Tales from Tennessee and Beyond: The Bell Witch

I want to take this opportunity to say Happy Halloween to all my readers. This blog post will focus on one of Tennessee's most famous ghost stories.

In the early 1800s John Bell Sr, had settled down with his family in Adams, Tennessee as a farmer. The story begins when the family began to hear noises in the walls. They thought this was very unusual. The family then began to hear objects being thrown around the farm with no explanation. Members of the family were being slapped by air, and farm animals were being spooked for no good reason. The Bell family could not figure out why all of this stuff was happening to them. Young Betsy Bell (pictured above) was the target of most of the Bell Witch's tricks. These tricks got worse when she became engaged to Joshua Gardner. Other tricks that the Bell Witch pulled off included a half-dog, half-rabbit creature that was seen on the Bell's front porch. The Bell Witch also poisoned members of the Bell family numerous times. Legend has it that Andrew Jackson had heard of the Bell Witch and was very curious about it. He was so scared however that he refused to go to Adams. The Bell Witch's identity is still being debated today. The most accepted theory that historians have is that the Bell Witch was really Kate Batts. Batts had most likely been cheated by John Bell Sr somewhere down the line, and she was out for revenge. Some people believe that the Bell Witch was a male slave who Bell had killed. The fact is we will never know.

The story of the Bell Witch has been passed down from generation to generation. I first heard of the story from my Papa. He, most likely trying to scare me, said that the Bell Witch lived in a cave on his farm in Granville, Tennessee. Lets just say that I believed him until I got so scared that my mom and grandma told me he was just messing with me. The fact is that these "ghost stories" are fun to tell, but we have to keep them in their proper perspective. Whether you choose to believe in the story of the Bell Witch is up to you. I personally think it is just a fun story to tell, there is really no truth in it.