Bell Witch
The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a legend from Southern United States folklore, centered on the 19th-century Bell family of northwest Robertson County, Tennessee. Farmer John Bell Sr. resided with his family along the Red River in an area currently near the town of Adams. According to legend, from 1817 to 1821, his family and the local area came under attack by a mostly invisible entity that was able to speak, affect the physical environment, and shapeshift. Some accounts record the spirit also to have been clairvoyant and capable of crossing long distances with superhuman speed.
In 1894, newspaper editor Martin V. Ingram published his Authenticated History of the Bell Witch. The book is widely regarded as the first full-length record of the legend and a primary source for subsequent treatments. The individuals recorded in the work were known historical personalities. In modern times, some skeptics have regarded Ingram's efforts as a work of historical fiction or fraud. Other researchers consider Ingram's work a nascent folklore study and an accurate reflection of belief in the region during the 19th century.
While not a fundamental element of the original recorded legend, the Bell Witch Cave in the 20th century became a source of continuing interest, belief, and generation of lore. Contemporary artistic interpretations such as in film and music have expanded the reach of the legend beyond the regional confines of the Southern United States.
Legend synopsis
In his book An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch, author Martin V. Ingram published that the invisible entity was called Kate, after her voice claimed at one point to be "Old Kate Batts' witch," and continued to respond favorably to the name. In modern times, the Bell Witch is commonly described as a poltergeist. Poltergeist is a German loanword meaning "noisy ghost," and poltern is cognate with the English words bell and bellow sharing the PIE root *bʰel, meaning "to sound, ring, roar." However the term poltergeist was not used in English until 1838, with the Bell name for the legend thought derived from the surname of the local Tennessee family. Throughout the haunting, physical activity centered on the Bells' youngest daughter, Betsy, and her father, and Kate expressed particular displeasure when Betsy became engaged to a local named Joshua Gardner.The haunting began sometime in 1817 when John Bell witnessed the apparition of a strange creature resembling a dog. Bell fired at the animal but it disappeared. John's son Drew Bell approached an unknown bird perched on a fence that flew off and was of "extraordinary size." The daughter Betsy observed a girl in a green dress swinging from the limb of an oak tree. Dean, a slave belonging to the Bell family, reported being followed by a large black dog on evenings he visited his wife. Activity moved to the Bell household with knocking heard along the door and walls. The family heard sounds of gnawing on the beds, invisible dogs fighting, and chains along the floor. About this time John Bell began experiencing paralysis in his mouth. The phenomena grew in intensity as sheets were pulled from beds when the children slept. Soon the entity pulled hair and scratched the children with particular emphasis on Betsy who was slapped, pinched and stuck with pins.
The Bells turned to family friend James Johnston for help. After retiring for the evening at the Bell home, Johnston was awakened that night by the same phenomena. That morning he told John Bell it was a "spirit, just like in the Bible." Soon word of the haunting spread with some traveling great distances to see the witch. The apparition began to speak out loud and was asked, "Who are you and what do you want?" and the voice answered feebly, "I am a spirit; I was once very happy but have been disturbed." The spirit offered diverse explanations of why it had appeared, tying its origin to the disturbance of a Native American burial mound located on the property, and sent Drew Bell and Bennett Porter on an unproductive search for buried treasure. With the emergence of full conversations, the spirit repeated word for word two sermons given 13 miles apart at the same time. The entity was well acquainted with Biblical text and appeared to enjoy religious arguments. As another amusement, the witch shared gossip about activities in other households, and at times appeared to leave for brief moments to visit homes after an inquiry.
John Johnston, a son of James, devised a test for the witch, something no one outside his family would know, asking the entity what his Dutch step-grandmother in North Carolina would say to the slaves if she thought they did something wrong. The witch replied with his grandmother's accent, "Hut tut, what has happened now?" In another account, an Englishman stopped to visit and offered to investigate. On remarking on his family overseas, the witch suddenly began to mimic his English parents. Again in the early morning, the witch woke him to voices of his parents worried as they had heard his voice as well. The Englishman quickly left that morning and later wrote to the Bell family that the entity had visited his family in England. He apologized for his skepticism.
At times, the spirit displayed a form of kindness, especially towards Lucy, John Bell's wife, "the most perfect woman to walk the earth." The witch would give Lucy fresh fruit and sing hymns to her, and showed John Bell Jr. a measure of respect.
Referring to John Bell Sr. as "Old Jack," the witch claimed she intended to kill him and signaled this intention through curses, threats, and afflictions. The story climaxes with the Bell patriarch being poisoned by the witch. Afterward the entity interrupted the mourners by singing drinking songs. In 1821, as a result of the witch's entreatment, Betsy Bell called off her engagement to Joshua Gardner. Subsequently, the entity told the family it was going to leave, but return in seven years in 1828. The witch returned on time to Lucy and her sons Richard and Joel with similar activities as before, but they chose not to encourage it, and the witch appeared to leave again.
Several accounts say that during his military career, Andrew Jackson was intrigued with the story and his men were frightened away after traveling to investigate. In an independent oral tradition recorded in the vicinity of Panola County, Mississippi, the witch was the ghost of an unpleasant overseer John Bell murdered in North Carolina. In this tradition, the spirit falls in love with the central character 'Mary', leading to her death. This account is reminiscent of vampire lore. The supernatural powers attributed to the Tennessee spirit have also been compared to that of jinn in mythology.
In the manuscript attributed to Richard Williams Bell, he wrote that the spirit remained a mystery:
Early written records
Long-Bell Expedition, 1820
Military officer John R. Bell joined the Stephen Harriman Long expedition in 1820 to explore the central Great Plains. Due to lack of provisions, Long and Bell led divided parties after they reached the Rocky Mountains and rejoined in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Bell kept a detailed journal of his travel. His return trip, on October 19, 1820, crossed the Red River at Port Royal, Tennessee. Later that day, Bell stopped at the Murphey residence in Robertson County to eat dinner. During the stay, Bell was told of a young woman accompanied by a voice. The voice wished for the woman to marry a local man, and thousands had traveled to hear it. The journal's connection to the Bell Witch legend was discussed by local historian David Britton during a television broadcast produced for the Discovery Channel in November, 2020.''The Saturday Evening Post''
The publications New England Farmer of Boston and the Green Mountain Freeman of Vermont in January and February 1856 published an article regarding the Bell Witch legend and the publications ascribed the origin of the text to the Saturday Evening Post. The Farmer was a weekly agricultural journal. The Freeman was affiliated with the abolitionist Liberty Party. The original Post article, published January 19, 1856, is styled as a letter to the editor with the author identified only by the initial H.The unidentified author described the apparition as the 'Tennessee Ghost' or 'Bell Ghost,' and stated the event occurred 30 years or more from the time the article was written. There are three human characters in the account, Mr. Bell, his daughter Betsey Bell, and Joshua Gardner. The author stated that the voice, which spoke freely about the house from all directions, would not manifest itself until the lights were extinguished at night. The phenomenon attracted wide interest. The author claimed to have become well acquainted with Mr. Gardner. When the ghost was asked how long it would remain, it replied, "until Joshua Gardner and Betsey Bell get married." The author goes on to state that Betsey Bell had fallen in love with Joshua Gardner and had discovered the skill of ventriloquism. The author states that Ms. Bell then used her skill to attempt to convince Joshua Gardner to marry her. When they did not marry, the apparition disappeared.
M. V. Ingram, in his An Authenticated History Of The Bell Witch, wrote that a Saturday Evening Post article regarding the Bell Witch had been retracted:
Clinard and Burgess Trial, 1868
In September 1868, an article was published entitled "Witchcraft and Murder: Hobgoblins and Old Gray Horses the Incentive to Crime." Tom Clinard and Dick Burgess were arrested for the murder of Mr. Smith. The article reported that Smith claimed the powers of witchcraft while working near Adam's Station, chopping wood on a farm with the defendants. The article stated that Smith claimed to use these occult powers on Clinard and Burgess, leading to the conflict between them. The identity of the decedent was reported variously as James or Charles Smith. The jury of State vs. Clinard and Burgess returned a not guilty verdict.Ingram published an interview with Lucinda E. Rawls, of Clarksville, Tennessee, daughter of Alexander Gooch and Theny Thorn, both reported as close friends of Betsy Bell. Rawls testified that the Bell Witch was a frequent topic of conversation during her lifetime and pointed to a murder of a man for witchcraft as evidence for this claim.
Ingram appended a date of 1875 or 1876 to the bloodshed, but connected the Rawls recollection with the death of Smith: