02 Track 2

Unit 4

Haunted by The Past

Chapter 2

The Bell Witch

Page 73

The Bell Witch

In 1817, one of the most well-known hauntings in American history took place in the small town of Adams, Tennessee.

In fact, it was so well known that the story caught the attention of a future president of the United States.

Known as the Bell Which, the strange activity that cause fear in the small farming community has remained unexplained for nearly 200 years. It is the inspiration for many fictional ghost stories, including the film The Blair Witch Project.

Although they both attracted a great deal of public interest, the facts of the Bell Witch story share little in common with those created for The Blair Witch Project. Because it really happened, the Bell Witch story is perhaps much more frightening.

Like many stories, certain details of who or what the Bell Witch was very from version to version.

The prevailing account is that it was the ghost of a woman named Kate Batts, a mean old neighbor of John Bell, Batts believed Bell cheated her in a land purchase and on her deathbed, she swore that she would haunt John Bell and his family.

This version appears in a Tennessee guidebook published in 1933.

“Sure enough, tradition says, the Bells were tormented for years by the malicious spirit of Old Kate Batts. John Bell and his favorite daughter Betsy were the principal targets. Toward the other members of the family the which was either indifferent or, as in the case of Mrs. Bell, friendly.

No one ever saw her, but every visitor to the Bell home hurt her all too well. Her voice according to one person who heard it, spoke at a nerve-racking pitch when displeased, while at other times it’s saying and spoke in low musical tones.’

The spirit of old Kate led John and Betsy Bell on a merry chase.

She threw furniture and dishes at them. She pulled their noses, yanked their hair, poked needles into them.

She yelled all night to keep them from sleeping, and snatched food from their mouths at mealtimes.”

News of the Bell Witch spread quickly. When word of the haunting reached Nashville, one of its most famous citizens, General Andrew Jackson, decided to gather a group of friends and go to Adams to investigate.

The future president wanted to come face to face with the phenomenon and either expose it as a hoax or send the spirit away. According to one account, Jackson and his men were traveling over a smooth section of road when suddenly the wagon stopped.

The men pushed and pushed, but the wagon could not be moved. The wheels were even removed and inspected.

Then came the sound of a voice from the bushes saying, “All right general, let the wagon move on. I will see you tonight.”

The astonished men could not find the source of the voice. The horses then unexpectedly started walking on their own and the wagon moved along again. Jackson indeed encountered the witch that night and left early the next morning, claiming he would rather fight the British than the Bell Witch!

The haunting of the Bell house continued for several years, ending with the ghost’s ultimate act of vengeance. In October 1820, John Bell suffered a stroke. In and out of bed for several weeks, his health never improved.

The Tennessee State University in Nashville recounts this part of the story:

“On the morning of December 19, he failed to awaken his regular time. When the family noticed he was sleeping unnaturally, they attempted to rouse him. They discovered Bell was in a stupor and couldn’t be completely awakened.

John Jr. went to the medicine cupboard to get his father’s medicine and noticed it was gone but a strange vial was in its place.

No one claimed to have replace the medicine with the vial. A doctor was summoned to the house. The witch began taunting that she had placed the vial in the medicine cabinet and given Bell a dose of its contents while he slept.

The substance was tested on a cat and discovered to be highly poisonous. John Bell died on December 20. ‘Kate’ was quiet until after the funeral. However, after the grade was filled, the witch began singing loudly and joyously until all of John Bell’s friends and family left his graveside.”

A few explanations of the Bell Witch phenomena have been offered over the years. One is that the haunting was a hoax created by Richard Powell, the schoolteacher of Betsy Bell and Joshua Gardner, the boy with whom Betsy was in love.

It seems Powell was deeply in love with Betsy and would do anything to destroy her relationship with Gardner through a variety of tricks and with the help of several friends. It is believed that Powell created all of the ghostly effects to scare Gardner away. In fact, Gardner eventually did break up with Betsy and left the area.

It has never been satisfactorily explained, however, how Powell achieved all the effects. But Powell did come out the winner. In the end. he married Betsy Bell.