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
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