17:32):
would not fire.
The hunter was then struck byan invisible force, screamed in
pain when being stuck repeatedlyby unseen needles, cried that
he had been grabbed by the noseand then fled in fear from the
tent.
The witch then reportedlyexclaimed how that devil did run
and beg.
I'll bet he won't come throughhere again with his horse pistol
(17:56):
to shoot me.
I guess that's fun enough fortonight, general.
You can go to bed now.
I will come tomorrow night andreveal to you another rascal in
this crowd.
In this version of the story,jackson was eager to stay, but
his party had had enough of thewitch and her antics and they
returned to Nashville shortlythereafter.
(18:17):
There are no official travelrecords or accounts of Jackson's
visit to the Bell home, and onemight expect to see such
records when a major general andsoon-to-be-elected president
had been out gallivanting aroundthe hills of Tennessee hunting
witches.
Then again, the seventhpresident of the United States
(18:39):
is known to have been a biteccentric, so it's quite
possible that he did indeed goout of his way to meet the Bell
witch in person.
We'll likely never know, as thestory continues.
Once the witch dispatched MajorGeneral Jackson and his men,
(18:59):
she turned her sights back toJohn Bell.
The witch would ridicule him,calling him Old Jack Bell and
repeatedly vowing to kill him.
In the spring and summer of 1820, john began experiencing
troubling maladies.
His face twitched.
He couldn't swallow without agreat deal of pain and by that
(19:21):
fall he was confined to thehouse, having become very weak
and unable to walk longdistances.
And even during his confinement, the witch would torture him by
removing his shoes when hetried to walk, often causing him
to fall.
He would experience seizuresand the witch would slap him.
When they commenced and whenthey tapered off, she cursed him
(19:44):
and she promised she would killhim.
On December 19, 1820, johnslipped into a coma and on
December 20, he breathed hislast.
The witch cackled with glee,claiming to have been poisoning
John all along.
(20:05):
Shortly after John's passing,his wife found a strange vial of
black liquid in a kitchencupboard.
When Lucy picked it up toexamine it, the witch screamed
that she had given old Jack abig dose of it the night before
and that had fixed him.
John Jr took the vial from hismother and sprinkled a few drops
(20:26):
of the liquid on their cat'stongue.
Within minutes, the cat wasdead.
John Jr tossed the vial intothe fireplace and he and his
mother both claimed to have seenbright blue flames flare and
shoot up the chimney.
With John dead, the witch seemedto grow still stronger, her
(20:46):
powers more numerous andversatile.
She continued to torment Betsy,having added her strong
disagreement with the younggirl's engagement to a young man
named Joshua Gardner.
The couple had the blessings oftheir parents and Gardner was
well-liked in the town.
The Bell Witch, however, hadother ideas.
Repeatedly, she would scream atBetsy, demanding she break off
(21:10):
the engagement.
Her demands became relentless,coming both day and night, and
the physical abuse directed atBetsy increased.
The couple couldn't strollalong the banks of the river or
explore the cave on the Bellproperty, or even walk the
fields on the Bell farm withoutthe witch following them,
(21:31):
taunting and nagging, sometimespushing or kicking both of them
from behind as she railed atthem.
The young girl became sodistressed and frightened that
on April 21st 1821, easterSunday, she broke off her
engagement to Joshua Gardner.
Now, as it happens, there wasanother man in the town who had
(21:54):
expressed interest in marryingBetsy.
His name was Professor RichardPowell, a school teacher, and he
was several years her senior.
It has been said that he was amathematical genius and that he
dabbled in the occult and inventriloquism.
Clearly, there is very littlethat is known for a fact about
(22:17):
the Bell Witch.
It's difficult to separateactual occurrences with the
inevitable changes in a storythat has passed down through
generations.
What is known is that thislegend has survived, however
changed, for more than 200 yearsNow.
I am not here to prove or todebunk the legend of the Bell
(22:39):
Witch.
Honestly, I'm not qualified todo either.
I'm simply a storyteller andI'm here, as always, to tell the
tale.
I have read countless accountsof this piece of Southern
folklore and each of themdisputes this detail or that
occurrence as I have recountedthem here.
But interestingly, each of themalso has uncanny similarities.
(23:04):
Two the Bell Witch legend hasbeen referenced or repeated in
dozens of films, documentaries,books and even in songs all over
the world.
I can't be sure why somelegends persist through the ages
and some fizzle and die asquickly as modern-day urban
legends.
I do know that the Bell Witchlegend and stories very similar
(23:29):
to the tale are set and stilllive on in other southern states
like Kentucky, mississippi andGeorgia.
In early accounts, the spirititself provides its origin,
stating I am a spirit.
I once was very happy, but I'vebeen disturbed and made unhappy
(23:49):
.
I am the spirit of a person whowas buried in the woods nearby
and the grave was disturbed, mybones disinterred and scattered
and one of my teeth was lostunder this house.
This quote was taken from abook titled Our Family Trouble,
written by a member of the Bellfamily.
Of course, this claim cannot beverified, but a number of
(24:14):
Indian burial mounds have beenfound in the region.
The tale of the Bell Witch thengives a nod to the shameful
treatment of Native Americans inthis country, particularly in
the South, and particularly byAndrew Jackson.
Jackson.
(24:38):
The witch also seemed to have astrong dislike for the family's
slaves, tormenting them day andnight, beating them and refusing
to allow them into the house.
A Bell slave named Dean claimedthat he had encountered the
witch many times.
It appeared frequently in theform of a large black dog or a
wolf, sometimes with two heads,sometimes with no head.
Dean also claimed to have beenturned into a mule several times
(25:02):
by the witch.
Her attacks became so frequentand frightening that he carried
with him at all times an axe anda witch ball made by his wife
as protection from the witch'sinfluence, and a witch ball made
by his wife as protection fromthe witch's influence.
Conjurers, holy men andexorcists, it is said, made the
(25:26):
pilgrimage to the Bell home toremove the malevolent spirit
from the home and the grounds,and each time the men were
mocked, ridiculed and sentpacking by the ever-stronger
spirit and sent packing by theever-stronger spirit.
Today, adams, tennessee, hasbuilt an entire tourist industry
around the Bell Witch Farm andthe Bell Witch Cave which sits
(25:47):
on that property.
Strange occurrences have takenplace inside that cave and
they've been attributed to thespirit.
Strange occurrences have takenplace inside that cave and
they've been attributed to thespirit.
In one instance, betsy and someof her friends were exploring
that cave.
One of the boys got stuck and avoice cried out I'll get him
out.
The boy felt hands grasping hisfeet and pulling hard and he
(26:10):
was freed.
The story goes on to claim thatthe spirit then gave the cave
explorers a lecture onrecklessness.
Has the legend of the Bell Witchbecome a money-making sham,
something to be checked off abucket list when traveling
through Tennessee?
Or was there an actual hauntingthat has been told and retold,
(26:33):
getting stretched in manydirections, much like that old
game called gossip?
Remember that one Childrenwould sit in a circle and the
first child would whispersomething in the next child's
ear, and so on and so forth,until the last child would utter
what he had heard.
Inevitably, what the firstchild spoke was far different
(26:56):
from what the last child heard.
What I think warrants a closerlook with respect to the Bell
Witch and, frankly, with respectto other rich tales of the
South, is where and why theyoriginate and how they remain
alive for more than 200 years.
Why do they fascinate us so?
Psychologists and historianstell us that through these
(27:21):
stories, the people of a regioncome to terms with certain
historical events.
By spinning such tales andhanding them down, the Bell
Witch legend alone gives a nodto slavery, to the treatment of
Native Americans, to unrequitedlove, to jealousy, to dishonesty
(27:42):
, to murder and more.
Perhaps these tales tell usmore than we think they do.
Then again, there's always thepossibility that the Bell Witch
was exactly that A witch, a seer, an evil spirit, a poltergeist,
(28:03):
a vengeful, murdered lover.
I hope you'll join me next timewhen we explore the terrifying
case of Floyd Collins and histragic experience in a Kentucky
cave.
I'm Carol Townsend, veterannewspaper journalist and
(28:26):
six-time award-winning author.
You can find me on social mediaand check out my website at
caroltownsendcom on social mediaand check out my website at
caroltownsoncom.
As always, thanks for listeningand if you're enjoying these
tales of Southern history andlore, I hope you'll tell your
friends, subscribe to thispodcast on Spotify, apple Play,
(29:00):
iheart and anywhere you listen.
My team and I benefited fromthe following research and
writings to bring this tale toyou.
Our Family Trouble the story ofthe Bell Witch of Tennessee by
Richard Williams Bell.
Wikipedia.
The Bell Witch and the BellWitch Cave.
The Bell Witch, the scariestghost story in Tennessee, from
(29:22):
the Customs House Museum andCultural Center.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.