BACKGROUND
In the early 1800's John Bell moved his family from North Carolina to a farm he had purchased in Robertson County, TN. The family became prominent citizens in the community and over the course of several years , John Bell purchased additional property and cleared several fields for farming. Also in the course of these years, an "spirit" arrived, most unwelcome. It terrorized the family and those close to them evenutally driving John Bell to his death. This story of the Bell Witch has been documented by accountable witnesses, even a man who would later become president of the United States.
EVENTS
In 1817, while walking through his corn field, John Bell was stunned to see a "half-dog,half-rabbit" creature sitting on the ground. When he shot at it several times, it vanished. Bell thought no more on the matter, but that night the "beatings" started. They would sound as if someone was outside the log home furiously beating on the wall, but when the family went to investigate there was no one there.
The Bell children started having strange things happening to them at night. Their bedcovers would be removed by unseen hands, pillows tossed to the floor and sounds of rats gnawing at the bedposts.
Betsy Bell started to be physically attacked by the "spirit". She had her hair pulled and was slapped in the face and body so hard it left handprints.
The Bells began to hear a faint voice when these incidents occured. It sounded to them like an old woman who was either singing or cyring. Evenutally these sounds grew stronger and the words were very clear. It was noted the "spirit" could carry on conversations, utter scripture and sing hymns. But most often than not her tongue was vicious.
The Bells finally had enough and wanted to get others to witness their ordeal. They told their neighbors, the Johnsons. When the Johnsons spent the night at the Bell home to see for themselves, they too were subjected to disembodied voices, slaps, hair pulling, bedcover games and the like. The Bells finally had their witnesses and soon the events were spread throughout the community.
In 1819, General Andrew Jackson, who was a family friend of the Bells, heard of his friends ordeal and decided to come to the farm himself. At the farm , Jackson and Bell were talking about old days and waiting on the "spirit" to show herself. One of the men in Jacksons party, who claimed he could "deal with wiches" got antsy and decided to call out the spirit. He pulled out a gun in a show of force saying he could "kill the spirit". Suddenly his body started moving in different directions and the man was screaming that "she was beating him and sticking him with pins". Terrified, the man ran out of the house. The rest of the stunned crew heard a womans voice tell Jackson that she proved one fraud and by next evening she would prove another. The rest of Jackson's men wanted to leave, they had seen enough, but Jackson wanted to stay and find out who the second fraud was. It wasn't to be, because by next morning, all of Jacksons men had left along with Jackson himself. He was later quoted as saying, "I would rather fight the entire British Army then to deal with the Bell Witch." He later went on to become President of the United States.
Daughter, Betsy became smitten with Joshua Gardner, but apparently this did not sit well with the witch. She warned Betsy over and over again not to marry him. They could not go anyhere on the land without the witch being there to ruin their good time. Eventually the patiences of the two became intense and on Easter Monday, 1821, Betsy met Joshua and told him their engagement was off.
It was around this time that the witch focused all her "evil" on John Bell. She would torture him relentlessly. His health became so bad, he developed seizures and during his attacks the witch would repeatldly slap him in the face.
On December 20, 1870, John Bell died. After the death, John Bell Jr found a small vial of liquid. After giving some to the cat, in which the cat dropped dead, they heard the witch claim she had given him a big dose in order to fix him up. John Jr threw the vial in the fireplace and bright blue flame shot up out of the chimney. As the family left the gravesite, the witch could be heard singing a cheerful tune.
AFTERMATH
In 1821 the witch told Johns widow she would return in seven years. In 1828 she did return and focused her attention on John Bell Jr. She predicted many events that were to come, such as The Civil War, World Wars I & II and The Great Depression. John Jr wrote these accounts down in expert detail.
Within three weeks of her last visit, the witch told the family goodbye and wasn't seen since. Today there are numerous accounts of "visions" and mystrious lights that can be seen on the Bell farm, most of them focusing on the famous Bell Witch Cave.
