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[SKEPTICAL INQUIREE BE N J A MIN R A DF OR D Benjamin Radford is a research fellow at the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and author or coauthor of six books, including Tracking the Chupacabra: The Vampire Beast in Fact, Fiction, and Folklore.

The Bell Witch Mystery

What’s the truth behind the “Bell Witch” story? Q: —J. Rodgers

: The Bell Witch case is circulated in Mississippi, the witch was one of the oldest Amer - not a woman named Kate but instead A ican ghost stories. It is the spirit of a male slave whom John also widely said to be one of the most Bell had killed for having been Betsy’s credible and best-documented polter- illicit lover [Hudson and McCarter geist cases in history. Not only were the 1934]). The witch ends up killing John ghostly goings-on seen by dozens of Bell and then finally leaves the family in credible eyewitnesses (including a fu- peace. ture president of the United States), but As with many ghost stories, the Bell the case was even “validated by the Witch story has been retold countless State of Tennessee as the only case in times. The legend has appeared in several U.S. history where a spirit has caused books, including The Bell Witch: An the death of a human being” (Schager American Haunting (Monahan 2000), 2006). and has been adapted into several horror According to James McCormick and films, including An American Haunting. Macy Wyatt in their book Ghosts of the The story, full of drama and details, Bluegrass, “The famous Bell Witch ghost is terrifying if it’s true—but it isn’t. De- story seems to have originated in the spite many books, magazine articles, town of Adams, Tennessee, in the early and websites offering claims to the con- 1800s. A prosperous farmer, John Bell, Betsy Bell, said to have been haunted by the Bell trary, there’s no evidence that any of the and his family came under the attack of Witch ghost in the 1800s. events took place (though the Bell fam- a poltergeist known as the Bell Witch. ily was real). As Slate writer Grady The cruel things the family experienced growling noises coming from outside Hendrix notes, “Most of the books were known far and wide, and were even their cabin at night. The ghostly assaults about the Bell Witch are sourced from said to have been investigated by Andrew began when the youngest Bell daughter, an 1894 volume called An Authen ticated Jackson, who lived nearby” (McCormick Betsy, was attacked by an invisible entity. History of the Famous Bell Witch [subti- and Wyatt 2009, 94). The frequency and violence of the at- tled The Wonder of the 19th Century, and The whole story is lengthy and com- tacks increased, and soon objects were Unexplained Phenomenon of the Chris- plex (and, in classic folklore tradition, flying through the air, hurled by unseen tian Era] by Martin Van Buren Ingram. has many variants), but it basically in- forces. Eventually the spirit, an old This volume was written 60 years after volves a Tennessee farmer named John woman named Kate Batts, held conver- the fact and is regarded by some histo- Bell Sr., who in 1817 found a mysteri- sations with the Bell family, revealing rians as a novel that used real people ous creature with the body of a dog and that she was taking revenge on John and places to give it the appearance of the head of a rabbit. The Bell family Bell for having cheated her in a trade of reality.” Ingram’s book, which claims to later heard menacing scratching and goods. (In one variation of the story that “record events of historical fact, sus-

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tained by a powerful array of incontro- vertible evidence,” is almost certainly a Why is this obviously fictional story widely work of fiction mistaken for fact be- cause the author claimed it was true. regarded as true, or at least based on In fact I investigated another famous (and very similar) haunting in which real events? Largely because the public exactly the same thing reportedly hap- has often been explicitly told that the story pened: the Rose Hall mansion in Mon- tego Bay, Jamaica, is said to be haunted is true by the “original” source ... by a witch named Annie Palmer. The legend of the White Witch of Rose Hall (which also includes stories of on skeptics to disprove anything but for fact and real events and how easily slavery, cruelty, passions, and ghostly re- rather for the proponents to prove the lines are blurred between ghost sto- venge) is believed by many to be a true Betsy’s claims. More to the point, skep- ries that are acknowledged as fictional story, but it is in fact based on a 1929 tics recognize that the entire story is a and “true” stories about ghosts. n novel that—like the Bell Witch story— legend—including Andrew Jackson’s References used real people and locations for involvement (there is no reference to verisimilitude (see Radford 2010). the Bell Witch in any of Jackson’s writ- Birnes, William J., and Joel Martin. 2009. The The Bell Witch story was identified Haunting of America: From the Salem Witch ings and no evidence that he’d heard of Trials to Harry Houdini. New York: Forge. as legend as far back as the 1930s, and the story [Hendrix 2006]). The prob- Hendrix, Grady. 2006. Little ghost on the prairie. it was even discussed in scholarly folk- lem is not that Betsy Bell may have lied Slate.com (May 4). Available online at lore publications such as The Journal of www.slate.com/?id=2141069&nav=fo. about being attacked by a ghost; it’s Hudson, Arthur Palmer, and Pete Kyle McCarter. American Folklore (see, for example, that the original source for the Bell 1934. The Bell Witch of Ten nessee and Mis- Hudson and McCarter 1934). So why Witch story made the whole thing up. sissippi: A folk legend. The Journal of American is this obviously fictional story widely Folklore 47(183) (January/March): 45–63. It’s like arguing about whether Huckle- McCormick, James, and Macy Wyatt. 2009. regarded as true, or at least based on berry Finn lied when he said his drunken Ghosts of the Bluegrass. Lexington, Kentucky: real events? Largely because the public father beat him; it’s all in the context of University Press of Kentucky. Monahan, Brent. 2000. The Bell Witch: An American has often been explicitly told that the fiction. The fact that Steiger, Birnes, and Haunting. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. story is true by the “original” source, by countless other “experts” have mistaken MonsterTalk podcast. 2011. A Connecticut uninformed writers, and by people who legend for fact (or not bothered to sepa- haunting in a keen author’s court (August 10). Available online at http://monstertalk. know (or should know) that it’s a leg- rate the two) does not speak well for their skeptic.com/a-connecticut-haunting-in-a- end but market their version as a true scholarship or credibility. keen-author-s-court. story anyway. Passing fiction off as fact is of course Radford, Benjamin. 2009. The real story behind ‘The Haunting in Connecticut.’ Live Veteran ghost researcher Brad Steiger, nothing new. Horror books and films Science.com (March 26). Available online at who is typically careful to keep his books have a long tradition of claiming mys- www.livescience.com/5346-real-story-haunt- uncontaminated by skepticism or verified terious, ghostly, and supernatural events ing-connecticut.html. ———. 2010. The White Witch of Rose Hall. In facts, devotes eight pages of his 2003 as having basis in fact when they were Scientific Paranormal Investi gation: How to book Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and either largely or completely fictional. Solve Unexplained Mysteries. Corrales, New Haunted Places to retelling one version of Classic examples include William Peter Mexico: Rhombus Publishing. Schager, Nick. 2006. An American Haunting (film the Bell Witch legend, apparently never Blatty’s novel The Exorcist (and the film review). Slant magazine, May 1. Available at realizing that it’s a completely fictional version); Jay Anson’s novel The Ami- www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/an- tale. William Birnes and Joel Martin, in tyville Horror: A True Story (and the american-haunting/2133. Steiger, Brad. 2003. Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, their book The Haunting of America: film version); and Ray Garton’s book and Haunted Places. Canton, Michigan: Visi- From the Salem Witch Trials to Harry The Haunting in Con necticut (and the ble Ink Press. Houdini, make the same mistake and film version), among many others (see even lamely suggest that “skeptics Radford 2009 and MonsterTalk 2011). Submissions for the “Skeptical Inquiree” blame Betsy, accusing her of fabricating The Bell Witch story is important column can be sent to: the Bell Witch phenomena. However, for would-be ghost hunters and skeptics Benjamin Radford no one ever proved that…” (145). to understand because it shows how The Skeptical Inquiree P.O. Box 3016 Corrales, NM 87048 First of all, the burden of proof is not easily legend and myth can be mistaken

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