The Bell Witch. An entity that haunts a cave in Robertson County, Tennessee. A story that the Blair Witch saga is said to be loosely based on, although both tales are quite different.
The story of the Bell Witch began in the early 1800s when the Bell family moved to Adams, Tennessee from North Carolina. They established a farm there, and became quite prosperous. The Bell family consisted of John Bell Sr., his wife Lucy, and their children: Jesse, Betsy, Richard, John Jr., Drewry, Benjamin, Esther, Zadok, and Joel.
In 1817, John Bell Sr. allegedly encountered a strange creature that resembled a dog with the head of a rabbit. He fired his gun at the creature, but it disappeared beforehand. Meanwhile, other sightings in the forms of spirits or creatures were said to have occurred on the Bell farm.
Not long afterwards, strange sounds began to occur in the Bell home, ranging from chains being dragged to gnawing sounds to knocking on the doors and walls. Next, members of the Bell family began to experience a series of physical attacks (e.g. their bed sheets being pulled off of them while they slept, their hair being pulled, being slapped or pinched).
Then the Bell family began hearing a strange voice, which started off as faint whispers but eventually became louder and audible. Word of these occurrences spread throughout the community, in which friends of the Bell family would arrive in order to determine the source of the apparition (as did people from all over, including Andrew Jackson). When a minister demanded to know the spirit’s name and what it wanted, the spirit replied that her name was Kate Batts, and it was there to torment the life out of John Bell Sr., who became ill as the result of the haunting. Thus, the spirit claiming to be Kate Batts became known as the Bell Witch.
John Bell Sr.’s condition worsened as time passed, but at one point in December 1819, he seemed to have improved. He tried to leave the house, but was then attacked by the Bell Witch. He went back inside the house and prayed before returning to bed. The following morning, his wife tried to wake him, but he
appeared to be in a coma-like state. When the medicine cabinet was checked in order to find something to awaken him, the only thing there was a bottle with an unknown liquid in it. The Bell Witch claimed it was a type of poison, and that she gave it to John Bell Sr. In order to determine if the liquid was indeed poison, a neighbor got ahold of a cat, and the liquid was administered to it via a straw.
Within moments, the cat was dead. Soon afterwards, John Bell Sr. also died.
During the funeral, the Bell Witch was said to be laughing and singing. Some time later, the Bell Witch then left, but said it would return in seven years. It did return as promised, but eventually left.
It’s unclear who Kate Batts was. Some claim she was a neighbor whom John Bell Sr. had swindled in a land purchase. Others speculate she was an ex-girlfriend bent on revenge. Some even claim the Bell farm was built on an Indian burial ground. But regardless of the Bell Witch’s origins, it is the only documented
account of a human being killed by a ghost.
To this day, the Bell Witch is said to be haunting a nearby cave (thus being referred to as the Bell Witch Cave), where strange sounds are said to have been heard by visitors.
Happy Halloween.
