A huge legend in Tennessee, the story of the “Bell Witch” has haunted the state for centuries. Taking place in the quiet Robertson County, the area has lured hundreds of historians and ghost hunters to the area, coming from all over the world. How did this haunting attraction come to be?
It all started in the early 1800s, a time when Tennessee was a blanket of forests and wildlife. It was a very rural area, with neighbors being miles away from each other. In this dense forest, John Bell and his family moved onto a farm from North Carolina.
For the first 13 years, the family lived a calm, happy, peaceful, and normal life. Their tranquility abruptly ended, however, in the summer of 1817.
John was out on the farm when he spotted a strange dog-rabbit hybrid. He attempted to shoot it, but the creature mysteriously disappeared. Following his sighting, the family’s lives changed for the worse.
The family began to hear strange noises inside their house, from knocking to biting to chains dragging across the floor. They also began to hear odd whispers speak to them, which progressively got louder and more targeted over time.
John’s daughter, Betsy, received the worst of it. She would experience harsh beatings by what appeared to be the air, and she would be knocked unconscious.
These paranormal happenings did not just harass the family, but their enslaved workers as well. One worker reported seeing a two-headed dog, and soon after he started carrying around a witch ball given to him by his wife to repel the supernatural.
The invisible being terrorizing the family vowed in a whisper to kill John, and three years later, John passed away next to a syringe of an unknown liquid. From there, Tennessee became the first state ever to attribute a person’s death to the supernatural.
After his passing, the horrifying events fizzled away. Nobody knows what happened or where the being went. Now, there is a cave with some artifacts from the house that is open to tourists who dare to take a chance and explore the unknown.
