Bell Book And Candle: The Season Of The Bell Witch

It was January of 1999, I was first introduced to the Blair Witch Project. I was fortunate enough to interview the director, Eduardo Sanchez and Heather Donahue who I thought was a producer of the film. I was a literal victim of all of the buzz and hype and thought at the time that an interview about the so-called true story would be a phenomenal show.

I was only half way through the interview when I realized that Heather was not a producer, but the girl who allegedly went missing, and whose photo was used in the promotional posters for the film.

It was confusing because I thought that all of the “missing” people that were on that poster died horrible deaths. I realized that I was fooled and that the interview was a big lie.

I was in a predicament because if I revealed the truth, I would spoil the movie for everyone, however, I felt morally obligated to tell my audience that the entire film is a bogus news story about three missing teenagers that run into some evil witch that haunts a forest.

I was noticing that critics were enthusiastic about the film because it was one of the first films that started using the POV style or the style of “found footage” which now seems to be annoying and cliché, and a style independent film makers should be told to give a rest.

The truth about the film is not only was it a ruse, it was hated by audiences when it was shown.

I recall the backlash I received when those who attended the film felt they were duped and also fell for the hype, after all it was billed as the “most terrifying film” ever made and wound up being a film where three people are terrified by sounds of broken twigs and piles of rocks and sticks that somehow indicated the presence of a witch.

In fact, a gingerbread house would have improved the film because that is how silly and trite it became. The ending of the film seemed uneventful and I was thinking that perhaps the guy staring at the wall was urinating and then there was screaming and I thought, where is the witch? What happened? Why am I at a theater in Park City, Utah where it is colder that a Blair Witch’s you know what.

I contacted my producer and webmaster and told him about the unfortunate experience and he told me that he believed the film was probably based on a haunting story about witch from his home state of Tennessee. He told me I should get in touch with Pat Fitzhugh, who was one of the original writers and historians of the Bell Witch.

He was explaining that one of the more horrifying tales of this witch, a story whose myth is based on some very horrifying history that for its time seemed quite queer – because there are too many creepy anecdotes that accompany the story and the history of Richardson County Tennessee.

People avoid historical references and cautionary tales because they believe that what happened then does not apply to them. The Bell Witch story, while nearly two centuries old, could happen to anyone at anytime and is a staple in paranormal history.

John Bell was a farmer who uprooted his family from North Carolina to Richardson, Tennessee. Bell was married to Lucy Bell, had nine children and became an Elder in the local Baptist congregation.

In 1817 Bell was inspecting his cornfield when he looked up and saw the most unusual animal. The animal he saw sounded a bit like the Chupacabra as it had what appeared to be the body of a dog and a head that appeared to be that of a rabbit.

Bell reached for his gun and shot at it several times but never killed the animal. The animal would appear and would disappear many times and at night the Bell family would hear loud banging on the walls of their cabin.

In the weeks that followed, the Bell children began waking up frightened, complaining that rats were gnawing at their bedposts. Not long after that, the children began complaining of having their bed covers pulled from them and their pillows tossed onto the floor by a seemingly invisible entity.

Pat Fitzgugh writes, “As time went on, the Bells began hearing faint, whispering voices, which too weak to understand but sounded like a feeble old woman singing hymns. The encounters escalated, and the Bells’ youngest daughter, Betsy, began experiencing brutal encounters with the invisible entity. It would pull her hair and slap her relentlessly, often leaving welts and hand prints on her face and body.”

For the next several years, Bell and his family were terrorized by paranormal disturbances of an unknown origin.

With the violent episodes escalating, the Bells made the difficult decision to speak with his neighbors and share their incredible experiences. They knew that this could create additional stress. Their community was small and sensational news like this would travel quickly, but the Bells felt compelled to seek the wisdom and spiritual guidance of their minister. When Reverend James Johnston and his wife visited the Bells to cleanse the farm, they too were slapped, hit and subjected to loud noises. In search of a logical explanation Rev. Johnston cried, “In the name of the Lord, who are you and what do you want?”

John Bell had wondered if a neighbor named Kate Batts, was a witch and that she cursed him and his family after they had a property dispute.

The story spread far and wide and according to legend it even reached General Andrew Jackson who insisted on visiting the Bell farm to confront the spirit. His entourage was allegedly attacked violently, causing the General and his men to depart vowing never to return. Jackson was reportedly quoted later as saying, “I’d rather fight the British at New Orleans than deal with the Bell Witch.”

John Fitzhugh writes: “The encounters escalated, and the Bells’ youngest daughter, Betsy, began experiencing brutal encounters with the invisible entity. It would pull her hair and slap her relentlessly, often leaving welts and hand prints on her face and body.”

As the situation grew worse, John Bell’s health began to deteriorate. He suffered from a number of severe, inexplicable ailments; from facial seizures to internal necrosis. The doctor gave him medicine to help ease the pain of his passing. One day, they found him lying dead on his bed. It seemed someone had switched out his medicine for poison, which they confirmed upon force-feeding it to the cat.

Further, Fitzhugh related that “In 1817, Bell contracted a mysterious affliction that worsened over the next three years, ultimately leading to his death. Kate took pleasure in tormenting him during his affliction, finally poisoning him one December morning as he lay unconscious after suffering a number of violent seizures.”

Even at his funeral, the presence did not let up. Kate Batts mocked the family, laughing at them and making snide remarks like “I fixed him.” Even to this day, John Bell is the only obituary classified as murder by a ghost.

Was Kate Batts a conjurer of evil forces and was it witchcraft that destroyed the Bell family?

Kate didn’t vanish immediately after the death of her proclaimed enemy, though. She stayed around, threatening Betsy Bell to not marry the man that she truly loved, Joshua Gardner. The witch would never say why, but she did allow the girl to later marry the local school teacher, Richard Powell. Kate soon left the family but promised to return in seven years. She did come back and plagued the family again for two weeks. She soon departed but many believe that she may not have gone far. Some think that Kate took refuge in a cave and that she died there and that the spirit of hate and vengeance met up with the ghost of Kate, who is still known as the Bell Witch.

This evil personified allegedly resides in a cave in Adams, Tennessee.

While the cave has become quite famous in recent years, there is little mention of it in contemporary accounts of the haunting. It is believed that the cave might have been used for the cool storage of food in those days, thanks to the fact that it remains a constant 56 degrees. It was also mentioned in some accounts that Kate’s voice was often heard nearby and one day, Betsy Bell and several of her friends had a close encounter with the witch inside of the cave.

The full accounts of all things Bell Witch can be found at the Bell Witch website which is still maintained by the one and only Patrick Fitzhugh – the very man who appeared on Ground Zero years ago.

His website for the whole story can be found at http://www.bellwitch.org.

Fitzhugh once again tells us of the importance of this story in the annals of the paranormal, “The haunting of the Bell family involved real people and is substantiated by eyewitness accounts, affidavits and manuscripts penned by those who experienced the haunting first hand. This distinction led Dr. Nandor Fodor, a noted researcher and psychologist, to label the Bell Witch legend as ‘America’s Greatest Ghost Story.”

Fitzhugh’s research and hard work has paved the way for films like “An American Haunting,” and the A&E Network’s new series called “Cursed: The Bell Witch.”

John Ceallach, the producer of the documentary alleges that John Bell, as legend tells, had a child out of wedlock with Kate Batts in the 1800s. It is speculated that he murdered her to hide his actions, and she cursed his family’s bloodline, which led the firstborn male of each generation to either go insane or suffer a strange and untimely death.

Five men from the family have suffered those fates already, the release said, and Ceallach finds out his 14-year-old son may be the next in line.

The new book, The Bell Witch Project, features stories about other paranormal experiences beyond that of the Bell Witch. Sean Casteel, Timothy Green Beckley, and Paul Eno have compiled paranormal stories that occurred in the early days of the early American settlements.

Digging deep into American history we can find stories even before the Salem witch trials, where real vampires, demon possession, zombies and even cannibalism are all over the forbidden history that will not be taught in schools or anywhere else.

Text – Check out Ground Zero Radio with Clyde Lewis Live Nightly @ http://www.groundzeromedia.org