Wednesday, August 8, 2012

The Bell Witch

Posted by Admin  
Filed under Haunted Places

Bell Witch Sign

Click to read the Bell Witch sign in full size

Do you get creeped out easily? Do the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when you hear the word poltergeist? Well if you’ve watched the Blair witch project more than once and you like to hear spooky and eerie tales you are going to love the story of the bell witch.

The legend says that around 1817 in Robertson County, Tennessee, on the red river, John Bell came across a peculiar looking creature on his farm. This strange looking critter had the head of a rabbit attached to the body of a dog, and it was lurking in his cornfield.

John Bell fired at the strange looking animal and it disappeared. Later on the Bell family started hearing strange smacking and tapping noises on the outside of their log cabin. After several failed attempts to apprehend or even discover the rascal, these mysterious noises started to happen inside of their cabin.
The Bell family children, especially Betsy Bell started to complain of being attacked by an invisible presence. The poltergeist would move objects around the house, slap and pull Betsy’s face and hair and whisper faintly like an old woman singing religious hymns.


The Bell Witch Haunting

As time passed this ghostly apparition started to get stronger and more forceful. The noises were now of wild animals fighting and screaming, the clank of chains being dragged and images of deformed dogs and passed away family members materializing and then vanishing into thin air.

Bell Witch House

Bell Witch House

As the trouble intensified John Bell enlisted the help of his neighbor and friend James Johnston. Mr. Johnston was a very religious and skeptical man, he easily brushed off the supernatural occurrences as being mere coincidence. As he quickly met his match and his debunking efforts didn’t help he called in a popular hellfire Methodist preacher Rev. Gunn.

As the ecclesiastical efforts failed miserably, the attacks and haunting grew worse and more severe. The violent supernatural attacks on Becky became routine and the bell family had become almost helpless. The spirit was now to the point of clear communication; it would carry on understandable conversations and even had its own personality.

As word spread and curiosity increased, many visitors arrived to try and communicate with the apparition. As different people asked questions about the origins of the spirit and purpose for what is was doing there they were always given a different answer, except for one question.

“When will you leave?” was a question asked one candlelight night of the poltergeist and its famous reply was simply “not until John Bell was dead in his grave.” The apparition seemed to really have a strong dislike for Jack Bell and continued to torment him and his family. As the years passed and John Bell’s health started to weaken the ongoing physiological abuse gave him seizures and anyone who attempted to aid or help Mr. Bell was viciously assaulted by the spirit.

On a chilly December morning in 1820 John Bell faded off to sleep never to awaken. His funeral was one of the largest that the red river settlement had ever seen and even included a special guest, who gave mourners a full concert of cheerful drinking songs to celebrate its victory.

The Bell Witch Haunting as Video

Additional information on the Bell Witch are found in this recommended video:



Further information on the Bell Witch:

Bell Witch on Wikipedia
Bellwitch.org

Related posts:

  1. The Myrtles Plantation
  2. The Ghost of Minnie Quay: Forester Michigan
  3. The Story of The Haunted Whaley House
  4. The Ghosts of Bowling Green State University
  5. The Old Slave House





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