The Bell Witch was the name given to an alleged haunting that took place near Adams, Tennessee. The haunting surrounded the home and farm of John Bell and is said to have begun in around 1817, although it was not documented until many years later.
The Bell Witch Haunting - Adams, Tennessee Bell Witch MarkerGhost stories abound in the South, but the Bell Witch tale in Tennessee is one of the few memorialized by a marker. Witnesses Flee in PanicThis 19th century engraving shows witnesses being chased from the Bell home. ExploreSouthernHistory.com - The Bell Witch of Tennessee ExploreSouthernHistory.com - The Bell Witch of Tennessee The Bell Witch Haunting - Adams, Tennessee John Bell Home in TennesseeThe Bell home near Adams, Tennessee, was supposedly the focus of a noted haunting. A 19th Century 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. The 1913 volume, A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans, 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.The Bell house no longer stands, but there are several Bell Witch attractions in and around Adams, Tennessee. Death of John BellIt is often incorrectly stated that the Bell Witch incident was the only paranormal encounter in American history to result in a human death. Actually, there are other alleged cases. An Attempt to Burn the WitchAnother 19th century engraving shows an attempt by one of her victims to burn the Bell Witch. Bell Witch Sighting in Alabama?Edgefield Ghost - South CarolinaGhost of Bellamy Bridge - FloridaGhost of Allatoona Pass - GeorgiaSouthern Ghost StoriesExplore other Southern Historic Sites Custom Search Copyright 2011 by Dale CoxAll rights reserved.