It’s the season of the witch and no better time to learn about the legend of the Bell Witch, who is said to have haunted an Adams, TN family beginning in 1817 and has stuck with the town ever since.
Located ~40 miles north of Nashville with a population just over 600 people, the Robertson County city made its mark on the map after a shapeshifting spirit latched on to the family of John Bell.
The Bells moved to the area in 1804 to start a farm on a 1,000-acre property bordering the Red River. Though the origins of the Bell Witch will remain a mystery, its earliest encounter is often linked to the day John Bell ran into a “dog-like” creature that vanished after he shot at it.
Multiple sources say the witch’s first introduction sounded something like, “I am a Spirit; I once was very happy, but I have been disturbed and made unhappy.”
Aside from strange sounds, physical disturbances like pinching and striking were reported. Stories include:
- Sermons | The witch was able to recite word-for-word two sermons given at the same time 12 miles apart.
- William Porter | The family friend grabbed hold of the witch after it climbed into bed with him with hopes of throwing it into the fire, but its weight and smell stopped him.
- Bell family slaves | A man named Dean on more than one occasion encountered “a large black dog or wolf, sometimes with two heads, sometimes with no head.” It also turned him into a mule at one point, attacking him.
Of the town’s residents tormented by the witch, its primary goal was supposedly to kill John Bell. On Dec. 20, 1820, he died with a vial of unknown liquid next to his bedside. When it was thrown into the fire, it’s said to have sparked a “blue blaze.”
This undated photograph shows the stairway leading into the Bell Witch Cave. | Photo via Tennessee State Library & Archives
Witch leads us to today
Tennessee is reportedly the only state to attribute someone’s cause of death to the supernatural. Apart from a couple instances in which the witch promised its return, disturbances seemingly diminished after Bell died.
The Bell Witch became the subject of various books and movies over the years, including the 2005 motion picture starring Donald Sutherland, “An American Haunting,” which was loosely based on the legend.
Adams, TN remains in the spotlight today, drawing in visitors from all over to tour the Bell Witch Cave, which stands as the property’s only original feature and is “largely unchanged” from the way it would have looked in 1817. Of course, the over 20-year tradition of The Bell Witch Fall Festival brings a crowd of its own, too.
