Bell Witch may still haunt cave
Thursday, Jun 08, 2006 - 08:53 AM
It?s one of the scariest stories in Tennessee.
And it?s told in so many ways and so many times that it?s been passed down not simply as a ghost story ? but as a piece of history.
The infamous Bell Witch of Tennessee continues to intrigue people hungry to understand the supernatural legend from Adams, a town in Robertson County. The witch is the subject of a recent movie, ?An American Haunting.?
In ?Moon Handbooks: Tennessee? (Avalon Travel Publishing), author Jeff Bradley calls the ghost ?an apparition who is never seen but whose presence is keenly felt.? Charles Edwin Price, in another book, 1994?s ?The Infamous Bell Witch of Tennessee? (The Overmountain Press), compares the Bell Witch to being among two of Tennessee?s other best-known figures, Davy Crockett and Andrew Jackson.
Jackson also shows up in the story, when he famously encountered the Bell Witch, then later said that he would rather fight the whole British Army than deal with her.
Who was she? Her name was Kate, according to Bradley, and she said she was cheated in a land deal with John Bell. Kate went on to promise that she would haunt Bell. And so she did: ?No one ever saw the witch or ghost or whatever she was, but she made her presence felt in constant mischief,? Bradley writes. ?She threw furniture and dishes, pulled the Bell family?s noses and hair, poked them with needles, and yelled all night to keep them from sleeping.?
After John Bell died, according to Bradley, the witch disappeared in the 1820s. But Price, in his research, uncovered more recent accounts at the site of the Bell Witch Cave in Adams, where visitors say mysterious voices have been heard.
Like in 1986, when a newspaper reporter and photographer tried to spend the night in the cave. It was just before Halloween. And the pair heard a noise that reporter David Jarrard described as ?a short, powerful burst of sound that reverberated from the back of the cave and hit us like a slap. It was not a metallic screech or the howl of wind. It was a vocal, loud, high-pitched scream.?
The pair fled. Later stories included flashlights not working, a dog becoming spooked, cameras quitting and the sounds of somebody breathing heavy. You can see for yourself. The cave is open for tours.
For more, visit www.bellwitchcave.com.
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