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| 1894 drawing of Betsy Bell |
John Bell and his wife Lucy
moved from Kentucky to Tennessee during the early 1800s. The couple had two
children that had already married and lived away from them by then. After
moving to Red River, they had three more children together. Elizabeth, known as
Betsy, was born in 1806, Richard was born in 1811 and Joel was born in 1813.
The family did well in their new home and eventually amassed a landholding of
328 acres. They also had a sizeable log home.
In 1817 John Bell was working in
his fields when he saw a strange animal with the body of a dog. He shot at the
beast, but it disappeared. Later on that night and for many nights after, the
family heard loud banging noises on the outside of their house. John tried to
discover the source of the noises, but came up with nothing. Not long after,
the children began complaining about the sound of rats chewing on their
bedposts and that something was ripping off their covers as they slept. Soon,
the entire family was hearing whispers around the house.
The Bell Witch began to focus on
Betsy. It would supposedly attack her physically and so brutally that it left
visible marks and even handprints on her skin. After a time, John Bell turned
to his friend James Johnston for help. James and his wife decided to stay at
the Bell home for a few nights. Apparently they suffered the same indignities as
the Bells. The voice was gaining power as well and had begun conversing with
people who spoke to it. It also sang and said things that were religious in
nature.
General Andrew Jackson himself
became interested in the story and decided to come to the home in 1819.
Apparently one of his men had a run in with the witch and the story goes that
Jackson spoke to it himself. The very morning after Jackson arrived at the Bell
home, he was seen in Springfield, so he must not have stayed long. Jackson’s
visit lends some credibility to the story. He did, after all, become President
of the United States later. However, the story is still wildly incredible.
When Betsy became engaged to a
local boy named Joshua Gardner, the Bell Witch wasn’t happy and decided to
torment the young couple. Betsy eventually broke off the engagement. However, the
only person that the witch truly seemed to hate was John Bell.
Some stories say that the witch
claimed to be the spirit of a neighbor who felt cheated in a land transaction
and recently died. Whoever or whatever it was, it supposedly tortured John during
a prolonged illness he was having that involved seizures and difficulty
controlling his throat. There are even claims that when John Bell died on
December 20, 1820, the entity said that it had poisoned him. Stories say the
family found a vial of poison in a cupboard that backed up the witch’s claim.
The witch became less active
after John Bell’s death, but promised to return to his wife in seven years. It
is said that it came back and spent a lot of time talking to John Bell Jr.
about theology, history and life. It then left saying that it would return to
his descendants in 107 years. There have been no claims from John’s descendants
that this has happened. Of course, we can’t be sure that any of this happened.
