The Bell Witch: The Full Account (38 page)

the Red River community. The
link
was a Spirit

trapped between in the Spirit and material worlds,

who by summoning, binding and commanding other

supernatural entities, used the John Bell family and

the fear of others as a catalyst to progress to a higher

Spiritual order so it could free itself.

While this would seemingly explain what happened

to the John Bell family in the early Nineteenth

Century, it does not provide any explanation for the

unexplainable incidents that occur on and near the

old Bell farm today. Today, we don’t have the

elements of
cause
,
medium
,
effect
and
link
to produce a Spiritual phenomenon like what was witnessed by

the John Bell family and others in the Red River

community nearly two centuries ago.

What About Present-Day Encounters?

The only element that remains today is the

medium,
the vortex. The fact that many Native

Americans are buried on the land is also important.

Moreover, the Native American graves on the land are

most likely the original source of the Spirits

THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT

283

themselves.

The author feels that the existence of the vortex is

the catalyst for present-day supernatural encounters

reported on and near the old Bell farm. Aside from

the vortex, or
medium
, conditions are much different

today than they were when John Bell and his family

tilled and walked this land. A visit from the Spirit

world such as that which John Bell and his family

experienced is not likely today. However, because of

the vortex and passive acts of “calling” the Spirit

world, minor encounters with the Spirit world will

always take place on the old Bell farm.

Where is the Vortex?

Where on the old Bell farm is the vortex? Nobody

knows the exact size and location of the vortex,

however several factors suggest that its center is

near the back room of the cave at the bottom of the

nearby sinkhole. The easiest way to determine the

location of the vortex is by comparing past and

present-day supernatural encounters and taking into

consideration the locations where they occurred.

While it almost goes without saying that most

supernatural encounters on this land in the

Nineteenth Century occurred in the Bell home, one

must remember that a vortex encompasses more

than just an area the size of a house. While most of

the supernatural encounters in the days of John Bell

occurred in the Bell home, some did not; and, any

supernatural encounters that occurred after the

house was razed in 1843 certainly did not.

What we will discuss here is not the vortex in

general, but the
center
of the vortex – the area from

whence the Spirit world came in the early Nineteenth

Century, and which is likely to be the source of

present-day encounters with the supernatural.

284 P A T

F I T Z H U G H

Despite a large number of strange apparitions in

the area, including the “little boy in overalls,” only

twice in modern times has anyone described seeing

what might have actually been Kate. Both

apparitions took place inside the cave and were

witnessed by two or more people. Although they took

place at different times, both apparitions were

described as being the figure of a slender, young

woman with dark hair and a pale facial complexion.

In both cases, the apparition first appeared to have

been a woman taking a tour of the cave and keeping

a small distance from the tour group; but after closer

observation, appeared to have no feet. Holding a

candle in front of her, the figure seemed to “float”

through the cave just above the floor between the

first and second rooms before slowly disappearing.

In neither case did the figure acknowledge the

presence of visitors in the cave. Both apparitions of

this woman-like figure were visually consistent with

an apparition encountered by Elizabeth Bell and her

two younger brothers some 180 years ago.

As told about earlier in this book, Kate once

appeared to Elizabeth and her younger brothers in

the form of a young, dark-haired woman with a pale

complexion and hanging from a tree. Aside from the

visual similarities, another and perhaps more

haunting similarity is that both Elizabeth’s

encounter 180 years ago and the modern-day

apparitions took place in roughly the same location.

Elizabeth and her brothers encountered the

woman-like figure hanging from a small oak tree at

the crest of a large sinkhole. The small oak tree still

stands today – old, towering over all other trees, and

only a very short distance from the back room of the

cave where both modern-day apparitions of the

woman-like figure were encountered. The oak tree is

THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT

285

located on property now owned by the Kirbys and

only a short distance from their home, which was

where Bims Eden lived when he once spotted a

stranger walking through the snow without leaving

tracks.

The oak tree at the crest of the sinkhole as it

appears today. The tree is estimated to be

several hundred years old. The horizontal lines

are fencing.

Joel Bell’s house, where Allen Bell and Reynolds

Powell encountered Kate, and where Dr. Henry

Sugg’s medicine bag rumbled mysteriously, was

located on the hill above the cave only a few yards

from the oak tree and sinkhole. This is the same

place where “double shadows” are sometimes cast

when a person stands at a particular spot along the

old road.

This hill also holds what is believed to be the

largest concentration of Native American graves on

the old Bell farm, and legend says that it was on this

hill where Drewry Bell and Corban Hall unearthed

286 P A T

F I T Z H U G H

the Native American grave that Kate alluded to when

trying to convince the Bells that she was a Spirit

looking for a lost tooth.

The author believes that the center of the vortex is

the sinkhole, not because of its place in the legend,

but because of the similarities between past and

present-day encounters with the supernatural that

have occurred in roughly the same location. Before

closing this chapter, the author wishes to describe

yet another stunning similarity between past and

present-day encounters with the supernatural

around the old Bell farm.

What Role Does the “Witch Family” Play?

Both modern-day apparitions of the woman-like

figure discussed earlier are also visually consistent

with the apparition encountered by Esther Porter

and Elizabeth Bell when they saw a strange-looking

woman and three children bouncing on some

saplings across the road from the Porter home, as

described earlier in this book. Esther’s husband,

Alex, fired his gun in the direction of where a little

boy’s head was seen behind a knot in a log, grazing

the log and breaking the little boy’s arm.

This encounter took place during the same period

that Kate’s “witch family” regularly visited the Bells

over the period of several months and conducted

many baffling and terrifying demonstrations. It was

during one of these demonstrations that “Blackdog,”

the self-proclaimed leader of the “witch family,”

remarked that Alex Porter shot at “Jerusalem” and

broke his arm.

Being familiar with the four characters that

comprised the “witch family,” one should be able to

deduce that the woman who appeared to Esther

Porter and Elizabeth Bell was “Blackdog,” and that

THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT

287

the small children who appeared with her were

“Mathematics” and “Cypocryphy,” the two girls, and

“Jerusalem,” the little boy who “Blackdog” said had

been shot at by Alex Porter.

For several reasons, credibility is given to the

notion that the “witch family” might still be present

in the area today. Modern-day descriptions of the

woman-like figure seen in the cave are consistent

with those given of “Blackdog” almost two centuries

earlier. The sounds of children playing near the back

of the cave can often be heard when no children are

present, and the figure of a little boy has been seen

in pictures taken near the mouth of the cave and at

Bellwood Cemetery.

No conclusive evidence exists to prove the present-

day existence of the “witch family,” however, the

author feels that the resemblance between the two

modern-day apparitions just discussed and those

documented many years ago by Richard Williams

Bell and others is more than just a coincidence –

something was wrong on the Bell farm almost two

centuries ago, and there is still something wrong on

the Bell farm today.

288 P A T

F I T Z H U G H

EPILOGUE

“Well, it was a tough campaign, but I must say

that I will do it again if the opportunity avails itself.

It paid off, and I’ve finally been elected to the most

prestigious office this wonderful nation has to offer.”

“Yes,” his wife replied, “I am so very thankful for this

day; I knew you would win, and I have all the

confidence in the world that you’ll be the best

president this country has ever seen.” “I’ll do my

absolute best, my dear. I will not fail you or my

country. Now if only I could decipher what the

mirror on my bureau is telling me,” he responded.

“Why, what do you mean? Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know, Mary, but I see my face as it looks

today in one side of the mirror, and in the other side

I see a pale and sad-looking face. Can you make

anything of that?” “Oh God, I can. It means that

you will enjoy a successful first term in office and be

re-elected, but you will die during your second term,”

his wife replied. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated

during his second term of office. Was Lincoln’s

premonition nothing more than mere coincidence?

THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT

289

An elderly woman in a nursing home dies at 5:15.

Upon arriving at her house several days later to go

through her belongings, her family discovers that the

clock is stopped precisely at 5:15. The house had

been locked for weeks. In another instance, a man

dies in his home and the clock beside his bed stops

instantaneously. Are these cases of mere

coincidence, or is there more to it?

On a cool April morning in the year 1900, Mrs.

Jones awakened to the eerie feeling that her

husband, out of town, was dead. She lay there

almost an hour thinking this morbid thought before

finally deciding to get up and start her morning. Her

mind continued dwelling on this horrible thought as

she made coffee, ate a light breakfast, and went to

check the front porch for a package she was

expecting.

As she opened the door, she noticed one of her

neighbors walking up the steps toward the porch.

The neighbor embraced her and delivered the terrible

news that her husband, Luther “Casey” Jones, had

lost his life in a train derailment the prior evening

near Vaughan, Mississippi. Was Mrs. Jones’

premonition a mere coincidence?

Is there really anything to the legend of the “Bell

Witch?” Although the people, places and dates were

real, what about “Kate?” Was she real? Theories

that purport to logically explain the mystery behind

the “Bell Witch” are abundant in large bookstores

and on the Internet; however, the unrelated

scenarios we discussed above clearly illustrate that

some events stretch and sometimes exceed the

bounds of reality and defy all logic. This leaves the

human mind with much to process.

It would be a mistake to think nothing at all

happened in Robertson County back in the 1800’s –

too many people have written about it (and under