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Catch the Spirit
TN Home and Farm
August, 2008
http://tnhomeandfarm.com/index.php?/site/travel/articles/catch_the_spirit

Story by Jessica Mozo  

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Who's your witch? In Tennessee, it's Bell

Living proof the Bell family existed. Carney Bell, descendant of John Bell, is shown by the historical marker in Adams, Tenn. Bell is wearing the period clothes he wears when he portrays John Bell in the only production authorized by the family. AP PHOTO/MARK HUMPHREY

By COLLEEN LONG, Associated Press (ASAP)
© May 7, 2006

NEW YORK -- The Bell family lived on a farm along the Red River in antebellum Tennessee. They were a prosperous, happy family ... until something spooky started happening in their home. Whispers and gossip circulated that the little girl, Betsy, was relentlessly beaten and scratched by some sort of ghost. And patriarch John Bell was apparently poisoned and killed by a spirit in 1820. Even Andrew Jackson supposedly tried to visit the farm and was stopped in his tracks by some sort of force. "I'd rather fight the entire British Army than to deal with the Bell Witch," he reportedly said.

The well-documented legend of the Bell Witch has inspired books, plays and bedtime stories for a century. A new film on the subject called "An American Haunting" stars Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek as the ill-fated husband and wife. The interest in the Bell Witch lives on and probably will for many more years to come. Americans love a good yarn, especially if it may be true.
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Colleen Long is an asap reporter in New York.
http://hamptonroads.com/

Article originally written for the Rockdale Newton Citizen, GA
By KARIN MILLER, Associated Press
October 29, 2003

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - John Bell kept it to himself in 1817 when he first spotted strange-looking animals in his cornfield that mysteriously vanished when he tried to shoot them.  Then came the rapping, gnawing and scratching sounds in the night, and complaints from his children that an unseen hand was pulling their hair, tugging at their bedcovers and slapping their faces.  As Bell eventually invited people to stay in his home in hopes of solving the mystery, they told of a spirit who whispered, whistled, quoted Scripture and sang hymns. Even Andrew Jackson, who later became the nation’s seventh president, was said to have had a haunting encounter.  When Bell died in 1821, the family blamed a spirit known as the Bell Witch for poisoning him. They also say it broke up his youngest daughter’s engagement to a neighbor.  Although reports of the hauntings tapered off after Bell’s death, the legend of the Bell Witch has only seemed to grow stronger.  This month, a ballet on the subject was produced in Nashville. A movie shot in eastern Tennessee may be in theaters or on video before the end of the year. There are untold numbers of books and popular Web sites that focus on Bell Witch tales.  Carney Bell, the great-great-great-great grandson of John Bell, is portraying his ancestor in the only production authorized by the family: ‘‘Spirit: The Authentic Story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee.’’  The final performance of the year is scheduled for Halloween night on an outdoor stage – about a mile from the old Bell homestead northwest of Nashville in what is now the town of Adams. 

 David Alford, a Nashville actor who wrote the play, says the Bell Witch legend remains interesting to audiences today.  ‘‘The most fascinating thing about it for me is that all the major participants were real people,’’ he said. ‘‘Either it was a hoax on a massive scale or group hysteria on the level of the Salem witch hunts or something very strange happened that no one can explain.’’  Alford based his play on an 1894 book by Clarksville newspaper publisher M.V. Ingram, who recounted stories from a diary of one of Bell’s sons.  ‘‘There have been a number of versions that portrayed the Bell family as less than intelligent or unsavory morally and sometimes both,’’ Alford said. ‘‘I know the Bell family and it was important to me to do something they could support and stand by. I don’t try to offer an explanation. The legend is without one.’’  Carney Bell, 70, said he got involved when the play was first presented last year as a fund-raiser for the Adams Museum because he wanted to make sure it didn't portray his family negatively.  He says family members – many of whom moved to Mississippi after John Bell’s death – have continued to experience strange events that could be manifestations of the Bell Witch, but nothing as blatant as the events of the early 19th century.  According to Ingram’s book, neighbors were invited to spend the night in the home to confirm the strange things the family had claimed. Some of the guests shouted out questions. Eventually came the reply: ‘‘I am a spirit; I was once very happy but have been disturbed.’’  It reportedly gave many answers about its origins but came to be known as ‘‘Kate’’ after claiming at one point to be ‘‘Kate Batts’ witch.’’ Batts was an eccentric neighbor who had battled with the Bells over a slave purchase.  The spirit reportedly delighted in discussing the Bible with guests and was able to repeat two sermons given simultaneously at churches 13 miles apart. But it also was known to cuss and spit, and on at least one occasion attacked a man who doubted its existence.  But most of the physical attacks were directed at John Bell and his youngest daughter, Betsy, Ingram wrote. After Bell died and Betsy broke off her engagement, the manifestations lessened and eventually stopped.

There were reports that the spirit promised to return in 1935, and that is the premise used by Sevierville director Shane Marr for a movie now in post-production. He hopes to have a distribution deal soon.  ‘‘When I moved back to Tennessee from L.A., I wanted to make a true story, a period piece with a good soundtrack and I wanted to make a spooky story,’’ Marr said. ‘‘The Bell Witch fit into that perfectly. It’s a campfire story that I heard when I was little.’’  New York choreographer Ann Marie DeAngelo said she had never heard of the Bell Witch until she was asked to participate in the production that opened Nashville’s ballet season.  ‘‘I really worked with three themes, a force that disturbs, a marriage that can’t happen and a death. The overriding theme is about love and loss,’’ she said. ‘‘I think it’s a good story even if you don’t know anything about the Bell Witch.’’

Play tells story of Bell Witch
by Hillary Robson
Issue date: 10/25/04
Sidelines Online: MTSU Student Newspaper

"Spirit: The Authentic Story of the Bell Witch of Tennessee" opened Thursday at the old Bell School in Adams, Tenn. and continues through next weekend.

The play, written by David Alford, tells the story of the Bell Witch - the mysterious and often violent specter said to haunt the grounds of the Bell home. The Mockingbird Theatre presented the play.

"I have been fascinated by this story since I was a child and my grandmother told me the Bell Witch would get me if I didn't behave," Alford, who grew up in Adams, said, ìHe wrote the play to document the accounts recalled by the Adams family in the memoir "Our Family Trouble," written by Richard William Bell as well as eyewitness accounts.

The story of the Bell Witch began in 1804, when the Bell family moved to Adams (then known as Red River) from North Carolina. After moving into their new home, the family began hear mysterious noises and later, voices from a woman ghost that called herself Kate.

Kate was said to wage physical attacks against the family, the most which were inflicted upon John Bell's youngest daughter, Betsy. The girl was slapped, poked and stuck with pins in vicious acts that left the young girl bruised. When John Bell died after falling sick to a strange illness, Kate attended the funeral and was said to laugh, curse and sing songs as he was buried.

Kate didn'ít disappear when John Bell died. Instead, she continued to torment Betsy Bell, preventing her from marrying the man she loved before taking a hiatus for seven years. She returned to deliver prophetic messages about the Civil War and World Wars before promising a return in 1935.

The Bell Witch never made it back in 1935, further adding to the mystery of the legend. On land the Bell family once owned there is a cave that locals believe the witch fled to after her final prophetic visit, a cave that is said to still be haunted. Locals claim that voices, knocking sounds and strange lights can be seen at the entrance to the cave.