Short Stuff: The Bell Witch | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Hey and welcome to the short stuff. It's. Josh and Chuck here and our scary. October rolls on. It's rolling along. with a short stuff on the bell witch. >> That's right. Rolling along the Red. River of Tennessee. because that's where the Bell Witch is. now uh Adams, Tennessee, but that's. where the Bell Witch story finds its. roots about an hour north of Nashville. Uh, and there was a family, the Bells, that moved from North Carolina in 1806. to Tennessee and did pretty well. They.

were land owners. Uh, they were very. respected. They had a pretty good life. And about nish years after they moved. there, they started to get haunted by a. angry ghost witch. >> Yeah. And before we get too much deeper. into, I want to shout out a historian. named Pat Fitzu, who runs bellwitch.org. and wrote the book The Bell Witch: The. Full Account. Uh, Legends of America, Victoria Klein, Peter at the Tennessee. State Museum. Okay,

>> got it. Rocky Top, baby. >> So, the haunting um of the Bell family. began in 1817 when John Bell, the. patriarch of the family, sometimes. called Old Jack Bell because remember. this is 1817 in Tennessee. >> Yeah. >> He was in his fields. He was a huge uh. planter in the area. Um, and he was in. one of his fields at at one point and he. noticed a big animal sitting in his. field. So, he looked at it a little. closer and he found that it was quite.

disturbing. This large animal had the. body of a dog but the head of a rabbit. >> Okay, red flag. >> John Bell was like, "Did I eat mushrooms. this morning?" He's like, "No, I. didn't." And uh he said, "Well, I'm. going to shoot at this because I'm a. homesteader in Tennessee in 1817." And. when he did, the animal neither vanished. or scured off to the nearby woods, depending on who's telling the story. But either way, John Bell let it be. >> Yeah. So, that's dad's first incident. Uh there would also be successive. incidents with uh kids. Uh Dury, his.

son, and Betsy, his daughter. Uh Durri. saw a And if you're wondering how that's. spelled, it's dy. I've never seen that name before, but I. think I love it. >> I I'm glad that you love it. I think I. misspelled it. I think it might be Drury. because I also saw him referred to as. Drew before. >> I like Dury. >> I like Dury more, too. So, we're going. to rename Drew Bell. >> Yeah. So, Dury was haunted by a giant. bird. Uh, supposedly a bird that he had.

never seen before. It was sitting on a. fence post, so of course he shot at it. as well. >> Mhm. >> Uh, but it disappeared into thin air. And then daughter Betsy may be the most. frightening thing. Although the dog. rabbit's pretty frightening. >> Yeah. But also, so is a little girl in a. green dress hanging from a tree. And I. assume that means by a rope and not just. by her hands. >> I could not get any further. uh information about that. >> Okay. I mean, if it was haunting, it it. had to be like that girl was hanged.

there as a child and or whatever and. came back. >> Yes. So, uh these appearances seem to. portend um all of the the haunting that. followed. Haunting by the ghost of a. witch. Don't forget that's the worst. kind. >> Yeah. >> Because I think the same night after. John Bell saw the rabbit dog or the dog. rabbit, I guess, depending on your. perspective. Yeah. >> Um the family was awakened by beating. noises on the outside of the walls of. their home like it was being pounded on. >> And that was just the first night. These.

things continued night after night after. night. Sometimes they would be pounding. really hard, sometimes kind of light. But either way, Belle and his sons, he. had several sons, they would get out of. bed and try to catch the person who was. pounding on their their um house. This. is basically like 1817 ding-dong ditch, I guess. But they never found a trace of. anybody. >> Yeah. And the the hauntings uh or the. sounds continued rather. Uh the children. I know were haunted by the sounds of. what they thought was rats chewing on. their bed post at night.

>> Mhm. >> Uh which was probably just rats chewing. on their bed post at night, >> right? But you got to toss that one in. >> You got to toss that in because it is. scary. Uh the hauntings would turn. physical. Um sometimes the sheets were. pulled off of the kids while they slept. Uh young Betsy was ghost slapped. apparently hard enough to leave welts uh. and bruises. She was ghost pinched. She. was ghost hairpulled. And it became. pretty clear that Betsy and uh old Jack, the dad, were the the main targets in. this family.

>> Yes. Um, and we'll see why in a few. But, um, I think probably what makes the. whole thing the most disturbing is that. the witch began to talk. It's one thing. for poltergeist activity. Poltergeists. don't talk, everybody. Ask your parents. >> Um, the witch started speaking. The. witch ghost. >> And um, at first it was faint. They were. just barely whispers. You couldn't. really make out what the the ghost was. saying. But over time, the voice grew. louder, clearer, and would sometimes. hold conversations, like entire.

conversations with the Bell family in. their home. >> So much so that John Jr. was known to. debate the witch voice. >> Sure. >> I don't know over what. >> nuclear energy. >> maybe. And and whether it was safe or. not, >> probably. >> But he later wrote the conversations. down that he had with the Bell Witch, and he published it, I think, self-published in 1934. >> That's right. Uh and if you think maybe. just this family had some weird mold in. their house that was driving them all to. the the brinks of sanity. Uh not true.

because uh you know unfortunately this. is 1817 and they had enslaved people on. their land and they also had similar. experiences. Uh the most famous of which. was uh an enslaved man there named Dean. who encountered the witch multiple times. uh in the form of a two-headed dog. >> man. >> with ostensibly do heads. I saw a. drawing of it of this Dean being met by. a two-headed dog and it actually kind of. missed the mark because it looked like. it was hopping up to like play with him.

>> Oh, well, maybe it was. >> because in this in this uh picture, the. drawing, Dean is holding a ball, but. it's not supposed to be like a ball that. the two-headed dog wants to him to toss. for it. It was a witch ball that Dean's. wife made, and that's a real thing. A. witch ball is a um blown glass sphere, usually kind of colorful, and depending. on where you're using this or who you. ask, it's either used to trap witches or. ward off witches. And Dean's wife made. it for him, I think, after the first. time he saw the bell witch um to protect.

himself. >> Yeah. And he was like, you know, I know. tradition says it's got to be a ball, but these this two-headed dog just wants. to get that ball. [laughter]. >> Can we go with something else? She's like, "Sure, how about a witch's. dick?". >> Right. Exactly. Uh, shall we take a. break? >> Mhm. >> All right. We'll come back and finish up. with the bell witch right after this.

All right. So, where we left off, uh. there were two headed dogs wanting to. play with that witch ball. Uh Betsy is. getting ghost pinched. Um dad is getting. haunted. The whole family's getting.

haunted. Uh, and it became pretty clear. that Betsy was getting haunted because. this bell witch did not like the fact. that she was engaged to a guy named. Joshua Gardner, local kid. And she tried. to keep this wedding on uh but. eventually would break it off in 1821. and marry an old guy so old. How old was. he? He was so old that she ended up. nursing the man for 11 years before he. eventually died. >> Yeah. Betsy fell in hardships of her own. even after she moved out of her father's.

house. Um, she had eight children and. four of them. >> in that 11 years with the old sick guy. >> I don't know if it was during or before. I I don't know how long they were. married before he fell ill. I don't. know. But yes, they had eight children. for sure, but only four made it to. adulthood, sadly. So Betsy had her own. troubles because of the Joshua Gardner. thing. But John Bell, the witch, saved. the the worst for him. Like she was.

verbally abusive to him. She was. physically abusive to him. >> Shortly after she appeared, um John Bell. was afflicted by some unknown illness. And it just kept getting worse and worse. over the next few years as the haunting. wore on. He would have seizures. sometimes, Chuck. And as he came out of. the seaures seizures, the bell witch. would slap him around. >> Man, >> she was really mean and ruthless toward. John Bell. She hated John Bell. Can you. imagine that? That like he comes out of. a seizure and she's like, "Hey, what do. you think of this?" Smack, smack, smack.

>> I've been waiting for you to come out of. it. Oh, >> uh he sadly uh passed on in December. 1820. Uh he believed that the witch had. poisoned him. And apparently the witch. confirmed this and the day before he. died said, "It's useless for you to try. and relieve old Jack. I've got him this. time. He will never get up from that bed. again." I put it there and gave old Jack. a big dose of it. last night while he. was asleep, which fixed him. >> Nice. There's a nice little um preview. of our Halloween episode.

>> Uh oh, I hope so. Uh the neighbors found. out about this stuff, too, right? >> Yeah. So, he swore his family. John Bell. swore his family to secrecy. This is. just kind of not the thing that you. wanted your um fellow towns folk in 1817. Tennessee to know about. But it just. became such a big deal that it it spread. and got out. And so some of the town's. folk tried to catch the witch. They. tried to um one guy tried to shoot the. witch. Uh it to no avail, right? They no. one could do anything to esage the the.

bell witch. They even came up with their. own legends, too. The one that stood out. to me the most was that at one point the. bell witch recited two different sermons. verbatim that were being given delivered. at two different churches at that moment. >> miles away from one another. And I mean. if that's not a 1817. Tennessee folk superstition that you. just be like damn when somebody told you. that. >> Yeah. >> I don't know what is. >> Yeah. because that's literally.

impossible. >> in that time to know exactly what was. being said in two different places at. once. >> There's a lot there's a lot of holes in. that legend for sure. >> Uh thankfully after John died, maybe. taken care of by the the bell witch, uh. the hauntings basically stopped. I don't. think we mentioned that at his funeral, uh the witch even haunted him there was. like singing drinking songs and. interrupting the wake in the funeral. Mhm. >> Um but much later in 1849, the Saturday. Evening Post would publish a story uh.

that people basically said is like the. first commercial publication of this. story. Yeah. >> Uh and it accused Betsy of being behind. the whole thing. And she threatened to. sue uh unless they printed an apology. and a retraction, which they did. So I. guess they did make that up. >> And Betsy just, you know, she never. wanted to talk about it as she aged. She. never spoke of the Bell Witch. >> Yes. So, the bell witch, um, I'm pretty. sure even at the time, but certainly. shortly afterward, in Tennessee, in the.

parts of Tennessee, it was attributed to. a local woman named Kate Bats. And. there's a couple different explanations. for why Kate Bats would care about the. Bell family so much that she would hound. them beyond the grave. The first one. takes place entirely in Tennessee. because we didn't say, but not just. Tennessee, but also North Carolina and. Mississippi put some claim on the Bell. Witch, even though it all happened in. Tennessee. But in the first explanation, John Bell, remember we said he was one. of the bigger planters. He had a 300. plus acre homestead that he built by.

acquiring land from neighbors. And there. was one land deal that he had with the. brother-in-law of Kate Bats, a man by. the name of Benjamin. And Belle is said. to have taken advantage of Benjamin on. the deal. And that in her death, Kate. hounded John Bell to the grave in. revenge for this land deal. >> Why would he do Benjamin Brat like that? I don't know. >> Such a fine actor. >> Yeah. >> Uh the other version, like you said, takes place also in North Carolina. because they also do lay claim. And this.

is that um Belle, well uh seemingly he. he had sex with Kate Bats and had an. affair with Kate Bats. >> And that is why he he'd left to go to. Tennessee because he had had this. affair, broke it off. Kate was really. sore at this obviously and threatened to. tell everybody including the family. And. so, as the legend goes, Belle tied her. up in a smokehouse and left her there to. die. And she haunted him there. And so, they had to pack up and leave the. Tennessee. And she was like, "Oh, no. I.

don't think you know how ghost witches. work. We can we can travel interstate. Tennessee is not that far away.". >> Yep. The whole way she just kept going, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?". >> [laughter]. >> So, one of the things that makes the. story so unsettling, aside from all the. details of it, and if you really want to. dive into it, check out Pat Fitzu's um. website, bellwitch.org, like really has. a lot of exhaustive research on it. >> But one of the things that that makes it. unsettling, like I was saying, is that. these people like really did live in.

North Carolina and Tennessee at the time. this legend covers like genealogologists. have found Kate Bats in Edgecomb County. They found Kate Bats in Adams, Tennessee. Apparently, bats still live. in Adams, Tennessee, and there's bells. as well. Um, the the Bell family. graveyard has all these people's. headstones from the correct time frame. So, the idea that these people really. did live and that at the time they. believed that this was happening to the. Bell family, as did the Bell family, um,

that that I don't know. I think that. makes it even cooler. It's not like it's. not like the the the the hitchhiker with. the hook hand or something like that. Like this actually happened. >> Yeah. I mean, this this I think throws. it in there with the category of of like. the Ammedville house and stuff like that. of the supposed real hauntings that took. place. >> for sure. >> Uh but you can still go there. It's like. a tourist destination. Um, apparently. the town of 674 people, uh, it's it's a. pretty big boon for their economy.

because they have rebuilt the house is. gone, but they re rebuilt a replica in. its in its place. It must be so popular. >> Yeah, you can tour it inside the replica. of the house. There's also a cave on. John Bell's property uh, that they. believe the Bell Witch lives in. Uh, and. you can tour that cave as well. Um, I. can't remember how much it was, but it. was reasonably priced. It's not going to. break you for a family of four. >> Um, and again, it's just an hour north. of Nashville. It looks quite quite neat.

They also offer lantern guided tours in. the dark. >> So, if you're really feeling scary, maybe. >> do that one. >> Yeah. And and if they don't have some. sort of animatronic rabbit dog, they're. doing it wrong. >> That's [laughter] right. Uh, the whole. town's saving up for it. Don't you. worry. >> Uh, tell them, Chuck. Uh, >> I think that means short [music] stuff. is out. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple.

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