The Bell Witch Cave

Posted on April 21, 2010

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I waited for months to finally see the legendary Bell Witch Cave in Adams, TN. The infamous haunting surpasses most ghost stories, as the entity that uprooted the lives of the Bell Family seemed more intelligent and more visible than any spirit documented in the state of Tennessee thus far.

I want to share my experience of the visit, but first here is a brief summary of the haunting of the Bell Witch Farm: There are many books, and even a film chronicling the strange haunting that occurred in Robertson County between 1817 and 1821. A local farmer named John Bell was troubled by a violent spirit for nearly four years. The spirit presented itself by becoming a mysterious creature, using a disembodied voice, and was capable of touching people and moving objects, it became increasingly violent, even resulting in the death of John Bell.

When the haunting began in 1817, the Bell family began experiencing strange phenomena in and around their home. First, the house was plagued with knocking and rapping noises and scratching sounds from outside. As the haunting escalated blankets were pulled from beds while family members slept. Members of the family were kicked and scratched and had their hair pulled, all at the hands of an unseen visitor. Young Elizabeth Bell, John’s daughter was slapped, pinched, bruised and stuck with pins.

 Even though John Bell wanted to keep the events secret, he eventually confided in a friend, and of course word spread even as the spirit became more capable of tormenting the occupants of the Bell home. When it found a voice, it enjoyed using that voice. From that day forward, the specter delighted in making its existence known to the Bells and their friends and visitors.

The spirit even named itself, using the name of a neighbor with whom John Bell had a prior disagreement with, the spirit became known as the witch of “Kate Batts”. As she became more widely known, many people in Robertson County feared her haunt. Many neighbors and visitors witnessed her antics, including General Andrew Jackson. His carriage wheels would not turn as the witch chided the General and his men, until she tired of toying with Jackson and his companions, then she released her hold of his carriage.

John Bell was plagued with bouts of strange illness, and Kate bragged that she was causing his demise. The spirit cursed and prodded him, even while he was bedridden, never allowing him to rest. One morning John Bell was found senseless in his bed and a bottle containing strange contents was found nearby. Bell’s breath smelled of the liquid in the bottle, so a drop of the liquid was placed on the tongue of a cat and the animal dropped dead. John Bell soon perished as well. Kate screamed with victory. She even made her presence known at his funeral, laughing, cursing and singing as the poor man was buried.

Having tormented John Bell to death wasn’t enough satisfaction, as the witch didn’t leave the family immediately after his death. She hung around, warning Betsy Bell not to marry the man that she truly loved, Joshua Gardner. The witch would never say why she didn’t approve of the relationship.  Eventually Betsy feared she and Joshua would be tormented to death, like her father. She broke off the engagement and later married a local schoolteacher, Richard Powell. This coupling did not ignite disapproval from Kate the witch. Even though she never stopped aggravating Betsy, the worst of the haunt was over.  When the Bell Witch left the family she promised to return in seven years. As promised she returned and plagued the family again for two weeks. Before departing the last time she promised to return in 134 years. That date has since past, but many residents of Robertson Count and visitors to the Bell farm and cave claim she never left.

The cave and farm have passed through many owners, and although no one has ever experienced a haunting even remotely similar to what the Bell family endured, past and present owners admit to mysterious and unexplainable phenomena. Many believe the cave is a portal used by the Bell WItch. Or is it a portal used by many spirits?The cavern is beneath an old Indian burial ground, in fact, there is an empty grave near the entrance of the cave, where once the bones of a young Indian girl were buried. Trespassers stole the artifacts and this is the spot where I witnessed a brief manifestation of something, or someone from the past.

In addition to some of the pictures I am sharing here, I made a video on YouTube,  it is on my website “ParanormalSpectrum”  so you can see the “mist”, and the faces that seem to form in  the rock formations. If I had been the only one to experience something odd, it could easily be dismissed. There were five in my group, possibly 10 people in the tour including the guide. We heard deep voices from within the cave at the beginning of the tour, I thought it might be from another tour, but there is only one tour at a time. The cave is rather small, so there was no way anyone could have been at the back of the cave without us knowing. The entrance is also the exit.

At one point my daughter looked up into one of the crevices leading to a second level and thought she saw an old woman’s face. She blinked and looked again and it was gone. As for me, at the very end of the tour as we returned to the room where the Indian’s grave was, I saw a hovering, spiraling mist, that wasn’t white, almost a muddy shade, and I watched as it swirled approx  1 1/2 ft off the ground, it was approx 3-4 ft tall. I thought at first it was a dust plume, but then realized this is a very wet cave, there was no dust, and furthermore it hovered and irrigated as I stared intently at it. I reached out to tap my son to show him, as it remained there for more than a solid 45 seconds, and he saw it, too. In fact, I asked him if he saw anything and he said “Yeah, it looks like the shape of a little girl.”  In my confidence that it was something indeed worthy of attention I announced, “What is that? Is it a mist?” And then called for the remaining group, averting my eyes to motion for  our group to look in that direction, I glanced back and it was rapidly dissipating, so no one other than my 8  yr old son and myself saw what I believed was something trying to manifest.

Wishful thinking? Possibly. My gut feeling says otherwise. I did stare at it long enough to know this was not a trick of the eye. Certainly it could have a logical explanation. I just don’t have an answer to explain what I saw.

In researching the Bell Witch Cave before our visit I found many posts and blogs about odd experiences from various people who visited the cave over the years. It seems some people have heard haunting voices from the depths of the ground. Others have been slapped in the darkness of the cave, with imprints of a hand on their skin when they emerge. Still some have become so heavy that they can not move for a short amount of time, until suddenly the weight is seemingly lifted and they feel normal again. Of course there are pictures of orbs and blobs and eerie faces and shapes. Some visitors share their experiences on the internet. In my opinion there is something that visits the area from time to time, if for no other reason than to remind us that maybe the Bell Witch still watches the old homestead.

See our Youtube video: It really shows the allure of this small cavern.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVS_AArAAXI

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