The Bell Witch of Tennessee

By Jeff Coley | November 2020

Around 200 years ago in northern Tennessee, events transpired that resulted in what some argue is the most famous paranormal case in American History. An unseen force capable of speaking and manipulating physical matter terrorized the Bell family, and eventually made itself known to hundreds of visitors that came to see it for themselves from all over the region.

Charles Bailey Bell’s account of the Bell Witch was the only book on my grandmother’s bookshelf that really piqued my interest as a child.  The stories written therein are in large part responsible for my lifelong obsession with the paranormal .  The book contains the legend of what may arguably be the most famous paranormal case in American history, and most of the following alleged incidents are taken from this account.  The events described in the book are said to have taken place from 1817 – 1821, in northern Tennessee.  A man named John Bell and his family were supposedly haunted and tormented by some sort of spirit entity over the course of about four years.  What separates this incident from most hauntings was the behavior of this so-called spirit, who was eventually referred to as ‘Kate’ because of one of the spirit’s numerous and usually misleading claims about its origin.

The spirit initially manifested in ways similar to a poltergeist, with noises such as knocks on the walls followed by grunting and slurping sounds, but the spirit eventually began to speak in a clear voice. It seemed  as though once it was able to communicate to an audience, it had plenty to say.

Tales of the events at the Bell family farm began to spread far and wide, and many people, including General and later President Andrew Jackson, came from all over the region to hear the spirit speak, which it seemed more than obliged to do. The spirit seemed to enjoy openly revealing people’s most secret, darkest deeds such as hypocrisy and adultery. It seemed to know just about everything about everyone from their specific transgressions to their general character and personal strengths. The spirit would usually speak in a strange, metallic sounding voice, but it also seemed to be able to perfectly imitate the voice of anyone it chose. Once, it was alleged to have repeated, verbatim, sermons preached by two preachers who were preaching at separate locations that originally took place simultaneously one Sunday morning. The sermons recited by the spirit were verified by people who had attended the churches as being identical in voice, tone, inflection and content. The spirit was even known to attend church and sing along with the congregation, using the most beautiful voice anyone had ever heard.

The spirit had a personality that some might describe as an abusive, holier-than -thou, hypocritical, racist, bigot who liked to chastise and punish some people while at the same time praising others. There appeared to be no rhyme or reason for its disdain for certain people, such as the family patriarch John Bell and his daughter Betsy. The spirit would constantly curse and hit them, often leaving them in agonizing pain with visible marks and bruises. The spirit swore that it would eventually kill John Bell, which some say it finally succeeded in doing. After a long, unexplained illness that kept John bedridden, he suddenly and unexpectedly slipped into a coma.  Inspection of the medicine cabinet revealed a strange vial containing a murky liquid that when tested on a cat caused convulsions and eventual death.  No one present, including John’s physician, was able to explain the vial’s origin.  However, the spirit claimed to have put it in the cupboard and that it had given John a large enough dose that he would never recover.  John Bell died the following day while the spirit laughed and claimed responsibility… even victory. It was said that the spirit laughed and praised John’s death throughout the entire funeral and burial service.

In addition to ‘speaking in tongues’ and supernaturally manifesting various objects such as medicine vials, fruits and nuts, the spirit seemed to be able to instantly travel to any location on the planet and report back on the various goings-on in these areas. It was once said that the spirit went overseas to Europe and back to deliver messages between family members, which was supposedly confirmed later by those who lived overseas.

On rare occasions, the spirit was said to appear as strange, human figures and other times as odd-looking animals. Interestingly, when its appearance took a visible form, it never spoke.  When it did speak, it never appeared in a visible form. This might imply it was unable to accomplish both visually appearing and speaking at the same time.

After years of torment, torture, tirades and supernatural performances, the spirit eventually departed shortly after the death and burial of John Bell, promising to return to the family’s descendants in the future. 

The Project

 This legend was one of the reasons I chose to become a remote viewer.  After a few years of practice and working with our group, I decided the time had come for us to find out if there was any truth to the legend. I wanted to know what information the Matrix would return when asked for information on “The Bell Witch”. Would the remote viewing results indicate that we were dealing with a completely fabricated idea, or would the data give credence to the events described in the written accounts?

At this point, I tasked my fellow viewers with a blind target on “The Bell Witch”. 

 Remote Viewing Results

The most prevalent idea throughout our session work is the idea of something that is contained, or restrained inside an enclosure. Sometimes this container is sketched and described like a bottle, other times it is a box of some kind. However, this enclosure is also described as a tomb, in some way. One viewer’s session describes a box like an ossuary, similar to one that a collector of antique relics might have in their private collection. Other sessions describe what for all intents and purposes would be a genie bottle. We believe our unconscious mind chose these ancient but still modern ideas to help us understand something so complex that it almost seems magical. Our modern idea of the genie actually comes from the middle-eastern concept of the Djinn.  The legend of The Djinn and the more recent idea of a Genie in a bottle may actually have some basis in fact, at least judging by our remote viewing results on The Bell Witch.

The Djinn are believed to be beings that God created out of 'smokeless fire' long before the creation of man.  They are more intelligent and powerful than humans but lower than angels. According to Islamic tradition, God instructed the Djinn to serve mankind, which they refused.  Ever since, the Djinn have had a vendetta against humanity.  There are said to be both good and bad, or positive and negative Djinn.  Some seem to be on our side while others go out of their way to harm or lead us to destruction.  One can see the obvious similarities between the Djinn and our concept of demons.  The Djinn are thought to live in caves and rocks, be able to take the physical form of a human or animal and to possess or terrorize humans.  Incidentally, there is a cave on the old Bell property that the spirit was thought to reside in.

Continuing on with our remote viewing results, the thing that is contained in the bottle or box is described by the viewers using various terms, such as a phantom, a shrouded humanoid, an optical illusion, an intelligence and a thought form. It seems to be seated inside, like Genie from the TV show I Dream of Genie, or the Djinn from the Wishmaster movie series.

Somehow this intelligence escaped, was released, or was originally loose before it was contained. We don’t know which is the case.  However, we do know that whatever John Bell and his fellow Tennesseans were interacting with, almost two hundred years ago, was a directed energy phenomenon, similar to a focused beam from a flashlight that is controlled, directed and catapulted or thrown.

One session indicated something that paranormal researchers have long suspected, which is that the location where these events were said to have taken place was somehow special itself.  In this session, the viewer mentioned geo-spatial coordinates that made this location a kind of hot spot.  This leads us to believe that the location, at that time, in combination with this directed and focused energy, helped create the conditions for this phenomenon to take place.  There may be other factors that contributed to the spirit's appearance but it will take more work to identify them.

One of the viewers even performed a session to determine the origin of the phantom.  His session described a hidden facility in a far off place that has been laid waste where something lies dormant and asleep in the aftermath. In this buried and forgotten place, there are abandoned but stable pieces of ancient, foreign equipment that is protected by the presence of a watcher, which felt very nerve-racking to the viewer when he was performing the session. This place had an overall, almost off-planet feel to the viewer. 

We now know there was an intelligence, an awareness and presence associated with this directed energy phenomenon, and the purpose of this apparently had to do with amusement, recreation, performance and the idea of bringing a message. One could imagine it was amusing to whoever was behind it. At times, it was even amusing to those present when the spirit performed its 'supernatural parlor tricks', as long as they weren’t one of the spectators targeted for physical, verbal and psychological attacks from the spirit.

The written accounts tell of people traveling hundreds of miles to interact with the spirit. They were usually not disappointed.   One viewer’s session perfectly describes this scene. He sketched and described people from all walks of life, young and old, rich and poor, gathered at something like a magic show, hoping for the chance to participate. He even notes the occurrence of communication similar to speaking in tongues, which is exactly what the spirit was purported to do. Another viewer’s session also described people gathered at a place like a bandstand, watching something magical.

The viewers also describe a destructive nature to this phenomenon and its associated phantom presence.  One viewer notes that it is like a parasite while it reminded another viewer of Hitler and something like a time bomb. The same viewer also perceived ideas of blarney, bushwhacked, hoodwinked and bamboozled. All of these are characteristics normally attributed to a Djinn. It was only after we looked more closely at this target that these ideas were discovered. It seems an initial, cursory, remote viewing probe into The Bell Witch might not tell one the whole story of its destructive and deceptive nature.  And like the legendary Djinn, the viewers noted that when this phantom is being contained, it begs and complains to be let out.  There seems to be only certain circumstances that allow for this thing to go out and perform its desired activities, as if it requires someone’s approval.  During its containment, three of the viewers actually described guards who seem to be keeping this thing bottled-up. One viewer described these guards as ethereal, floating, muscular ‘brutes’, almost like otherworldly prison guards. Another viewer described something like a sentry, guarding and patrolling. Another viewer sketched and described what looks like a winged-being standing on top of a container, where a disturbance is kept at a distance.

One viewer perceived the phantom's conditions in the enclosure as that of a victim of something similar to cruel and unusual punishment.  The spirit's bad behavior aside, the viewer felt sad about the phantom's conditions inside the enclosure.  Not only is it being restrained, but it seems as if its mind and essence is being kept from regenerating, as if in a state of cosmic limbo.  It's as if the guards are 'keeping it dead'.

Conclusion

Our remote viewing results show that the written accounts and stories of The Bell Witch of Tennessee are based on something very rare and strange; an intelligently directed energetic phenomenon resulting in the presence of something that could easily match the idea of a Djinn, a poltergeist and a demon, all rolled into one.  Further work needs to be done to determine such things as the witch’s origin, its present location, and the conditions necessary to allow for its appearance.

An interesting afterthought is that after analyzing our work, one can’t help but notice similarities to subjects such as the Ark of the Covenant and the Dybbuk Box, which are two other carefully crafted, ‘magical’ enclosures said to contain a powerful force or entity.

The spirit's public appearances, spectacles and messages are also very reminiscent of two other historic, paranormal events, the Mothman sightings and the Fatima miracle (links).  Both of these events started out with a few "stage-setting" appearances by an apparition to a few key individuals but then the effects eventually spread to include the entire region.  The impact on the local population from these sightings still lingers to this day.  One common denominator among all of these famous events is the role of prophecy.

The Spirit's Return

As stated earlier, the spirit left shortly after the death of John Bell Sr., promising to return after seven years.  The spirit kept its promise.  In March of 1828, one night while John Bell Jr. was sitting at home, the spirit suddenly began to speak in its familiar voice.  This time there were no strange knocks or scratching sounds on the wall when the spirit appeared.  It seemed to remember exactly how to communicate. 

This time around, the spirit had a very different disposition than its first visit.  There was no abuse, no berating and no games.  The spirit mostly appeared only to John Bell Jr. during this visit, which lasted several months and included many talks and debates between the two.  The spirit was well aware of how much John hated it for tormenting and killing his father and abusing his sister and preventing her marriage to the love of her life.  It was well-behaved during this visit, almost as if it had somehow been reformed, appearing very apologetic, patient and understanding.

The spirit insisted that its actions would somehow benefit future generations, but it never would or could exactly how.  In fact, the spirit seemed to now be primarily concerned with the future of humanity, and it claimed to have some important messages and prophecies regarding the future.

The one fact that the spirit reiterated multiple times was that the United States, and indeed the whole world, is in dire need of spiritual reform if we are to have any hope for a future, in this life or the next.  The spirit spoke to John as if it were a noble humanitarian and born-again Christian.  The spirit had previously debated scripture with preachers on its first visit but now made no bones about expressing its religious beliefs and delivering admonitions to the world.

  "When a world becomes so enlightened that there are no more inventions worth having, and the poor become helpless and starving, the rich thinking only of themselves, and suffering becomes so widespread over the world that the Creator will no longer permit it, then prepare for the end." 

The spirit explained to John that it had been around for millions of years and had seen many superior empires rise and eventually fall after the same formula of corruption was inevitably employed.  It was able to easily recognize the patterns that lead to a country or empire's downfall, much like a futurist studies the future and makes predictions based on current trends.

The spirit claimed that all men needed to recognize the divinity of Christ in order to assure their salvation and be in accordance with the greatest minds of the world.  It noted that Rome persecuted Christians and then it fell, but Christianity has stood the test of time and is now firmly established all over the world.  In its advice on avoiding the mistakes the Roman empire made, the spirit continued,

"Selfishness, licentious habits, oppression of the poor, the rich profiting on the suffering of the poor ultimately leads to the downfall of any country.  I have seen it for some millions of years.  Your country will be tried out.  You may be sure there will be a great social change, and the government itself will undergo trials unexpected."

The spirit predicted that there would be a war between the states which would result in the freeing of the slaves, which was better for everyone in the long run, even though the process would be chaotic for a while.  It said that this had already been determined by The Director of All Things.  It also predicted a great war that would likely involve the whole world, and that

"For sometime after this great war, there will be threats and signs of another great upheaval, which if it comes will be far more devastating and fearful in character than the one the world thought too terrible for the mind to grasp."

It should be noted that these predictions were allegedly given in 1828, long before any of these wars occurred.  However, Charles Bailey Bell's book is known to have been copyrighted in 1934, which was still seven years before America entered World War II.  Perhaps that last prophecy has a little more clout because of this copyright date.

The spirit continually stressed the vital importance of these messages and that America and the rest of the world could put off or maybe avoid all together such a horrible calamity if people finally accept not only their inherent, spiritual nature but also recognize that there are many spirits on the Earth that continuously influence mankind, both negative and positive.  It is only by acknowledging these facts, according to the spirit, that man can turn things around and avoid this fate and all the suffering that comes with it. 

John Bell Jr. kept the nature and content of his talks with spirit secret for most of his life until he finally decided that some of what the spirit said just might be important for future generations, and perhaps it was his responsibility to disseminate the information.  He passed on what he thought were the most important messages to his son, J.T. Bell, who in turn passed them on to his son, Charles Bailey Bell.  John Bell Jr. told his son to hold onto the information and to admonish his descendants to release the information when they felt it would benefit the world.  When the spirit finally left for good, it promised to return again to John's descendants, in one hundred and seven years.  The Bells estimated the next return to be around 1935.  Charles Bailey Bell was somewhat expecting to be the descendant to whom the spirit would appear, however there are no known accounts of the spirit ever returning again. 

It's up to the reader to decide if this spirit was good, bad or somewhere in between.  It's hard for this writer to reconcile the benevolent, preaching, advising, Christ loving spirit of the later visit with the foul-mouthed, abusive, raving character from the early visits, when it would torture an innocent little girl.  The Bible tells us how to test the spirits.  I John 4:1-3 reads "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God:  every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God." (ESV)  If that's the acid test that we should adhere to, then this spirit passed the test.  It repeatedly stressed the divinity of Christ and acknowledged his birth, death and resurrection.  It should also be noted that the spirit claimed that there were living men on Earth at that time that were far worse than it was.  Toward the end of the visits, the spirit continually expressed its desire to be used by God to help humanity in the future.  Its very similar to a convict trying to change his ways and get back on the straight and narrow.

I have to admit, growing up not far from where these events took place, I've often wondered if the spirit had a positive influence among the people of Tennessee during its establishment.  How would you act towards your fellow man if you knew you were being watched and that your deeds could be publicly exposed at any moment?  I'll bet for a long while there, there weren't as many liars, cheaters, thieves or hypocrites in the community. 

I feel it's appropriate to end this article with one final quote from the spirit. 

"It has always been a question to the world's inhabitants as to where they came from.  It is much more important as to where they are going.  Their stay will be longer there."

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