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Revision as of 22:30, 2 December 2008 by Admin (talk | contribs) (New page: right|thumb|175px|An artist's drawing of Betsy Bell, originally published in 1894. The '''Bell Witch''' or '''Bell Witch Haunting''' is a ghost story from American Sout...)
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An artist's drawing of Betsy Bell, originally published in 1894.

The Bell Witch or Bell Witch Haunting is a ghost story from American Southern Folklore, involving the historical Bell family of Adams, Tennessee. The story is the basis of the films An American Haunting (2006) and The Bell Witch Haunting (2004), and may have influenced the production of The Blair Witch Project (1999).


Legend

According to the legend, the first manifestation of the haunting occurred in 1817 when John Bell, Sr. encountered a strange animal in a cornfield on his large farm in Robertson County, on the Red River, near Adams, Tennessee. The animal, described as having the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit, vanished when Bell shot at it. This incident was quickly followed by a series of strange beating and gnawing noises manifesting around the outside, and eventually inside the Bell residence that did not stop until 3 a.m. Betsy Bell, the family's younger daughter and the only daughter still living at home (Bell's oldest daughter Esther married Alexander Bennett Porter July 24, 1817 when she was 17), claimed to have been assaulted by an invisible force.

An artist's drawing of John Bell's death, originally published in 1894. In the foreground one can see a couple of men feeding the family cat with some of the unidentified liquid which was found near the body of John Bell. The cat died.

John Bell Sr., later in life, suffered frequent facial seizures, often rendering him speechless. John Bell, Sr. died on December 20, 1820. A small vial containing an unidentified liquid he had apparently been given or ingested thinking it was medicine was found near the body. When some of the contents were force-fed to the family cat, the animal died immediately; the bottle was then thrown into the fireplace. At the funeral, people could hear the Bell Witch laughing and taunting the pastor.

Pat Fitzhugh's retelling of the Bell Witch legend concludes with a statement to the effect that many people believe that the spirit returned in 1935, took up residence on the former Bell property and remained there through the present day. He notes "the faint sounds of people talking and children playing can sometimes be heard in the area" and asserts that it is "very difficult to take a good picture there." Other sources have said that 1935, the year when the witch claimed it would return ("one hundred years and seven" past 1828), brought nothing out of the ordinary to the Bell descendants living at the home who'd been anticipating some great disturbance.

An artist's etching of the Bell home, originally published in 1894.

Published accounts

  • The earliest written account is at page 833 in the Goodspeed History of Tennessee, published in 1887 by Goodspeed Publishing.
  • The most famous account is recorded in what has come to be called the Red Book, the 1894 An Authenticated History of the Bell Witch of Tennessee by Martin Van Buren Ingram, which cites the earlier Richard William Bell's Diary: Our Family Trouble. Richard Williams Bell lists several witnesses, including General (later President) Andrew Jackson. No mention of the Bell Witch was ever made by Jackson in any of his letters, journals or papers, however.
  • The Black Book was written much later, and published in 1934 by Dr. Charles Bailey Bell, great-grandson of John Bell.
  • Thirteen Tennessee Ghosts and Jeffrey by Kathryn Tucker Windham includes the story of the Bell Witch.
  • The Guidebook for Tennessee, published by the Works Project Administration in 1939, also contains an account that differs from Ingram's on pages 392–393.


Art/Fiction

  • Other Worlds, a book published under the name of Barbara Michaels (a pen name of Barbara Mertz) in 1999, includes a very detailed version of the Bell Witch events.
  • Bell Witch: The Movie starring Betsy Palmer (who played Mrs. Voorhees in Friday the 13th). First film about the Bell Witch Shot in 2002 in Tennessee but Released to video in September 2007.
  • The Bell Witch Haunting is a 2004 film made by Willing Hearts Productions. Filmed near the original location, the director claims to have encountered production difficulties such as fires and thinks the Bell Witch was responsible.
  • On May 5, 2006 a film based on the events of the Bell Witch legend, titled An American Haunting, was released. An American Haunting is a thriller written and directed by Courtney Solomon. It is closely based on the narrative presented by author Brent Monahan in his novel, The Bell Witch: An American Haunting. This movie's explanation of the phenomena, derived from the novel, was that John Bell sexually assaulted his daughter, and her repressed memories of the event were transferred to the "hauntings of the witch". Despite being based on a work of fiction, the film was marketed as a true story. [2]
  • In October 2003, the Nashville Ballet and Nashville Chamber Orchestra premiered The Bell Witch, a one-act story ballet with an original score by Conni Ellisor, choreography by Ann Marie De Angelo, and 3-D effects by renowned artist Gerald Marks.


External links


Sources

Part of this article consists of modified text from Wikipedia, and the article is therefore licensed under GFDL.