Bell Witch Haunting

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by jiminmybed

by jiminmybed

[OVERVIEW]

Unlike other legends, the people in this legend really existed. They were real people. How true their story is though is very debatable.

The story takes place in the 1800's so as you can imagine the story has changed over the years but today we are going to talk about the widely accepted legend.

[BELL & BATTS FAMILY]

John and Lucy Bell moved from North Carolina to Red River, Tennessee (now known as Adams, Tennessee). 10 other families also moved to the same area.

John purchased a lot of land for his family to farm on. Eventually he owned 328 acres of land. John was a really respected and beloved man within the community.

Another family that took the journey to Tennessee was the Batts family. Frederick and Kate Batts were also a respected family. However Frederick got into a farming accident that left him disabled. That cause his family to lose a lot of money. He had to sell plots of land just to make ends meet. Well John Bell actually bought most of the money.

Kate learned about the interaction between Frederick and John and felt John was taking advantage her husband. She swore she would make the Bell family pay.

John also had bought a slave from Frederick's brother, Benjamin. However the slave was still a young girl. John decided to leave the girl with her mother until she was old enough. When that time came and John went to pick her up Benjamin insisted on getting more money as she was worth more now. But John had already paid for her and took her anyway. This is when the feud between the families really heated up.

Many people in the community stopped respecting the Bell family for the stories being told to them.

However, they also didn't like Kate, who was the one spreading the stories around. Many in the community thought Kate was a witch.

When Kate's husband became disabled Kate pretty much became 'head of the house' which wasn't well received at the time. She was also known to be loud, controlling and strong. She was also big into finances, specifically hers. This was practically unheard of from a woman so many figured she had been struggling witchcraft. Many even believed her husbands disability was a punishment from god for practicing witchcraft.

[THE HAUNTINGS BEGIN]

1817 is when the hauntings started. Now the 1800's wasn't the best when it came to writing shit down so what exactly happened in the house is really speculation.

However, word of the hauntings spread around town and many people would go to the house to catch a sight of anything paranormal. Word traveled so far that future president Andrew Jackson, who was then an Army General, decided to take some of his men and spend a week at the house.

Now this was Andrew Jackson's account of what happened.

Andrew said that when they pulled up in their wagon that the wheels stopped working. They wouldn't turn. They didn't know why. Andrew said it was because of the witch. Afterwards the group heard a female voice who said she was the witch and that she'd see them tonight.

Even though they wanted to stay a few nights they only ended up staying one night. Andrew then said he would rather face the entire British Army than spend another night at the Bell House.

John and Lucy's health started deteriorating. Lucy said that throughout her sickness Kate was beside her bed, helping her. Although no one knows how she got in as no one ever let her in the home.

Now Lucy did get better, and she credited Kate, but John was only getting worse. On December 20, 1820, John was found dead in his room.

One of the Bells sons went into the room after his father was found and he found a clear vile with a cloudy substance in it and a foul smell coming from his fathers mouth. He believed he had been poisoned. His official cause of death was ruled as 'Paranormal.'

Some stories claim that members of the Bell family asked Kate and Kate told them that she fixed his medication and he'd never be out of bed again.

At John's funeral many saw Kate and she was laughing.

Now after this the Bell family hauntings just stopped. Many believed that with John dead Kate had no reason to keep going.