An American Haunting: The True Story of the Bell Witch

With Halloween just around the corner, I thought it would be fun to share the story of a true American haunting. Over the years, it has been simply referred to as "The Bell Witch."

The haunting, which took place in the early 1800's on a farm in Tennessee has never been explained, although a lot of theories exist about what might have happened there. The strange activity has captured the minds of many writers over the years, who have gone to write their own fictional ghosts stories. One of the best known is, of course, "The Blair Witch Project."

As is the case with a lot of ghost stories, there are many different versions about who the Bell Witch was really was. However, the most popular belief is that she was a rather disagreeable neighbor of the Bell family. Apparently, she felt that she had been cheated when the Bell's purchased a piece of her land. It wasn't a slight that she intended to overlook, so as the story goes, she cursed the Bell family on her deathbed, promising to kill John Bell. The supposed curse earned her by title of "witch" among many in the community.

Sure enough, shortly after her death, the Bell family began experiencing malicious activity. The ghost's favorite targets were John Bell himself and the only daughter still living at home, a girl named Betsy. For fun, the ghost liked to pull their hair, slap their faces, and even poke them with sharp objects. If she was particularly aggravated, she threw dishes and furniture at them.

The ghost particularly delighted in keeping young Betsy from sleeping at night. She would make noises, yell, and continuously open and close doors and windows in the girl's room. Sometimes, the witch would be so loud as to keep everyone in the household, including guests, awake.

The pranks she levied at John were equally disturbing. She seemed to take great joy in knocking away John's food at dinner time. Other times she would fill it with extra salt or sugar to make it inedible. She also liked pushing him out of his chair, knocking him to the ground, and beating him about his head and face.