Did the Bell Witch Torment a Family in Tennessee?
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- Опубліковано 24 лип 2024
- The Bell Witch is one of America's most famous legends. A settler family in Tennessee puts down roots, only to find themselves caught in the clutches of a malevolent entity. Richard Bell, just 10 years old at the time of the events, described a number of paranormal occurrences on the Bell property, from verbalizations to objects moving on their own, and even physical harm to his siblings and parents. In more recent years, however, many researchers have begun to question aspects of the story, and one stands out above them all: was there ever a witch at all? Welcome back to The Lore Lodge...
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0:00 - Intro and Regional Background
12:08 - The Bell Witch Haunting Begins
33:49 - The Haunting Gets Worse
49:17 - John Bell's End
54:36 - So What Happened? - Розваги
What's so funny to me about this story is that in most horror movies, the demon is mysterious and unknown, only appearing to scare you or harm you in some way, but this one literally just talked to anyone who came to visit the house like "Yeah I'm making all those noises and slapping you in the face at night... I'm not gonna stop but I'll blow out this candle and spy on your neighbors for you."
I don't know what happens when we die, but I've said it before and I'll say it again - if there is an afterlife, I am absolutely coming back just to mess with people, purely for my own entertainment.
I'm choosing to believe that the Bell Witch may have had a similar idea, lmao
I put the Bell witch in the same category as Gef the Talking Mongoose. Neither of them will shut up, and it’s honestly for the best. They’d be amazing to sit down with for a cup of tea while they read the neighborhood to filth. 😂
Right? The Bell Witch legend reminds me a LOT in that respect of the very similar legend of Gef, the Talking Mongoose (AKA The Dalby Spook)... in that legend from the Isle of Man (near England and Ireland), as described by Wikipedia:
'In September 1931, the Irving family, consisting of James, Margaret, and a 13-year-old daughter named Voirrey, claimed they heard persistent scratching, rustling, and vocal noises behind their farmhouse's wooden wall panels that variously resembled a ferret, a dog, or a baby. According to the Irvings, a creature named Gef introduced itself and told them it was a mongoose born in New Delhi, India, in 1852. According to Voirrey, Gef was the size of a small rat with yellowish fur and a large bushy tail. The Irvings say that Gef communicated to them that he was "an extra extra clever mongoose", an "Earthbound spirit" and "a ghost in the form of a mongoose" and once said, "I am a freak. I have hands and I have feet, and if you saw me you'd faint, you'd be petrified, mummified, turned into stone or a pillar of salt!" The Irvings made various claims about Gef: he supposedly guarded their house and informed them of the approach of guests or any unfamiliar dog. They said that if someone had forgotten to put out the fire at night, Gef would go down and stop the stove. The Irvings claimed Gef would also wake people up when they overslept, and whenever mice got into the house, Gef supposedly assumed the role of the cat, although he preferred to scare them rather than kill them. The Irvings say they gave Gef biscuits, chocolates, and bananas, and food was left for him in a saucer suspended from the ceiling which he took when he thought no one was watching. The Irvings claimed the mongoose regularly accompanied them on trips to the market, but always stayed on the other side of the hedges, chatting incessantly....'
Gef the Dalby Spook is considered to be debunked as a hoax perpetrated by one of the Irvings using ventriloquism, and other little tricks, but the similarities of the story to the Bell Witch legend are uncanny, right down to some of the same debunking explanations, and I would almost think that one was inspired by the other, if I could find a way to connect them directly together, that is, point to any evidence that the Irvings were familiar with the earlier Bell Witch story!
Both sound remarkably (and not coincidentally) like classic descriptions of poltergeist activity and the sort of pranks that faerie folk, goblins, and the like are supposed to play on people who cross them - these are part of an older understanding of what a "witch" was, and both legends could probably be better described as classic poltergeist hauntings or "pixilation' by mischievous fairies, rather the sort of thing we might picture today as "witch" or "cryptid" stories!
In fact, sharp-eyed observers would note that both stories even feature young women of the right age as the center of the poltergeists' attention!
@@pietrayday9915 Gef, the Talking Mongoose is honestly my favorite paranormal story in history. 😂
Forget space ghost this is based ghost
The one thing i found quite funny is how this haunting figure would torment them but then at one point went "Hey i know i'm haunting you but you should stay home because a baddie is on her way here and you just cant fumble this bag"
No one screws with you guys except me
@@Mallengarno one F**** my daughter but me
Ok but why does this also sound like peak mom behavior? Another reason to think it was Lucy Bell
😂
absolutely obsessed with the idea of a spirit making up different back stories for themselves and then getting bored, saying nah nah okay this is the REAL reason I'm here... and then going AH GOTCHA but really, if you REALLY wanna know...
😂😂
**smacks lips** eyyy Sugarmouth, did I ever tell you about my pirate treasure 👻
😬
In the 1990s, I was an undergraduate. I had a professor named Harold Bell. He taught political science. He was older, very Southern (being from Tennessee) and very no-nonsense. He was also a very direct descendant of the Bell family discussed in this video. One day, during class, a student asked him about the Bell Witch. Dr. Bell spent the entire class talking about the haunting. In the end, he stated very matter-of-factly that the Bell Witch was a hoax. Ironically, he did talk about the cave near the farmstead. He said it never felt right. When he was in his 20s, he had removed some rocks and artifacts from there. Weird things began to happen. He returned them and they stopped. So while Bell was adamant it was a hoax, I’ve never been convinced that he truly believed it himself. This was almost 30 years ago. He’s been dead for 25. Kinda sad seeing that history and connection to our past and folklore fade…
I hate when theres lip smacking in my horror movies.
I like it when theres Crips Blasting in my horror movies !
I like when there’s wall tapping in my horror movies
It is the point... to make you feel uncomfortable 😣
You know that passive aggressive
thing a lot of people when you ask them a question and then smack their tongue? I'm just picturing Johnson asking "What artthoi demon?!?!" and just getting "*smack* Weeeeell" back.
@@Lazarou101 exactly lmao like when he asks who they are name wise I'm imagining a "sheeeeeet bro I mean what millennia we talkin? I BEEN around."
The blue flame detail is very interesting. Fire can change colors when you toss certain elements into it, and both arsenic and lead create blue flames.
I believe arsenic was one of the leading theories
i believe a type of natural gas also causes blue flame so this could be a possibility the gas caused hallucinations like the oracle of delphi situation where the chosen girl would sit in a cave and inhale the gas
I seem to think though it was a mixture of lead and belladona since it seems to be lacking the characteristic digestive tract symptoms like vomiting and diarrhea of arsenic but is heavy on the muscle spasms and neurological symptoms. Interestingly the combination would give a black solution.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t lead poisoning also cause mild hallucinations or paranoia or even schizophrenia? Symptoms that could explain away much of the bell witch events? Hang on, ima look it up real quick and come back with an edit.
Edit: okay, so lead encephalopathy (mind I’m not a smart person) is where someone gets a high dose of lead, in which can cause hallucinations. However from what I can gather, I am wrong about lead in general causing hallucinations. Instead it can cause mental slowness as well as irritability, attention difficulty, and memory loss. I’m gonna do more research of course, because I swear I had heard or read somewhere that general lead poisoning can cause hallucinations, I want to atleast see where is heard this.
@@yeetusdeletus9818 Lead poisoning is a broad term.
It can be of various kinds
short term
medum term
long term
all have different effects
Also it varies with what exact lead compund is used
Other chemicals in the poison along with lead can also affect the symptoms it causes.
You would get hallucinations with some lead compunds if they are given in very high doses over short period of time. like a few hours or few days. And that would kill you or make you so ill that you couldnt continue fundtioning normally.
So unlikely to be over years and years
I just want to say that every time we see Aidan's dog on screen, it looks well-groomed, well-cared for, and calm. That is a happy animal right there with no stress in its life.
I hung out with a descendant of the Bells when I was like 17 years old, he had the last name and everything. My buddy’s stepdad had him over one night while all us kids were partying and we ended up hotboxing a car with him. He was probably late 40s early 50s at the time and we started jokingly asking him about the haunting etc. Dude went on to scare the daylights out of all of us with every paranormal encounter he and his direct family had experienced even to this day. He truly (or very convincingly) believed in the curse and throughly freaked us out. I’d love to interview that guy again.
So, one thing I'd point out on the written documentation front. *If* this happened and *if* the locals were of the opinion that naming/engaging with the Bell Witch gave it power, it's entirely possible that the lack of diaries and whatnot could be the result of intentional destruction at some later point, especially if it did make the return visit years later. Which would, in turn, suggest that if you wanted more corroborating accounts, you'd need to find more folks like Captain John Bell who were from out of the area, passed through during the Witching, and either then or later wrote it down.
Theoretically, it's possible those diary entries etc. never existed in the first place, maybe it was a "shut up about it" situation from the beginning
@@comradeurod9805Good point. Especially in that period of time.
Yeah, it seems like the simple solution that destroying all knowledge of the Witch would get it disappear. But that would just be so wasteful
Do you think another reason why there was a lack of written accounts was because of the amount of people back then who could actually read and write?
The only haunting recognized officially by the US Government
No there is also a house that was recognised as haunted by the American courts as it was impossible to live in and the new owner demanded to retract the purchase. They won.
There's also a court case in West Virginia where the testimony of a ghost (through the victim's mother) was used to convict the murderer.
I know that story! They need an episide on this!!! @lokabarn
@@lokabarnThat was one of my favorite MrBallen videos. Is that where you heard about it too?
@pariah_carey I grew up in that area of WV. My grandma told me about it when I was really young.
My favorite part was when Art Bell came out and told all the true believers it was Bellin Time then Belled all over the stage
#spawnofartbellwitch
You seriously spent money to write a meme. Absolutely incredible what people will throw money away on lmao
@@magnawaves I spent money to support the channel
The meme is just the cherry on top
@@magnawavesits 2 bucks you acting like its his life savings
@@ElektriKfaUNI read that as "Spa no fart bell witch"
The ear procedure being described is an older version of the exact same ear gauging process people use to get larger ear peircing holes today.
Got it, wasn’t entirely sure because the account made it sound like they were wrapping wire around the cartiledge
Yeah that makes sense too, in addition to gauging the lobes, northern iroquios-hadenosawne tribes are well documented to have long enjoyed many catilage peircings in the ears too, and often with hoop earrings which might look like wrapping wire to the uninitiated. Assuming these cultures had contact and overlap at some point it would make sense they would have that peircing tradition in common.
glad someone else commented this because I thought the same thing!
I heard once that most written documentation may have been destroyed when the witch returned as promised. Because they had seen before that engaging with it gave it power and they didn't want a repeat [see also just ignoring it when it came back] they might have also asked people in the town to destroy any written accounts because they feared even having those written pieces around might trigger something. I think this makes sense, and explains the lack of documentation from people in the town.
There's also the poltergeist theory. I think the daughter didn't want to marry the young man but times being what they were she wasn't really given much choice and had to at least appear as if she was happy with that courtship. The emotional turmoil of it all [likely combined with other things] may have created a poltergeist and the reason it was dead set on the dad dying was because he was the one forcing her into that relationship and that's why it vanished when she finally cut ties with the young man as well. The emotional troubles that brought it into existence were gone and the return may have just been to ensure that no one was forcing her to do something she didn't want ever again which is why it left when people refused to engage with it.
I go with the "Orient Express" explanation. A group effort. As each took a turn, nobody was unaccounted for every time.
Agreed
dumb!
Found you through Wendigoon, loving the channel. 🤗
As someone who has had to deal with rats, them chewing on something can be hard to pinpoint accurately. What sounds like it's coming from right next to you could be across the room under a cabinet or dresser. They also will go quiet real quick if they think a threat, or human, is nearby. Rats can also climb well(unless obese) and can hide between a mattress and a wall. They can also fit through small gaps under doors. Just because you didn't find a rat when looking for one doesn't mean it wasn't there, or still isn't there.
We've upgraded from rats to lizards, specifically a species that eats young rodents(both mice and rats); however, this has led to sifting sounds at times, and since they do not have a habit of staying near walls like rats do, they will climb over/in between glass bottles causing them to clink against each other.
Thank you for your service
I have mice rather than rats but can confirm that little rattling noise can sound like it's just about everywhere. I've still not seen any, I get rid of em for a time and then they come back. They're annoying and I clean up after them but they're just lil guys, I prefer that to the spiders that start trying to get in during the autumn / winter season. So many legs, so fast...
Yep!
Get cats and you won't have rodent issues. They're cheaper than constant traps and poison too.
@@mason7067 lol. not true. I had some mice and my cat literally pulled one out from under a cabinet by the tail which I noticed because it started squealing for dear life. And my cat, instead of killing it, just let it go and run back under the cabinet. She just likes to play with them. 🙄😆
She HAS however, always brought any trap with a mouse in it out to us. We get the non-poisonous glue traps also because my cat has gotten a paw stuck on them... TWICE! BOTH WHEN THEY WERE IN AN HARD TO REACH AREA, TOO! Lol
We tried the non lethal catch and release traps, put cheese in and peanut butter, but they never would go for them! 🤷♀️
When a mouse/rat gets stuck in a glue trap though, I will give it a swift, quick death so it doesn't suffer anymore.
I once tried to free a mouse from a glue trap, I washed it off with soap and water, but it had struggled so much that it's hind legs broke. 😢 I hated having to kill it but it would've died regardless. Death sometimes is a mercy... And even though I really hate hurting any animals, even mice, I also know that refusing to kill something suffering an agonizing and long death is far more cruel than killing it as quickly and as painlessly as possible. I'd feel much worse if I knew I'd just thrown a mouse, that was stuck in a glue trap, into the trash to very slowly die. That would be so much worse than killing it imo.
Although, If the damn mice/rats would just go into the catch and release traps though, then I wouldn't have to kill them! I'd tell them that, but rodents don't understand English so... 😮💨
But hey, get a cat because cats are awesome and some will help you with mice, just don't get one for rodent control only because not all cats will help you with that lmao!
Yea they'll go quiet if startled. I can pinpoint the rodents that get in here as they always go to the same cupboard where they can easily steal dogfood. Had one try run up my pant leg one year and I nearly had a heart attack. I don't piss around now if I hear anything I load the cupboard with bait and traps. They don't get the chance to get comfortable in this place anymore.
The twitching with John Bell was almost certainly Multiple Sclerosis. All of his issues line up with the condition.
I deal with this. Muscle spasms, twitching, shaking. All of it. It comes and goes in phases and causes similar issues. I have seizures as well, which is another indicator. Untreated, it's not unlikely that it could have killed him.
and the jaw pain could have been an absess; which could have killed him. If the story was real, there are medical explanations. The core of the story is odd. Was it the kids pranking, or unpaid servants revenge, or what sent them down the witch route in the first place. I wish people took better reccords. Multiple records would have helped narrow this down. Total fake, or based on something? A. M. did an awesome job at telling the story though!
Sounded something like that to me as well. I don't have MS but seizures I'm familiar with. I'm not familiar with any poisons that would cause it. I'm certain there's some neurotoxins that do, just not familiar with them.
My mind went to a condition such as MS, exacerbated with a comorbidity of perhaps heavy metal poisoning or more likely just some regular poison.
I was thinking something like that. Same with Elizabeth. Fainting spells? Wow, unheard of.
I was thinking it could have been a brain tumor pressing on some motor centers, but MS sounds like a great explanation too
@@XXMatt0040XXstrychnine is known to cause convulsion as well as neurological damage, and was commonly used as a pesticide well into the 20th century, so it could have been a component in the alleged poisoning
YES, two videos from The Lore Lodge this week, both over an hour long 🎉🎉🎉
Movie night 😊
The biggest problem I have with this case is that it is based not on the truthfulness of Richard Bell, but that of Martin Ingram. While there are passing references to unusual events in the area prior to his book being published, they all vary widely in the details of the persons and incidents involved and were recorded decades after the events took place.
The only reference to the vial of poison and the 'cat test' that I could find outside of Ingram's publication refers to the poison being found in the chimney, that the event took place some days prior to John Bell's death, and that John Bell had enjoyed good health up until that point. That account was supposedly written in 1880, but was not published until 1900.
Ingram was the only person with access to Richard Bell's papers, which makes him the sole source for what they contained, and according to the Bell family, he never returned those papers so there is no way to verify if his presentation of their contents is accurate or not.
The only contemporary reference is to a girl being followed by a voice urging her to marry a certain young man, and contains no suggestion of the fantastical phenomena to which Ingram refers, stating that those who questioned the 'voice' went away disappointed and that many considered it to be merely ventriloquism, either on the part of the girl or one of her brothers. This is radically different from later accounts and implies that a great deal of embroidery has gone on - probably from a combination of the desire to tell a gripping tale, and the longstanding tradition of hauntings and other supernatural events in the area.
Given the absence of any other contemporary references I think we have to conclude that Ingram is not a reliable source, and that whatever did happen at the Bell family farm in 1820 - whether it was poltergeist phenomena or a couple of bored teenagers pranking their elders - the more dramatic accounts have to be laid down to gradual elaboration as the story passed from mouth to mouth, and likely outright fabrication by a journalist three-quarters of a century later.
Ingram's mostly fictional 1894 novel is limited to storytelling entertainment. There's nothing wrong with that; however, if one is truly researching the case and trying to get to the bottom of what happened, Ingram is not a reliable source.
Honestly my favorite part of these videos are the history lessons
As a historian & cultural interpreter, I agree, although I am not a big fan of the Missing 411 nonsense and native people have asked many times for people to stop with the wendigo stuff etc. But his research, analysis, & interpretation are spot on. I know the sketchy stuff makes big bucks tho, and working in serious cultural interpretation pays less than McDonald's a lot of the time, soooo...my own choices probably invite more reflection than his 😂
I will say, I think it's lovely the way the community came together to help out the Bells.
imagine being tormented by a demonic ghost and all your neighbors just come by with a blanket and popcorn to watch
Great neighborhood lol
Middle Tennessean here. I've seen the carriage belonging to Andrew Jackson the Bell Witch supposedly "jumped" on when he visited the Bell house. I'd love a follow up addressing that episode of the legend.
So you play banjo
@@ElektriKfaUN Banjo is optional in Nashville, only guitar is mandatory.
I’ve been in the Cave
@@Jim-Mcin Nashville you have to learn a bluegrass instrument, in Memphis you're required to use fruity loops to make hip hop beats with rapid hi hats and booming 808's 😂
@@ElektriKfaUN Hey now, let's get it straight. We play the saxophone in the West, a gee-tar in the Middle, and a fiddle or banjo in the East. (Sincerely, another Middle Tennessean.)
The one thing you said pretty much explained this story to me. It was along the lines of the more people who came over the more the spirit communicated and the more powerful it got. Sounds like a classic case of hysteria
Yeah, exactly. After a while people would've just started assuming that any weird occurence is because of the witch.
Tldr; how legends really work
I work in a building that is listed in several "haunted Montana" books. It is a puzzling case, as it was a library and a strictly operated one. No deaths ever occurred there. I asked the handyman, who is 85, & he said, "oh that's all made up crap." So i looked up the actual story. Guess who provided the only quote on which the legend is based? The handyman, but it was 20 yrs ago just as paranormal was really trending, and he was trying to help drum up interest, but he has forgotten😂 I dont have the heart to tell him. And my colleagues love the legend and swear the building is haunted (it's very old is all), so the story wont be corrected. In 50 years, no one will know the truth and they'll probably analyze it like ths. Just a reminder how these things often go...rarely is it such a clear cut case as mine, but i really do think it's mostly imagination & forgotten tomfoolery.
I have the exact opposite coming to the same conclusion; I have experienced a place that is ridiculously clichée - and no one ever claimed any haunting there:
I live in a part of another country than the US which is basically riddled with burial mounts; "Celtic" (Ost-Hallstadt-Kultur, which is seen as maybe not proto-celtic today and Urnfeld-Kultur) ones.
There is a mental hospital near my town, built in the 1900s for the then incredible amount of 1200 mentally ill patients, in the middle of the forest back then.
In the late 1930ies and early to mid 1940 (I guess we all can guess the country I am coming from by now), at least several hundred patients (probably something around 700) were killed in that insane asylum - it's hard to say, because it was part of the "wild euthanasia" which was implemented after 1940; the patients were neglected and simply died, some were weakened by injections of Phenobarbital - the so called Luminal-Schema, three times slightly overdosed Phenobarbital a day plus insufficient nutrition likely results in pheumonia; several hundred patients died of pneumonia there, more than one would expect from the circumstances; so, in short; the staff killed patients during the NS time.
I have attended theater and dancing events in the former grounds, there is a cultural centre. I have slept (and friends still live) in the - now partly converted to appartments - historical buildings.
There was nothing. No ghosts, nothing. Nobody I talked with ever had any haunting there.
If ghosts do not manifest where people built their insane asylum on burial mounts and "euthanize" patients, they sure are choicy.
There is indeed some strange need for everyone to assume any old building is haunted. I call it peaceful and move on.
This case has a lot in common with another haunting known as "Gef the Talking Mongoose", both in the alleged activity and the potential of being hoaxed. Interestingly both also center around young women.
I always thought these two cases were very similar also!
Definitely need a Gef Lore Lodge episode
I was thinking the same thing. People had to entertain themselves back then. It was easier to fake things when no one could point FLIR at a wall and see someone standing on the other side. I would love to see a recreation of how someone pulled of either of these "Events" (In Bell witch events... I think the dad just had absessed tooth or Siezures and wasn't really taken out by anyone other than lack of antibiotics and degenerative disease, and the kids kept up the show for a while so they wouldn't look sus)
I also noticed marked similarities to the Gef case. Both seem to be what Gef called "earthbound spirits", whatever that might mean. They have similarly amoral personalities, emotionally mercurial behavior, and seem generally like a "trickster god" archetype. They both became connected to a family or community and occasionally appeared visually to some as animals.
Yeah, I remember reading about the Gef case many years ago. Now you mention it, these cases are very similar.
Being from Tennessee and living only a short drive away from Robertson county, The Bell Witch has always been once of my favorite legends. This was an excellent coverage of the lore and explanation of everything before hand.
i swear i click on your vids, listen to 20 minutes of native american history going like okay yeah this is interesting. then you bring up the topic of the video. so much research like wow i love it! 😊
I agree 💯
The transition feels natural literally every video too. I honestly don't know if that's more to the credit of the quality of these videos or that the legends tie in shockingly often.
Always a bit of both of course. Calling it a "niche" sounds like the improper word for it, but grounding these videos with the historical context going back centuries makes for a really unique style. I don't think I *ever* would go out of my way to watch these videos since I'm just not the "Oooh spooky" type. Tying them together though... often makes me wonder.
I get so lost in the history that I literally forget what the video is about. lol
The Histocrat did a fantastic deep dive on The Bell Witch. Great channel worth checking out.
Sensabaugh tunnel. First time i went there, i heard what sounded like coins dropping as i walked through
It floods pretty much anytime it rains, so i chalked it up to water leaking and left it at that.
A couple weeks later, a friend and i were taking a walk near Panther Creek park, only to hear the same sound of coins dropping behind us on the road. Open air, nowhere for water to drop from (clear night). No trees or anything else hanging over the road either.
I later mention this to my older sister, who had been to Sensabaugh years prior, who mentioned hearing the same thing, and put me in touch with her then friend (who accompanied her on that trip) who both confirmed hearing the same sound AND hearing it in her HOUSE and other places for weeks after visiting.
Appalachia is home to some spooky stuff, but Tennesseeans are literally the superior and dominant Overmen race in the world, so we’re not scared
Well then cross into VA n go to our famous haunted bridge called Bunny man Bridge on Halloween. Good luck lol. By the way I literally live on the state line of Va n Wv n I’m an hour n a half from Tennessee and 2 from Nc n 2 from KY so I’d we have all that blended into us here. Southwest Va sir their is no other breed like us in the Appalachians.
We all appreciate how much work goes into these. Thank You!
“It had done so in a way he could no longer avoid” What if it this is not about whether the witch can tell a lie, but actually saying that they’ve crossed a line in acknowledging it, that whatever they said had made the entity permanent, or gotten its attention back, implying that before that, there would have been a way to get rid of the haunting, that now is not possible. The phrasing basically saying that this was avoidable
BIG FAN of your meticulously researched stories, chock-full of tasty historical tidbits, plus compelling supernatural and/or preturnatural food for thought. Your story-telling skill and style are captivating. Thank you!!!
I'm so sorry but "it threw the kitchen sink at the Johnsons" had me laughing so friggin' much, I just choked on my potato chips!!!
The Bell Witch has always been a fascinating topic for me. But, I'm a skeptic on anything supernatural, so I take most of the accounts about it with a grain of salt. However, I have to admit, the witness accounts of it are really compelling. Especially that people from afar (Andrew Jackson comes to mind) claimed to have experienced it. I have also heard a lot of different accounts of the Bell Witch story, one such detail you seemed to have left out is that Mr. Bell saw a large, black wolf on his property and even took a shot at it with his rifle. Not sure if that incident was ever confirmed to be tied to what was going on in their house. Also, a detail that I always overlooked when researching and watching videos on the Bell Witch was that Mr. Bell had slaves working in and around the home and it supposedly did not bother them as much as it did to the Bells. Definitely looking forward to a sequel video to this.
He did miss that your right, maybe on purpose
I came across the Andrew Jackson story the first time we covered this (20 minute version), couldn’t find any record that it was true unfortunately
Maybe it was just the people they enslaved fucking with then
I heard each of those points briefly referenced here. The slaves were supposedly not bothered in their living quarters, which is accepted, though the people living in those quarters could have chosen to deny being bothered for any number of reasons. He briefly touched on the black canine that Mr. Bell shot at. The Jackson incident couldn't be indisputably verified, so he mentioned what was claimed & that it can't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I approve!
I'm a Tennesseen,This lore was taught to me in Tennessee History!! (I was young teen in the 80's when I learned this.) Thank you for doing a story about Tennessee 's Bell Witch!;;
They didn't teach that kinda cool shit in Dickson County!
I’m lucky enough to have grown up on the Bell Farm.
The puppy is a great addition to this video lol. I love the surprise appearances! Love your videos and all your content
Absolutely love this channel, it really helps me get through the day...
The vast wealth of knowledge I get from these videos is astounding, and very much appreciated. It is the only reason I was able to tell my son anything about the Roanoke colony after he learned a bit about it in school.
Stumbled across you and have now listened to three videos. Absolutely loved them and will work my way through the rest! Keep up the great work, it's obvious you love what you do! Because of my love of cryptids, I'm partial to those videos, but keep it up! The history lessons are perfect! Enough to get our feet wet and wholly understand the story, but not required to listen to the video topic! And also a springboard into another topic to research for personal interest.
I grew up just outside Adams TN and we'd go over to the bell witch home/cave all the time! At least until access got more restricted. I was excited to see it covered here.
As someone born & raised in Southern Appalachia/TN area I can say with absolute certainty that there are weird things that go on but this one I have always been a bit skeptical of. Hard to say why, my gut just says something doesn't wash.
Yinz are becoming my favorite channel. I haven't been into lore/cryptids/history in years and completely failed at believing there was a community on the Internet who's all about it. No longer do I feel like the weirdo sitting at the lunch table alone reading notes I printed out of the library.
It's been years since I gave any thought to the Bell Witch. I vaguely remember coming to the conclusion that John Bell was the cause of most of the strange noises. Thought it was more likely that he had developed an illness that involved seizures and in that time I think seizures were seen as a kind of curse? The parents didn't want to suffer the loss of community status. The conflicting stories and the way the whole thing got mythologized made my head spin. But boiling it down to provable facts, seemed like that was the simplest explanation. I also think his wife poisoned him at the end, but as an act of mercy. And the reason why the "witch" was affectionate and kind to one of the daughters was because the "witch" was actually her mother who didn't want to traumatize her favorite child. But that's just what I remember thinking was most likely years ago. Not sure if I'd read it the same way now.
It's almost Halloween and would be really interested in your take on Lizzie Borden.
Totally forgot what the video was about until like 12:10. I was too invested in hearing about the Cherokee, you are very engaging.
41:00
“I like to think that the Bell Witch was a LITTLE sassy”
Subscribed! 👍 You earned it.
I never heard this story told in such detail, it is way more horrifying it spreading across the town. What a great inspiration for another horror story idea, the interactions it would have allegedly are super interesting and the extrasensory supernatural knowledge.
In thought of the poor slaves, I recall the quote by Harlan Ellison;
“for a people with a heritage of enslavement, evil is a concept of those who forged the shackles, not those who wore them.”
Fact-based analysis:
There are two thoughts that occur to me-one, that most of the physical aspects of the haunting (especially the hair pulling, the beatings, etc.) were probably the father abusing his family, and the aural aspect was probably someone’s idea of how to protect the reputation of the family (and especially that of the children) from being tainted with his abusive actions.
My best guess on the extreme beatings of the two enslaved men is that *they* were the ones responsible for the voices-the child being the main voice, providing the more feminine voices, and the older one being the more aggressive voice.
If there was a crawl space under the floorboards, it would be relatively easy for a child to scamper out from under & then relay the message to another enslaved person who would run to the farm mentioned & ask one of their enslaved people what had happened that morning. The occasional errors could have been caused by playing “broken telephone”, or by the homeowners lying about what had actually happened.
The “medicine” could have been distilled strychnine. Strychnine was used in a dilute form as a treatment for heart ailments. Shortness of breath & extreme jaw and teeth pain can be symptoms of a heart attack, so it’s possible that he was given strychnine in solution to help his heart muscles contract better and avoid a heart attack. If someone was able to concentrate the dosage, they could have given him a full-strength dose, which caused intense spasms, and eventually death through asphyxiation.
If you combine these two hypotheses together, it’s possible to postulate a simple explanation for the various symptoms of the “haunting”. The haunting was orchestrated by the wife as a way to protect the family, and especially her daughter, from the extreme actions of an abusive husband and father. She recruited some of the enslaved people that the family owned to create manifestations of the haunting hoping that the “witch” would keep his position in the township’s unofficial hierarchy relatively elevated and stable, which would stroke his ego and keep the abuse to a minimum. When he was prescribed strychnine for his heart condition by the local doctor, she took advantage of the opportunity to poison him with his own medicine.
I would suggest that nothing was made of the poisoning by the doctor because the wife came clean with the whole story, and he disapproved of the means but approved of the outcome, and wrote it off as natural causes.
I think the detail that the "ghost" disappeared for a few minutes to go see what other townspeople are doing is proof that it was a human. If this thing was so powerful and omniscient (pretending to be God really) why would it need to leave?
I've been really enjoying and appreciating the work you've been putting into the sort of forwards, where you go into the history of the people who lived in these areas before the europeans moved in. As an American it's really a tragedy that this isn't information we get taught in school, and while I enjoy the "is there a bigfoot ghost?" sort of material of your videos, it's the more actual history related content that I really take away. Good job!
My grandma grew up on a farm in Adam's. It's really cool to see stories I grew up hearing about talked about by one of my favorite channels!
I would love to see something like this on Zona Heaster Shue, "The Greenbrier Ghost" from WV. The state has a historical marker near her the church where she's buried that says she is part of "[The] Only known case in which testimony from a ghost helped convict a murderer." One of my favorite local legends growing up.
That's a great story. I dedicate a full chapter to it in "Ghostly Cries From Dixie."
I love that story! It's one of the few that just really has no earthly rational explanation, but a mother's connection to their child is almost supernatural at times, so I actually don't have any issues with fully believing it happened.
Loving these long videos!
Just imagine if the enslaved were just pranking them the whole time!
Lmfao
That’s probably it
The enslaved weren’t smart enough let’s be real.
You guys should really do an extended series on native American history. By far the best part of the episodes.
Love a video about my homeland! Keep up the good work!
Great video as always
Awesome as always thanks you had parts of I've never heard before
Have you ever heard of Gef the talking mongoose and/or the talking stove of Zaragoza? Two cases that I find very similar to the Bell Witch, also both where the entity was focused upon an adolescent girl.
The detail about the "entity" apparently not being able to directly lie, but able to make things up/twist details, along with the seemingly random flips between being helpful, mischievous, right down to outright harming people, made me think that, had this taken place in the UK (where I'm from), this could have been standard Fae behaviour. Though certain Fae beings can latch onto specific families (the Irish banshee for a more famous example), and I don't know enough about early US folklore to say what it could have been for sure.
All I'll say is,
You dont fuck with the Fae, man.
Having survived the manifesto of one Mathew Harris titled "Death Sentences"; I kinda want to read this book now because it sounds like the second funniest thing written to be taken completely seriously that I've ever heard of.
This whole thing has as much authenticity as an Ed and Lorraine Warren investigation.
Aiden, I've heard many iterations and examinations of the Bell Witch story and your research, depth of coverage, and presentation provided so much more information than any other video or show I've seen. I don't know how anyone could argue with your facts, based on your education and your attention to detail. I am inclined to believe that there was a paranormal/demonic/elemental visitation going on with this family. My gut tells me that the activity was "exploited" in more than one way by the family, and perhaps folks in the community. I do wish the smell of whatever was in the vial was documented - almonds? Sweet? It would definitely have given us some evidence as to what mysterious substance was in the vial and had been given to Mr. Bell before he passed. Anyway, really great video, as always. Thanks!
Good episode! Thank you.
I really like all the history research you do on these
Aidan is the best historian and story teller ever!!!
It'd be awesome if Orson Wells were a descendant of one of the Bell kids! It really sounds like it was one of the older kids, trying to save their sister from a match that they or she didn't like. Then some of the younger kids joined in when it was multiple voices. Also, even though they didn't ask for money, people back then would have been giving the family gifts, maybe sweets, (like we give paid subs and gifts in chat and merch for awesome content) and the kids probably really wanted that; until the dad got sick and the sister's match was broken off. Like a content writer who is good with where they are in life, and is no longer driven to write or a content creater who moves on to something else and just stops sharing content. Totally explained by creative human behavior.
I don't think the dad was taken out by something other than lack of antibiotic (tooth absess) or degenerative disease. The cat is a red haring. Natural medicine is sometimes good for humans; but kills cats. Without knowing what a supposed substance was, and the affects sounding like BS, it just looks like the kids kept up the act for a while so they wouldn't look sus. This story survived the test of time... so if the kids were found to have been behind it the whole family would be tainted.
Being one or more of the kids raises more questions than answers tbh
@@blue-hawaii-mc4vf Sorry ny spelling was so bad. I need to remember to proof read LOL Could you elaborate on the questions? Looking into this further it looks like the whole thing might just be a story someone made up. I know from family records that my unkles were nowhere near certain places that newspapers say they were (The Younger Brothers) so I can see how from one strange event we might get a huge conveluted story. But what might have been the real event that spawned the whole thing... ;)
@@CASTERSRABBITHOLEAnd confirmation bias. They wanted it to be poison, so they saw the symptoms they needed when the cat died.
Just another thank you... ton of research here... Much respect!
love your videos, love your dog too. great videos and great dog.
Whistles...Bells...that pun made me laugh out loud. 😂
I think the ear thing might've been describing gauges.
Love this stuff. Wish it was a longer 2 parter like the Donner party vid recently
Unfortunately the part two videos tend to do really poorly
I believe it was Lucy with help from staff. The voices could've voted through rhe floor boards upstairs. Lucy may have brought Elizaneth on board when it was suggested she leave the house for awhile. This way Elizabeth can help make it appear real. As for the other goings one, I agree with you. Oooh, I just thought of this! Rhe day they dug up the stone may have been a way to lure them away so Lucy could make more potion!
I really enjoyed this one! Also, I love your channel ❤ All of these stories are new to me and I love every single one. keep up the good work!😍
In the past many medications included strychnine. Strychnine poisoning can cause severe muscle spasms. It also causes anxiety, sensitivity to sound and touch and restlessness. It can cause muscle twitches and convulsions. It has a bitter taste that could also impact the symptoms. There is the possibility that John Bell was accidentally poisoned by strychnine from his medication in my opinion.
this video straight up explained where my families scottish/native mix came from and i just had a mini crisis
I completely agree! I think someone worked using the "witch" as a cover for their own actions. Great video as always!
There's just too many moving parts in this story. A single ghost or even an army of ghosts couldn't terrorize a town to this extent and with this much gusto. This is a completely unique haunting.
I would love one of this deep dives on the Maddie McCann case. I wonder if you will end up on the portuguese police side or in the McCann side by the end of it. There are so mano discrepancies with the photos taken the week prior and so many forums dedicated to this case only. Please do it!
most sane Scot (my point stands whether or not yure actually Scottish)
I've seen a lot of the theories, and while none have lead to an answer on what happened to Maddie McCann, some did lead to arrests of others for child endangerment/exploitation. Any video diving into it would likely get a channel banned, or at least the video removed. Which is why most people keep the discussions to forums.
@@AhranMaoDante the crazy part for me is the fact that until the UK Police got involved the McCanns were the main suspects to the portuguese forces since the very start. There was no forced entry evidence, direct friends and witnesses contradicting each other, 2 dogs trained to pick up scent (one blood and urine, and the other cadaverine) marked one hotel room inside a closet and the trunk of their rented car. Another witness claims to had seen the father carrying a sleeping Child towards the Beach that same night. To the portuguese Maddie, and the other Kids too, were put to sleep with some Kind of drug so the families could hang out at the hotel bar. Maddie woke up and fell off the stairs breaking her neck. The Mother found her and when the news got to the group they all panicked as the whole bunch had given sleeping pills to their Kids. So a plan was designed to stage the kidnapping. What the portuguese didn't knew was if the girl died the same night they called the Police, or if she died up to 2 or 3 days early. Then the UK took over and we are stuck with nothing conclusive since then.
I just stumbled upon this story through Mr. Balen's videos and I believe I've solved the case and in one night of watching videos and reading articles. I know who did it, why, and how. It's right in front of us. Well, I think I know.
Love learning about American indigenous history. Would love to see you cover some more Canadian indigenous history as well, I’m not good at research myself and find your videos really educational.
We’ve done some! Check out our videos on Portlock, Amber Tuccaro, and the Nahanni River Valley! Definitely more on the way
@@TheLoreLodge thank you for the recommendations! I just watched your video on amber this week but I'll have to check out the others tonight. you guys rock :)
The Bell Witch: We do a little trolling, just a little trolling.
Git thee behind
Loved this one especially :)
Thanks for listensing... the Akash is a great transcriptionist.. doesn't miss a thing. 😘
you're trying so hard and getting so far, but in the end it really does all matter. 🎵 👌✨
dope as always lads. 💙✨
Lore lodge is the only thing getting through my weekend of working in hospitality
This case has always fascinated me.
I live in TN and I’m so glad you covered this!! We all grew up hearing about the bell witch. A few things you didn’t mention:
-the place is by a spooky cave
-it manipulated time/space for one of the younger ones
-it saved Lucy’s life once
Always found this an intriguing tale!
I'm normally very sceptical of paranormal stuff, but this story is fascinating
love to see a new LL upload.
LL cool J?
Lestgoooo Kate!! I dunno if she was actually a 'witch' or doing all this but she's my great great-something aunt so I love hearing about this story. My mom visited the historical site as a kid and they got kicked out by the southern lady bc she didn't like that they were related
I love the history segments!
Please make another 411 video! They are so entertaining, I appreciate the way you present them.
What a GORGEOUS dog! Oh my goodness absolute sweetheart! ❤
Newly subscribed to this channel and that dog is so beautiful omg 🥹❤️
It’s an American Eskimo! I own one of them and unless you want a smaller version of a husky in your house don’t get one 😂.
The word witch, does come from the Old Norse word Vitkar, meaning either "malevolent thing" or "evil magic person". Even in the origin of the term there's a lot of ambiguity about its meaning.
the image you put up when you spoke about the Native Americans meeting the English is
fantastic I love it
might I ask from where you found? ❤
Andrew Jackson has been said to have heard about this and is historically known to be absolutely fearless. He was reported to visit and agree to spend the night but was terrified by the entity and left in the wee hours of the morning.
I tried to track down evidence of that but it seems to just be a local legend. There was a military group that passed through, but as far as I’m aware Jackson was uninvolved.
Sooooo... one book written by a family member who was a child at the time, describing a fantastic and persisting haunting, written decades after the fact. And one contemporary account which describes what sounds like a parlor trick house. Guess which one I believe?
As for the senior dying of poison, does his grave even exist? Are there death records from the time? If so, then an exhumation could be done and poison tested for.
He did exist and did die at the time reported, yes
@@TheLoreLodge Would be real curious if there is a grave and if there's an official record of how he died.
@@chrimony there is a grave, but it was so long ago that I can’t find any archives of his obituary
@@TheLoreLodge Looking further into this, even the diary this was supposedly based on is non-existent, and it all boils down to one newspaper owner making stuff up 75 years later.
The 1846 "diary" was written at a much higher educational level than that possessed by John Bell's son, farmer Richard Williams Bell, who was six years old when the alleged disturbances occurred. Someone such as an author, newspaper person, or scribe likely wrote it. Additionally, the so-called "diary" seems to have disappeared, and no one today has been able to come up with it (although many have told me they "have it"). As such, it has little to no research value. John Bell has a grave, and the current marker was placed in 1957, replacing the original marker that had been stolen earlier. He is known as the only person in history who died at the hands of a spirit; however, no official death certificate--to that effect, or any other effect--has been found. There likely wasn't one; death certificates were not common in rural Tennessee in 1820. There is no evidence that John Bell was poisoned; all we have is newspaper owner Ingram's mostly fictional 1894 novel that tells the "story" of his death. And, moreover, at the time of his death, Bell had already exceeded his life expectancy by more than 20 years.
my grand mother gave me a book about the bell witch years ago apparently my grandfather is somehow related to the family in the story and i think that’s partially why it is fascinating to me
Watched a low budget found footage movie trying to do the bell witch like they did the blair, dumb movie, but when I was little I watched the VHS movies too early and developed a need to watch every single found footage movie ever made.
I was a weird kid and it was a dumb but fine movie. Cool video tho aiden!
I live there and got to visit the place a couple months ago, cool place!