The Bell Witch: The Full Account (16 page)

answer ever given was, “Betsy Bell, you will never

have happiness if you marry Joshua Gardner. It is

best that you not marry him, and future generations

will prove me invariably correct.”

This empty, meaningless answer served very little

purpose other than to further fuel the perplexity

already associated with the Spirit’s origin, identity,

and purpose — once again eliciting the question,

“Who or what are you, and what do you want?”

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Spirit is Named “Kate”

A FTER MUCH STUDY and careful planning,

Reverend James Gunn posed this question

to the Spirit in a way that a truthful answer

was the only option. The Spirit acknowledged that it

could never lie to a preacher and that the question as

posed by Reverend Gunn could not be evaded.

The Spirit Claims to be Kate Batts

The Spirit then explained, “I am nothing but Old

Kate Batts’ witch, determined to torment Ol’ Jack

Bell out of his life.” After the Spirit made this

startling revelation to Reverend Gunn, many people

in the community came forward to say they had felt

the Spirit had something to do with Kate Batts all

along because of her eccentric nature and

sometimes-questionable actions.

Kate and Frederick Batts lived about two miles

from the Bell farm on what is now known as Bell’s

Cross Road. The Batts family was large — consisting

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of Kate and Frederick, one son, and five daughters.

Mrs. Batts handled most of the family’s business

because her husband was an invalid.

The trees in the foreground denote where Kate

and Frederick Batts’ house stood.

A “large” woman with a flair for using big words

out of context, Kate Batts was considered pompous

and outspoken. She was frequently the subject of

gossip in the community, especially when it came to

the popular belief that she was looking for a man to

replace her invalid husband. Although an avid

churchgoer, Mrs. Batts never arrived on time

because she walked everywhere she went. Before

leaving her farm, she would place a blanket across

her mule’s back as if she was going to ride; however,

she instead walked next to the mule for the entire

journey.

Kate Batts’ Odd Ways

Many people suspected Kate Batts of practicing

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Black Magic and other forms of the occult because of

her sometimes secretive ways and the strange things

that often befell those who crossed her. It seemed

that anyone who became involved in a dispute with

Mrs. Batts soon met with a debilitating accident or

sickness.

She was also known to collect a brass pin from

every woman she met. It was believed by many that

the collector of a brass pin held a certain “power”

over the person from whom they collected the pin.

The Spirit made mention of this on several occasions,

exclaiming, “Ol’ Kate Batts’ sticks the pins in an old

stump on the Bell place and then tells me who to

stick with them.” Both John and Elizabeth Bell often

felt a stinging sensation that they described as

feeling like they were being stuck with pins, and the

other Bell children often found pins sticking out of

their beds and pillows just before retiring in the

evenings.

Mrs. Batts’ actions were unpredictable and

sometimes downright humorous. Several years

before the Sprit came to visit the Bells, Kate Batts

attended a revival and rode a man’s back like a

horse, causing the revival to prematurely end, and

sending everyone out the door in laughter. People

laughed about this incident for weeks.

Kate Batts Creates an Uproar

Revivals were very popular in the early Nineteenth

Century, and everyone who attended became

enthusiastic and overtaken by the Holy Spirit. One

evening, Red River Baptist Church held a revival with

a guest minister, Reverend Thomas Felts. Reverend

Felts had a very direct way of preaching that usually

had everyone in a Spiritual frenzy within minutes of

his opening remarks.

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At the height of the revival, Joe Edwards was down

on all fours begging the Lord to forgive him for his

many sins. Edwards was a known sinner and his

“conversion” was of particular interest to others in

the community. As he continued his crying and

fervent prayer, everyone cheered him until, all of the

sudden, Kate Batts entered the room and made her

way over to Edwards. Without saying a word, she

spread her skirt across his back and sat on him.

Not seeing what had just happened because he

was facing the floor, Edwards thought that he was in

a struggle with Satan and that the devil was on top of

him. He screamed louder and louder, and then

cried, “Oh I am sinking, sinking! Oh take my burden

Jesus and make the devil turn me loose or I will go

down, down, and be lost forever in torment. Oh save

me, save me blessed Lord!” Concerned about

Edwards’ physical condition, a deacon offered to

escort Mrs. Batts to a seat. She replied, “No thank

you; this is so consoling to my disposition that I feel

amply corrugated.” “But you are crowding the

mourner!” exclaimed the deacon. “Oh, that doesn’t

disburse my perspicuity; I’m a very plain woman and

do love to homigate near the altar where the Lord is

making confugation among the sinners. Yes, bless

Jesus! Let him suffocate; he’s getting closer to the

Lord!” replied Mrs. Batts.

Edwards’ arms and legs soon gave way to Mrs.

Batts’ enormous weight, and two deacons pulled her

off his back just as he collapsed. Still not knowing

what had happened, Edwards arose and fervently

proclaimed his deliverance. Kate Batts then yelled,

“Bless the Lord, bless my soul, Jesus is so good to

devolve his poor critters from the consternation of

Satan’s mighty dexterity!” Reverend Felts made

some closing remarks and quickly dismissed all in

attendance. The entire congregation was roaring

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with laughter, including John Bell and his family.

As she was preparing to leave, Mrs. Batts noticed

Bell’s fervent laughter and walked over to confront

him. “Oh yes, old John Bell, you have your broad

acres and your great big home; and the future may

look bright to you now, but just wait and see what

changes soon befall you and another member of your

family,” she warned. Bell continued laughing and

dismissed the incident as another one of the

“lectures” that Mrs. Batts was known to give those

she did not like. People all over the community

laughed about Joe Edwards’ encounter with Mrs.

Batts for weeks.

Kate Batts is Scrutinized

The incident that most fueled the stigma

associated with Kate Batts involved one of her

neighbors, Emily Paine, who became frustrated after

seeing no sign of butter after two hours of vigorous

churning. Exhausted and already familiar with Mrs.

Batts' reputation, Mrs. Paine decided that Kate Batts

had probably “bewitched” the milk.

In her frustration, she threw a hot poker into the

milk, exclaiming, “There, Kate Batts, you’re finished!”

As the day went by, Mrs. Paine could not seem to get

the churn and Mrs. Batts off her mind — an

unrelenting curiosity had set in. After some thought,

she fabricated an excuse to visit Mrs. Batts and then

proceeded to the Batts farm. Upon arriving, she

found Mrs. Batts nursing a badly burned and

blistered right hand. Mrs. Batts explained that she

had accidentally picked up a hot poker by the wrong

end earlier that morning.

The Spirit’s New Nickname

As the news of Emily Paine's remarkable

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encounter traveled throughout the countryside, more

people became of the opinion that Kate Batts was

directly involved with the disturbances at the Bell

farm. People began referring to Kate Batts as a

“witch” and forbade their children from going near

her farm or playing with her children. She became

very upset when she learned that she was the

suspected culprit behind the disturbances.

Kate Batts visited everyone in the community,

including the Bells, proclaiming her innocence, and

vowing that she would find “the corrigendum that

dared to splavicate her character with the

spirifications of John Bell’s ‘witch,’ and would show

him the perspicuity in the ‘constipation’ of the law.”

Despite Mrs. Batts’ pleas and a lack of any credible

evidence connecting her with the disturbances, many

people, including the Bells, began calling the Spirit a

name that it would answer to from this point

forward. No longer was the Spirit referred to as a

Spirit, but was simply called, “Kate.”

Despite the Spirit’s apparent satisfaction with her

new name, “Kate,” she continued relentlessly

tormenting John Bell and his family as she had been

for the past two years. The only difference was that

the Spirit answered to the new name.

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CHAPTER TWELVE

Evil to Some and Good to Others

J OHN BELL AGED A GREAT DEAL over the

two years since the disturbances began — his

hair had become almost completely gray and

he often carried dark circles below his eyes. Eating

also became more of a problem for Bell because of

his worsening affliction. Showing no mercy for Bell,

Kate continued her antics of slapping and sticking

pins in him, and reiterating her vow to kill him.

Although John Bell and his daughter Elizabeth

seemed to be the main targets of Kate’s evil deeds,

other members of the Bell family had their own share

of problems.

“Kate” Empties the Milk Viles

One of the Bells’ neighbors, Betsy Sugg, decided

paid Lucy Bell a visit one day. The two ladies sat

down and talked for several minutes, then Mrs. Bell

asked, “Betsy, you haven’t seen our new dairy

house, have you?” “Why no, Lucy; I didn’t even know

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about it. How long have you had it?” replied Mrs.

Sugg. “John Jr., Drewry and Frank Miles built it for

me about three weeks ago,” replied Mrs. Bell; “come

look at it with me, it’s arranged nicely and I’m very

proud of it.” “Yes, I’d be delighted!” Mrs. Sugg

responded.

The two ladies walked across the back yard and to

the dairy house, where upon unlocking the door and

entering, Mrs. Bell exclaimed “Oh no! The milk is

gone! And the basins have even been covered!”

“What do you think happened?” Mrs. Sugg inquired.

“Apparently some of Kate’s mischief,” replied Mrs.

Bell, “she is always playing some such prank as

this.”

“Kate” Kicks Drewry’s Chair

When inside the house, Drewry Bell frequently sat

in a chair in the corner of the family room and liked

to lean back so the top would rest at an angle against

a desk. Many times when he sat in the chair, the

desk was suddenly pulled from behind it — throwing

him to the floor and leaving his feet poised in the air.

The angle at which he leaned made no difference,

and the desk was too heavy to have accidentally slid

across the floor because of Drewry's weight. John

Jr., who was much taller and heavier than Drewry,

could lean back in the chair as far as he wanted

without the desk moving.

In addition to playing tricks with chairs and

disturbing the Bell children in other ways, Kate was

known to have spanked them on occasion. Her

spankings were always loud and intense, and

remembered forever by those at the receiving end.

Joel’s Spanking

In his manuscript, “Our Family Trouble,” Richard

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Williams Bell gave his own eyewitness account of his