Paranormal Places: The Bell Witch

The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a legend from Southern United States folklore, centered on the 19th-century Bell family of northwest Robertson County, Tennessee. Farmer John Bell Sr. resided with his family along the Red River in an area currently near the town of Adams. According to legend, from 1817 to 1821, his family and the local area came under attack by a mostly invisible entity that was able to speak, affect the physical environment, and shapeshift. Some accounts record the spirit also to have been clairvoyant and capable of crossing long distances with superhuman speed (or of being in more than one place history time).

In his book An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch, author Martin V. Ingram published that the poltergeist's name was Kate, after the entity claimed at one point to be "Old Kate Batts' witch," and continued to respond favorably to the name.^[1] The physical activity centered on the Bells' youngest daughter, Betsy, and her father, and Kate expressed particular displeasure when Betsy became engaged to a local named Joshua Gardner.^[2]

The haunting began sometime in 1817 when John Bell witnessed the apparition of a strange creature resembling a dog with the head of a rabbit. Bell fired at the animal but it disappeared. John's son Drew Bell approached an unknown bird perched on a fence that flew off and was of "extraordinary size." The daughter Betsy observed a girl in a green dress swinging from the limb of an oak tree. Dean, a slave belonging to the Bell family, reported being followed by a large black dog on evenings he visited his wife. Activity moved to the Bell household with knocking heard along the door and walls. The family heard sounds of gnawing on the beds, invisible dogs fighting, and chains along the floor. About this time John Bell began experiencing paralysis in his mouth.^[3]The phenomena grew in intensity as sheets were pulled from beds when the children slept. Soon the entity pulled hair and scratched the children with particular emphasis on Betsy who was slapped, pinched and stuck with pins

Taken from Wikipedia

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