Tennessee

Adams

John Bell Farm

What is widely regarded as America's greatest ghost story began in an isolated farmhouse in 1817. A malicious and powerful force plagues the
Bell family for four horrible years and ended in the only murder by a poltergeist ever recorded in the United States. The problems started when
John Bell sighted a strange, dog-like animal in his cornfield. When he aimed his rifle at it, the creature dissolved into thin air. A few weeks later,
the family began hearing scratching on the doors and windows as if something were trying to get in, then gnawing and thumping sounds started
coming form inside the house. Within a year, the mysterious presence had grown so strong that the whole farmhouse shook with clashing and
clanging sounds, loud garbled utterances, and tortured gasps. Most of the activity seemed to center around thirteen-year old Elizabeth "Betsy"
Bell. While her brother Richard, Joel, William, and Drewry were harassed by the poltergeist. Betsy suffered brutal yanking on her long hair and
invisible blows to her face that left ugly bruises. Another brother, John Junior, and the mother, Lucy Bell, were never bothered by the spirits, which
the family called Kate.

As Kate grew in strength, John Bell appealed for help to the family minister, James Johnson, who performed an exorcism. When that did not work,
the minister organized a committee of parishioners who kept watch over the Bells and documented the supernatural assaults. They dubbed the
presence the Bell Witch, and before long the whole countryside descended on the farm, hoping to witness the inexplicable phenomenon. One
witness described the voice of the spirits in these words: "It commenced whistling when spoken to, in a low, broken sound, as if trying to speak in
a whistling voice, and in this way progressed. The voice gradually gained strength in articulating and soon utterances became distinct in a low
whisper so as to be understood in the absence of any other sound." Even future President Andrew Jackson came to the Bell farm to dispel the
spirit, although he left in defeat after having dishes and furniture hurled at him. "I wish no more dealing with that torment," he said. The added
attention caused the Bell Witch to grow even stronger. Betsy started having seizures and lost consciousness, during which time a disembodied
voice thundered through the house: "I am a spirit from everywhere. I am in the air, in houses, any place at any time. I've been created millions of
years. I was once very happy, but I have been disturbed and made unhappy." Then the voice would quote the scripture and attack local residents
for their immoral behavior.

The voice directed the brunt of its attack on John Bell and declared that he must die. Some say the Bell Witch was the spirit of Kate Batts, a
cantankerous woman to whom Jon Bell had proposed marriage when he lived in Halifax, North Carolina. The woman's body was found near a well
on her property in the late 1770's, and soon afterward, John married Lucy Williams and moved to Tennessee. Whatever the true identify of the Bell
Witch, John Bell was mercilessly beaten by the unseen foe and his tongue became so swollen that he could barely eat. Before long, he was
bedridden and sinking fast. The doctor prescribed a tonic, but the Bell Witch bragged that it switched the tonic with a dark colored poison. "I've got
him this time," it bellowed, "He will never get up from the bed again." John Bell fell into a coma and died on December 21, 1820.

The murderous spirit left the house, promising to return in seven years. It kept its promise and returned in 1827 for two weeks. Then it promised to
return to bring havoc to the lives of John Bell's descendants in 107 years. Joel bell encountered further manifestations in 1852, and his son felt he
was visited by the Bell Witch in 1861, but in 1935, the year the witch promised to return, nothing happened, although many of the Bell
descendants alive in that year have met violent or unusual deaths. In the 1980's, the apparition of dark haired woman was seen gliding over part of
the former Bell property, and descendent Carney Bell has reported many strange events at his home in Springfield Tennessee. A cave on the
former Bell land, dubbed the Bell Witch Cave, is still haunted by the sounds of chains rattling and inhuman screams. The apparition of a girl,
floating across highway 41, has been "struck" by several bewildered motorists, and eerie balls of lights have been reported hovering over the old
Bell farm.

John bell is buried in the cemetery at Adams. Betsy Bell died in 1890 in Panola County, Mississippi, at the age of 86.

Hauck, Dennis. (1994). Haunted Places: Ghost Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO landings, and other supernatural locations. New York: Penguin Book.