The Bell Witch Haunting of the Red River Settlement

The Bell family came to the Red River settlement from Edgecombe County, North Carolina, in the winter of 1804 to 1805. John Bell farmed land in what is now the northwest part of Adams, Robertson County, Tennessee. The household included his wife Lucy, their children, among them Betsy and young Richard Williams Bell, and the enslaved people who lived and worked there.

1817. John Bell saw an animal in his cornfield "that appeared to be a dog, but with the head of a rabbit." He shot at it several times. It vanished. That evening, the knocking began.

It came at the doors and the outside walls. No one was there. Night after night it grew louder. Something gnawed at the bedposts like rats. Something scratched at the windows.

The family heard chains dragging and wings flapping against the ceiling. Bedcovers were pulled off in the dark. Children were dragged out of bed. Betsy suffered most. She was slapped, pinched and stuck with pins.

Then the whispers became a voice. A clear woman's voice. It answered questions, recited prayers and argued about Scripture. It called itself "Old Kate Batts' witch," after a neighbour. It was kind to Lucy and hostile to John, whom it called "Old Jack." A friend and neighbour, James Johnston, stayed the night as a sceptic. He was the first to call it a "spirit."

John Bell's health had been failing since 1817, and he died in December 1820. A vial of dark liquid was found, and Dr. George B. Hopson gave one drop to a cat. The cat died. The voice is quoted as saying, "I put it there, and gave Old Jack a big dose out of it last night while he was asleep, which fixed him." In 1821, after Betsy broke off her engagement to Joshua Gardner, the entity left, promising to return in seven years.

The legend's most famous visitor was Andrew Jackson. His supply wagon stuck fast near the Bell home for no visible reason. A voice said, "All right General, let the wagon move on, I will see you again tonight." Jackson is quoted as saying, "By the eternal, boys, I never saw so much fun in all my life."

Almost all of this comes from M. V. Ingram's 1894 book, which printed a manuscript Richard Williams Bell was said to have written in 1846. That manuscript has never been found. Only one record was written while the events were happening. On 19 October 1820, Captain John R. Bell, no relation, wrote of a girl of about 15 followed by a voice. He noted that "thousands of persons have visited her to hear this voice." Many, he added, suspected ventriloquism by the girl or her brother.

Brian Dunning of Skeptoid points out that there is no known record of Jackson visiting Robertson County. He calls the tale "one of many unsubstantiated folk legends, vastly embellished and popularized by an opportunistic author of historical fiction." Joe Nickell says it "sounds suspiciously like an example of 'the poltergeist-faking syndrome'." Pat Fitzhugh argues the 1820 journal shows something really did happen, even if the story grew later.

A state historical marker stands on U.S. Highway 41 in Adams. The Bell Witch Cave, on the old farm land, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Books, films, television and an annual Bell Witch Fall Festival keep the story alive.