WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:08.480 You're in the place where mysteries and the missing meet, where conspiracies lurk around 2 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:32.399 every corner. Welcome to the deep dark Truth. Welcome back to the deep 3 00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:37.079 dark Truth, where the true crime is serious. But absolutely no other episode 4 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.399 is I'm mo, I'm Chip, and I'm Mikey. Today We're going to 5 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:48.479 be kicking off spooky season with the Tail of the Bell Witch. Not to 6 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:52.439 be confused with who put Belle in the Witch elm like I did, because 7 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:56.159 why would you ever confuse those two things. The Bell Witch is one of 8 00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:00.759 the US's most historical hauntings, so much so that there's even allegedly the involvement 9 00:01:00.840 --> 00:01:06.319 of a former US president, but more on that leader. It's also unique 10 00:01:06.319 --> 00:01:10.760 because, unlike more modern hauntings and haunted places, the Belle family didn't want 11 00:01:10.799 --> 00:01:14.280 anyone in their community to know what was happening to them at the time. 12 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:18.359 In fact, it wasn't until after most of the family had died that Martin 13 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:22.719 Ingram, a friend of the youngest child of the Belle family, published what 14 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:26.359 is called an authenticated History of the Bellwitch, the first complete retelling of the 15 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:30.480 Belle family struggles. This was due to Martin Ingram making an agreement with the 16 00:01:30.519 --> 00:01:36.680 family members to wait until after their deaths to publish. I also really quickly 17 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:40.239 want to give a special shout out to Pat fitz Hugh, who operates bellwitch 18 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:44.640 dot org. He's been researching the Belle family for decades and has managed to 19 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:49.640 source everything from genealogical data to first person writings from the time to end. 20 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:55.079 Depth analysis is on the lives lived of all of the Bell children and everyone 21 00:01:55.120 --> 00:01:57.840 else involved, all the way up until their deaths. It is a sight 22 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:00.920 to behold, and you can find that link in the show notes with all 23 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:06.719 of our other sources. Let's get to it, shall we. In eighteen 24 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.520 oh five, what is currently named Adams, Tennessee was at the time called 25 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:15.039 Red River, Tennessee, and a man by the name of John Bell and 26 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:20.199 his family had just newly settled there after having moved to the Red River Valley 27 00:02:20.199 --> 00:02:23.960 from North Carolina. By the time all is said and done, John has 28 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:28.800 acquired over three hundred acres of land and a rather large family home for him, 29 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.800 his wife, Lucy, and their children. John was gaining a reputation 30 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:36.719 in the community for his farming and land cultivation, as well as for being 31 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:39.800 a church elder. At the Red River Baptist Church. John and his wife 32 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:45.680 Lucy eventually had three more children while living on their Tennessee homestead, bringing their 33 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:51.759 children to eat in total and bringing us to our first side note. Interestingly 34 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:57.039 enough, Wikipedia states the couple is having six children. However, Belwitch dot 35 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:04.120 Org cites the genealogical information of eight children. I also confirm this through another 36 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:08.280 genealogical site that is in the show notes, so don't at me their children. 37 00:03:08.439 --> 00:03:13.840 That the couple's children were as follows Jesse, who was twenty seven at 38 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:16.919 the time, born in seventeen ninety, John Junior born in seventeen ninety three, 39 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:21.719 who was twenty four, Drewy who was born in seventeen ninety six and 40 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:24.599 is twenty one. Esther was born in eighteen hundred. She is seventeen at 41 00:03:24.599 --> 00:03:29.199 the time of this. Starting Zadoc who was born in eighteen o three, 42 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:32.000 it is fourteen, Betsy who was born in eighteen oh six and as eleven, 43 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:37.120 Richard who was born in eighteen eleven and a six, Joel who was 44 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:40.039 born in eighteen thirteen and as four, as well as Benjamin, who appears 45 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:45.960 to have died in childbirth before reaching his first birthday, as there is very 46 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:50.520 little, if anything at all to verify his birth or death records. As 47 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.280 people who are not having children in hospitals at the time, miscarriages, babies 48 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:00.680 that didn't reach their first year, and stillborn birth were oftentimes not documented. 49 00:04:00.800 --> 00:04:03.360 Who's the other one that Wikipedia? How do they just leave off? So 50 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:10.439 Zadoc I believe is not listed? And I believe neither as Benjamin. How 51 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:14.439 dare they? Because you love Zadoc Gun you I already have a favorite character, 52 00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.120 and they left out my favorite one event I knew you would like him. 53 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:24.600 So overall, life for the Bells was good, that is until eighteen 54 00:04:24.680 --> 00:04:29.360 seventeen. On an otherwise normal day, John Bell was inspecting his crops when 55 00:04:29.399 --> 00:04:32.800 he noticed a strange animal in his field. But this was no ordinary animal. 56 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:36.600 This creature, in particular, was a terrifying sight to behold. It 57 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:41.480 had the body of a dog, but its head was that of a rabbit. 58 00:04:41.639 --> 00:04:44.920 John shout at the animal several times, and while he did not strike 59 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:47.279 it, he did manage to scare it off. While in the moment, 60 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:50.759 John didn't dwell on this incident, he would later look back on this event 61 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:56.199 as the first of a number of strange occurrences that would come to be known 62 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:00.199 as the Haunting of the Bell Witch. That's because or the same night would 63 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:04.480 be the very first night of strange sounds in the family's home, including what 64 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:10.360 sounded like someone knocking on the sides of their home, whispers, etc. 65 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:14.839 We'll get a little bit more into detail in a minute, but first, 66 00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:17.759 what are you guys thinking right now? Because when I first heard the story 67 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:20.600 of the Bellwitch, I was in junior high. I've did papers on it 68 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:25.240 in junior high, I did one in high school, I did one in 69 00:05:25.279 --> 00:05:30.040 college. The bell Witch is kind of my jam. But now as an 70 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:36.720 adult, my immediate thought is that this sounds similar to a skinwalker. We'll 71 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:42.279 be talking more about skinwalkers in an upcoming episode. The very short definition for 72 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:47.079 the purposes of this is that skinwalkers into Nay or Navajo culture, they are 73 00:05:47.879 --> 00:05:54.399 shamans that have sort of turned bad, and they have this ability to disguise 74 00:05:54.439 --> 00:06:00.959 themselves or turn into animals that oftentimes don't look very natural currance, So they 75 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:08.319 will be sort of mismatch of different animals, and it's a very bad omen 76 00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:13.800 to have such a thing on your farm, does it? It sounds like 77 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:17.399 a mutt dog like a German shepherd or a great day and cross with a 78 00:06:17.480 --> 00:06:20.360 chuahua, just as a chuahua head. And that's why he thinks it's a 79 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:26.360 rabbit. Is that what you're saying? Yeah, that's what I'm assuming is 80 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.959 that it was like a wild dog or a wild wolf that was just crossbred 81 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:34.000 with another domestic dog or something and just came up with this weird thing with 82 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:39.240 bigger ears that he presumably seen from one hundred feet away and thought it was 83 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:43.560 a rabbit's head when it was really just some wild have you seen fast ears? 84 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:47.720 I don't know anything about Belwich at all, so this is all completely 85 00:06:47.720 --> 00:06:50.759 new to me. Well, that's exactly what we want, so it's As 86 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:56.600 time went on, the noises only became louder and more frequent, but despite 87 00:06:56.680 --> 00:07:00.319 John patrolling around the home, he did not find any reasonable explanation for the 88 00:07:00.439 --> 00:07:06.279 noises. Around this time, the Bell children started making varying complaints and waking 89 00:07:06.399 --> 00:07:13.040 up in terror. These complaints range from things written off easily by childhood imaginations, 90 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:17.399 such as the sounds of rats gnawing at the bedposts also could be rats 91 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:23.759 chewing at their bed posts also could be rats chewing at the bedposts, to 92 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:28.959 having their blankets pulled off of them in the dead of the night. But 93 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:33.920 soon after the family began hearing whispers, which is just an absolute, absolute 94 00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:38.399 note for me, no, thank you do not want whispers. I'd rather 95 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:44.199 have something yell at me. Eventually, their daughter Betsy began having experiences of 96 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:47.879 a more violent nature within invisible assailant. In fact, over the course of 97 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:54.079 the next several years, from eighteen seventeen to eighteen twenty one, John seemed 98 00:07:54.120 --> 00:07:59.800 to become the favored target of the entity, though by no means the only 99 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:05.199 target. Betsy was frequently targeted as well. Is she the oldest daughter. 100 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:11.480 So Betsy is the youngest daughter, but not the youngest child, but at 101 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:16.720 this time she is around eleven ash years old. The kid who died, 102 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:20.439 did he already exist and die at this point, Yes, So Benjamin died 103 00:08:20.480 --> 00:08:26.439 before the family had moved to Tennessee from North Carolina. It wasn't long before 104 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:31.279 Betsy started actually complaining of an entity slapping her and pulling her hair, and 105 00:08:31.399 --> 00:08:37.279 she would often have physical welts and bruises on her after these encounters. That 106 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:41.679 does kind of bring us to this question of why is this entity so fixated 107 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:48.679 on John and also Betsy, And that's where we come to the possible identity 108 00:08:48.919 --> 00:08:54.200 of the Bell Witch. Years before John Mary Lucy, he had a previous 109 00:08:54.240 --> 00:08:58.519 engagement to a woman by the name of Kate Bats. Their engagement was broken 110 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:03.559 off. Allegedly, Kate became further and further embittered. She allegedly went so 111 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:07.559 far as to try and break up the couple's marriage, and when the happenings 112 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:13.200 increased, at some point, fingers were pointed in Kate's direction for cursing John 113 00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:22.519 and by proximity, his family. That's just parents being talking about Kate and 114 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:26.879 absorbing it. Very possible. Though Kate did later marry. Other versions of 115 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.240 the tales say that her husband, Frederick, was also helping her to make 116 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:35.519 the Bell's lives very unpleasant. Also, just while we're here, I choose 117 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:41.480 to believe that Kate's husband, Frederick, is the X of the Wife and 118 00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:45.000 so that's why they got together to team up and torture these two. That 119 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:48.519 sounds like a theory you would have, yes, So, whether the happenings 120 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:52.360 were in any way linked to Kate or not, the entity became known by 121 00:09:52.360 --> 00:09:58.000 the name the Bell Witch, a moniker that was allegedly dubbed by a former 122 00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:01.600 US president. More on that in a minute, but from here on I 123 00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:07.519 will likely refer to the entity slash phantom slash ghost as the Bellwitch because frankly, 124 00:10:07.960 --> 00:10:16.639 there are not enough spooky synonyms and I am very tired cool Sorry, 125 00:10:16.679 --> 00:10:20.720 just to interject, what the children was it all? Pretty much all of 126 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:24.639 the children had their own encounters, Like it wasn't just the girls, right, 127 00:10:24.000 --> 00:10:28.720 so all of the children had various encounters. We are going to be 128 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:31.679 jumping forward in time that he wants you to know that. Most of the 129 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:37.720 children's encounters are documented on Bellwitch dot org, which I recommend everyone check out. 130 00:10:37.279 --> 00:10:41.799 I would love to go through all of them, but we would be 131 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:46.840 here for a very long time. I believe the youngest on, Joel, 132 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:50.879 is the only one that did not have an encounter of some sort. And 133 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:54.600 at this point, some of the children are actually in their twenties, so 134 00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.399 whether or not they are in or out of the house is or are just 135 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:05.600 visiting at certain times is kind of hard to decipher. Over the next several 136 00:11:05.639 --> 00:11:09.639 years, the entity only appeared to become stronger with the passage of time. 137 00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:15.919 What was once whispers and knockings became the loud singing of hymns and quotings of 138 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:20.960 scriptures from a female voice. The voice even seemed to be intelligent and follow 139 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:26.080 conversations happening around it, and on some occasions was able to quote sermons that 140 00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:30.639 were given not on the family's property, but at a church a number of 141 00:11:30.679 --> 00:11:35.679 miles away, leaving the implication that the spirit was following the family or had 142 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:41.799 a supernatural knowledge of other places. The voice seemed to despise John specifically and 143 00:11:41.879 --> 00:11:46.559 wanted him dead, going so far as to threaten him. Betsy was likewise 144 00:11:46.759 --> 00:11:52.039 only receiving further terror from the entity Betsy Belle had recently. Betsy Belle had 145 00:11:52.200 --> 00:11:56.759 recently become engaged to a man by the name of Joshua Gardner, which had 146 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:01.639 only increased the spirit's ire. So this started when she was eleven, so 147 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.360 now she's like thirteen, which was not uncommon. In fact, Lucy, 148 00:12:05.480 --> 00:12:09.879 her mother, became engaged to John when she was around twelve, and he 149 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:16.120 was like a disgusting thirty two years old. It's oh, so we do 150 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:18.759 want John dead, is what I'm hearing. I mean, you aren't wrong, 151 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.000 but it was very common at this time for twelve thirteen year olds to 152 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:28.000 become engaged to secure that family connection, even if they weren't immediately married off. 153 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:33.559 And to this point, the Bellwitch starts warning Betsy to end this engagement 154 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:41.720 and starts promising the ruin of her line should she not end it. An 155 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:46.480 alleged quote by the entity quote you will not have happiness which have a gardner 156 00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:52.080 and future generations. We'll see it true. But hold onto that thought before 157 00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.039 we further discussed the happenings at the Bell family farm, I do want to 158 00:12:56.039 --> 00:12:58.759 discuss some other witnesses to these happenings that were not a part of the Bell 159 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.320 We are going to start with the Johnston's. So things were escal leading quickly, 160 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:09.519 and john was at a loss for how to protect his family. As 161 00:13:09.559 --> 00:13:13.399 a church elder, it appears that he may have been hesitant to tell others 162 00:13:13.480 --> 00:13:18.480 what was happening, either from embarrassment or from fear that his family would be 163 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:22.600 ostracized by the church, or even that the family themselves would be blamed for 164 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:28.759 the appearingly evil happenings at the Belle family farm, which chiles and stuff. 165 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:31.840 Yeah, but he did eventually come to confide in one James Johnston, his 166 00:13:31.879 --> 00:13:35.919 closest friend and neighbor. The Johnstons and the Belle families were close, and 167 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:39.600 in John's time of need, James and his wife came to stay at the 168 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:43.879 Belle family farm. Whether to confirm for themselves at the happenings or to give 169 00:13:43.960 --> 00:13:48.360 moral support, we can't be sure. It's said that in the dead of 170 00:13:48.360 --> 00:13:52.960 the night, the Johnstons were assaulted by the entity, first having their covers 171 00:13:52.000 --> 00:13:56.879 torn from them, and again when James was slapped. James then allegedly shouted, 172 00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.519 quote, in the name of the Lord, who are you and what 173 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:07.159 do you want? While he received no answer, James express James express concern. 174 00:14:07.080 --> 00:14:11.919 James express concerned to the Bells that the entity was demonic. James and 175 00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:18.320 John were both heavily religious, and James express belief that this sort of evil 176 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:22.240 seeping into the foundations of the Bell farm was so harmful as to be biblical 177 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:28.759 in nature. The next witness from outside the family that is worthy of discussion 178 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:33.799 is none other than seventh President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. And 179 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:37.559 you may be wondering how the hell Andrew Jackson has entered the picture. And 180 00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:41.360 I'm going to tell you. The Bell Boys, John, Jesse, and 181 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:46.919 Drury had all served at the Battle of New Orleans under then General Andrew Jackson. 182 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:50.080 When Andrew Jackson heard about the happenings at the Bell farm, he decided 183 00:14:50.120 --> 00:14:54.840 to pay a visit, bringing with him a company of several men, one 184 00:14:56.000 --> 00:15:01.639 of whom identify themselves to be a witch hunter slash witch tamer and claimed that 185 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:05.960 the silver bullet in his chamber could kill any witch. I was just going 186 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:11.600 to say, my boyfriend's a witch tamer. That's a term that should have 187 00:15:11.600 --> 00:15:16.480 stuck around the witch tamer. But as soon as they set foot on the 188 00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:20.840 property, things began to go awry. The wagon was instantly stuck in the 189 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:24.919 mud of the property, and, most likely jokingly, the General shouted by 190 00:15:24.919 --> 00:15:30.080 the Eternal Boys that must be the Belle Witch, only to be met with 191 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:33.960 a voice telling them that they would be allowed to proceed, but that she 192 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:37.799 would see them later. The men set up camp on the property and for 193 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:41.080 a number of hours all seemed well. That is until the man with the 194 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:48.440 silver bullet started to complain of being pricked by pins and needles and eventually physically 195 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:52.120 struck a multitude of times. The voice of the Witch shouted yet again, 196 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:58.720 marking the man as a fraud and swearing she would root out other frauds in 197 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:02.919 the party as well. Jackson wanted to stay at the farm to hear more 198 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:07.120 of this potential fraud in his company, even though his men wanted to leave. 199 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:11.519 However, we don't know if any other fraud was ever revealed to be 200 00:16:11.679 --> 00:16:15.120 a part of the party, as the next morning, General Jackson had left 201 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:19.000 the property. The gossip mongers in Springfields, where he was sighted the next 202 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:22.600 morning quoted him as saying, quote, I would rather fight the British at 203 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:29.279 New Orleans than fight the Bell Witch. Now there's no proper evidence that Andrew 204 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:33.080 Jackson said this very specific thing, but we do know from his other writings 205 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:36.720 that he did own property in the Red River Valley and serve with the Bellboys, 206 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:44.360 And there is some type of diary or ledger that jests that he was 207 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:48.639 going to meet with somebody named John around this time. So, grains of 208 00:16:48.679 --> 00:16:55.039 Salts, let's go back to the happenings at the Bellhouse. Fast forward to 209 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:59.759 the autumn of eighteen twenty. John's been getting increasingly ill from a mysterious illness. 210 00:17:00.200 --> 00:17:03.640 At least one of the conditions he's suffering from we modernly understand as Bell's 211 00:17:03.680 --> 00:17:08.880 palsy, which is ironic as his name is John Bell. He had difficulty 212 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:14.680 swallowing and facial twitching, and Bell's palsy wouldn't be named until years later for 213 00:17:14.720 --> 00:17:18.000 the doctor who discovered it, who was unrelated to John Bell. As his 214 00:17:18.119 --> 00:17:22.680 health worsened, he was given no respite as the reign of terror continued. 215 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:26.720 The unknown entity whom taunted him and referred to him as old Jack Bell, 216 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:32.039 allegedly removed his shoes when he tried to walk and slapped him on multiple occasions. 217 00:17:32.519 --> 00:17:37.920 John had also begun suffering seizures. The timing of his mysterious illness and 218 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:44.960 the seizures obviously only strengthened the eventual tale of the Bell Witch, especially for 219 00:17:45.119 --> 00:17:49.119 the Bell family who was living there, and of course the Johnstons who actually 220 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:55.559 knew what was happening. By Christmas of that same year, just a short 221 00:17:55.640 --> 00:18:02.119 time later, John Bell had perished in his home, whereupon John Junior found 222 00:18:02.200 --> 00:18:06.839 a vial of unknown dark liquid. John Junior then gave two drops to the 223 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:11.839 cat instead of testing it on himself, which was fortunate for him, as 224 00:18:11.880 --> 00:18:17.599 the cat reportedly jumped into the air and died before he landed. The entity 225 00:18:17.720 --> 00:18:21.759 then exclaimed, quote, I gave old Jack a big dose of that last 226 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:25.680 night, which fixed him. When John Junior threw the remainder of the violin 227 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:30.160 to the family's hearth, it exploded in a blue flame that made its way 228 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.559 up the chimney. Shortly after John's death, Betsey broke off her engagement with 229 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:37.200 Joshua for fear that he would go the way of her father, and once 230 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:41.720 she had, the entity promised to leap the family alone, but also warned 231 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:47.319 that it would return in seven years. It's interesting to note that, if 232 00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:51.480 Kate Bats was indeed the Bell Witch, that this entire series of events, 233 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:56.599 for the most part, started and ended with a broken engagement. So seven 234 00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:02.279 years later, during what is called the eighteenth twenty resurgence, the entity seemed 235 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:06.920 to have changed a little. Most of its interactions seemed to have focused on 236 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:11.480 John Junior, but but this time it didn't seem to be as malevolent. 237 00:19:12.799 --> 00:19:18.720 We're listening to the story of the domestication of a witch, correct, and 238 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:25.160 it seems like John Junior's conversations with the entity also were very different. Instead, 239 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:29.160 John was speaking with the entity on religion, philosophy, the rise and 240 00:19:29.200 --> 00:19:33.279 fall of civilizations, the predictions of a civil war which would happen years later. 241 00:19:33.319 --> 00:19:38.759 And so this is a weird one. It's very strange. It's very 242 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:48.359 different than the previous seven years bell Witch almost like maybe it's not the same 243 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:52.160 bell Witch. I don't know, just thrown it out there. After just 244 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:57.920 a few short weeks, the bell Witch went on her way and promised to 245 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:03.680 revisit John's descendants in one hundred and seven years, which would take us to 246 00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:10.559 nineteen thirty five. In nineteen thirty five, John's closest living descendant, it's 247 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:15.599 his great grandson, doctor Charles Bailey Bell, who is a neurologist. To 248 00:20:15.839 --> 00:20:21.400 our knowledge, the Bellwitch never appeared to doctor Bailey Bell, but he did 249 00:20:21.480 --> 00:20:25.839 end up writing a book about the subject, and that's partially because he was 250 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:30.559 raised with this belief that at some point he would be visited by the bell 251 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:33.839 Witch. That's quite a family legend to deal with. Yeah, it's very 252 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:40.880 much like the prophecy, but evil. Yeah, could you imagine? I 253 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:44.640 hate it. There's also all these side rabbit holes, like the bell Witch 254 00:20:44.680 --> 00:20:48.359 Cave, which is on the Bell family farm property. It's actually a historical 255 00:20:48.440 --> 00:20:55.119 landmark. There's various rumors that either the witch lived there, or if Kate 256 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:57.400 Batts was in fact the Bellwitch, that after she died, her spirit went 257 00:20:57.480 --> 00:21:02.759 there, or they were just working out of this cave, this secretive place 258 00:21:02.839 --> 00:21:07.200 on the property, to be able to hide in there and attempt to make 259 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:11.480 the family think that there was a ghost, or John in particular, think 260 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:15.359 that there was a ghost, that there was more practical things at play, 261 00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:22.640 like real poison or other things that were causing this madness that were very intentional. 262 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:26.759 Overall, the legend of the Bellwitch is over two hundred years old, 263 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:33.599 and when the book was eventually published by Martin Igram, a firsthand account by 264 00:21:33.720 --> 00:21:38.640 Richard Bell was included. The foreword was titled Our Family Trouble, The Story 265 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:45.039 of the Bellwitch of Tennessee. So Richard in particular would have been between the 266 00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:48.440 ages of six and twelve during this time, so some of it is a 267 00:21:48.519 --> 00:21:52.400 core memory probably and some of it was likely influenced by the family. And 268 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.799 interestingly, almost all the siblings lived really long lives, which is part of 269 00:21:56.839 --> 00:22:00.400 why the book wasn't published until their desk, because they didn't want people to 270 00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:03.920 know about this they didn't want to deal with the potential ridicule, and they 271 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:08.559 kind of viewed it as a stain on the family legacy, like a skeleton 272 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:14.599 in the closet. I mean, I fully support that have it published when 273 00:22:14.640 --> 00:22:18.680 you're dead, but don't deal with them one you're alive. That is someone 274 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:26.279 else's problem, unless you're trying to create this entire thing as a family to 275 00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:30.480 make it seem that way. So you could have a three hundred year old 276 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:33.079 legend. But here's the thing, who thinks they're going to have a two 277 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:37.160 hundred year old legend. They aren't trying to run out the houses B and 278 00:22:37.240 --> 00:22:41.680 B or do ghost tours or profit off it like modernly how we would see 279 00:22:41.720 --> 00:22:47.960 something. And it makes me think at the very least that the family really 280 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:52.839 did believe this, because they could have waited until mom was dead, so 281 00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:56.559 they didn't like shame her and just tell everybody about how the bell Witch killed 282 00:22:56.599 --> 00:23:03.279 their dad and get famous have notoriety in that way, like Bellwitch killed dad. 283 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:08.640 The goal was though, to torture their descendant in one hundred and thirty 284 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:15.839 odd years. Seriously, though, can you imagine that being your family legacy 285 00:23:15.920 --> 00:23:18.680 and you're just waiting for a ghost to show up over your shoulder. I 286 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.599 think at some point I would just be like, let's not tell this story 287 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:29.359 because I don't want to freak them out, don't prepare them at all, 288 00:23:29.400 --> 00:23:33.759 live their lives normally, because they're constantly like, let's not prepare them. 289 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:37.480 Let's just let the Bellwich show up and we'll see what happens. We'll see 290 00:23:37.480 --> 00:23:42.440 if things get spicy. Also, it would not have worked because Martin Ingram 291 00:23:42.519 --> 00:23:48.720 published in eighteen ninety four, I believe, authenticated history of the Bellwich, 292 00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:53.240 So that's not going to work. He would have found out eventually anyway through 293 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:59.880 other means, probably anyway, they who were quite long lived. They were, 294 00:24:00.039 --> 00:24:03.920 and actually Martin was friends with Joel, and through Joel and hearing different 295 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:08.240 stories that Joel had about the family, he ended up talking to the other 296 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:15.079 family members and that led to the creation of the book. The other thing 297 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:18.920 that I find kind of interesting is that he was interested enough, is that 298 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:22.400 he was interested enough in the story to write a book about it and interview 299 00:24:22.440 --> 00:24:27.640 the family members, but then agreed to sit on all of that information until 300 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:34.160 most people in the family had passed. And so that is just so interesting 301 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:38.279 and like loyal as hell to me, just like trying really hard not to 302 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:44.799 die in some freak accident or of scarlet fever or whatever else is going on 303 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:52.160 during this time. Yeah, that would sting on your sick on your deathbed. 304 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:56.400 You're like, get him here, I need to kill him. Did 305 00:24:56.440 --> 00:25:00.359 the descendant ever say that things happened to him or No, he did not, 306 00:25:00.559 --> 00:25:03.119 But he did write a book and kind of it seemed like talked about 307 00:25:03.160 --> 00:25:07.079 what it was like growing up with the legend of the bell Witch and this 308 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:14.160 legacy and what that was like in the expectations that the bell Witch would be 309 00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:18.759 back potentially for him, and I just find it so interesting. I would 310 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:25.200 love to know what that is like, because that is a weirdly heavy burden. 311 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:27.640 I'll tell you what it's like, not being able to sleep at fucking 312 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:33.279 night. That's That's exactly what it is. It's just hardcore insomnia and paranoia, 313 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:37.920 That's what it is. I mean, probably honestly. Also, this 314 00:25:37.960 --> 00:25:41.079 man went to medical school, and I'm pretty sure during this period of time 315 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:45.960 you had to source your own bodies for like autopsies and to practice on. 316 00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:49.839 So like there were other ghosts coming for him, like the ghosts of little 317 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:57.119 old ladies who he had dug up to perform autopsies on most likely are coming 318 00:25:57.160 --> 00:26:02.599 for his life. He didn't need to worry about the belt Witch new theory 319 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:06.559 that goes it did visit him and was killing people for him, and he 320 00:26:06.640 --> 00:26:11.400 kept it secret because he needed bodies like, Hey, she's kind of a 321 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:17.200 bitch down the street, and I bet her organs are interesting. I bet 322 00:26:17.240 --> 00:26:21.440 her organs are interesting. You think that's a thing that even doctors during this 323 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:25.720 time period we're saying, I bet her organs are interesting. It's nineteen thirty 324 00:26:25.720 --> 00:26:30.400 five and I'm talking to me. I thought that, Yeah, I thought 325 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:34.480 they said interesting after like every other sentence back in that time. So we're 326 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:42.240 going with a heartbroken lover couple that tortured this family slash demon. But that's 327 00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:48.079 not the vibe that I got for once just built right in. It was 328 00:26:48.160 --> 00:26:52.880 built righted. But also there's something that isn't brought up a lot. It's 329 00:26:52.920 --> 00:26:56.960 not explicitly stated. They there's a lot of the you know, the broken 330 00:26:56.000 --> 00:27:02.799 engagement rumors, but there's also rumors of a broken affair. And the thing 331 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:07.839 I find interesting about that is during this time, if she would have been 332 00:27:07.880 --> 00:27:11.359 having an affair with him. And let's say she's even close to the age 333 00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:15.839 that Lucy was when they became engaged. So let's say she's a teenager. 334 00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:22.839 For my sanity, she's not twelve. That if they would have had an 335 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:27.680 affair and somebody found out, it would have ruined her, like absolutely ruined 336 00:27:27.720 --> 00:27:33.599 her prospects for marriage. And that is more of a motive to me. 337 00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:37.920 I feel like that the broken engagement, although people don't talk about how full 338 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:41.720 circle the whole broken engagement is like if it starts and ends with it. 339 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:47.160 And I love continuity, love it, love to see it, but just 340 00:27:47.400 --> 00:28:04.000 very interesting little point. That's something. Here's what I think. I think 341 00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:10.920 that he was not mentally saying. I think that he tortured his family. 342 00:28:10.960 --> 00:28:15.279 I think maybe not even knowing he was doing so. I think this guy 343 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.640 was office rocker. I don't know if we need the villain as they should 344 00:28:18.680 --> 00:28:22.000 have mental illness to just have him be abuser, Yes, but I also 345 00:28:22.119 --> 00:28:26.119 understand what he's saying. Basically, to go that far, there had to 346 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:32.480 be like other things at play, such as mental illness, because I don't 347 00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:38.559 think anyone tortures their family in like the waitch is haunting us, and it 348 00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:42.599 put a curse on the family and is gonna kill me. And also I 349 00:28:42.640 --> 00:28:47.920 think that he really believed it, So I do understand what he's saying. 350 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:52.480 But also, yes, you definitely have a point that mental illness is vilified. 351 00:28:53.960 --> 00:28:59.960 Also, the first thing that happened Jackson was just his wagon got caught 352 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:04.680 in the mud, so like not. But to be very clear, it 353 00:29:04.839 --> 00:29:10.400 seems like Jackson said this must be the bell witch, ha ha ha, 354 00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:17.559 in relation to the wagon, like it was a big joke. But then 355 00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:22.119 but then, oh, you think all I can do is sink your wagon 356 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:25.759 in the mud? Just you wait, do you think it could have been 357 00:29:25.839 --> 00:29:30.599 Lucy Lucy as the mother? I mean, it could have been Lucy, 358 00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:33.880 It could have been anyone. Yeah, I mean, aspects of it feel 359 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:37.519 very like Missus Dolloway, like I don't know, somebody's in the attic. 360 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:45.960 It feels like there's more to this. Yeah, it's it's It sounds like 361 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:48.160 there's somebody living in the house, somebody who was in on it, somebody 362 00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:52.920 was doing something, somebody was purposely torturing these people. But I am like, 363 00:29:53.000 --> 00:29:56.799 I don't even know. Gut instinct is telling me it was it was 364 00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:00.519 one of them too, one of the parents. I don't know what it 365 00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:03.759 is, but that was just my feeling that I got from the entire story 366 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:08.920 that I knew nothing about going into impelling. Wife poisons her husband. Wife 367 00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:14.680 starts drugging the family, They start losing their minds, they start going back 368 00:30:15.079 --> 00:30:18.920 crazy. She's not happy, she's pissed that she got married at twelve years 369 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:22.519 old to a sack of old harry balls, valid, valid, Valid. 370 00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:30.400 It just spirals down from there. That's why she named kils. That is 371 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:34.160 a very compelling theory, though it really is women could be abusers to the 372 00:30:34.279 --> 00:30:40.240 children too. Let's also put it this way. What if he was an 373 00:30:40.279 --> 00:30:45.799 evil man and was pulling the covers off his daughters and bruising them and abusing 374 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:55.000 them, and she was like the one who poisoned him because she finally figured 375 00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:59.839 it all out like and didn't want to bring that type of that's worse to 376 00:31:00.039 --> 00:31:03.000 sparage to bring to the family name than anything that he was a religious man 377 00:31:03.079 --> 00:31:07.240 in abusing his children. And I think you're living in the wrong century as 378 00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:11.079 far as that reputation is concerned. But don't you think in that case, 379 00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:17.559 if they were being abused that they wouldn't say anybody ripped the covers off of 380 00:31:17.599 --> 00:31:21.000 them, but or talk about it at all, if like it's a secret 381 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:25.839 between them and their dad, or like their dads like, don't tell anyone. 382 00:31:26.599 --> 00:31:30.680 I can't imagine that they'd be like, hey, an invisible like ghosts 383 00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:34.680 pulled my covers off. Yeah, but it could have been not direct abuse, 384 00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:37.480 like it could have been done at nighttime where he was just fucking with 385 00:31:37.519 --> 00:31:41.920 them. I'm not sure how you can hit someone hard enough that they bruise 386 00:31:41.000 --> 00:31:45.400 but they don't wake up. But also, kids absolutely need to make up 387 00:31:45.400 --> 00:31:49.839 an excuse when someone's like, what happened to your arm? Like it was 388 00:31:49.880 --> 00:31:53.160 a ghost. That's very valid, and I won't say that it couldn't be, 389 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:56.640 but I will say that all of the information is presented as if the 390 00:31:56.759 --> 00:32:01.920 kids are waking up in the middle of the night screaming or their parents versus 391 00:32:01.960 --> 00:32:07.359 their mother confronting them like, hey, what's that bruise on her arm? 392 00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:12.319 For? If that makes sense. So it's very valid. And also, 393 00:32:12.480 --> 00:32:17.279 like you know, history, the story that we hear isn't necessarily how it 394 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:23.920 happened in any way. It's what we hear from John from Martin Ingram after 395 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:29.839 he interviews family members, etc. But then why if they didn't want anyone 396 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:31.839 to know, and they still think it's a ghost as an adult, why 397 00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:37.480 would they then tell Martin Ingram if they're so ashamed of this, like ghost 398 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:42.279 story family legacy feels like they would know that they were abused and that's what 399 00:32:42.400 --> 00:32:45.279 really what happened, Like why tell this story at all at that point? 400 00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:50.519 I don't know. Well, that's my story on the legend of the Bell 401 00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:55.240 which. If you have any theories or any spooky stories from your personal experience 402 00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:59.799 to share with us, please send them to the tipline at three one three 403 00:32:59.640 --> 00:33:04.519 three five three four one one or text them to the Deep Dark Truth podcast 404 00:33:04.680 --> 00:33:07.559 at gmail dot com. Until next time, We'll see you soon. I'm 405 00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:14.920 Mo, I'm Chip, and I'm a pell witch. You just listened to 406 00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:21.160 the Deep Dark Truth podcast. See you next time, and remember your local 407 00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:22.559 cryptids want to meet you.