Really Scary Ghost Story

A Really Scary Ghost Story

The Bell Witch

John Bell, a prosperous farmer, moved his family to what is now Adams County, Tennessee in the early 1800’s. In 1817, while John was inspecting his cornfield, he shot at what he thought was a dog. The animal vanished from sight. Soon afterwards, the Bell Witch haunting began.

Pounding and banging on the shutters awoke the family. The entity tore off their bed covers every night, and the paranormal activity increased daily. The unseen entity identified herself as “Kate”. She focused most of her attacks on John Bell’s daughter, Betsy, and on John Bell himself.

The witch sang hymns, quoted scripture and engaged in intelligent conversations with the family. She carried out violent attacks, often leaving them bruised and battered. She disrupted their sleep, moved objects within the house and ordered them about. She haunted not only the Bell house, but the surrounding countryside too. When family friend and future president Andrew Jackson came to visit, the witch stopped his wagon on the road to the Bell’s farm, and wouldn’t let it move forward until she’d demonstrated her powers to him!

The witch hated Betsy Bell’s fiancé, Joshua Gardener, and tormented the young couple so much that Betsy eventually broke her engagement to him and married a man the witch approved of, Robert Powell.

After John Bell died, the witch claimed she had poisoned him. The family found a curious vial of liquid and tested it on the family cat, and the animal died instantly. No one knew where the vial came from or how it got into the home.

The witch finally left the Bells in 1821, promising to return seven years later.

Bell Witch Prophesies

In 1828, the witch returned as promised, and visited with John Bell Jr. She prophesied the coming of the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and the Great Depression. She promised to return 107 years later to visit John Bell’s nearest descendent. During 1935, the year the witch stated she would return, nothing out of the ordinary happened. Paranormal activity continues today near the Bell’s former farm, but the witch herself has not returned.

Why This Story Terrifies

Attacks by an unseen, intelligent entity shatter our conception of reality. The Bell Witch’s violence terrifies the reader with the feeling of helplessness in the face of an unseen tormentor. If you watch television shows like Ghost Hunters or Paranormal State, you will recognize that the Bell Witch haunting is no ordinary ghost story. Spirits rarely attack people, much less demonstrate the intense phenomena associated with the Bell Witch.

Violent, Intense, Prolonged Activity

The Bell Witch haunting includes some extremely rare paranormal activity that make this tale a really scary ghost story:

• Audible voices: Paranormal investigators rarely encounter audible voices, much less clearly audible, intelligent communications. Not only was the Bell Witch loud and clear, but she interacted with those posing questions to her.
• Physical violence: Spirit entities sometimes attack investigators, leaving marks such as scratches or slaps, or pushing them down stairs. The Bell Witch launched ferocious assaults against her victims, especially Betsy, who she repeatedly slapped and punched. The spirit even attacked one of Andrew Jackson’s men who threatened her with a pistol.
• Physical manipulation of objects: Some entities are able to move objects. Chairs may move, or books fall to the floor. In the case of the Bell Witch, eyewitnesses reported watching the sugar bowl dumped upside-down on the kitchen table, pillows and blankets pulled off the family and more. The witch brought the vial of poison into the home and killed John Bell.
• Prophesy: How did the witch know about future world events? What type of being would have access to this information? No one knows for sure, but after the witch’s accurate 1828 predictions, some speculate that the entity was of inhuman origin.

Nothing controlled or stopped the witch. She left of her own accord and returned when she promised. The thought of an unseen being able to hurt, murder and see into the future frightens us to the core. Most people believe what they see with their eyes. The Bell Witch shatters our expectations of the normal, launching us truly into the realm of the paranormal.

But mostly what scares us is the thought that someday, somehow, the Bell Witch may return.

Resources

Other Scary Ghost Stories

• John Zaffis, one of the world’s most respected paranormal investigators and founder of the Paranormal Research Society of New England (PRSNE), includes many written testimonies of PRSNE cases online. These true tales chill even the most hardened skeptic.

More about the Bell Witch

To learn more about the Bell Witch and the Bell Witch Cave, visit the following resources.

• The Official Bell Witch Site contains exhaustive research into the happenings at the Bell Farm, a list of those who directly experienced the manifestations and more.
• See pictures of the Bell’s cabin, the Bell farm and the Bell Witch Cave online at the Bell Witch Cave website. Tours of the cave are available by appointment.