Growing up in Tennessee, the Bell Witch story was taught in schools. In 4th grade, a good part of the syllabus is about Tennessee history, this being a part of that.
I vaguely remember what exactly they taught us, so I set out to finally visit the Bell Witch Cave myself.
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If anyone has seen the movie An American Haunting, it was based on the Bell Witch but only accounted for one of the many explanations of what happened on the Bell land in the 1800s.
While it’s not necessarily a bad film, you shouldn’t rely on it for the actual story.
The Bell Witch Legend
The Bell family, headed by John Bell, moved from North Carolina to Robertson County, Tennessee, in the 1800s. At the time, this community was known as Red River but is presently known as Adams, TN.
It all began in 1817 when John while inspecting the fields, encountered a strange-looking animal with the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit. He didn’t think anything more of it until other strange things started happening.
Soon after, the Bells began hearing beating sounds on the outside walls of their log cabin. The frequency and force of these sounds grew at a rapid pace. Each time, they’d run out of the house, but there was never any sign of anyone or anything.
Soon, the noises started happening inside the house. The children would complain of a gnawing sound on their bedposts, almost like rats were chewing away at them.
The children also complained of having their covers and pillows ripped from their beds while sleeping. They regularly heard other sounds of chains being drug through the house, stones being dropped on the wooden floors, and choking sounds.
John Bell and Betsy, the youngest daughter, took most of the encounters with the entity. Betsy began experiencing physically brutal encounters. Her hair would be pulled, and she would be slapped so hard that it would leave welts and hand prints on her body.
While the entity very openly despised John, she only berated Betsy for one reason: she wanted her to break off her engagement to Joshua Gardner, a young man who lived near the Bells.
The Bell Witch was not pleased with their engagement for an unknown reason. Betsy refused to break it off for a long time but eventually had enough and followed her wishes.
Besides breaking off Betsy’s engagement, the other main reason the bell witch haunted the family was to kill John. His throat would swell, and he would have twitching and jerking of facial muscles. Over the years, John became weaker and weaker.
As the entity’s frequency and force grew, the noises soon grew to voices. It sang hymns, quoted scripture, and carried on extremely intelligent conversations with the Bell family.
One minute it would be friendly and pleasant; the next, it would be cussing up a storm and physically tormenting them. When asked who and what it was, it would give different answers.
One of the identities was that of the witch neighbor woman, Kate Batts. Many believed this theory, and the Bell Witch became known as “Kate.”
John Bell insisted that his family keep this a secret, and they did so for a year. Finally, John shared their secret with his closest friend, James Johnston, and invited him and his wife to stay the night at their home to experience it for themselves.
The “witch” did not disappoint, and the Bells’ secret was out. The news of the Bells’ “family problem” traveled so far and much that even President Andrew Jackson decided he must come to the property to check it out.
On December 20, 1820, John died. It was believed that Kate poisoned him. And in 1821, Betsy broke off her engagement with Joshua Gardner.
After John died and Betsy broke off her engagement, Kate said her farewells and promised to return in seven years. In 1828, she returned for a few weeks.
She had long talks with John Bell Jr about the past, present, and future. Kate also made some predictions about the future, which are otherworldly.
She then bid farewell again and said she would return in one hundred and seven years, which would have been 1935. Some believe she never left at all, though, and has just taken up residence inside the cave because there have continued to be strange occurrences in the area.
The Bell Witch Cave and Cabin Tours
When visiting, you have the option of a tour through the cave, the cabin, or a combination of both. I chose the combination, grabbed some hot chocolate, and went to stand around the fire while waiting for my first tour.
After enough people had gathered, we headed to the cave, a short walk from the cabin along the riverbed.
The bluff above the entrance to the cave is an old Native American burial ground. The previous owners of the land had an archaeologist come out from Nashville and estimated the graves to be between 3,000 and 5,000 years old.
They were buried sitting straight up in the ground facing east; this is how they determined the time period. It is also believed that these are the ancestors of the Chickasaw.
While many believe that “Kate” may have taken up residence here after haunting the Bells, others believe that the entity may have originated in the cave. Did the Native Americans happen to bury their dead there, or did they have a reason for choosing that spot?
During the tour, I learned that in the 1990s, a paranormal investigator came to the cave and set up night vision video cameras throughout the cave. He picked up something on camera that couldn’t be explained.
He took it to several experts; some believe it could have been a vortex or a porthole, a spiritual doorway. Whatever it was, it showed up and disappeared in 3/100th of a second.
So, did they happen to bury their dead here, or did they know this porthole existed and wanted their loved ones to be closer to the spiritual world? I don’t guess we will ever really know where the entity originated.
Nobody even knows for sure what this bell witch thing was anyways. Was it the neighbor woman? Or was it a spirit that escaped from the porthole? Was it something else entirely?
In the first room of the cave is a stone box Native grave. This grave was found down the river and placed in this room for the tour.
An anthropologist from Bowling Green, KY, said the grave was from a young Native girl who had died between 300 and 1500 years. Someone broke in one night and stole the remains, but the box is still present.
While, unfortunately, nothing supernatural or crazy happened during my time at the cave, many reports of unexplained occurrences have occurred. Cameras and phones have shut off and locked up inside the cave.
They also have had people’s phones and cameras repeatedly taking pictures and won’t stop or turn off. Weird and unexplained things have shown up in photos. While on the tour, there were dark shadows going along the cave length that everyone saw, but there was no explanation.
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Sorry Ashley, can’t say that I believe in the supernatural but I think that it would be really cool to see everything in the caves. I think the supernatural is just in your head, our minds can really play tricks on us and makes us believe what we want to (or makes us think we see things!).
Either way, your pictures are great and this was a really great read into the ‘so-called’ supernatural experience that many folks believe!
The cave was very cool despite what you believe in and it was also very interesting to learn about the Native American history. I can’t say if I believe in the supernatural or not…kind of on the fence on that one 🙂
Well that genuinely sounds creepy haha. Did they make a movie of this? I like reading about this kind of stuff but I don’t know if I’d want to visit it. I get freaked out easily! Really interesting part of the history and culture though!
They did make a movie based on it–“The American Haunting.” However, a lot of people say it’s not accurate depiction of it.
Spooky! I have always been a big fan of scary places, I still remember the time some friends and I broke into a graveyard in the middle of the night! 😮
I love scary stuff too! 🙂
Sounds very spooky and creepy but interesting at the same time!
Thanks Constance!
It does sound creepy, but I don’t really believe in the supernatural and portals to other worlds. Sounds fun though!
I’m not sure about the portals either, but it was still very interesting to learn about!
And now this is really some spooky story, that I cannot believe kids from Tennessee are taught in schools. I don’t think I would be visiting. Was even a bit scared just reading it 🙂
Haha not only were we taught in school, we were taught when we were like 9 and 10 years old.
Great post! I love old tales and stories of places like this, whether you believe the supernatural or not it adds a little extra flavour to places that you visit.
Thanks Michael! I’m not sure what I believe, but I have to admit that it’s more exciting to think it’s possible 🙂
Lovely post! I’m all for spooky outings!
Thank you so much! 🙂
I believe there are things we can’t explain and maybe shouldn’t try to. For me I would have moved my family out as soon as it started happening and moved somewhere else, hopefully that would have mover Kate on 🙂 Good on you for visiting I know I couldn’t
Thanks Michele! I’d be packing my bags as well 🙂
I have to agree with Michele, if this was happening somewhere I lived I would be packing my bags and heading off s soon as possible. I am always intrigued with stories of the supernatural and would never like to say 100% I don’t believe – just incase; I would hate to have the wrath of a spirit come down on me! 🙂
I think that when people know the stories as you have described above they often want something to occur when they visit the sites and that really it is all a trick of the mind when they say they have seen or felt something.
I didn’t know the history of the Bell family until today so thank you for sharing an interesting story. If nothing else I would probably visit the site to find out more about the history of the Indian burials.
You can bet I’d be packing my bags too haha
I think you’re right about if people know about past occurrences, it may happen in your head. It’s hard to explain things like this though.
What a fun post! Love it! Creepy & super cool. Love the history behind it too.
Thanks Erin! The history is great even if you don’t believe in the supernatural.
I was skimming… I was too scared to read anything really scary…. I think I’ll have nightmares tonight now.
haha you crack me up. I’m sure you’ll be fine 🙂
Interesting to see those films are based on real myths and legends. I can’t say I believe in that stuff, but I’d still probably feel a little spooked by my scumbag brain, if I visited – certainly adds a little spice to the visit!
It does indeed. Doesn’t hurt I went alone either haha
Eek. I think visiting this place would give me nightmares. Then again, I’ve had nightmares about killer peaches trying to kill me with a strand of hair. So it doesn’t take much.
hahaha that’s the best nightmare ever. why don’t i have those nightmares?
Timely and spooky! Great read but not for me. That scene from the Blair Witch Project still haunts my dreams!
Thanks for sharing.
Shaun
http://www.thislifeintrips.com
Interesting story about the family. I never watched the movie, but it does sound like a creepy place to visit.
Wow what an amazing place and story! Gives you goose bumps, right! 🙂
I really like such things somehow, though I have never been to such a place…
Yikes – what a scary story. And interesting they teach it in school… that’d probably scare the pants off of me as a kid!
I’m never sure if I believe in the supernatural or not.
But when I was at college I still lived with my parents. I arrived home one day in winter and started washing up the dishes since no one else was around. Soon after my brother got back from high school, slung his bag on the table and went upstairs. A few minutes later I felt a hard poke to my left shoulder blade and swung around yelling at my brother. Only, he wasn’t there. He shouted down from his room asking what was wrong. I put it down to mind tricks but it happened on two other occasions that winter, once when I was looking out the window at the sunset and once again washing the dishes.
Dad said he has woken numerous times in the night over the years to see a dark shape in the left corner of the bedroom by the wardrobe – could be a trick of the mind and darkness, but hey! Who knows?!
Ooh, a time travel vortex! (I’m a big Dr. Who fan 😉 and there’s an episode in which a ghost turns out to be a time traveler from a different dimension, appearing every now and then because her timestream runs at a different speed than ours)
I’ve never heard of “An American Haunting” or the Bell Witch, but it makes for a great story! Thank you for sharing this. I’m not sure whether I’d dare to go to the cave or not. Maybe… I’ll have to think about it.
Why didn’t that family just pack up and leave? They must have had a lot invested in the property and who would buy it if it was spooked? The whole story is kind of creepy. So, are you glad nothing too freaky happened when you visited? I would be.
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