Latest / Pinky Boo Hauntings / Deep Dive: the Haunting History of the Bell Witch

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Deep Dive: the Haunting History of the Bell Witch · Pinky Boo Hauntings

0:25
Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to Pinky Boo Hauntings. Be your
0:29
Speaker 1: witchy host Shy, and I'll be your guide to all
0:32
Speaker 1: things paranormal, weird and spooky. Guess what we're doing today? Well,
0:38
Speaker 1: I guess you can because you read the title. But still,
0:41
Speaker 1: I'm happy to announce Deep Guides are back. I hope
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Speaker 1: you guys are as excited as I am. I do
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Speaker 1: enjoy these as much as I do the Reddit stories,
0:51
Speaker 1: after all, and I feel bad not being able to
0:54
Speaker 1: bring them back sooner, But as you know, things got
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Speaker 1: crazy during the holidays. Man. I needed to relieve some
1:01
Speaker 1: stress somewhere, so the easiest thing to do was take
1:06
Speaker 1: a break from deep dives and the research that came
1:09
Speaker 1: with them. But now we can bring them back. For
1:15
Speaker 1: today's episode, I figured we'd do one that has interest
1:19
Speaker 1: me for as long as I can remember. And if
1:22
Speaker 1: you're into the paranormal, which I would hope you are
1:26
Speaker 1: if you're here, you have probably heard of this one too.
1:33
Speaker 1: But don't worry. While there will be information we've all
1:37
Speaker 1: heard before in this I think I've found some that
1:41
Speaker 1: isn't as well known, at least as far as I've
1:46
Speaker 1: ever seen or heard, so I hope you stay because
1:49
Speaker 1: you might be shocked with this new information. Who knows,
1:53
Speaker 1: maybe there was another suspect hiding in plain sight this
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Speaker 1: whole time. So let's get into this. Imagine, if you will.
2:06
Speaker 1: You have bought a piece of land in a different state.
2:10
Speaker 1: This land is going to be your new home, in
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Speaker 1: your new start in life. This is both a scary
2:16
Speaker 1: and exciting time for the whole family. But you push
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Speaker 1: past the nerves and make your way to this plot
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Speaker 1: of land. You build your family's home and start work
2:27
Speaker 1: on your farm. The family seems to be settling into
2:31
Speaker 1: the new town quite well. You've made friends with the neighbors,
2:37
Speaker 1: and the kids have found friends of their own in
2:40
Speaker 1: their new school. Your farm is growing. Everything seems right
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Speaker 1: with the world. Your family even seems to be loved
2:50
Speaker 1: by those around you. The years go by, and this
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Speaker 1: new state has welcomed you with open arms. You and
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Speaker 1: your family truly feel at home in this place you
3:05
Speaker 1: have chose as your own. Everything is right with the world,
3:10
Speaker 1: or so it seems. Someone in this town has built
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Speaker 1: a resentment for you and your family. They aren't happy
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Speaker 1: with something you have done, and now they seek revenge. Slowly,
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Speaker 1: this once peaceful home is turning into your personal hell.
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Speaker 1: This vengeful spirit has made it their life mission to
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Speaker 1: not only torment you, but your family for generations to
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Speaker 1: come as well. They attack your family almost every night.
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Speaker 1: They won't let any of you know peace ever again,
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Speaker 1: not until this being has taken your life. Have you
3:55
Speaker 1: guessed it yet? Well, I guess you have because of
3:57
Speaker 1: the title, But if you didn't read it before looking,
4:00
Speaker 1: on this episode, we're talking about the only known case
4:04
Speaker 1: of a paranormal being killing a person. We're talking about
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Speaker 1: the Bell Witch. But before we can do that, we
4:15
Speaker 1: need to first take a trip back into the past
4:17
Speaker 1: to learn about the family the witch was targeting. The
4:22
Speaker 1: family the Bell Witch is named after. We start our
4:28
Speaker 1: journey back into the past all the way back into
4:31
Speaker 1: eighteen oh four in North Carolina, where the Bell family
4:35
Speaker 1: was packing up all of their belongings and getting ready
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Speaker 1: to go on a long trip across states to Tennessee.
4:43
Speaker 1: While traveling in their wagon, they have plenty of time
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Speaker 1: to imagine what their new home would be like and
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Speaker 1: how the town in the residence would be like as well.
4:53
Speaker 1: Once they made it to what is now known as Adams, Tennessee,
4:57
Speaker 1: they got to building their new home. There are three
5:01
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty acres of farmland laid next to the
5:04
Speaker 1: Red River. In neighboring houses were miles apart from each other.
5:10
Speaker 1: Adams was a small town of only six hundred and
5:13
Speaker 1: twenty four and John and Lucy Bell lived a quiet,
5:17
Speaker 1: peaceful life with their family for thirteen years. It was
5:23
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventeen when everything changed. One night, John Bell
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Speaker 1: was walking out through his farm land. While it's unclear
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Speaker 1: what he was doing out there, whether it was just
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Speaker 1: to take a night walk or he had heard something,
5:41
Speaker 1: he ended up in his cornfield. In the cornfield between
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Speaker 1: the rows was a strange dog like creature. This creature
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Speaker 1: had the body of a dog, but the head of
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Speaker 1: a rabbit. This creature scared John, unsure of what it
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Speaker 1: was in, and he fired a shot off at it,
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Speaker 1: both out of protection and probably out of fear as well.
6:09
Speaker 1: John's blood ran cold as he watched this thing vanish
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Speaker 1: into thin air. This part isn't really said in any
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Speaker 1: of my research, but I'm sure that he ran back
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Speaker 1: to his cabin after seeing that and told no one
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Speaker 1: about it, and I don't blame him. How do you
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Speaker 1: explain something like that? People will either think you're crazy or,
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Speaker 1: especially back then, think you are possessed by the devil.
6:38
Speaker 1: So it isn't known if he said anything at the
6:41
Speaker 1: time of his encounter. Eventually the rest of his family
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Speaker 1: would come to believe as well. You see the bell
6:48
Speaker 1: which didn't just target John, but the whole family. I
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Speaker 1: have to say, if the witch was really just after John,
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Speaker 1: they should have left the rest of the family alone,
7:00
Speaker 1: because if they had it out for him, why not
7:03
Speaker 1: make him look crazy and basically separate him from the
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Speaker 1: rest of his family. But that's not what the witch did.
7:12
Speaker 1: They instead went after the whole family. It seemed that
7:15
Speaker 1: the attacks were small things at first, not even really
7:19
Speaker 1: attacks per se. It was more like they were just
7:23
Speaker 1: messing with the family. The family's first encounters were things
7:28
Speaker 1: that could have been just brushed off, like the sound
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Speaker 1: of gnawing on their bedposts, But when they would look
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Speaker 1: for a rat causing the noise, there was nothing. No
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Speaker 1: creature could be found that was making that noise. They
7:46
Speaker 1: also reported hearing loud knocking at nights, as well as
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Speaker 1: the sound of chains dragging. They even claimed to have
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Speaker 1: their blankets ripped off of them as they slept As
8:01
Speaker 1: well as having their pillows passed from their beds. All
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Speaker 1: of these events, when investigated, had no explanation for the
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Speaker 1: sounds and strange happenings. The Bell Witch really went out
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Speaker 1: of their way to keep this family from sleeping or
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Speaker 1: having a good night's rest. At least from there things
8:25
Speaker 1: escalated because this is where the real attack started. The
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Speaker 1: witch would strike their face, pinched them, and pull their hair,
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Speaker 1: and the Bell Witch would torment the whole family. But
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Speaker 1: the two that got the brunt of these attacks were
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Speaker 1: John himself and his daughter Betsy. Betsy had her hair
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Speaker 1: pulled and was beaten many times. These beatings were apparently
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Speaker 1: so awful they would leave the girl unconscious. The attacks
8:59
Speaker 1: also left her would welts and handprints on her face
9:02
Speaker 1: and body. Try to keep Betsy in the back of
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Speaker 1: your mind. She might become more important when we get
9:08
Speaker 1: into the theory I have about the Bell Witch and
9:11
Speaker 1: who they could be. These events kept going on as
9:17
Speaker 1: the Witch seemed to get stronger. It's unsure if the
9:21
Speaker 1: Bell Witch was using the torment as a way to
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Speaker 1: feed off of the family's energy or if they were
9:27
Speaker 1: just building up their power over time. But what we
9:31
Speaker 1: do know is As time went on, things got worse
9:35
Speaker 1: for the family. Eventually, the family started hearing a disembodied
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Speaker 1: voice speaking to them within the house. This was the
9:46
Speaker 1: voice of the witch. At first, it was small whispers,
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Speaker 1: so faint the Bell family could hardly tell what was
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Speaker 1: being said, though they said it sounded like the voice
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Speaker 1: of a weak old woman's singing hymns. But just like
10:05
Speaker 1: everything else, the whispers built up until the witch was
10:08
Speaker 1: speaking clearly to the family, though this being was nowhere
10:13
Speaker 1: to be seen in the house. The witch proclaimed that
10:21
Speaker 1: they were Kate Bats, the neighbor of the Bells, who
10:27
Speaker 1: felt cheated by John in a land purchase. I couldn't
10:32
Speaker 1: find anything to back this up, but I assumed the
10:35
Speaker 1: land in question that she felt cheated on was the
10:39
Speaker 1: land the Bell family currently owns and lives on. Again,
10:44
Speaker 1: I have no evidence for this, but it does make sense,
10:49
Speaker 1: doesn't it. Maybe she was trying to buy up that
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Speaker 1: land for herself and John came in and took it
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Speaker 1: from underneath her, and from there she went into her
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Speaker 1: villain error, plotting to run the family off so that
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Speaker 1: she could get the land that she feels was stolen
11:05
Speaker 1: from her ire. Who knows, maybe she was being framed,
11:11
Speaker 1: especially if it was well known within the area that
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Speaker 1: she was bitter about the lost land. Whoever this voice
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Speaker 1: truly was, it was becoming louder and louder. It became
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Speaker 1: so loud and clear that the family could hear the
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Speaker 1: voice within every room of the house. The voice of
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Speaker 1: the witch would insult and threaten John repeatedly and continue
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Speaker 1: to speak to all of the family. They even told
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Speaker 1: the family, I am a spirit. I once was very happy,
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Speaker 1: but I have been disturbed, made unhappy. There was also
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Speaker 1: claims that the witch would sing hymns, quote scripture, and
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Speaker 1: carry on intelligent conversations. It was even said that they
12:02
Speaker 1: quoted word for word two sermons that were preached on
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Speaker 1: the same day miles apart. Somewhere in all of this,
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Speaker 1: the Bell Witch also vowed to kill John. Whoever this
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Speaker 1: is Kate or someone else. They clearly were pissed about
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Speaker 1: something and wanted to make the family suffer as much
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Speaker 1: as they could, giving the family no peace, even in
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Speaker 1: their own home, the one place they should feel safe.
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Speaker 1: During all of this, John vowed his family to secrecy,
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Speaker 1: and why wouldn't he This is the eighteen hundreds, after all,
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Speaker 1: I doubt this is something you just want to come
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Speaker 1: out and tell people. While the family was the main
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Speaker 1: target of the Witch's torment, they weren't the only ones
12:54
Speaker 1: to fill the raft of the Bell Witch. The enslaved
12:58
Speaker 1: workers reported in Encounters with the Witch as well. That's right,
13:03
Speaker 1: the Bell family had slaves. I know it's not surprising,
13:07
Speaker 1: especially for the time period, but still I was shocked
13:10
Speaker 1: to find out they had them, mostly because when the
13:13
Speaker 1: show would talk about the Bell Witch and the Bell Family,
13:17
Speaker 1: they loved to portray them as his family that lived
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Speaker 1: on a small plot of land and in a small cabin.
13:24
Speaker 1: I didn't know they had a large plot of land
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Speaker 1: or a farm until I went digging for this episode,
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Speaker 1: so I definitely wasn't expecting to find out this awful information.
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Speaker 1: Turns out, the Bell family kind of sucks. Sorry for that,
13:39
Speaker 1: but I needed to get that out because I didn't
13:42
Speaker 1: know any of this, and I've heard this story many
13:46
Speaker 1: times in my life. Anyways. One of the slaves was
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Speaker 1: named Dean. He had reported to John his encounters with
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Speaker 1: the Witch, saying how he came face to face with
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Speaker 1: a doglike creature that sometimes even had two heads. Dean
14:05
Speaker 1: claimed that this creature was the witch. After he came
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Speaker 1: up against the witch a few times, his sweet wife
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Speaker 1: made something to help keep him safe. They called it
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Speaker 1: a witch bell that he carried around with him to
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Speaker 1: protect him from harm. What is a witchball, you might
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Speaker 1: be asking, Well, I didn't know either. I had to
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Speaker 1: look it up because all I could think of was
14:30
Speaker 1: a ball that he would throw at the creature. I
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Speaker 1: think because his dog like I couldn't help imagining Dean
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Speaker 1: playing fetch with the witch. But no, a witch is
14:42
Speaker 1: actually a glass ball that typically has herbs, crystals, salts,
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Speaker 1: and flowers in it. It helps ward off malevolent spirits
14:51
Speaker 1: and capture negative energy. Obviously there is more to it
14:56
Speaker 1: than that, but that's the basic rundown of it. It's
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Speaker 1: a protection spell, and it did seem to help keep
15:03
Speaker 1: him safe from the witch and that creature, which is
15:07
Speaker 1: a good thing because the witch needs to leave them alone.
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Speaker 1: They didn't ask to be there and have no choice
15:14
Speaker 1: but to be there. So if you're going to punish
15:17
Speaker 1: the family, punish only them and leave the enslaved people alone.
15:24
Speaker 1: The enslaved people weren't the only ones, though, outside of
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Speaker 1: the Bell family, to experience the terror of the Bell Witch.
15:31
Speaker 1: Even though john swore the family to secrecy, he decided
15:35
Speaker 1: to tell his close friend and neighbor, James Johnson. James
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Speaker 1: was skeptical of the family's troubles at first. He was
15:43
Speaker 1: one of those people that needed to see it before
15:45
Speaker 1: he could believe it himself. So James decided to have
15:50
Speaker 1: a sleepover at at the Bell's house, bringing his wife
15:54
Speaker 1: along with him. I hope she was just curious as
15:57
Speaker 1: well and didn't just get dragged into a horrifying situation
16:01
Speaker 1: against her will, because that wouldn't be very nice for
16:05
Speaker 1: her husband to do. The night was peaceful, and the
16:09
Speaker 1: Bells and the Johnson's were enjoying each other's company. I'm
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Speaker 1: sure James was making jokes about how the visit was uneventful,
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Speaker 1: but now it was time for everyone to retire to
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Speaker 1: their beds. It was here that they were subjected to
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Speaker 1: the same torment as the Bell family. The Johnson's bed
16:30
Speaker 1: covers were yanked from them, just as the other family
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Speaker 1: had experienced, the which also slapped James. The man, upset,
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Speaker 1: yelled out in the name of the Lord, who are
16:44
Speaker 1: you and what do you want? He didn't get a response,
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Speaker 1: and the rest of the night was peaceful once more.
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Speaker 1: I'm unsure who he was speaking to after this event happened,
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Speaker 1: but he told someone that it was an evil spirit,
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Speaker 1: the kind the Bible talks about. Sometime after this, it
17:05
Speaker 1: would seem that the word had spread and people began
17:08
Speaker 1: to camp out on the Bell family's farm. They became
17:13
Speaker 1: curious of what was going on and wanted to see
17:16
Speaker 1: the paranormal events for themselves. There was another family friend
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Speaker 1: that had also experienced something. His name was William Porter.
17:27
Speaker 1: He was said to grab the unseen witch, trying to
17:30
Speaker 1: throw it into the fire, though he wasn't able to
17:34
Speaker 1: because of the weight and the smell. So while the Bells,
17:40
Speaker 1: especially John and Betsy, were the main targets of the
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Speaker 1: witch's attack, she didn't hold back on others that visit
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Speaker 1: the home as well. Work continued to spread about the
17:51
Speaker 1: witch and even made it all the way to Nashville,
17:54
Speaker 1: where a future president lived back when he was still
17:58
Speaker 1: just a general. Andrew Jackson became fascinated with the story
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Speaker 1: of the Bell Witch and wanted to see it for himself.
18:07
Speaker 1: The Bells actually had a connection with Jackson. John Bell
18:12
Speaker 1: Junior and his brothers Druiy and James fought under General
18:15
Speaker 1: Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans, so it was
18:20
Speaker 1: probably easy for him to get the Bells to say
18:22
Speaker 1: yes to his visit. Jackson came with an entourage in
18:28
Speaker 1: eighteen nineteen. It consisted of several men well grinned horses
18:35
Speaker 1: in a large wagon. As the group came close to
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Speaker 1: the house, their wagon jolted to a stop. When the
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Speaker 1: men went to investigate, they found that the wagon was
18:47
Speaker 1: stuck in a muddy creek bed and the horses were
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Speaker 1: unable to pull it out. Jackson proclaimed in that moment,
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Speaker 1: by the Eternal Boys, that must be the bell Witch.
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Speaker 1: I think it's cute that this excited about seeing the
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Speaker 1: bell Witch. I don't think I would with how they're
19:04
Speaker 1: attacking people, but clearly it excited him to the point
19:08
Speaker 1: that even getting stuck in the mud was something to him.
19:11
Speaker 1: But maybe he was onto something because after saying this
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Speaker 1: was the bell Witch, a disembodied female voice Paul Jackson
19:19
Speaker 1: he could proceed and that she'd see them later in
19:22
Speaker 1: the evening. After this, the wagon began to move again.
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Speaker 1: If this was really the Witch's doing, I doubt that
19:32
Speaker 1: wagon was actually stuck in the mud. If anything, it
19:36
Speaker 1: just seems stuck because the horses were scared to move,
19:40
Speaker 1: or if this witch was as strong as they seen,
19:43
Speaker 1: maybe they were holding the wagon back from moving, or
19:46
Speaker 1: maybe it really was just stuck in the mud and
19:48
Speaker 1: came loose. At the same time, the voice told him
19:51
Speaker 1: they could go. No matter the real reason for the
19:55
Speaker 1: wagon being freed, it did become free, and they it
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Speaker 1: to the Bell's home. While his entourage was setting up
20:04
Speaker 1: the tents in the yard, Jackson told old war stories
20:08
Speaker 1: to the Bells. I presume everyone was having a good time,
20:13
Speaker 1: and while everyone was talking, one man claimed to be
20:17
Speaker 1: a witch tamer, whatever that means. After several hours, the
20:23
Speaker 1: so called witch tamer pulled out a shiny pistol with
20:26
Speaker 1: a silver bullet. He claimed that it could kill any
20:31
Speaker 1: evil spirit, and nothing has happened because it was too scared. Now.
20:36
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but if there was a
20:39
Speaker 1: pistof spirit around, the last thing I would be doing
20:43
Speaker 1: is going around trying to antagonize it, at least one
20:47
Speaker 1: that seems as strong as the Bell Witch was. But
20:51
Speaker 1: this man would have to learn this lesson the hard way.
20:55
Speaker 1: After talking all of that crap about how the Bell
20:57
Speaker 1: Witch was scared of him, he began screaming and jerking
21:01
Speaker 1: his body around. He claimed that he was being stuck
21:04
Speaker 1: with pins and beaten severely. They should you shouldn't go
21:09
Speaker 1: around talking shit about things you don't understand. Eventually he
21:15
Speaker 1: said he was kicked in the rear and sent him
21:18
Speaker 1: out the front door. The entity said that he was
21:21
Speaker 1: yet another fraud in Jackson's party. The witch also said
21:26
Speaker 1: that they would identify the other. This show of power
21:30
Speaker 1: by the Belwich scared Jackson's men, and they ended up leaving. Jackson,
21:37
Speaker 1: on the other hand, wanted to stay. He wanted to
21:39
Speaker 1: know who this other fraud was. Well. I respect him
21:44
Speaker 1: for being brave enough to stay after what he just saw.
21:47
Speaker 1: It would seem that that bravery did not last long.
21:53
Speaker 1: What happened next is unknown, but Jackson and his men
21:57
Speaker 1: were seen in Springfield early next morning heading back to Nashville.
22:02
Speaker 1: Some even alleged Jackson said, I would rather fight the
22:06
Speaker 1: British at New Orleans than fight the bell Witch. Not
22:12
Speaker 1: gonna lie, but it seemed to me that Jackson got
22:14
Speaker 1: what he wanted. It just wasn't the answer he expected.
22:19
Speaker 1: What if the witch said he was also a fraud
22:21
Speaker 1: and outed him for a dark secret he didn't want
22:24
Speaker 1: others to know about. I don't know, it just seems
22:28
Speaker 1: weird that he decided to leave early after talking about staying.
22:34
Speaker 1: Whatever happened there, it definitely spooked Jackson enough to never
22:38
Speaker 1: talk about it again or even go back. The attacks
22:43
Speaker 1: and harassment went on NonStop for three years. Through these years,
22:52
Speaker 1: John's physical health started to decline, leaving him bedridden at
22:57
Speaker 1: the end. It was in December of eighteen twenty that
23:03
Speaker 1: John was found dead in his bed. Next to his bed,
23:09
Speaker 1: the family found a vial of unknown liquid that wasn't
23:12
Speaker 1: there before. John Junior took this vial and put two
23:17
Speaker 1: drops of this liquid on a pet cat's tongue. The
23:22
Speaker 1: cat was said to jump up, rolled over mid air,
23:26
Speaker 1: and was dead when it hit the floor. I don't
23:30
Speaker 1: think you needed to do that, but okay, I think
23:34
Speaker 1: it was pretty clear that that vial had some kind
23:36
Speaker 1: of poison in it. The cat didn't need to die
23:39
Speaker 1: to come up with that conclusion. But after killing the
23:44
Speaker 1: cat for no reason, the witch spoke to the family saying,
23:48
Speaker 1: I gave Old Jack a big dose of that last night,
23:52
Speaker 1: which fixed them. John Junior threw the vial into the
23:57
Speaker 1: fire and the liquid bursted into blue flames. John Bell's
24:04
Speaker 1: death is the only known documented case in US history
24:08
Speaker 1: where the death was attributed to the paranormal. Even after
24:14
Speaker 1: his death, the family didn't know peace. The Bell Witch
24:18
Speaker 1: was said to join them. John's funeral was said to
24:24
Speaker 1: be one of the largest in Robertson County. It was
24:29
Speaker 1: so large that people attended for miles around, and three
24:32
Speaker 1: preachers did eulogies. It would seem that John was a
24:37
Speaker 1: beloved member of the community, so while others were mourning
24:42
Speaker 1: his death, it was said that the witch could be
24:45
Speaker 1: heard laughing and singing drinking songs in a happy tone.
24:50
Speaker 1: They didn't stop singing until all of the mourners left.
24:56
Speaker 1: After John Bell was put to rest, a witch pretty
25:00
Speaker 1: much stop their attacks on the family. Now let's get
25:06
Speaker 1: on to the less known story about the Bell family.
25:09
Speaker 1: And it might seem a little disconnected at first, but
25:12
Speaker 1: I swear it made something click that never made sense
25:16
Speaker 1: to me before. Oh and before we get into this,
25:21
Speaker 1: I want to make it clear I think Kate bats
25:25
Speaker 1: was framed. The reason I won't call the witch as
25:28
Speaker 1: she is because I don't believe Kate is the witch.
25:32
Speaker 1: Do I believe she was mad at John for screwing her. Ever, yes,
25:36
Speaker 1: I just don't believe the Witch's attacks were caused by her.
25:40
Speaker 1: I think she was just an easy scapegoat because of
25:42
Speaker 1: her bitterness towards John. Anyways, with that out of the way,
25:48
Speaker 1: let's talk about Betsy. Betsy had fallen head over heels
25:52
Speaker 1: for a young man named Joshua Garner who lived nearby.
25:58
Speaker 1: He was also very much much in love with her
26:00
Speaker 1: as well, so, of course, their families gave them permission
26:05
Speaker 1: to get married. The young couple was in bliss and
26:09
Speaker 1: everyone seemed to be happy for their engagement. That is
26:13
Speaker 1: except for one person. The strange entity that has been
26:17
Speaker 1: haunting the Bell family for years had disapproved of this union.
26:23
Speaker 1: The Witch demanded repeatedly that Betsy and her engagement to Joshua.
26:30
Speaker 1: Now why would the Witch care about Betsy's marriage to
26:33
Speaker 1: this young man, you might ask, Well, let me tell you.
26:40
Speaker 1: There was a man that was Betsy and Joshua's former
26:43
Speaker 1: school teacher. This man's name was Professor Richard Pow. He
26:49
Speaker 1: was known to be interested in Betsy Bell for a
26:52
Speaker 1: while and even was interested in marrying her. Yep, that's right,
26:58
Speaker 1: her former teacher to marry her. Now, while that's gross,
27:04
Speaker 1: that doesn't really mean it's connected to the Witch. But
27:08
Speaker 1: here's where I started questioning things. See, Howe was well
27:14
Speaker 1: versed in a lot of things, but the one that
27:17
Speaker 1: caught my eye was that he was a student of
27:21
Speaker 1: the occult. While that doesn't mean he's a bad guy,
27:25
Speaker 1: that on top of the fact that he was interested
27:27
Speaker 1: in a girl eleven years his junior and she was
27:32
Speaker 1: now getting married, I can't help side eyeing this guy,
27:38
Speaker 1: especially since besides John, Betsy was one of the main
27:42
Speaker 1: focuses of the Witch's attacks. The attacks also only started
27:48
Speaker 1: thirteen years after living in this town. For me, it
27:54
Speaker 1: all just kind of lines up. Now, if that didn't
27:59
Speaker 1: make you convinced that maybe Kate was framed and instead
28:03
Speaker 1: the Witch could have been pal there are more facts
28:06
Speaker 1: that could back this up as well. See, Betsy and
28:10
Speaker 1: Joshua were harassed NonStop when they were together. They couldn't
28:14
Speaker 1: go to the river, the fields, or the caves to play.
28:18
Speaker 1: The entity wouldn't give up until this engagement was finally
28:22
Speaker 1: broken off, and that's what the two did. They couldn't
28:27
Speaker 1: take the nagging from the Witch anymore and finally ended
28:31
Speaker 1: their engagement. Not long after they broke things off, the
28:36
Speaker 1: Witch came to Lucy Bell and told her that they
28:40
Speaker 1: were leaving but would return in seven years. And another
28:46
Speaker 1: not so fun fact I found out while looking a
28:48
Speaker 1: little deeper into Betsy Bell was that while she didn't
28:52
Speaker 1: marry Joshua, she did end up getting married. And would
28:57
Speaker 1: you like to know what her name was at the
28:59
Speaker 1: end of her life? Elizabeth Betsy Bell Pale. That's right,
29:06
Speaker 1: the same last name as Pal himself, because Betsy ended
29:09
Speaker 1: up with her former teacher. While I know we'll probably
29:16
Speaker 1: never truly know the identity of the Bell Witch, I
29:19
Speaker 1: must say with all of the facts we know about
29:22
Speaker 1: this family and the supernatural attacks they went through, things
29:26
Speaker 1: could easily fall into place to pin it on Richard Powell.
29:31
Speaker 1: I know Kate Bat's very openly hated John Bell, but
29:34
Speaker 1: why target Betsy more so than the other kids? But
29:39
Speaker 1: if it was Powell it could make more sense. Though
29:43
Speaker 1: he ourly wished the couple, well, who's to say he
29:47
Speaker 1: wasn't bitter behind closed doors, especially since he got what
29:51
Speaker 1: he wanted in the end. And it all kind of
29:54
Speaker 1: clicks for me. What about you, guys? Do you think
29:59
Speaker 1: it makes or am I just seeing something that isn't there.
30:03
Speaker 1: Whoever the Bell Witch is, I do and will always
30:07
Speaker 1: believe that Kate Batts was framed for this crime, and
30:11
Speaker 1: that whoever was behind this probably called upon a negative
30:14
Speaker 1: spirit to torment the Bell family. Whatever the case, the
30:21
Speaker 1: Bell Witch kept their word and left the family alone
30:24
Speaker 1: for seven years, only to return to John Bell Junior,
30:29
Speaker 1: where they discussed the origin of life, civilization, Christianity, and
30:34
Speaker 1: the need for a major spiritual awakening. The Bell Witch
30:39
Speaker 1: also made some predictions about the Civil War and about
30:44
Speaker 1: major events. The Witch hung around for three weeks and
30:48
Speaker 1: disappeared again, promising this time to visit his closest descendant
30:53
Speaker 1: in one hundred and seven years. It's unclear if they
30:58
Speaker 1: actually visited this descendant, but John Bell Senior's great grandson,
31:03
Speaker 1: doctor Charles Bailey Bell, wrote a book about the Bell
31:08
Speaker 1: Witch just a year before the promised date of the
31:11
Speaker 1: entity's return. So did he get a visit from the
31:17
Speaker 1: witch or did his book somehow appease the spirit. Well,
31:22
Speaker 1: unfortunately never know, because Charles seemed to be silent about
31:26
Speaker 1: the Witch after writing this book. But yeah, that's the
31:32
Speaker 1: story of the Bell Witch. Were you surprised by my
31:35
Speaker 1: conclusion on who could be the bell Witch. I don't
31:40
Speaker 1: think I've ever heard much about Powell, if anything, before
31:44
Speaker 1: doing this research, so as I was digging deeper, everything
31:49
Speaker 1: just seemed to slowly come together. Finding out Betsy ended
31:53
Speaker 1: up with that man in the end just seemed to
31:55
Speaker 1: be the last nail in the coffin for me. Even
31:59
Speaker 1: if you're still not going he could have been behind this.
32:01
Speaker 1: I hope I could clear up Kate Batt's name if
32:04
Speaker 1: nothing else. Guys, this was a long one for me,
32:09
Speaker 1: but I guess if I'm going to bring back Deep Dives,
32:12
Speaker 1: I might as well come in with the bang. At
32:15
Speaker 1: least I hope it was. And if you did enjoy,
32:19
Speaker 1: please rate and review the podcast wherever you're listening to this,
32:22
Speaker 1: as well as like and subscribe if you're on YouTube.
32:26
Speaker 1: Maybe even bring in some others into our coven so
32:29
Speaker 1: that we can grow. And of course, if you have
32:33
Speaker 1: a story you would like to share, please send them in.
32:36
Speaker 1: The email will be in the show notes in the
32:38
Speaker 1: description below. But for now, the coven is ajournal. See
32:43
Speaker 1: you next time. Bye,