Speaker 1: 0:00

Today's spooky tale brings us to our own backyard, here in middle Tennessee and just a few towns over, in the small country town of Adams, with a current population of just 634 residents, sitting nestled on the outskirts of Robertson County, tennessee, which is the largest producer of wood-fired tobacco, by the way. It boasts a folklore tale like no other. Don't let the small town size fool you. This story will involve then-General Andrew Jackson, future President of the United States. I am going to take you back to the 19th century, the early 1800s to be exact, and I am going to share as many details as I can, and it'll be up to you, and only you, to decide if you believe in the hauntings of the Bell family.

Speaker 1: 0:47

This is True Crime in Headlines, with Jules and Joe. I'm Jules, a former educator and a lifelong seeker of analyzing true crime stories, and I'm Joe, a mental health professional, and we're two best friends who invite you to join us each Wednesday for an all-new episode. It's good to be back. We're back, let's go. This is episode 14, part one of one, the Bell Witch family haunting in Tennessee, our country's most documented haunting. Joe is back. Hello everybody, we have missed you Really. We've missed you. Hey, and Jules is back. Hey, I am recovering from surgery. She made it. I am feeling much better Survivor. This is week three of recovery and I am ready to rock and roll With this new bod boot. And just to clarify she said survivor because I'm a baby and surgery hurts. It was all elective, some of it was medical, but I go into it more on my Instagram at your host, jules. So if you want to come and say hi and learn more about what's going on in the story and why I did what I did for my health, there you go and for her looks, hey, hey, it was my health. Please follow our podcast page at True Crime and Headlines.

Speaker 1: 2:28

And just because I look good after it, joe, I'm just jealous. Jelly frilly. And, oh my gosh, I will be at Crime Con. I was going to say we, but that might be me in a mouse in my pocket because we don't know yet if Joe can go, maybe, maybe. So, if she doesn't have a conflicting mental health conference I almost said exposition. That sounds. That sounds inappropriate, although that is the accurate word for most things Convention, conference, conference. Okay, I have heard that several awesome podcasters are going to be at Crime Con, so I am excited to meet up with. I've reached out to a few of our girls and I'm going to meet up with a few of them and have some some dinner with them and just like geek out about true crime, and that is May 30th through June 2nd in Nashville. So it's here where we are based out of and it is at the Opryland Hotel. So if you are going, let me know so I could hug your neck awkwardly. Woo boo All right, joe.

Speaker 2: 3:34

Yeah, she is awkward.

Speaker 1: 3:35

I just want to hold you. What are words? This week's coffee was sponsored by actually Joe, a few amazing ladies. So first we have Tanya, you know. Tanya from Nashville Thank you, tanya. She is with Trading Spot in Nashville. She does amazing work with animals. Paula from Ohio, and she's also from finishing Stacey's fight the search for Stacey Colbert's killer. And then Stephanie, stacey Colbert's niece. Wow, thank you. I know, and you know, stephanie deserves a major shout out because she's actually the one, joe, that originally messaged us on Instagram to cover Stacey's story, and we had never heard of Stacey Colbert or her story before that. So I think it's very sweet that they have supported our podcast.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Thank you guys. They're such wonderful people.

Speaker 1: 4:26

So if you'd like to support us by donating coffee, you can do so by going to our website, truecometheadlinescom and click buy as a coffee. We appreciate each coffee and also appreciate every review and rating left for us, wherever you're able to. Joe, we have two new five star ratings, woo boo, and it's so exciting because we're at the point where we notice every single one and then I get this big alerts, this big deal. So thank you, and we celebrate each one. So, joe, how much do you know about?

Speaker 2: 4:56

the bell witch Gosh very little, but you know, in October up here in Adams, right by where we live, they do tours every year and I've always wanted to go but I've never done it. But I am so interested to hear more.

Speaker 1: 5:10

I feel like we had it on our list, but since I had surgery October 13th and you know we have to do things together- Obviously.

Speaker 2: 5:18

So if I can't go, you can go. Did you go without me? No, we were so much more adventurous before kids yeah we were.

Speaker 2: 5:25

However, I say that, but we didn't know each other before kids. Did you know that? No, we didn't, we did it. That's funny Weird. Yeah, I just I've heard. I've heard about you. Yeah, I've been asked twice this month. I've been asked twice if I'm my child's grandmother. Twice, sup, nana, we're on a field trip. And another another teacher said so is she your only one or do you have more grandchildren? I have a two year old at home.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Okay, so let me describe what Joe looks like. For those of you at home and I know what, this is not typical, if you're just tuning in all this chatter. This much is not typical of us. We've not been able to sit and we talk every day. We're a little co-dependent and but like in person, it's just we've not sat face to face a person for a long time, since two days ago at Halloween, but we didn't get to talk to each other just anyway. So we're a little chatty, a little giddy. So, grandma Joe, she looks about 32. Police, police, and here in the small town in middle Tennessee, that is young, grandma age.

Speaker 2: 6:43

So I can see she's making excuses. I need some good plastic surgery. Send me some referrals, please.

Speaker 1: 6:48

No, you don't need plastic surgery. Get out, love yourself the way you are, okay do, says the girl who just got. Hey, I didn't touch my face, that's right. That's right. What a perfection, good gosh, all right, moving on. Okay, you can't go back and change a five star review, right, no, okay, so Joe knows there's a festival.

Speaker 1: 7:12

When I moved to Tennessee for the 2nd time, which was 10 years ago, I started working at White House high school as a teacher. High school teacher Go Blue Devils, shout out Blue Devil Pride. And I made some amazing friends who taught there. They're just amazing people there. And we took this big kayaking trip, a bunch of us teachers, right before school started. And so we went on the Red River yes, and the Red River is in Adams, tennessee, I'd say from White House, it's about a 45 minute drive from White House, would you say that? Probably a little give or take, give or take.

Speaker 1: 7:45

And it's on this trip that I was first told by my amazing friend, leslie about the Bell Witch story, and that's because we were kayaking in Adams, where the Bell family lived and where the story takes place, along the Red River, and we were kayaking on, you know, that river which goes by the Bell Witch cave.

Speaker 1: 8:10

Oh, look at us finishing each other's sandwiches. Shout out to all the moms who know that that is from Frozen. And I will get into that later on. But I will tell you that Leslie did take us to the real John Bell grave site, and I say real because we had to drive through some side road, along some crops and behind a small farmhouse and then it's like one of those things where you go left at the third soybean stock, not the fourth, it's one of those things. And she parked in the middle of like nothing and just crops everywhere, and she gets out and then she whistles, hollers at us to come out and she's looking down, and so we're all standing around looking down and there it is the John, the original, authentic John Bell senior grave marker and there is a Bell Cemetery which is a huge tourist attraction and there's a gravestone there which tourist think that is where he's actually buried, but it's not his original site.

Speaker 2: 9:16

Okay, well, I want to hear more about who this guy is.

Speaker 1: 9:18

She's like wrap it up buttercup. The only reason Leslie was able to show us where this site is the real one and the back of some farmers field is because she's a Tennessee local and she was taken to the site when she was in college. So it's kind of like the local folklore. Let's go all at night, go look at this thing. And I will absolutely not tell you where this was. Not only do I not want to promote trespassing, but I honestly I couldn't even tell you. My life depended on it, like no clue. Yeah, some field, you know what comes with ghost stories and hauntings and stories of folklore. And there's no way around it, joe, it's just all different versions, that's, that's what I mean. There's no way around it. So today we're gonna focus mostly on one version, which we've sourced from multiple we, me and them mouths in my pocket.

Speaker 1: 10:12

I have sourced from multiple Tennessee historical sites, as well as the official Bellwitch website. Now all sources are cited and leaked for you on our website if you want to go Double-check. There is a divide in the story, so a line, joe, is drawn between those who believe that this is actually a true story and those who see it just as like local Tennessee folklore and it's fun to spread it. So let's dive in and see which side of the line you're gonna stand on. Before we begin, though, do you believe in ghosts? I'm still freaking, lutley.

Speaker 2: 10:42

Well, that was a very solid oh, I have had many run-ins with the ghost. Very solid, another episode it is.

Speaker 1: 10:50

I'm like hold on, let's pause and talk online. I think I know all these stories, though. Meet me in Adams, tennessee, in 1804. Now we're going to scan over Over multiple farms with fast fields and pastures filled with livestock fields of crops. At the time, cotton was Really big crop in Robertson County. It started as cotton and then it transitioned over to tobacco, which it's known for today, and there are lots of densely forced at barrier separating properties. You know these farms can be miles apart, making travel to a neighbor's home a purposeful Destination and also making it much more difficult to quickly come to the aid of a neighbor in distress. Now I will say from personal experience living here in Robertson County on a farm, on a farm that was built in 1906, that sound Travels very well, because the next county over called on our Octoberfest farm party and the cops showed up but that is a that is a loud event.

Speaker 1: 11:57

I can testify, don't have mountains to break it the sound. So it's a really kind of flat here, and in 1817, which is when the actual events start taking place, it was also very sparse as far as structures go. I mean, it's still. Adams is still very rural today and very spread out. Like today, 2023, there's fewer than 700 residents. Yeah, it's a small little blip on the map. We're going to zoom into the Bell family farm.

Speaker 1: 12:24

The Bell family consisted of John Bell senior and his wife Lucy which I love that name I love the name Lucy, yeah, me too and their children. Originally they were living in South Carolina and they were doing really well for themselves in South Carolina. They're very successful. But John senior does move his family to Robertson County, tennessee, and To what is now the city of Adams, which then was the Red River area. Now I found differing Reports that he had a thousand acre farm and then I saw one that said he had 320 acre farm. Either way, there were. There was a lot of acres. They were acres. So together Lucy and John had six children. Now they did have two daughters, esther, which Was the oldest daughter. She Actually was moved out by the time all of these hauntings began, so the only young girl in the house with a was Elizabeth, who goes by Betsy.

Speaker 2: 13:21

Elizabeth Betsy.

Speaker 1: 13:23

I don't know.

Speaker 2: 13:23

Lizzie, liz, betsy, betsy, elizabeth.

Speaker 1: 13:28

Yeah, okay, yeah, we'll have to. We'll have to write that on our diary tonight about the odd finding of the day. So this is interesting. John Bell senior was born in 1750. It's just, it's interesting because it sounds so long ago. But this is interesting in the fact that it's yuck. He wed Lucy Williams in 1782, so he was 32 and Lucy was just 12.

Speaker 2: 14:01

oh dear goodness, are you serious, serious?

Speaker 1: 14:04

as wow as a doorbell. That's not the phrase. The Bell family would be able to live a great 13 years, though, on their farmland and in their cabin without Any problems. So, in fact, during those 13 years, the Bell family would become one of the most prosperous and respected farming families in that area. And that's where we find ourselves, at the beginning of the stories of the Bell which. And no, for anyone unfamiliar with the Bell which, who thinks that the which is a Bell family member, that is not correct. She is called the Bell which, but really it should be, I guess, called the Bell's which, the haunting which of the Bell family okay.

Speaker 1: 14:45

Because she chose to afflict the Bell family, but not just anybody in the family. You're going to learn who exactly the Bell which appeared to loathe the most and what she did about it. So, when the first 13 years of peaceful living had transpired, we now find ourselves at the beginning of the Bell which story. So we're in 1817. Was there something that triggered the Bell which to begin afflicting the family? Was there anything recorded which could help explain? Well, one fall evening in 1817, john Bell senior was out walking through his crop fields when before him a strange creature crossed his path in the distance. Now it said that it was like a dog type creature and it was black and had the head of another animal.

Speaker 2: 15:38

Okay, quite, and at this point he was built. He was born in 1750 and this was an 1830. So he's like this is 1817. Okay, okay, so that's he's what 67 years old, he's older already Okay, gosh, you and your math skills boom, boom yeah, and his wife is what?

Speaker 1: 15:56

like 19, now she's legal.

Speaker 2: 16:00

It's uncomfortable situation.

Speaker 1: 16:06

So this, this animal similar to a dog, but you know the bizarre head, you couldn't quite make it out. You know dust turning tonight, so he shoots at it and this creature takes off before he could get a clear look or a clear shot. Soon after, john Bell senior son Drury, which we'll call drew Reported seeing an extremely large bird-like creature Take off from a fence and it was significantly strange and large enough that it jarred Drew. Enough to obviously share this with this family and scare him. That same night no, not that same night, but within the next few weeks Okay, this is all very recent within each other. And then within the next few weeks, at 12 years old, john's youngest daughter, betsy, reported that she saw a young girl in a green dress hanging from a tree.

Speaker 1: 17:01

Now, there are differing reports about this. One documentary I did see said that this girl in the green dress was talking to Betsy and saying I don't want you to marry the boy that you want to marry which. I Don't know why she said this, but that's one of the reports that she told her do not marry this boy. And this happened on the property, which was close to a cave as well. So there are varying reports and, like we said, it's like this is just big old game of telephone really. Yeah, all the different versions, but you know, at 12 years old, that's what one version reports that Betsy heard.

Speaker 1: 17:47

And then so that's not all a fourth person Reports having a supernatural encounter. So the bell family had slaves and it's reported that the entity, the supernatural entity, did not like the slaves on the property and one of the slaves, a man named Dean and would go on to report multiple sightings of this, quote unquote witch. So here's what happened Dean would walk often to go visit his wife, you know often there were smaller cabins on the properties, you know the slave cabins, and Dean was walking to visit his wife and multiple times a dog, hybrid of some sort again would cross paths with him and sometimes it had two different heads and it scared him enough that, according to the Tennessee museumorg website, quote, dean admitted that soon after these encounters he began carrying around a witch ball made by his wife to protect him from harm.

Speaker 2: 18:52

What's the difference between a witch and a ghost?

Speaker 1: 18:56

Well, technically, a ghost is an entity of a spirit that's not gone through right, isn't it a stuck kind of entity? But then you know, and this is all, because you believe or you don't believe. So if you don't believe, I could completely make this up. It doesn't matter what I say. If you do believe, you might be interested in.

Speaker 1: 19:20

no, yeah, I'm curious like ghost this is a demonic entity and I'll go into that in a second. But yeah, this would be a demonic entity that they believe. It is not a ghost of someone, this is more like an apparition of a I don't know.

Speaker 2: 19:38

So closer to a demon than a ghost, correct, okay.

Speaker 1: 19:41

So I've actually not heard of a witch ball. Have you ever heard of it? No, never. Yeah, I've not heard of a witch ball prior, and I mean, even when I did the Salem witch trials last episode, episode 13, I didn't come across a witch ball. So I don't know, maybe I just missed it, but I wondered if it was. I was kind of thinking it'd be like a fabric ball soaked in herbs and oils, something to fend off spirits. Turns out I'm wrong. It's not that at all. And shocker, I know. So.

Speaker 1: 20:09

I found a neat art website which gives a great explanation to a witch ball being essentially a blown glass ball with an opening. And it goes on to say, quote according to legends, the shiny surface of witch balls entice evil spirits into the ball. Oh, and then the strands of glass inside capture the spirits and keep them from escaping. In other legends it was thought that witches would see the reflection of their intended victim in the ball and mistakenly curse the reflection instead of the actual person. Oh, or evil influences would gather as dust on the surface of the ball and then they could just be wiped away. Let me swiffer this stupid away, yeah. So there we have it.

Speaker 1: 20:57

Also sidebar. You know, there are glass blown balls all over people's gardens. You know what I'm talking about, and somewhere along the way it switched from being to ward off evil spirits in the 17 and 1800s to essentially being decorative lawn pieces in the 1900s. So some of you may have those huh glass blown balls in your garden, unknowingly sporting what is a descendant of a witch ball, the more you know folks, and so the list of people who experienced the witch activity continues to grow, because next a neighbor is going to report experiencing this witch. Now, remember, the neighbors are really spread out as well. A man named William Porter, a bachelor who lived acres over from the Bell family, reported that the witch came to him in the night when he was in his bed and made it known hey, I'm gonna get in bed with you. Like, come on, scooch over. Like. He audibly heard this entity tell him that. Now, according to the folklore tales, William Porter was not afraid of this election.

Speaker 2: 22:04

Hey, it's a bachelor's day, come on in. I don't think he was looking for that.

Speaker 1: 22:12

He's different than you, joe, but he told her she would have to be good if she was going to get in bed with him.

Speaker 2: 22:23

Yeah, oh my gosh, he gets better.

Speaker 1: 22:26

Not good like oh man, we have different definition.

Speaker 2: 22:29

We are not different.

Speaker 1: 22:33

She is going to have to be behaved. So the sheets began moving and rolling off of him. So now he's exposed and next to him he sees a figure outlined in the sheets. And why was he not scared of this ghost? I'm glad you asked, joe. Well, the neighbors and many others have heard gotten wind about this and they believed it to be the ghost witch of their neighbor named Kate Bats. And it was known that William Porter had been cordial with Kate so he had no fear of her. Now I said which ghost? Because in many different versions and you ask the difference it's called the haunting, the bell witch, haunting, which goes. Just know that spooky stuff was happening. All different versions, but to synthesize and put it together, all these words were being used. Does that make sense?

Speaker 2: 23:31

Yeah, they were clearly cordial If he thought he knew this person and he was like no, you gotta be nice.

Speaker 1: 23:37

Listen to what he, william Porter, does next Billy P Okay. So he decides she's next to me, I can see the island of her body, I'm a trapper. So homeboy picks her up and he goes to carry her to the fireplace in his room and each step he takes she gets heavier and heavier and eventually he's not able to take another step and in his last ditch effort he tries to toss her into the fire. But she emanates the most foul stench ever that he has to let go and escape because it smells so foul. And it is never reported again that she enters somebody's bed. I think you heard her feelers. Imagine you think you're going for a little Netflix and chill. You're like into the fire. You go Either way, whatever you wanna believe. That's what many reports say.

Speaker 1: 24:44

So a few weeks after the first afflictions with the family and the neighbors, the activity moves inside the Bell family cabin. Lucy Bell, john's wife, as well as their children, heard pounding noises on their home when they were inside, and the pounding noises were coming from the outside. And this was at all hours. And the family would go on to recount how it appeared that the spirit slash entity was actually getting more upset and the pounds escalated to audible screams and shrills heard by multiple family members in the home. And now the family didn't want to relay these supernatural happenings to the different people in the community. They were in a very religious Baptist community and it was still considered the Bible, oh yep. So obviously there's motive to keep this to themselves. And John Bell Sr, also being an elder in the church, you don't want to share about possible demonic happening.

Speaker 1: 25:53

Affliction, especially. This is only 125 years after the Salem Witch Trials, which is actually just a drop in the bucket. They're not that far separated from believing all of that. Within a short amount of time, the screams turned into sounds of chains being dragged across the floors of their home. They could hear dogs having vicious fights, but they could not see them. They could hear people, people gnawing. They could hear what sounded like animals and rats gnawing on their bed posts, but they could see nothing. And Betsy was physically assaulted in her home. So it's said that the entity came after all the children, however, especially after young Betsy, known for pulling the sheets off the kids, but she was known for going farther. The entity she and tying Betsy's hair and knots, poking Betsy, pricking her with pins, slapping her oh geez, kicking her. She was physically assaulted and it would leave visible marks on her skin.

Speaker 2: 27:04

Okay, at that point I'd be like we out, we gone.

Speaker 1: 27:07

When John Bell Sr finally decided that his family needed help, he approached his local preacher and, together with his best friend, they recounted everything they currently knew of, and it was then okay. The three of them verbally agreed that these supernatural happenings need to stay private because, let's face it, we don't wanna repeat.

Speaker 2: 27:30

Are we gonna do an exorcism?

Speaker 1: 27:32

We don't wanna repeat all this. So what's the plan? Before we could formulate a specific plan, though, somebody in that trio or it could have been William Porter, we don't know but word gets out and word travels fairly quickly too, especially when you think about form of communication was very slow at the time and, before they know it, many people in the area know about the hauntings or the afflictions the entity at the Bell Witch home, and people started coming from Kentucky and all parts of Tennessee to the Bell family, just showing up in their yard to see and experience this entity, and this was said to have pissed the entity off. The more people and the more fear that it could drive on, the stronger it got. It's interesting because all of a sudden I mean it'd be like people just showing up at your doorstep today. You know no idea who these people are and all of a sudden it's like hey, we heard you got a witch, and this was said to enrage the entity more and she became more vocal. So this triggered her talking to the family in audible voices, and multiple sources that recount this folklore legend say it's. You know, then that the bellwitch began to make her goal known and she made it very clear that her goal was to kill John Bell Sr because she believed him to be a bad man, and now we need to talk about who this entity may be. Well, okay, so the path that we're going to take along the bellwitch folklore trail is the one which believes that the main people in the event believed that the bellwitch was Kate bats. So let's find out who Kate bats was.

Speaker 1: 29:39

Kate bats lived on the farm over from the bells with her husband, frederick, and their five children. However, whereas you know traditional marriages at the time in gender roles, common for the working farm families, you know, like what the wife does yeah, all the inside stuff. Yeah, the meals, cooking, cleaning, takes care of the children. And then the man does like what Farm work? Yeah, and provides yeah, monetarily provides. And Kate's husband, though, was paralyzed, so she had to do everything Take care of the five children, the farm, everything.

Speaker 1: 30:18

Now, kate's reputation was that of an eccentric, attention seeking, loud type of woman, maybe histrionic, maybe one Now that we'd say, hey, that girl has fire in her. I like it, but back then it was hey, that girl doesn't know her place or when to shut up or how to be proper, and Kate was known by the town for pushing herself into conversations and making a scene, you know, making it about her, et cetera. I'm wondering was this girl lonely, stress, depressed yeah, you know, isolated and, oh man, desperate for connection, friendship? One thing we absolutely know from the late 1690s Salem Witch Trials is that when a woman was an outcast of society, she was likely going to be marked and accused to be a witch or be involved with something of the affliction. If they go against the grain of the religious cookie cutter view, they would likely be targeted Okay, and so that is why many people think that Kate Bats was said to have been the Belle Witch.

Speaker 1: 31:28

Now, you had asked about the difference between the witch and the ghost and if you guys had listened to episode 13, the Salem Witch Trials, you will know that, according to beliefs that the woman would sign a contract to deal with the devil and quite often their spirits could show up in different places and that would be the works of the devil. So Kate could be in her home and show up and afflict and haunt, I guess, other homes or even send her familiar, which would be an animal type entity, which is how we got the black cats with witches. That was quote unquote a familiar.

Speaker 2: 32:18

So, even before they die, they can their spirit can haunt people. Yes, so was Kate alive when all this was happening? Yes, okay.

Speaker 1: 32:25

She's absolutely alive. And now we have the whole town whispering that she is a witch and haunting them and cursing and afflicting all these people. Geez, girlfriend can't catch a break. No, oh my gosh. I'm not saying she's innocent and I'm not saying anybody's innocent of anything in here, but I mean I just, yeah, she screwed. I mean, come on.

Speaker 2: 32:55

You need to move too, girl.

Speaker 1: 32:57

See, yeah, and it doesn't make matters any better that it said that the entity started responding to the name Kate.

Speaker 2: 33:10

Oh, dear Kate, what's up?

Speaker 1: 33:13

I mean, come on, it's also believed that this entity was clairvoyant, so it could tell the future and could see things that were happening. And there was no witch hunt on Kate bats, from what I could find. However, knowing that people truly believed that the entity was Kate bats, I do have to wonder how ostracized she was after.

Speaker 1: 33:37

Oh, I'm sure in the community, yeah, and how it affected her children, and et cetera, et cetera. She does go on, though, to live 22 years longer than John Bell Sr. So she outlives the man that she's accused of Torturing, yeah, haunting, afflicting, yeah. Also goes on to for the rest of her life, vehemently, vehemently, vaheminately, vaheminately, vaheminately I have really intent on using this word Vaheminately defy. She will go on to strongly deny that she was the bell witch at all, so she always denied it. Now, according to Bell family legend, president Andrew Jackson even heard about this entity haunting at the Bell family homestead. So two years into it, in 1819, he goes there himself. Now there's no official presidential record of him going there. There is a journal entry from a Bell family member which mentions that this did occur and there were some connections. Some of the Bell boys, john Sr's sons, fought with Jackson when he was a general, and so there was a connection, and it was said that he had some land around the area.

Speaker 1: 34:55

Yeah, so he's from here, so it could put him in that area. Either it could make it convenient for the folklore story or it really did happen. But the tale says that he showed up with his men and then their horses and wagons and wagons stopped moving at a certain point and then they heard the entity speak to them and then allow them into the property and it was said that they didn't experience much of any supernatural entity, except one of his men said that out loud to the witch you're afraid of me because I have a silver bullet in my gun which is called a witch tamer and he taunted the entity to the point that, in front of people, she attacked him. And this is obviously an alleged account. In fact we have to say this entire story is alleged account. But I think it is safe to say that if you hear one story of the bell, which Joe, you've heard one story at the Bell, which I mean, there are so many different versions out there, but one of the versions is that Jackson wanted to stay at the property but his men refused to and left in the very early morning because they were so scared. So take that for, as you will, or you know, held around a campfire, the Tennessee State Library and Archivesgov website shares this about the origin of the entity, quote in early accounts, the spirit itself provides its origin, stating the witch claimed to be a spirit from everywhere heaven, hell, the earth and in the air.

Speaker 1: 36:34

The houses, any place at any time, have been created millions of years, end quote. I don't know what that means. It basically means it's open to. I'm everything Right, I'm everywhere, I'm always all here. What's odd is that this entity actually really liked John Bell senior's wife, lucy like really liked her, and it also appeared that John Jr was left fairly unscathed as well, and the entity would call Lucy quote the most perfect woman living, end quote. In fact, the entity would spend time with Lucy. So Lucy got sick, she was really ill and she was in bed and the entity would visit her and sing to her to help her feel better, which is a stark difference from the way that the others in the family, like Betsy, were treated. And she would also go on. She, being the entity, would have lengthy conversations with John Jr, just normal conversations about everyday things.

Speaker 2: 37:45

I don't know that. I would welcome that being a part of that family.

Speaker 1: 37:48

And John Jr would always refer to her, though, as being evil and damned. Although he was not personally afflicted by her, she seemed to favor him as well. The tripping, hitting, pushing, slapping noises, banging chain sounds, pounding, talking, singing, shriveling, et cetera continued for four years, Joe, Like they've stayed there for four years, but where else were they going to go Of all this land? They're in the community. I guess it was just enough that it wasn't too much that they could. Okay, we can handle this like, but they admit, like they're saying this, this chick is sitting here talking full conversations to me. No way I'd be out long ago. I mean, I'd rather be Lucy in this story, but okay, he experienced what now. So, during this time, John Bell, seniors health begins to rapidly decline. Now recall, though, Joe, he's already in his sixties.

Speaker 2: 38:47

He was 67 when it all started, and if that was four years he's like 71.

Speaker 1: 38:52

I don't know, math it up for me. He experienced what now appears to be neurological problems and he would have reports of paralysis of the mouth as well, and this would trigger the entity to enter fits of laughter over his pain. His mental health began taking a toll and it began taking from the constant turmoil from the entity. And sadly, on December 19th 1820, john Jr found his father unresponsive in bed. So John Jr rushes to the kitchen to search for the medicine vials. There were three medicine vials that he knew to go find because John Sr had been ailing. This was common to give him this medicine to help his symptoms. Well, he only found one of the three vials and in it was something unfamiliar. It looked like a smoky substance inside the vial. Now, according to the Tennessee State Library website, it's thin that John Jr the entity tell him quote it's useless for you to try to relieve old Jack. I have got him this time. He will never get up from that bed again. End quote. Geez, the Bell family immediately burns the contents left in the remaining vial by throwing it into the fire and it's reported that upon contact the vial erupts into a bright blue flame.

Speaker 1: 40:22

John Bell Sr does take his last breath the next day, december 20th 1820. But the Bell witch wasn't done. According to funeral growers, she was at the funeral singing body drunken songs and filling the air with shrill laughter. Now, after John Bell Sr's death, the activity it does go down quite a bit. Now if you were to believe that anything of this but her goal was to kill John Bell Sr, then that would check out, that would vibe that her activity goes down because the goal was to get him out of there, out of the world. And she succeeded. But she said that she would return in seven years. And she does return, according to the family, in seven years to the Bell family and she does a little bit of her slapping and pulling their sheets off and pinching and that's about it. And then she says, okay, I'm going to return again in like year 1937. And to that there's no report of her officially returning to Bell family descendants in 1937.

Speaker 1: 41:36

Now there are some interesting reads I found from Bell descendants about what they believe, what they've experienced and what stories they've heard passed down to them, and the rabbit holes of this story that will take you on are so friggin fun. I'm so tired because I stayed up late in rabbit holes, but many of the Bell family believe that this entity, known as the Bell Witch, will haunt the family, not the establishment where the hauntings took place, but the actual family will go to wherever a family is and it can transcend different countries. Give me two places at once. And there is a cave on the Bell family property referenced earlier. It's well known, it's well known, and this cave is near where Betsy saw the girl in the green dress hanging from a tree which talked to her and it was near this cave and this cave. The original Bell home structure is not there anymore, but this cave is still there and it is reported to be haunted and 2008,. It was added to the National Historical Registry and y'all. Robertson County goes all out.

Speaker 2: 42:50

On Halloween, for Halloween.

Speaker 1: 42:51

Yeah, in fall for the Bell Witch Festival. They have a play, yep, they reenact different stories, they do cave tours. There's kitschy items and entertainment, local vendors. I mean it's really locally promoted. It's a thing, it's a big thing. It's kind of like if the Gilmore Girls Town stars hollow had this happen there.

Speaker 2: 43:16

That's what it feels like, yeah, we need to go next year.

Speaker 1: 43:17

I've never been for sure, and you don't have to believe in the Bell Witch to get swept up into it, because it's such like part of folklore history here. It gets to be fun about it and it's kind of funny to me. It's such a Bible Belt, like every corner here we have a church and a dollar general, but it is said that John Bell Seniors death is one of the only in the history of history to be attributed to a supernatural entity.

Speaker 2: 43:57

I was curious too. I looked up. I was over here Google searching the average lifespan in the early 1800s. Just curious to know. Like he was 71, 72 ish, was that normal? Longer, shorter, and the average lifespan I think for men I saw was like 65 ish Give or take. So he lived longer than the average lifespan, not much but longer. I'm just kind of curious if she inflicted him with illness potentially, or if this was a natural cause.

Speaker 1: 44:31

Yeah, and you know we have to touch on the fact that, like we've said in some of our other historical stories, a lot of things could have been going on with him that you know at the time, if you couldn't explain how someone was behaving or acting, you could write it off as something supernatural. Yeah, and that happened in the Salem Witch trials as well. After the, site.

Speaker 2: 44:55

so you said Kate Belle or no. Kate Bats Bats was one of the suspects. Were there any other theories about who this Belle Witch?

Speaker 1: 45:03

person was. There are multiple theories. One was that it was a native Indian whose resting place was disturbed by some of the Belle Sons and that it was searching for a lost tooth which was under the house, allegedly. Some people believed that it was a native Indian entity also because there are native Indian markings near the Bell Witch cave. Now, what's interesting about this cave tour is it's really popular for paranormal hunters to go into and look, and many people claim to see orbs, those little balls of light which are supposedly and pictures and whatnot. Yeah, ghosts, I guess. And one thing that was common was everyone was saying do not take anything from the cave, Always yes, I do not take.

Speaker 1: 46:01

I know that and I've never been there and there people will say I took a rock from the cave, and then there will be stories of weird things happening after that. But who knows, maybe weird things were gonna happen anyway.

Speaker 2: 46:16

No having lived through like weird spiritual stuff. Don't take even a rock, not a pep. Nothing, take nothing.

Speaker 1: 46:24

It's so funny to me because you don't believe in a lot of stuff, but like this you're like oh.

Speaker 2: 46:29

I've lived it, it's real. You cannot convince me otherwise I don't know where I am.

Speaker 1: 46:35

I don't.

Speaker 2: 46:38

I don't know. Julie doesn't believe in now. She's gonna be haunted tonight.

Speaker 1: 46:42

No, I actually heard that if you're really nice, you're less likely to be haunted, which makes sense with us.

Speaker 2: 46:50

Well, I have heard that the younger you are, the more likely they are to inflict you, because that is a vessel that is going to be round a lot longer than like somebody who's older right. Their vessel is likely to die, you say right, like you're saying, some absolute like document right.

Speaker 1: 47:09

I have experienced this Well. I also heard recently shout out Morbid podcast. They interviewed an exorcist recently. She said that children are more likely to be able to see entities because they're the closest to the beginning of life than older people, so they're least influenced. It's interesting.

Speaker 2: 47:38

You know my mom, this was not one of my ghost stories, but my mom has. My mom passed before. I had children, and my oldest she's five now. But when she was little she would always stare up to the specific area in my bedroom and one day I have a picture of my mom on the refrigerator. And we've not at that point we hadn't really talked about my mom much because I didn't, she just wouldn't understand. But I was holding her in the kitchen and she, we were near the refrigerator and she said, mama the ghost, mama the ghost, and pointed to my mom's picture.

Speaker 1: 48:12

Yeah, I am never going to argue that about a mom ablate. I am an elite mom, Come at me, bro, it's real. I will never say she did not come see you. You sure you want to share?

Speaker 2: 48:27

that story. That's yeah, that's fine. Okay, I'll leave it. That's not one of my ghost stories. My I was haunted or afflicted when I was young, but I haven't heard this. Oh it's. There's so many, I don't even know where I would start.

Speaker 1: 48:40

Let's go ahead and wrap up the episode and play the exit music, and then can you tell us some more. So someone wants to stick around. I'll leave it in as an extra A bonus. Yeah, all right, we're going to add a little bonus about Joe's haunting stories Surprise Stories. So we're going to exit on out of here. But hey, I'm Jules, I'm Joe and we love you. Thanks for coming back. Your butt looks great. Peace, bye, booze and late.

Speaker 2: 49:12

I'll see. My mama is a podcaster, I do.