The Bell Witch

From: aih50691@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Aaron I. Hilbun )
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.ghost-stories
Subject: The Bell Witch
Date: 5 Jan 1995 03:21:12 GMT

For some reason, everything I have read about the Bell Witch so far on this
newsgroup has described her (it?) as a poltergeist, and I am not sure this
is the case. I think the Bell Witch is something far more sinister. I am a
former resident of Montgomery County, Tennessee, which borders Robertson
County (the town of Adams where all this took place is about a 30 minute
drive from my parents'). So, I got all the necessary indoctrination from
the old timers in the area about the Bell Witch. I have also done some reading
on the phenomena myself. Here is the story I usually relate to people:

  In the early part of the 19th century, a young farmer named John Bell
  moved to Robertoson County Tennessee from North Carolina. The woman from
  whom John Bell bought his farm, Kate Batts, claimed that she had been
  cheated by Bell, but no one paid any attention to her and dismissed her
  claims as the senile ramblings of an old woman. Kate Batts then swore that
  she would get even with John Bell, even if she had to come back from the
  grave to so. Meanwhile, the Bell family had gained a reputation of being
  one of the most devoutly religious, upstanding families in the community,
  so people wondered why they had been singled out for such suffering.
  Incidentally, sometimes the Bell Witch is referred to by Tennesseans as
  "Ol' Kate."

  The problems started around 1817, after the death of Kate Batts. As John
  Bell was inspecting his rows of corn one day, he saw an odd bird with
  almost human (not having features, but uncanilly resembling human features)
  features sitting on a fencepost. He raised his shotgun and shot at the
  creature, but it remained unscathed and flew off unharmed. Several days
  later, he encountered a snarling dog-like creature in the corn, and once
  again shot at it, but the creature just disappeared before his eyes. The
  Bell children began seeing odd creatures in the woods surrounding their
  farm and a mysterious old woman could be seen sometimes wandering through
  their orchard. Then came scratching, knocking sounds as if some animal
  were trying to get inside their house, but upon opening the door saw
  nothing. Eventually the noises moved indoors, the loud sounds of wings
  flapping against the ceiling and dogs fighting.

  In 1818, John Bell came down with a mysterious illness that affected his
  tongue and jaw and made chewing and swallowing  difficult for him. The
  mysterious events of the Bell home also spread throught the community. The
  Witch then started to speak - and threaten the life of John Bell. People
  came in droves to witness this phenomena. Those who spent the night were
  subjected to derisive laughter and having the sheets yanked off them. One
  man from the area, Frank Miles, a rather large, stout, person came to the
  Bell house and volunteered to crush the Witch in his powerful grip. He
  spent the night at the Bell home waiting for the opportunity to give the
  witch a thrashing, but instead had his sheets yanked off as well and the
  witch struck him on the face and head with some of the most powerful blows
  he had taken. The witch then screamed at him to give up, because he could
  not win a struggle with a spirit. Another visitor was Andrew Jackson, who
  was to later become president. At the time, Jackson was living about 35 miles
  away on the outskirts of Nashville, and Jackson, being the "macho guy" of 
  the early 19th c., decided that he could "tame this monster." As they neared
  the Bell farm, one of Jackson's companions began to speak ill of the Witch.
  Suddenly the wagon wheels locked up, and as much as the driver whipped the
  horses, the wagon would not move. Suddenly, a sharp voice rang out - "Go
  on, old General." The wheels then moved freely and Jackson's party proceeded.
  They were not disappointed when they arrived at the Bells'. Betsy Bell
  screamed all night from the pinching and slapping she received from the 
  Witch, and Jackson's covers were ripped off as quickly as he could put them 
  back on, and he had his entire party of men were slapped, pinched and had 
  their hair pulled by the witch until morning, when Jackson and his men 
  decided to hightail it out of Adams. Jackson was later quoted as saying, 
  "I'd rather fight the British the New Orleans than to have to fight the 
  Bell Witch."

  The character of the Witch was enigmatic. While she tortured John and Betsy
  Bell, and the slaves the Bell owned (she would periodically flog them), she
  was kind to Mrs. Bell singing to her and comforting her and doing some
  household chores when Mrs. Bell was ill. She was also known to sing hymns
  and preach not only to the Bells' but others in the community. Young Betsy
  was madly in love with a fine young schoolteacher, Joshua Gardner, and it
  pleased both families when they announced their engagement. But the Witch
  said if she married Josh Gardner, she would never know a moment's peace
  and would pinch and slap her until she bled, and also tied her hair in
  knots. Finally, Betsy called off the engagement. The Witch was somewhat
  appeased saying that there were good reasons. In 1820 John Bell was once
  again stricken with the ailment of the jaw and tongue except much worse
  now. His face was constantly contorted in pain. At times his condition seemed
  to be improving, but the Witch said she would kill him. In his last days
  as he tried to walk around his yard, the Witch would knock his shoes off
  his feet and knock him too the ground. His son, John Jr. would tie the shoes
  to his feet as tight as possible, but that did not deter the Witch and in
  fits of rage would beat him terribly, sending him to bed and needing a
  doctor. The doctor prescribed a potion and left. John Bell then got violently
  ill and died December 20, 1820. The doctor called for the medicine bottle
  that he had left, but it was no where to be seen, and in its place was a
  thick dark liquid that defied analysis. The witch laughed loudly and said
  she placed it there. Early in 1821, the Witch declared that her work was
  finished and left, but promised to visit the Bells again in 7 years. The
  Witch came in the same manner, with scratching noises, but stayed only a few
  weeks and bothered no one in the Bell household (only Mrs. Bell and the two
  youngest sons remained). A final promise was made - to return in 107 years.
  The year would have been 1935. If the Witch did return, no one has come
  forth and spoken about it.

  Sorry if this has been a little rambling, but these oral tales are sometimes
  hard to commit to writing. There is an interesting note, there is a cave
  on the old Bell farm (which I have personally visited) which supposedly is
  the seat of all the supernatural activity. When some of the Bell children
  played in this cave, something weird would always happen to them. It is
  easy to dismiss this as a sort of post script attatched to the story by a
  later generation, until I read that the native Americans of the area regarded
  the cave as spiritual, long before the Bell family came to Tennessee. When
  all these factors are taken into consideration, it is difficult indeed to
  say just what sort of manifestation for sure the Bell Witch was. If you'd
  like to read more about this, two good books are: The Bell Witch of Robertson
  County, Tennessee, by Charles Bailey Bell (John Bell's great grandson I
  believe) and The Bell Witch by Charles Edwin Price.

  Aaron I. Hilbun, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  ------------------
  - yasuda1@uiuc,edu-
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