When I was kid, I came across this ghost
story that I thought was scary and exciting at the same time. I always wanted
to take a legend trip to the site in Adams Tennessee. The following article I found at Exploresouternhistory.com about this famous haunting.
The bizarre story of the Bell Witch haunting in Tennessee may well be America's best known ghost story. The story revolves around alleged events that took place in and around the John Bell home near Adams, Tennessee, a community just south of the Kentucky line northwest of Nashville. Beginning in 1817, the Bell family and visitors were supposedly terrorized by an unexplained series of supernatural events. The "haunting" began when John Bell, who had relocated to the area in 1804, spotted a strange animal that is said to have looked like a dog with the head of a rabbit. He tried to kill it, but failed. Then, all sorts of chaos broke out in the Bell home.
A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, volume 1913, summarized the traditional story of the haunting: In 1817 the family heard or imagined queer knockings at night on the walls of the house. Later on disturbances commenced within the house - sounds as of rats gnawing the bed posts, then as of dogs fighting, and then as of chains dragging over the floor. As soon as a candle was lighted to investigate the disturbance, the noise would cease in the lighted room, while the daughter in another room would scream in fright because of similar noises there. The haunting seemed to focus on John Bell and his daughter, Elizabeth or "Betsy," then a teenager. Numerous stories grew about the events at the Bell home and neighbors reported witnessing events there as well. As news of the haunting spread, people came from considerable distances to learn more about the strange incidents and most residents of the area became convinced that the Bell family was the focus of a "bewitching."
The bizarre story of the Bell Witch haunting in Tennessee may well be America's best known ghost story. The story revolves around alleged events that took place in and around the John Bell home near Adams, Tennessee, a community just south of the Kentucky line northwest of Nashville. Beginning in 1817, the Bell family and visitors were supposedly terrorized by an unexplained series of supernatural events. The "haunting" began when John Bell, who had relocated to the area in 1804, spotted a strange animal that is said to have looked like a dog with the head of a rabbit. He tried to kill it, but failed. Then, all sorts of chaos broke out in the Bell home.
A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, volume 1913, summarized the traditional story of the haunting: In 1817 the family heard or imagined queer knockings at night on the walls of the house. Later on disturbances commenced within the house - sounds as of rats gnawing the bed posts, then as of dogs fighting, and then as of chains dragging over the floor. As soon as a candle was lighted to investigate the disturbance, the noise would cease in the lighted room, while the daughter in another room would scream in fright because of similar noises there. The haunting seemed to focus on John Bell and his daughter, Elizabeth or "Betsy," then a teenager. Numerous stories grew about the events at the Bell home and neighbors reported witnessing events there as well. As news of the haunting spread, people came from considerable distances to learn more about the strange incidents and most residents of the area became convinced that the Bell family was the focus of a "bewitching."
Legend holds that even Andrew Jackson
went up from Nashville to investigate, but despite the popularity of this claim
no mention of the Bell Witch or Bell family appears in his papers. The Bell
Witch haunting supposedly reached its peak with the mysterious death of John Bell.
It is said that he consumed a poison but that no one knew where it came from. Blame
for the "witching" has been placed by tradition on a local woman, but
there is no evidence she was involved at all. In modern terms, the Bell Witch
haunting is what would be described as a "poltergeist incident." It
is also worth noting that it had a very strong similarity to the well
documented Edgefield Ghost in South Carolina. The Edgefield ghost, however, was
reported in newspapers of the time while the Bell Witch story did not receive
attention in print until many years later when a family member wrote an account
of the haunting. It has since become very much a part of the folklore and
legend of Tennessee and the South. Many believe the Bell Witch provided the
inspiration for the hit film, The Blair Witch Project and a fairly dubious
version was also presented in the lowly regarded Hollywood movie, An American
Haunting, which in my opinion is not worth viewing at all. The Bell house no
longer stands, but there are several Bell Witch attractions , including a cave, in and around
Adams, Tennessee. If you're in the area, you need to stop and see it.
No comments:
Post a Comment