The Bell Witch is one of the most famous hauntings in American folklore.

The story originated near Adams, Tennessee, and during the twentieth century became the subject of poems, stories, novels, and films. One early literary treatment was The Trials of Betsy Bell, written by an unknown author and published in Nashville in 1906. Much later, the film An American Haunting offered a modern interpretation of the ordeal.

Unfortunately, the facts surrounding the Bell Witch are not so neatly packaged.

The case presents problems for skeptics and believers alike. Looking back through the surviving accounts reveals contradictions, extraordinary claims, rumors, and at least one intriguing possibility that has received surprisingly little attention.

The Earliest Bell Witch Accounts

The mysterious haunting of the Bell family received relatively little widespread attention until Clarksville newspaper editor M. V. Ingram published his account in 1894. Even then, the volume circulated primarily on a regional basis.

The history behind Ingram’s book began much earlier.

Richard Williams Bell, brother of Betsy Bell, wrote an account of his family’s experiences 26 years after John Bell’s death. He completed the manuscript in 1846, but it remained hidden.

Richard’s work is believed to have been written partly in response to an article by one of the Bell Witch investigators. That investigator eventually published his own account in a newspaper in 1849, although the article has since been lost.

Richard died several years after completing his story. His manuscript passed to his son, James Allen Bell, who also kept it hidden.

Only when James was elderly did he grant M. V. Ingram permission to publish the work.

Ingram incorporated Bell’s manuscript into his own sizable collection of accounts and documentation. The resulting book was published in 1894 and circulated locally. It remained considered a rare book as late as 1920.

A later Bell Witch account was written by Charles Bailey Bell, John Bell’s great-grandson, and published in 1934. The volumes eventually became widely identified by the colors of their covers.

Ingram’s account implicated Bell’s neighbor Kate Batts in the family’s nightmare. It also included the famous story that Andrew Jackson visited the farm and experienced the witch himself.

Was There Really a Witch?

As far as is known, there was never an actual witch involved.

Those who accept the supernatural elements of the story have variously interpreted the entity as a poltergeist or demon. During the nineteenth century, it was often called a goblin.

For simplicity, the mysterious presence can simply be called a spirit.

The Bell Family

John Bell was a successful North Carolina planter who moved his wife and six children to Robertson County, Tennessee, in 1804.

He eventually owned a 1,000-acre farm near Adams.

The family prospered financially and continued to grow, eventually including seven sons and two daughters.

Their relatively peaceful existence continued until around 1817, when strange activity began.

The Strange Dog

John Bell was hunting when he noticed an unfamiliar dog.

Stray dogs were a genuine concern for farmers because they could kill young livestock and poultry. Bell fired at the animal to frighten it away.

As the creature moved, however, it seemed to change shape.

Then it vanished before Bell could obtain a clear look at it.

The incident was strange, but Bell soon dismissed it.

The Turkey and the Girl in Green

Not long afterward, one of Bell’s sons encountered what he believed was a strange wild turkey.

He shot at the bird, intending to bring it home for the family to eat.

The creature disappeared.

Then it was Betsy’s turn.

Betsy did not see an animal.

She saw a little girl in a light green dress, swinging from a limb beneath a large tree.

Betsy was approximately 14 years old at the time and already informally betrothed to Joshua Gardner, a schoolmate her own age. Joshua belonged to a respected family with close ties to the Bells, and both families approved of the possibility of a future marriage.

John and Betsy would become the first major targets of whatever had arrived at the Bell farm.

The Haunting Escalates

The Bells and their enslaved workers continued seeing strange animals around the property.

The entity appeared as a peculiar hare, a bizarre bird, and various forms of a dog.

Sometimes the dog appeared old and lame.

At other times, it was black.

Dean, one of the Bell family’s enslaved workers, reported that the strange dog frequently followed him home.

Inside the house, unexplained noises began occurring every night.

Knocking came first.

Then scratching and gnawing.

Several of the boys heard someone eating noisily in their bedroom while they tried to sleep. The family heard chains and sounds resembling rats moving beneath the floors.

They nearly dismantled the house searching for the source.

Nothing was found.

The Attacks on Betsy

Several Bell children were slapped by an unseen hand.

Betsy suffered particularly severe attacks.

She was struck until her face became blood red, although no one ever saw her attacker.

She also experienced trance-like states lasting for hours, along with fainting spells or fugue states. At other times, Betsy cried that someone was sticking pins or needles into her skin.

The abusive episodes generally lasted about an hour.

The Attacks on John Bell

The activity increasingly concentrated upon John.

His tongue sometimes swelled so badly that he could neither speak nor eat. Bell described the sensation as though a twig had been placed sideways in his mouth.

Eventually, the swelling was accompanied by full-body spasms that nearly paralyzed him.

There was no predictable pattern.

The family might experience a brief period of peace, only for the disturbances to return worse than before.

Enter Ol’ Sugarmouth

After approximately a year, the family could no longer pretend nothing unusual was happening.

John Bell confided in his neighbor James Johnson and Johnson’s wife.

Johnson was known for his powerful prayers. The Bells hoped that if an evil spirit was responsible, he might be able to drive it away.

The entity showed him little respect at first.

Johnson repeatedly stayed with the family, only to have an unseen culprit pull the bedding from beneath him during the night.

Eventually, however, the spirit developed an affection for him.

It called Johnson:

“Old Sugar Mouth.”

The Bell Witch Learns to Speak

Curious spectators began flocking to the Bell house.

The spirit appeared to enjoy the attention.

Having already attracted audiences through knocking and scratching, it attempted to vocalize.

Its first efforts consisted of strange sounds and whistles.

Gradually, those noises became recognizable words.

Words became sentences.

Eventually, the spirit was reportedly capable of speaking several languages fluently.

Now people could finally ask where it came from.

The problem was that the spirit couldn’t seem to provide a consistent answer.

Who Was the Bell Witch?

The entity claimed at various times to be the spirit of a Native American whose bones had been disturbed.

It claimed to be the ghost of a child murdered in North Carolina because of something John Bell had either done or failed to do.

It said it had lost a tooth beneath the Bell house and could not rest until someone recovered it.

Men actually searched for the missing tooth.

The spirit mocked them.

It claimed to be the soul of an early settler who had buried a large quantity of gold and wanted Betsy to inherit it.

It claimed to be an evil stepmother with no apparent connection to the Bells.

Eventually, it claimed to be Kate Batts’ witch.

By then, people had largely abandoned hope of discovering its true origin.

Kate Batts

Despite the enduring association between Kate Batts and the Bell Witch, people involved with the events did not believe she was responsible.

Kate was known locally for her eccentricity and apparently enjoyed some of the notoriety.

She was also a more sympathetic figure than later folklore sometimes suggests.

Kate managed her farm largely by herself while caring for an invalid husband. Her children developed reputations for being idle and “dim,” but Kate herself was known for her sharp tongue and independence.

Some called her “Mrs. Malaprop” because of her habit of using impressive words incorrectly.

The spirit’s claim of association with Kate nevertheless endured, eventually becoming one of the defining elements of the legend.

The Witch Becomes Powerful

As the haunting progressed, the spirit’s reported abilities became extraordinary.

It debated scripture with ministers and history with scholars.

It exposed wrongdoing in the community and announced people’s secrets.

Residents around Adams reportedly became unusually careful about their behavior while the witch was active.

The entity also appeared capable of describing distant events while they were happening.

It repeated sermons only hours after they had been delivered elsewhere and reportedly predicted family events in North Carolina with remarkable accuracy.

The Witch’s Racism

The Bell Witch was also viciously racist toward the Bell family’s enslaved workers.

It mocked them, subjected them to degrading names, physically assaulted them, and spat upon them.

One enslaved boy was repeatedly slapped.

An enslaved girl was reportedly shoved down the steps.

The hostility became one of the ugliest aspects of the personality attributed to the entity.

The Witch Hated Investigators

One thing particularly enraged the Bell Witch.

Investigation.

It became furious whenever someone attempted to determine its origins or true purpose.

During one gathering, the entity reportedly allowed visitors to shake its hand.

One man grabbed the mysterious hand tightly and called for a brighter light.

The spirit became enraged and afterward refused to acknowledge him.

Similar reactions occurred when witch doctors, conjurers, and supposed wizards attempted to investigate or defeat it.

One such visitor, Dr. Mize, was reportedly humiliated and driven away.

The Man Who Tried to Burn the Witch

Another account came from a respectable bachelor who lived near the Bell family.

One night, he claimed the spirit entered his house and crawled beneath his bed.

Instead of fleeing, he grabbed the mysterious being in a sheet.

He intended to carry it to the fireplace and throw it into the flames.

Suddenly, an overpowering odor filled the room.

The smell became so unbearable that the man covered his face.

The witch escaped.

The Obsession With Joshua Gardner

As the haunting progressed, the entity’s general attacks against Betsy diminished.

There was one major exception.

Joshua Gardner.

Whenever Betsy spent time with Joshua, the spirit became hostile.

Its message was explicit:

“Don’t marry Joshua Gardner.”

As long as Betsy complied, she was generally left alone.

If she attempted to associate with her fiancé, the attacks resumed.

Black Dog, Mathematics, Cypocryphy, and Jerusalem

Eventually, the single entity apparently divided into four personalities:

Black Dog

Mathematics

Cypocryphy

Jerusalem

The spirits reportedly fought among themselves almost as much as they tormented people.

Then something even stranger happened.

The Bell Witch Gets Drunk

One night, the spirits apparently became intoxicated.

Furniture was overturned.

Their speech became slurred.

The Bell house filled with the smell of whiskey.

The entity claimed it had obtained the liquor from John Gardner’s still house.

It also began using obscenities the Bell family claimed not to have previously encountered.

For something supposedly incorporeal, the Bell Witch could behave remarkably like a human being.

The Witch Loves Lucy Bell

The spirit’s treatment of Lucy Bell was entirely different.

It adored “Old Luce” and repeatedly described her as a good woman.

When Lucy became seriously ill with pleurisy, the witch showed remarkable concern for her.

It asked what she needed.

When Lucy told the spirit to be quiet because she didn’t feel like talking, it obeyed.

It brought her grapes and cracked hazelnuts for her.

The entity apparently knew where to locate almost anything in the nearby forests, including grapes, hazelnuts, and useful hickory wood.

The Four Figures in the Trees

Betsy once visited her older sister, who lived nearby.

While there, the sisters noticed four strange figures among the trees.

The figures appeared human and were bending saplings toward the ground and riding them.

Betsy’s brother-in-law, Bennett Porter, came outside carrying a gun and fired at them.

The apparitions disappeared.

Later that night, Black Dog announced that Porter had broken Jerusalem’s leg.

The Two-Headed Witch Dog

Dean also continued experiencing the mysterious dog.

One evening, when it followed him, he struck at the phantom animal with an axe.

The blade passed through the figure and buried itself in the ground.

The following night, the dog returned.

This time it had two heads.

Afterward, the witch dog reportedly appeared with either one or two heads, and occasionally with no head at all.

John Bell’s Final Illness

Approximately two years into the haunting, John Bell went outside one morning.

Something tripped him.

After he fell, the unseen attacker beat him until he suffered a seizure.

Bell managed to return home and went to bed.

He would never go outside again.

The Bell Witch laughed at his declining health.

A doctor examining Bell discovered a strange glass vial containing poison hidden in the chimney flue.

When questioned, the spirit claimed it intended to use the substance to kill John.

The vial was removed from the house.

The Death of John Bell

Bell remained seriously ill.

Then, one morning in December, the witch laughed continually while announcing that it had poisoned him.

The substance, it claimed, was inside a dark bottle in the medicine cabinet.

The family investigated.

Bell’s normal medicines had disappeared.

In their place was a vial containing a strange liquid resembling the substance the doctor had already removed.

The substance was never identified.

John Bell died the following morning.

The witch reportedly laughed and sang while dirt was shoveled over his coffin.

Betsy and Joshua

The spirit lingered for several weeks after John Bell’s death but manifested primarily when Betsy was around Joshua.

Approximately a year later, members of the community held a fishing party beside the Red River.

Betsy attended with Joshua Gardner.

Suddenly, fish began jumping from the water.

Fishing poles bent.

Then Betsy heard the familiar whisper.

She should not marry Joshua.

Fearing the haunting was returning, Betsy broke their engagement.

She was reportedly never the same after her experiences and could not sleep unless someone else was in the room with her.

The witch promised to return every seven years but failed to keep that promise. One account stated that it returned briefly in February 1828.

Afterward, it disappeared.

Following Lucy Bell’s death, the Bell house and surrounding buildings were eventually dismantled and their materials repurposed elsewhere.

Ciphering the Bell Witch

Whatever happened at the Bell farm, simply dismissing the entire story presents problems of its own.

Richard Bell was young when the haunting occurred, but he later emphasized that his parents initially believed mischievous neighbors were responsible. The adults also attempted to keep much of the activity from the younger children.

For the sake of examining the story, perhaps the safest starting point is simply this:

Something happened.

The more interesting question is what.

And one person close to the Bell family deserves particular attention.

Professor Richard Powell

Betsy’s schoolteacher was Professor Richard Powell.

Powell had an obvious interest in Betsy extending beyond the classroom and frequently visited the Bell house to discuss her accomplishments.

He was also married.

His wife was Esther Scott, who lived in Dickenson County, Tennessee, and was 18 years older than Powell.

According to the account, Powell never told the local community that he was married.

Then his wife died shortly after John Bell.

Powell was free to pursue Betsy.

Three years later, she agreed to marry him.

None of this proves that Powell was responsible for the Bell Witch.

But other circumstances make the possibility intriguing.

A Possible Suspect?

Despite the enormous number of visitors who reportedly experienced manifestations at the Bell house, the spirit never manifested when Powell was present.

Powell also did not discuss the events in his writings, despite regularly visiting the Bell household and eventually marrying Betsy.

Meanwhile, the spirit showed intense jealousy whenever Betsy was around Joshua Gardner.

There were other peculiarities.

The entity claimed that it could read minds, but that ability was tested and disproved.

Two of its additional names were Mathematics and Cypocryphy.

Powell was highly knowledgeable in mathematics and possessed a personal ciphering book containing more than 270 pages of advanced mathematical problems.

According to the account, members of the Bell family’s enslaved community suspected Powell from the beginning.

They believed he had somehow “brought on” the phenomena so that he could eventually marry Betsy.

Some believers later speculated about Powell’s possible interest in occult practices and noted that New Orleans could be reached from Tennessee through river travel.

Strange Revelations and Modern Theories

One modern explanation alleges that John Bell sexually abused Betsy and that the haunting somehow developed from that abuse.

The accusation has also appeared in film adaptations of the story.

Nothing in the traditional account, however, records such an accusation against John Bell.

The Bell household contained numerous children, enslaved workers, and a steady stream of visitors. The entity itself supposedly exposed wrongdoing throughout the surrounding community.

Yet it never accused John Bell of sexually abusing Betsy.

Nor did the spirit ever provide a satisfactory explanation for why Betsy should not marry Joshua Gardner.

Other Bell Witch Rumors

Richard Powell did not leave behind the revealing personal diary sometimes attributed to him.

His ciphering book contained some genealogical information, but primarily consisted of mathematical problems.

There were also no known Native American burial grounds around Adams connected with the haunting.

The modern association between the Bell Witch Cave and the haunting developed from a lesser-known story in which the spirit supposedly helped one of Betsy’s friends escape from a cave.

Rumors also circulated that Powell had occult interests.

Students reportedly claimed that he sometimes spoke to himself in unknown languages when he believed he was alone.

Others claimed to have unexpectedly entered the schoolhouse and discovered Powell with candles burning while he spoke from a strange book.

These stories were reports from other people rather than direct evidence of occult activity.

Kate Batts

The Bell family did not believe Kate Batts was responsible for their troubles.

Whatever disagreement may have existed between Kate and John Bell was not regarded by the family as the cause of the haunting.

Much of the later folklore seems to reflect a human desire to explain why something terrible would happen to an apparently ordinary family.

If the Bells suffered, perhaps John must have done something to deserve it.

But terrible events do not always provide satisfying reasons.

Andrew Jackson and Other Clarifications

One famous legend claims that Andrew Jackson visited the Bell property and personally encountered the spirit.

Some later sources rejected the story, but several supposed witnesses, including a major, claimed to have been present.

M. V. Ingram based his book upon interviews with more than 43 people in Robertson County, many of whom were old enough to possess firsthand information about the people and events involved.

The Bell family also did not profit financially from the haunting.

They accepted neither donations nor gifts.

In fact, they reportedly fed the many visitors who came to their home without charging them.

That lack of financial motive remains one of the more interesting problems confronting theories that the entire affair was simply an elaborate hoax.

What Was the Bell Witch?

That question remains unanswered.

The story contains supernatural claims that are impossible to verify.

It contains folklore accumulated over generations.

It contains contradictory testimony.

It contains later rumors that became entangled with earlier accounts.

And somewhere beneath all of it was the Bell family.

Perhaps there was a supernatural entity.

Perhaps there was an elaborate deception.

Perhaps different events had entirely different explanations.

And perhaps Richard Powell was merely an unfortunate man whose eventual marriage to Betsy made him look suspicious to later generations.

There is no surviving evidence capable of proving any of those possibilities.

But when all the strange details are placed beside one another, the Bell Witch becomes more interesting rather than less.

The spirit claimed extraordinary supernatural powers, yet repeatedly behaved in remarkably human ways.

It lied.

It contradicted itself.

It became jealous.

It became intoxicated.

It possessed information without being omniscient.

It hated investigation.

And above all, it seemed determined that Betsy Bell would never marry Joshua Gardner.

Whatever haunted the Bell farm, that peculiar obsession remains one of the greatest mysteries at the center of the story.

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Laura Wright

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