Anyone have any local ghost stories?

[exlrrp]

just south of our house up the hill (still in our yard) is what looks to be an old graveyard. There's sunken rectangular patches exactly the size of graves lined up just like a graveyard, about 10 or so. This is not in a place where you'd put a garden.
There has been a house continuously on this property since 1854 ( tho I'm sure not the one here now) and back in those days you didn't go to a graveyard to bury people there was none. You just laid them down in the family plot.
I figger somebeody wa triyng to sell this house a few generations ago and the graveyard was kind of a drag on the sales patter so he just upped the headboards and burned them.
I'm going to research this a little and see if I can find out some more about this.

Now I don't believe in ghosts and am not afraid of them or much else as long as I have large caliber help close to hand. ( You NEVER outgrow your need for ammo!)
But you can't beat a concrete Jesus for keeping ghosts out of your way, so I bought one and put it between the house and the GY. That has solved the problem as of yet.

One thing Tom will tell you, there won't be any trick or treaters here--our driveway is a mile long, unlit, up a steep hill, through spooky woods. So I didn't get any candy but if one makes it all the way up here I'll give him or her a $20--they earned it.

Stay good
James

[Packo]

James,

You make me laugh!

Graveyard sounds interesting......I would also research that. Fun to know who's sharing the estate with you. Sad, though, that someone would get rid of the headstones/boards. Isn't that what the Poltergiest movie was about????

$20 bucks! Hmm, wonder if I can catch a flight today. Naw, my hips killing me....probably couldn't make the walk.

Pack

[revwardoc]

Halloween has certainly been interesting here at work. Our receptionist is a real holiday freak; ANY holiday. She stayed late last night decorating the place with cobwebs, spiders, all sorts of Halloween paraphanalia. She had asked me to bring in my fog machine for "atmosphere", so I did. I tried it out this morning at full power and it worked great but I turned it off until the majority of people came in. When they did I turned it back on but only at minimum power. After just a minute or so, the damn fire alarm went off. The head of building maintanance came storming up the stairs, screaming and hollering. The more I tried to explain what happened the more he continued his tirade without listening to me. We started going nose-to-nose and he stalked out, ordered the rest of the building evacuated and told everyone (there are several small companies that share the building) that it was all my fault, which in a sense it was, I suppose. All he had to do was listen to my explanation, shut off the alarms and tell the FD that it was all a mistake. Instead he went ballistic. Did I happen to mention that his name is Dick?

[b3196]

Dan
Turn it back on, then tell that asshole he did a lousy job of evacuating the building and you were giving him a second chance before you fired him.
Bob K

[39mto39g]

Pac
If your the owner of a hotel that your intention is to get a history and a reputation as a "Haunted House" then it would be a simple thing to be across from your room with a PVC pole and bang on your door and pull the pipe back into the adjacent room through the hole in the wall. and the calling of her name is by a speaker in a preset location. Kinda like a faith healer. But if you really want to believe in ghost then, thats your right. I seen a guy make a elephant disappear and I can deal an ACE off the bottom of the deck, my dad could get a quarter from behind your ear.
My 100 $ is laying on the table for any ghost out there that wants it.
Ron

[revwardoc]

Bob K: good idea but next year we're going to have a gather-'round-the-campfire-ghost-story-tellin'-weinie-roast and set off the sprinklers!

Ron: if you really want proof of a ghost, make overnight reservations at the Wayside Inn and be sure to ask for either Room #9 or #10. You won't be disappointed.

[Packo]

Ron, again, I opened the door IN THE MIDDLE OF A KNOCK...not even a pole could be that fast and how do you explain Delores's nick name? I made the reservations in my name and paid the bill, she also signed for her room with "Delores". She doesn't even use the name "Lori"...we do. I'm not trying to prove the exhistance of ghosts....I'm just saying what happened and there is no way the owners of the place where doing this stuff.....that's ridiculous.

Pack

[locksly]

THE BELL WITCH
Adams, Tennessee
Located in sleepy Adams, Tennessee is the former location of the John Bell Farm, one of the most famous haunted spots in American History. This sinister case involved spectral creatures, disembodied voices, poltergeist activity and even resulted in the death of John Bell. . .all at the hands of the infamous Bell Witch.
THE LEGEND OF THE BELL WITCH






Queen of the Haunted Dell


Mid woodland bowers , grassey dell,

By an enchanted murmuring stream,

Dwelt pretty blue-eyed Betsy Bell,

Sweetly thrilled with love?s young dream,

Life was like the magic spell,

That guides a laughing stream ,

Sunbeams glittering on her fell,

Kissed by lunar?s silvery gleam,

But Elfin phantomas cursed the dell,

And Sylvan witches all unseen,

As our tale will truly tell,

Wielded Sceptre o?er the Queen




M V Ingram

Earliest Published Version

The earliest published mention of the Bell Witch, of which I am aware, appeared in the Goodspeed History of Tennessee. This History was published in 1886 and, although no author is stated, it may have been written by the lawyer, politician and historian, Albert Virgil Goodpasture (1855-1942). The following is a quote from page 833:

A remarkable occurrence, which attracted wide-spread interest, was connected with the family of John Bell, who settled near what is now Adams Station about 1804. So great was the excitement that people came from hundreds of miles around to witness the manifestations of what was popularly known as the "Bell Witch." This witch was supposed to be some spiritual being having the voice and attributes of a woman. it was invisible to the eye, yet it would hold conversation and even shake hands with certain individuals. The freaks if performed were wonderful and seemingly designed to annoy the family. It would take the sugar from the bowls, spill the milk, take the quilts from the beds, slap and pinch the children, and then laugh at the discomfiture of its victims. At first it was supposed to be a good spirit, but its subsequent acts, together with the curses with which it supplemented its remarks, proved the contrary. A volume might be written concerning the performance of this wonderful being, as they are now described by contemporaries and their descendants. That all this actually occurred will not be disputed, nor will a rational explanation be attempted. It is merely introduced as an example of superstition, strong in the minds of all but a few in those times, and yet not wholly extinct.

The WPA Guidebook Account

A short summary of the Bell Witch story is contained in the Guidebook for Tennessee, produced by the Federal Government's Works Project Administration (WPA). This guidebook, published in 1939, presents a version of the legend at pages 392-393.



The Legend of the Bell Witch

John Bell, a farmer from North Carolina,along with his wife and children settled in northern Robertson County Tennessee in 1804. Their farm consisted of 320 acres of rich farm land that laid along the Red River. They lived a quite peaceful life here for the first 13 years. They were members of the Red River Baptist Church where John became a deacon. The family grew and became somewhat prosperous.

In the late summer of 1817 something would happen that would change their lives forever. Some members of the family began seeing strange looking animals around the property. Then late at night they started hearing knocking sounds on the doors and outer walls of the house. Later sounds were being heard in the house. Sounds of a rat gnawing on the bed post, chains being drug through the house, stones being dropped on the wooden floors, then gulping and choking sounds.

The family was terrified but kept the problem to themselves for over a year. When things became in tolerable John confided in a neighbor, James Johnson. He invited Mr and Mrs Johnson to spend the night. After several nights of witnessing these strange things, Mr. Johnson suggested that more people should be told. And a committee was formed and an investigation started.

It was not long before people were coming from miles around to hear and witness this unseen force that was terrorizing the Bell home. Before long this unseen force had gained enough strength that it now had a voice. When asked who and what it was, it gave different identities. It once stated that it was the witch of a neighbor woman named Kate Batts. This is what many people believed, and from then on, this unseen force was called "Kate" the "Bell's Witch".

It seemed that Kate had two main reasons for visiting the Bell home. The main one was to kill John Bell. For what reason no one knows because Kate never gave a reason why. The second reason was to stop John's youngest daughter Betsy from marrying a certain neighbor boy named Joshua Gardner.

Over the next three years "Kate" tormented members of the Bell family almost daily. John and his daughter Betsy was the ones who received the worst of the physical abuse. Betsy had her hair pulled, she was pinched, scratched stuck with pins and even beaten. While John Bell began suffering from spells of swelling of the throat and often had the feeling of a stick being stuck sideways in his throat. Then came the twitching and jerking of the facial muscles. Kate would blast him with curses and hideous threats during these spells. As time went on John Bell became weaker and weaker.

Kate was becoming well known and drew large crowds of people. She seemed to be very intelligent in many things: the bible, people's past and the future. She could be in two places at the same time - miles apart from each other.

She(Kate) finally accomplished her mission for coming to the Bell farm. On December 20,1820 John Bell had died. It was believed that he was poisoned by Kate, and Kate took full credit for his death. And then in March of 1821 young Betsy broke off her engagement with Joshua Gardner.

Kate then bid everyone farewell and promised to return in seven years. She did return in 1828 for a few short weeks. During this visit she came to the home of John Bell Jr and had long talks with him about the past, the present and the future. She made some predictions for the future. Kate also said there was a reason for John Bells death. However she never said what the reason was. After the second visit, she said her next return would be in One Hundred and Seven years. That would have been in 1935. But some believe that she (Kate) never left the area at all due to the strange things that has occurred in and around the town of Adams and the Bell Witch Cave over these many years.

There are many books written about the famous Bell Witch of Tennessee. The legend of the Bell Witch is part of Tennessee history and is still taught in schools today.



According to the annals of supernatural history, the story of the Bell Witch started in 1817 when the Bell family, prosperous farmers from Tennessee, began experiencing strange phenomena in their home. First, the house was plagued with knocking and rapping noises and scratching sounds.

Blankets were pulled from beds, family members were kicked and scratched and their hair pulled. Particularly tormented was a 12-year-old Betsy Bell, who was slapped, pinched, bruised and stuck with pins. At first, John Bell was determined to keep the events secret, but soon confided in a friend , who then formed an investigative committee. John Bell's friends soon learned that the strange force in the house had an eerie intelligence. It soon found a voice and from that day on. . .was seldom silent.

The spirit identified itself as the "witch" of Kate Batts, a neighbors of the Bell's, with whom John had experienced bad business dealings over some purchased slaves. "Kate" as the local people began calling her, made daily appearances in the Bell home, wreaking havoc on everyone there. People all over the area of soon learned of the witch and she made appearances, in sounds and voices, all over Robertson County.

The ghost became so famous that even General Andrew Jackson decided to visit. He too experienced the antics of the witch and his carriage wheels refused to turn until the witch decided to let them.

John Bell fell victim to bouts of strange illness, to which "Kate" claimed responsibility. While he was sick in bed, the spirit cursed and prodded him, never allowing him to rest. One day, he went to bed and never recovered. He was found senseless in his bed one morning and a strange bottle was found nearby. Bell's breath smelled of the black liquid in the bottle, so a drop of it was placed on the tongue of a cat. . .the animal dropped dead. John Bell soon followed suit and "Kate" screamed in triumph. She even made her presence known at his funeral, laughing, cursing and singing as the poor man was buried.

"Kate" didn't vanish immediately after the death of her proclaimed enemy though. She stayed around, threatening Betsy Bell to not marry the man that she truly loved, Joshua Gardner. The witch would never say why, but she did allow the girl to later marry the local schoolteacher, Richard Powell. "Kate" soon left the family but promised to return in seven years. She did come back and plagued the family again for two weeks. Before departing, she appeared at the home of John Bell Jr. and made a number of predictions that Bell recorded. The warning proved true, reflecting the Civil War and the later World Wars of the next century. "Kate" said that she would return again 107 years later, in 1935, but the year came and went without incident.

Who was the Bell Witch? Was she really a ghost, who claimed to be connected to a living person? Or did the resentment and the hatred of the real Kate Batts create an entity of it's own? Or could the haunting have been poltergeist activity linked to Betsy Bell? No one will ever know for sure. . .but whoever, or whatever, the Bell Witch was, many believe that she has never left Adams, Tennessee at all.

The sinister Bell Witch Cave lies hidden on
the side of a bluff on the former property of the
fated John Bell family

Located near where the Bell Farm once stood and near the old family cemetery, where many of the Bell's still rest, is what has become known as the Bell Witch Cave. The cave has no real connection to the legend of the witch but it is located on property once owned by the Bell family. Many in Robertson County believe that when the witch departed, she fled to the sanctuary of this cave. Whether the Bell Witch is here or not.... the cave is a very haunted place.

The former owner of the cave, a man named Bill Edens reported that strange events still went on in the cave and near the home that he had built on the bluff where the cave can be found. The steep incline over the Red River hides a narrow path that leads down to the cave. Strange figures have been reported here and knocking sounds and poltergeist-like events still take place in the house.

The current owners, Chris and Walter Kirby, still open the cave for tourists and they too report that eerie events sometimes take place in the house and in the cave itself. Chris Kirby recalls several occasions when she and visitors in the cave have seen strange apparitions and have heard unexplained sounds, coming from deep in the hidden corners of the cave.

On the outskirts of Adams, visitors can also see the Bellwood Cemetery. There is a large burial plot and memorial to the Bell family. In front of the Bell School, on Highway 41, is a road sign about the haunting. It was designated by the Tennessee Historical Commission.

[39mto39g]

Pac
Ok then, Ghost are real.
Not to me though, My $100. is an open invitation to any ghost to take it. And I also would wager I could create the experiences and more you encountered. After all, either the magician made the pretty assistant disappear of it was fake. My vote is for the fake side. Like I said , I can deal an ACE from the bottom of the deck. You certainly can believe in whatever you wish, but I also get the same accommodation in that I say Bunk. I wont call what you say rediculous but Super man can't really fly and Rambo is an actor.

Ron