Bell Witch

For the 2007 film, see Bell Witch: The Movie. For the EP by Mercyful Fate, see The Bell Witch (EP).
An artist's sketching of the Bell home, originally published in 1894

The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a poltergeist legend from Southern folklore, centered on the 19th-century Bell family of Adams, Tennessee.

An artist's drawing of Betsy Bell, originally published in 1894

John Bell Sr., who made his living as a farmer, resided with his family along the Red River in northwest Robertson County in an area currently within the town of Adams. According to folklore, beginning in 1817, his family came under attack by an invisible entity commonly described at the time as a witch.

In the 1894 book An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch, author Martin Van Buren Ingram published that the poltergeist's name was Kate, after the entity claimed at one point to be "Old Kate Batts’ witch," and continued to respond favorably to the name.[1] The entity frequently abused the Bell family verbally, physically and psychologically. The physical activity centered on the Bells' youngest daughter, Betsy, and her father, and worsened after Betsy became engaged to a local named Joshua Gardner.[2]

Several accounts say that during his military career, Andrew Jackson was intrigued with the story and was frightened away after traveling to investigate.[3] A common element to the haunting begins with scratching, knocking and slurping noises with sheets being pulled from beds after Bell found a half-dog, half-rabbit creature. The phenomenon grew in intensity as the apparition began to speak and have full conversations. Some versions end with the Bell patriarch being poisoned by the witch.[4] In an independent Mississippi oral tradition, the witch was the ghost of an unpleasant overseer John Bell murdered in North Carolina.[5]

Early written sources

The Saturday Evening Post

The Green Mountain Freeman in Montpelier, Vermont on Feb 7, 1856 republished a story regarding the Bell Witch legend and ascribed the story to the Saturday Evening Post. 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.[6]

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:

About 1849 the Saturday Evening Post, published either at Philadelphia or New York, printed a long sketch of the Bell Witch phenomenon, written by a reporter who made a strenuous effort in the details to connect her with the authorship of the demonstrations. Mrs. Powell was so outraged by the publication that she engaged a lawyer to institute suit for libel. The matter, however, was settled without litigation, the paper retracting the charges, explaining how this version of the story had gained credence, and the fact that at the time the demonstrations commenced Betsy Bell had scarcely advanced from the stage of childhood and was too young to have been capable of originating and practicing so great a deception. The fact also that after this report had gained circulation, she had submitted to any and every test that the wits of detectives could invent to prove the theory, and all the stratagems employed, served only to demonstrate her innocence and utter ignorance of the agency of the so-called witchery, and was herself the greatest sufferer from the affliction.[7]
— Martin V. Ingram, An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch: Chapter 9

Murder of James Smith, 1868

In September 1868, The Courier-Journal published an article from the Springfield Register, entitled "Witchcraft and Murder: Hobgoblins and Old Gray Horses the Incentive to Crime." Tom Clinard and Dick Burgess were arrested for the murder of James Smith. It was 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 Smith claimed to use these occult powers on Clinard and Burgess leading to the conflict.[8][9]

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.[10]

The Bell Witch was, and is still, a great scapegoat. Every circumstance out of the regular order of things is attributed to the witch. It has not been long since a man claiming to be the witch was waylaid and murdered by two men who were cleared, on the plea that the murdered man had bewitched them.
— Lucinda Rawls, An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch: Chapter 12

Ingram mistakenly appended a date of 1875 or 1876 to the bloodshed, but connected the Rawls recollection with the death of James Smith:

Smith came into the community a stranger, and was employed by Mr. Fletcher, where Clinard and Burgess were also engaged on the farm. Smith professed to be something of a wizard, or rather boasted of his power to hypnotize and lay spells on people, subjecting any one who came under his influence to his will, and it was reported that he claimed to have derived this power from the mantle of the Bell Witch. However, the writer interviewed Hon. John F. House, who was council for the defense, on the subject, who says that no such evidence was produced in the trial, but that the lawyers handled the Bell Witch affair for all that it was worth in the defense of their clients, presenting the analogy or similarity of circumstances with good effect on the jury.
— Martin V. Ingram, An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch: Chapter 12

Haunted House, 1880

On April 28, 1880 an article was published in The Daily American newspaper, regarding a 'haunted house' in Springfield, Tennessee where knocking on the floor was heard. The author reported that several hundred people visited the home attempting to witness the phenomenon with many camped out over night despite the home owners asking them to leave. The author of the article took the opportunity to mention the Bell Witch legend:

It is an actual fact that several hundred intelligent people of Springfield and vicinity have been so excited over the noise as to go night after night to listen to it.... About thirty years ago Robertson county had a sensation similar to this known as the "Bell Witch," and people came from all parts of the country, even as far as New York, to hear or see her.[11]

The journal Studies in Philology, in 1919, published a study of witchcraft in North Carolina by folklorist Tom Peete Cross. Cross cites a column from the Nashville Banner where it mentions the paper had sent a reporter to Robertson County in the 1880s, John C. Cooke, to investigate reports of the possible reemergence of Bell Witch phenomenon.[12]

Nashville Centennial Exposition

Another account of the Bell Witch legend was reportedly published in 1880 as apart of a sketch of Robertson County written for Nashville's Centennial Exposition. The author of the article is unknown and the article is undated. Dates in the sketch end at 1880. In this account, the Bell entity did not explicitly poison John Bell.

At one time a vial of poison was found in the flue of the chimney, and being taken down, Dr. George B. Hopson gave one drop to a cat, causing its death in seven seconds. The witch claimed to have put the poison there for the purpose of killing Mr. Bell. Being asked how it was going to administer the poison, it said by pouring it into the dinner pot. It is remarkable that, although he enjoyed good health up to the time of this event, Mr. Bell died within [ ] days after the vial was found, being in a stupor at the time of his death. From this time the people visited the house less frequently, although the witch would now and then be heard.[13]

This is in contrast to the Ingram account, attributed to Richard Williams Bell, where John Bell was already suffering from an unknown affliction and bedridden for sometime. John Bell's son, John Bell Jr., found the vial in the cupboard after his father did not wake. The family called for Dr. Hopson, while the Bell Witch exclaimed she had fed the poison to John Bell. Alex Gunn and John Bell Jr. tested the poison on the cat with a straw, which "died very quick." John Bell died the next day on December 20, 1820.[14]

In the Centennial sketch, the entity described itself as one of seven spirits with three names given by the author: Three Waters, Tynaperty, and Black Dog.[13] The Ingram account also described a family of spirits. In addition to Kate, the other members of the 'family' had the names of Blackdog, Mathematics, Cypocryphy, and Jerusalem. Blackdog was described as the apparent leader of the group.[1]

Goodspeed's History of Tennessee

Another written account prior to Ingram's book was in the Goodspeed Brothers' 1886 History of Tennessee, published 66 years after the initial purported events. The paragraph does not mention Andrew Jackson or the elder Bell's death.

A remarkable occurrence, which attracted wide-spread interest, was connected with the family of John Bell, who settled near what is now Adams Station about 1804. So great was the excitement that people came from hundreds of miles around to witness the manifestations of what was popularly known as the "Bell Witch." This witch was supposed to be some spiritual being having the voice and attributes of a woman. It was invisible to the eye, yet it would hold conversation and even shake hands with certain individuals. The freaks it performed were wonderful, and seemingly designed to annoy the family. It would take the sugar from the bowls, spill the milk, take the quilts from the beds, slap and pinch the children, and then laugh at the discomfiture of its victims. At first it was supposed to be a good spirit, but its subsequent acts, together with the curses with which it supplemented its remarks, proved the contrary. A volume might be written concerning the performances of this wonderful being, as they are now described by contemporaries and their descendants. That all this actually occurred will not be disputed, nor will a rational explanation be attempted. It is merely introduced as an example of superstition, strong in the minds of all but a few in those times, and not yet wholly extinct.[15]

Accounts from February, 1890

The Daily American published an article on February 18, 1890, but dated one day earlier, of an alleged series of events from Adam's Station, Tennessee with the title, "A Weird Witch: More Tales of a Mulhattanish Flavor from Adams Station." In the late 19th century, Joseph Mulhattan was a known hoaxer of newspaper articles.[16] The article was republished in the Courier-Journal a few days later with the subtitle "More Tales of a Fishy Flavor." In the account, the entity was referred to only as the witch. The article reports that a Mr. Johnson was visiting Buck Smith and were discussing a recent visitation of the ghost at his home. They heard a knocking at the door, and when they opened the door, the knocking began at another door. They sat down and the dog began to fight with something invisible. Two minutes later, the door flew open and fire spread across the room blown by a cyclonic wind with the coals disappearing as they tried to put it out. That evening Mr. Johnson started home on his horse and something jumped on the back grabbing his shoulder as he tried to restrain the horse. He felt it jump off as he neared his home and move in the leaves into the woods.

A Mr. Winters reported taking a peculiar bird while hunting with great difficulty. After he returned home, he opened the game-bag to discover the bird had disappeared and in place was a rabbit which then also disappeared. While burning vegetation outdoors, Mr. Rowland described a visit at 9 P.M. of a half clothed man with one eye in his forehead that directed Mr. Rowland to follow him and dig at a large rock. The figure then disappeared. Mr. Rowland dug that night until exhaustion. He received help the next morning from Bill Burgess and Mr. Johnson and discovered something described as a "kettle turned bottom upward." They were unable to remove it as the soil began moving back into the hole. The report concludes saying that many people were visiting to see the witch.[17][18]

Martin Van Buren Ingram

Born near Guthrie, Kentucky, June 20, 1832, Martin Van Buren Ingram began his editing and publishing career in April 1866 with the Robertson Register with no previous experience. October 1868, Ingram moved the paper to Clarksville and began issuing the Clarksville Tobacco Leaf in February 1869.[19] Ingram continued an association with the Leaf until about 1881. The consequences of poor health, family tragedy and fire limited his ongoing interest in the newspaper industry.[20]

Ingram was reported, February 19, 1890, to have retired as editor from the Clarksville Chronicle.[21] Ingram subsequently traveled to Chicago in October 1893, while editor of the Progress-Democrat, to attempt to publish his An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch. The Wonder of the 19th Century, and Unexplained Phenomenon of the Christian Era. The Mysterious Talking Goblin that Terrorized the West End of Robertson County, Tennessee, Tormenting John Bell to His Death. The Story of Betsy Bell, Her Lover and the Haunting Sphinx.[22] In late March 1894, it was announced a publisher, W. P. Titus, in Clarksville would print the work and it was released a few months later.[23][24] In the introduction to the book, Ingram published a letter dated July 1, 1891 from former TN State Representative James Allen Bell of Adairville, Kentucky.

J. A. Bell, a son of Richard Williams Bell and a grandson of John Bell, Sr., explained that his father had met with his brother John Bell Jr. before his death and they agreed no material he had collected should be released until the last immediate family member of John Bell Sr. had died. The last immediate member of the family and youngest child of John Bell Sr., Joel Egbert Bell died January 25, 1890.[25][26]

Now, nearly seventy-five years having elapsed, the old members of the family who suffered the torments having all passed away, and the witch story still continues to be discussed as widely as the family name is known, under misconception of the facts, I have concluded that in justice to the memory of an honored ancestry, and to the public also whose minds have been abused in regard to the matter, it would be well to give the whole story to the World.[27]
— J. A. Bell, 1891 Letter, An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch

J. A. Bell expressed the belief that his father's manuscript was written when he was 35 years old in 1846. He claimed his father gave him the manuscript and family notes shortly before his death in 1857. Richard Williams Bell was roughly 6 to 10 years of age during the initial manifestations of the Bell Witch phenomenon. The contributions of Richard Williams Bell, approximately 90 pages in length, are recorded in Chapter 8 of Ingram's work, entitled Our Family Trouble.[28]

According to Brian Dunning no one has ever seen this diary, and there is no evidence that it ever existed: "Conveniently, every person with firsthand knowledge of the Bell Witch hauntings was already dead when Ingram started his book; in fact, every person with secondhand knowledge was even dead." Dunning also concluded that Ingram was guilty of falsifying another statement, that the Saturday Evening Post had published a story in 1849 accusing the Bells' daughter Elizabeth of creating the witch, an article which was not found at the time.[29]

The account of General Andrew Jackson's visit is confined to Chapter 11 of Ingram's work. The chapter is a letter from Col. Thomas L. Yancey, an attorney in Clarksville, dated January 1894. Yancey relates that his grandfather, Whitmel Fort, was a witness to phenomena at the Bell homestead and had related the story of Jackson's visit which was undated in the letter.[30]

Paranormal investigator Benjamin Radford, as well as Brian Dunning, conclude that there is no evidence that Andrew Jackson visited the Bell family home. During the years in question, Jackson's movements were well documented, and nowhere in history or his writings is there evidence of his knowledge of the Bell family. According to Dunning, "The 1824 Presidential election was notoriously malicious, and it seems hard to believe that his opponent would have overlooked the opportunity to drag him through the mud for having lost a fight to a witch."[29][31]

On the occasion of Ingram's death in October 1909, editor of the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle, W. W. Barksdale, wrote of his friend and colleague:

We doubt exceedingly if there ever lived a man who performed as much self-sacrificing labor to further the interests of the community in which he lived. He became a citizen of Clarksville forty years ago and from that time practically until the day of his death his greatest concern was the advancement and welfare of his adopted town and county.... A man of true mold, he despised all deceit, trickery, and littleness, and with a courage which nothing could daunt, he laid on the journalistic lash unsparingly whenever he thought the occasion required. Naturally, his was not a pathway strewn with roses – his was an aggressive nature, a fact which often brought him into serious collision with those with whom he took issue. Time, however, usually justified him in the positions which he assumed.[19]
— W. W. Barksdale, Clarksville Leaf Chronicle

Evaluation

According to Radford, the Bell Witch story is an important one for all paranormal researchers: "It shows how easily legend and myth can be mistaken for fact and real events and how easily the lines are blurred" when sources are not checked.[31] Dunning wrote that there was no need to discuss the supposed paranormal activity until there was evidence that the story was true. "Vague stories indicate that there was a witch in the area. All the significant facts of the story have been falsified, and the others come from a source of dubious credibility. Since no reliable documentation of any actual events exists, there is nothing worth looking into."[29]

Dunning concludes, "I chalk up the Bell Witch as nothing more than one of many unsubstantiated folk legends, vastly embellished and popularized by an opportunistic author of historical fiction."[29] Radford reminds readers that "the burden of proof is not on skeptics to disprove anything but rather for the proponents to prove... claims".[31]

Joe Nickell has written that many of those who knew Betsy suspected her of fraud and the Bell Witch story "sounds suspiciously like an example of “the poltergeist-faking syndrome” in which someone, typically a child, causes the mischief."[32]

Bell Witch in popular culture

Signs at the entrance to the Bell Witch Cave promote ghost tourism in Adams, Tennessee.

There have been several movies based, at least in part, on the Bell Witch legend, including The Blair Witch Project in 1999, Bell Witch Haunting in 2004, An American Haunting in 2005, Bell Witch: The Movie in 2007, and The Bell Witch Haunting in 2013.

Charles Faulkner Bryan, as apart of a Guggenheim Fellowship, composed The Bell Witch, a cantata which premiered in Carnegie Hall in 1947 with Robert Shaw conducting the Juilliard Chorus and Orchestra.[33]

Ann Marie DeAngelo and Conni Ellisor choreographed and composed a ballet entitled The Bell Witch for the Nashville Ballet.[34]

A play by David Alford, Spirit: The Authentic Story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee, performed in Adams, TN during the Bell Witch Fall Festival in late October.[35]

The Danish metal band Mercyful Fate have a song titled "The Bell Witch" on their 1993 album In the Shadows.[36]

Seattle-based doom metal band Bell Witch took their name from this legend.[37]

The American television series Ghost Adventures filmed an episode at the Bell Witch Cave.[38]

An American television series - Cursed: The Bell Witch - based on the latest members of the Bell family trying to end the curse. It premiered October 2015 on the A&E Network.[39]

Tennessee author William Gay wrote a novel, published posthumously in 2015, entitled Little Sister Death, about the Bell Witch.[40]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Ingram, Martin (19 March 2003). "An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch: Chapter 8 - Part 3". Bell Witch Folklore Center. Phil Norfleet. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  2. ↑ Pat Fitzhugh (1 October 2000). The Bell Witch: The Full Account. The Armand Press. pp. 294–. ISBN 978-0-9705156-0-5.
  3. ↑ McCormick, James; Macy Wyatt (2009). Ghosts of the Bluegrass. University Press of Kentucky. p. 94.
  4. ↑ Fitzhugh, Pat. "The Bell Witch Haunting". www.bellwitch.org. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  5. ↑ Hudson, Arthur Palmer; Pete Kyle McCarter (January–March 1934). The Bell Witch of Tennessee and Mississippi: A folk legend. The Journal of American Forklore. pp. 45–63.
  6. ↑ "The Tenneesee Ghost". Green Mountain Freeman (Volume 13, Number 7). February 7, 1856. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
  7. ↑ Ingram, Martin (10 March 2003). "An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch: Chapter 9". Bell Witch Folklore Center. Phil Norfleet. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  8. ↑ "Witchcraft and Murder: Hobgoblins and Old Gray Horses the Incentive to Crime". The Courier-Journal. September 21, 1868. p. 1. Retrieved November 30, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Clinard-Burgess". Nashville Union and American. March 20, 1869. p. 4. Retrieved November 30, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Ingram, Martin (7 March 2003). "An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch: Chapter 12". Bell Witch Folklore Center. Phil Norfleet. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  11. ↑ "Springfield's Ghost". The Daily American. April 28, 1880. p. 1. Retrieved November 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Tom Peete Cross (1919). Studies in Philology. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 240–.
  13. 1 2 Duggan, W. L. (1 January 1900). "SKETCHES OF SEVIER AND ROBERTSON COUNTIES". The American Historical Magazine. 5 (4): 310–325. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  14. ↑ Ingram, Martin (17 January 2003). "An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch:Chapter 8 - Part 6". Bell Witch Folklore Center. Phil Norfleet. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  15. ↑ Goodspeed's History of Tennessee: The History of Robertson County. Nashville TN: The Goodspeed Publishing Co. 1886. p. 828. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  16. ↑ "Hoaxes of Joseph Mulhattan". Museum of Hoaxes. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  17. ↑ "A Weird Witch: More Tales of a Fishy Flavor from Adam's Station, TN". The Courier-Journal. February 21, 1890. p. 6. Retrieved November 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ "A Weird Witch: More Tales of a Mulhattanish Flavor from Adams Station". The Daily American. February 18, 1890. p. 2. Retrieved November 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. 1 2 "Martin Van Buren Ingram". Bell Witch Folklore Center. Phil Norfleet. 29 October 2014. Retrieved 3 December 2016.
  20. ↑ "Veteran Journalist Dies in Clarksville". The Tennessean. October 6, 1909. p. 9. Retrieved December 1, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ "Clarksville Retirement". The Daily American. February 19, 1890. p. 4. Retrieved November 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "A Clarksville Author". The Daily American. October 29, 1893. p. 10. Retrieved November 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "A "Witch" Story". The Daily American. March 31, 1894. p. 5. Retrieved November 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ "A Bell Witch". Hopkinsville Kentuckian. July 3, 1894. p. 2. Retrieved November 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ↑ Cook, Jack. "The Spirit of Red River". Bell Witch Legend. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  26. ↑ Fitzhugh, Pat. "John Bell Family Genealogy". www.bellwitch.org. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  27. ↑ Ingram, Martin (3 March 2003). "An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch: Chapter 1". The Bell Witch Folklore Center. Phil Norfleet. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  28. ↑ Ingram, Martin (10 March 2003). "An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch: Chapter 8, Our Family Trouble". Bell Witch Folklore Center. Phil Norfleet. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  29. 1 2 3 4 Dunning, Brian. "Demystifying the Bell Witch". Skeptoid. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
  30. ↑ Ingram, Martin (3 October 2002). "An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch: Chapter 11". Bell Witch Folklore Center. Phil Norfleet. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  31. 1 2 3 Radford, Benjamin (January–February 2012). "The Bell Witch Mystery". Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. 36 (1): 32–33.
  32. ↑ Nickell, Joe. "The 'Bell Witch' Poltergeist". Skeptical Inquirer. Center for Inquiry. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  33. ↑ Livingston, Carolyn (1 January 1990). "Charles Faulkner Bryan and American Folk Music". The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education. 11 (2): 76–92. Retrieved 26 November 2016.
  34. ↑ Staff. "Nashville Ballet presents 'Bell Witch' love story". The City Paper. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  35. ↑ Herndon, Carleen (October 26, 2016). "Bell Witch back in town". The Tennessean. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  36. ↑ "Mercyful Fate - In the Shadows". Encyclopaedia Metallum.
  37. ↑ Davis, Cody (18 May 2016). "Former BELL WITCH Drummer/Vocalist, Adrian Guerra, Passes Away - Metal Injection". Metal Injection. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  38. ↑ "Investigate Bell Witch Cave With Ghost Adventures". Travel Channel. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  39. ↑ Young, Nicole (October 20, 2015). "A&E examines history behind Tennessee's Bell Witch". USA Today. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  40. ↑ Akbar, Arifa (1 October 2015). "Little Sister Death by William Gay, book review: Writer's deal with the devil". The Independent. Retrieved 27 November 2016.

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