Read our family worries by Richard Bell. Cave of the Bell Witch. The tragic story of one family. What's the best advice you've been given in life?

And so according to tradition, scary for the night)

Although these terrible events happened a long time ago, at the beginning of the 19th century, there has still not been a ghost in America that could do more trouble than the evil Bellov witch, who has gained fame as the most famous ghost in the United States. The Bell family haunting is one of the most famous mysteries in American history.

It all started in 1817. Prosperous farmer John Bell from Adams (Tennessee) began to see ghost dogs and giant phantom birds. He shot at them, but the shots did not frighten these “creatures.” For a year, the ghost tormented John and Lucy Bell and their eight children. They heard knocking and grinding noises near the house. Inside the house, giant rats appeared to be chewing the bedposts and scratching the floor. The bedspreads were sliding off the beds, and the sleeping inhabitants of the house were awakened by the slaps of invisible hands, which also pulled their hair.

Over time, whistles began to be heard, and then words. At first the voice claimed that he was “everywhere, in heaven, hell and on earth. I am in the air, in houses, everywhere and always. I was born millions of years ago. That's all I'll tell you." The spirit later announced that he was "old Kate Bathe, the witch, and I have resolved that I will haunt and torment old John Bell as long as he lives." According to one version, Kate once made a bad deal with John Bell and now wanted revenge. The witch Kate Bathe was a prophetess. She is reported to have predicted the American Civil War and both World Wars. Rumors about her spread throughout the country, and President Andrew Jackson decided to visit the Bell farm, accompanied by an exorcist. After attempting to shoot Kate with a silver bullet, the killer was slapped in the face by unseen forces and quickly retreated.

Most of all, the rich planter was furious with the witch because she upset the engagement of Betsy, his daughter. In front of the guests, the ghost said such dirty words to the girl and her fiancé that Betsy ran away in tears and locked herself in her room. Immediately after this incident, John saw a whitish transparent silhouette in the corner of the living room; the planter grabbed a saber and shouted: “I will destroy you, you fiend of hell!” - rushed to strike the ghost. Of course, he did not cause any harm to the spirit, but he made him very angry. The witch began to take revenge on the owner of the house. At first, it was as if a stick had been shoved into John's mouth: his jaws and tongue became so stiff that he could neither eat nor speak. The planter's face twitched with convulsions, causing terrible grimaces. In 1820, while walking with her son, the witch pulled off his shoes several times; the weakened John, who had also received a severe slap from the spirit, sat down on a fallen tree and cried. The witch still broke the will of this strong and self-confident man.

Soon after this incident, John fell into a coma. It turned out that the witch had replaced his bottle of medicine with a bottle of some suspicious liquid, which he apparently took. The commotion at home was aggravated by the spirit's statement that the elder Bell was no longer a resident in this world. The arriving doctor decided to test the witch’s “medicine” from the bottle on a cat that came to hand, and she died immediately. It became clear that old Bell would not last long; a few hours later the planter died. Even after death, the ghost mocked poor John to his heart's content. During the funeral, either the heart-rending screams of the witch or her daring songs were heard. It is not known whether the elder Bell stood up for his family in the next world or entered into an invisible battle with this evil spirits, but a few months later, when one day the whole family sat down at the dinner table, a terrible roar was heard, a cannonball fell into the fireplace and immediately exploded. After such a “spectacular” introduction, the witch’s voice was heard: “I’m leaving, wait for me in seven years.” Of course, when this period passed, Lucy and her two sons, who of the whole family remained living in the house, felt out of place.

The witch kept her word, seven years later suspicious sounds began to be heard in the house again, and the invisible man pulled the blankets off the sleeping people. But either the witch missed Betsy’s presence, or was struck by the indifference of the household, who agreed among themselves not to pay any attention to the spirit, the ghost this time disappeared, not having lasted even two weeks in the house. True, it visited the house of John Bell Jr. a couple of times in 1828, threatening him to return in 107 years... Such a promise from the witch, most likely, no longer frightened the Bells; it is unlikely that any of them intended to live for so long.

Although this mysterious and tragic story happened a long time ago, researchers of anomalous phenomena are still arguing about this mysterious case. The fact is that the Bellov witch case had too many witnesses to be a hoax or fiction. Richard, the son of John Bell, even wrote a book about the tyranny of the ghost called “Our Family Troubles.” Some consider this case a classic manifestation of a poltergeist, others see in it a riot of devilish forces, others even insist on the hypothesis of a mass hallucination... Well, a hallucination lasting several years... There is something in this. Some suspect that John Bell was poisoned not by an invisible witch, but by some insidious killer. Whether this is true or not, we have no way of knowing.

The cave is associated with the witch and the period when those terrible events took place, but in fact it has no direct relation to them; however, many believe that when the witch left her family, it was in this cave that she found her refuge.

Ghost of the Red River. 2005

A good mystical film with mega intrigue and an unexpected ending.
Not a masterpiece, but everything is correctly maintained in this genre, and so on without any real basis:
"The Ghost of the Red River" is a story based on real events that took place in the United States (Tennessee) in the 19th century. Thirty-five books have been written about the story of the Bell family, which was attacked by a mysterious spirit. They all talk about how a curse fell on the respectable and respectable Bell family. At some point, a ghost began to come to their house, seeking the death of one of the family members.
But first about the film:
Directed by Courtney Solomon (also directed Dungeon of Dragons (2000)).

The screenwriters also list Brent Monahan as the author of the novel.
Playing:
Father of the family Donald Sutherland

Mother - Sissy Spacek. She played Carrie in the 1976 film of the same name.

The teacher is a very handsome actor James D'Arcy

The daughter of the family and the main character is Rachel Hurd-Wood. She is only 20 years old at the moment and she is well known to us from the main victim of Perfumer, as well as her roles in Solomon Kane and Dorian Gray. Oh, and her uncle is Hugh Laurie.

Son of the Family - Tom Fell

About reality what we found to get:
Although these terrible events happened a long time ago, at the beginning of the 19th century, in America there has still not been a ghost who could do more harm than evil witch Bellov, gaining fame as the most famous ghost in the United States. “Dad, someone is walking under the window again,” little Richard said to his father, looking around in fear. John Bell, a wealthy planter from Tennessee, turned on the light, took a strong club and went out into the yard. Once again he tried to catch and teach a lesson to the scoundrel who had been frightening his family for several nights. However, the yard was empty, and the old watchman swore that no one approached the house.

The rustling and creaking noises outside the windows had long been a source of concern for John Bell: dark stories about vengeful slaves who killed their masters and their loved ones circulated among the neighbors. Bell also had slaves working on his cotton plantations; it was 1817, and human trafficking was still commonplace in the southern states of the United States. Could any of his slaves be up to no good? He had asked himself this question more than once, but he could not even suspect anyone: many slaves even loved him, because John was a zealous Christian and treated his forced people humanely.
It soon became clear that the slaves had absolutely nothing to do with it: strange sounds began to be heard inside the house, but there were no strangers. If only scratching sounds were heard, everything could be attributed to rats, but the rumble of an invisible chain indicated that there was a real ghost in the house.

* * *
For almost a year, the invisible creature had fun scaring the large Bell family with a variety of sounds, but then it decided to move on to more tangible actions. The children began to wake up at night because someone invisible was tearing off their blankets. One day, the ghost decided to play a nasty joke on one of the Bells’ guests, who stayed overnight with them. The blanket torn from him hung in the air, clearly outlining an invisible human figure. The guest turned out to be a timid ten - shouting: “I caught a ghost!” - he pounced on the invisible man, grabbed him in his arms and tied him with the ends of the blanket.

The brave man wanted to burn the blanket along with its terrible contents in the hearth, but before he could take a few steps towards the fire, the room was filled with a terrible stench. The stench literally paralyzed the respiratory system; Having abandoned the ghost, the guest ran out of the room. When John and his guest ran up to the noise and decided to enter the room, the disgusting smell had already disappeared, and an obviously empty blanket lay on the floor. Needless to say, after this incident, the Bells’ guests tried not to linger.

The ghost did not like such unceremonious treatment of him: after trying to burn him, he went on the offensive.

The ghost's first victims were children. Terrible screams were heard from one or the other children's room. Someone invisible was pulling either Richard or Betsy by the hair with terrible force. Something had to be done, and John decided to consult with his friend James Johnson, who was distinguished not only by enviable courage, but also by certain knowledge in the occult sciences.

By his arrival, the ghost seemed to begin to find a voice.

Johnson listened with great curiosity to the smacking and hacking cough of the invisible man and decided to try to talk to him. His attempt puzzled the ghost for a moment, but soon in response there was what seemed to be a contemptuous whistle.

Bell's friend did not give up his attempts to establish a dialogue with the invisible man, and then one day he heard an unclear whisper in response. With each passing hour, the voice of the invisible man became louder and the words clearer. The scariest thing the ghost said only in the presence of Betsy, as if drawing strength from the girl’s energy. This role of a kind of ghost relay was not easy for the poor child: Betsy became dizzy and often lost consciousness. It even reached trance-like states, lasting up to 40 minutes. When Betsy was absent or unconscious, the ghost was silent. They even suspected that the girl was practicing ventriloquism, but they could not prove it.

What did the ghost of the Bell family say? At first, of course, they tried to find out whose spirit it was, but they could not get a clear answer to this question. The ghost either said that it was the spirit of an unburied Indian woman, or was called the Black Dog, or introduced itself as Kate Butt, whom everyone in the area considered to be a local witch.

Ultimately, the ghost was named the Bell Witch. The planter and his family were left alone with a raging spirit, which clearly suffered from a split personality. The fact is that the ghost behaved very ambiguously: for all its evil antics, it could sometimes do good deeds. Particularly interesting are cases when it saved the life of John's youngest son, caught in a sand landslide. The child was already losing consciousness when he heard an encouraging voice nearby, and invisible hands literally pulled him out of the sand.

The ghost had a special weakness for Lucy, Bell's wife. When she organized a Bible study group and gathered with her friends in the house, the spirit treated them to fruits that materialized straight out of thin air and fell into the shocked women’s laps. During Lucy's illness, the invisible man brought her nuts and even cracked them at her request. A real surprise was a basket of exotic fruits for the birthday of one of the children, which, according to the spirit, he delivered to the table directly from India.

However, such pleasant surprises from a ghost were extremely rare; much more often the spirit committed various dirty tricks. The Bellov witch especially liked to give family members heavy slaps in the face. The effect of surprise, of course, was complete: John would walk through the house, and suddenly his head would twitch from a blow, and a red handprint would appear on his cheek... Even the guests got the worst of it, but poor Betsy received the most beatings. They even tried to take her away from home for a while, but even when visiting a friend, she continued to regularly receive slaps. It is curious that at the same time, the invisible man continued to do his dirty tricks in the Bells’ house.

Most of all, the rich planter was furious with the witch for ruining Betsy's engagement. In front of the guests, the ghost said such dirty words about the girl and her fiancé that Betsy ran away in tears and locked herself in her room. Immediately after this incident, John saw a whitish transparent silhouette in the corner of the living room; the planter grabbed a saber and shouted: “I will destroy you, fiend of hell!” - rushed to strike the ghost. Of course, he did not cause any harm to the spirit, but he made him very angry.

The witch began to take revenge on the owner of the house. At first, it was as if a stick had been shoved into John's mouth: his jaws and tongue became so stiff that he could neither eat nor speak. The planter's face twitched with convulsions, causing terrible grimaces. In 1820, while walking with her son, the witch pulled off his shoes several times; the weakened John, who had also received a severe slap from the spirit, sat down on a fallen tree and began to cry. The witch still broke the will of this strong and self-confident man.

Soon after this incident, John fell into a coma. It turned out that the witch had replaced his bottle of medicine with a bottle of some suspicious liquid, which he apparently took. The commotion at home was aggravated by the spirit’s statement that the elder Bell is no longer alive in this world. The arriving doctor decided to test the witch’s “medicine” from the bottle on a cat that came to hand, and she died immediately. It became clear that old Bell would not last long; a few hours later the planter died. The damned witch took revenge on the owner of the house.

Even after death, the ghost mocked poor John to his heart's content. During the funeral, either the heart-rending screams of the witch or her daring songs were heard. It is not known whether the elder Bell stood up for his family in the next world or entered into an invisible battle with this evil spirits, but a few months later, when one day the whole family sat down at the dinner table, a terrible roar was heard, a cannonball fell into the fireplace and immediately exploded. After such a “spectacular” introduction, the witch’s voice was heard: “I’m leaving, wait for me in seven years.”

Of course, when this period passed, Lucy and her two sons, who of the whole family remained living in the house, felt out of place. The witch kept her word, seven years later suspicious sounds began to be heard in the house again, and the invisible man pulled the blankets off the sleeping people. But either the witch missed Betsy’s presence, or was struck by the indifference of the household, who agreed among themselves not to pay any attention to the spirit, the ghost this time disappeared, not having lasted even two weeks in the house. True, it visited the house of John Bell Jr. a couple of times in 1828, threatening him to return in 107 years... Such a promise from the witch, most likely, no longer frightened the Bells; it is unlikely that any of them intended to live for so long.

* * *
Although this mysterious and tragic story happened a long time ago, researchers of anomalous phenomena are still arguing about this mysterious case. The fact is that the Bellov witch case had too many witnesses to be a hoax or fiction. Richard, the son of John Bell, even wrote a book about the tyranny of the ghost called “Our Family Troubles.” Some consider this case a classic manifestation of a poltergeist, others see in it a riot of devilish forces, others even insist on the hypothesis of a mass hallucination... Well, a hallucination lasting several years... There is something in this, isn’t it? Some suspect that John Bell was poisoned not by an invisible witch, but by some insidious killer. Whether this is true or not, we have no way of knowing.

Stories about witches always excite the imagination and arouse eerie curiosity. We want to tell you the real story about the Bell Witch, which formed the basis of the famous film “The Blair Witch Project”.

John Bell settled on the Red River in Tennessee near what is now Adams Township. Things were going well, his wife and four children were a good help to the farmer and, as always happens, there were no signs of trouble.

And so, on one of the ordinary days in 1817, John went into the field to see how the wheat was growing. Suddenly a strange creature appeared on his way. Something between a rabbit and a dog. He managed to shoot a couple of times in the direction of the animal before it quickly disappeared from view.

Little did he know then that this event would lead to a series of mysterious incidents that would become the most exciting American ghost story.

After an incident with an unusual animal, the family began to experience strange sounds. On the street every now and then something knocked and rumbled. All attempts to determine the source of the noise were unsuccessful - there was no one or anything on the street.

Meanwhile, the mysterious sounds had already moved inside the house. The noisy something became so bold that it began to move objects and even pester children. It poked them in the sides, pushed them and pulled their hair. Betsy Bell especially got it.

Over time, the vague sounds that the entity made began to resemble a human voice, which immediately suggested that it was someone’s restless soul. Soon the culprit was found - the late Kate Batts, one of John Bell's neighbors, with whom he had a bad relationship. Both Bell's family and friends who visited their home testified that they observed strange paranormal phenomena and even communicated with the ghost of Kate Batts, who was soon given the name "The Bell Witch."

Her fame quickly spread throughout the surrounding area. And one day the legendary American General Andrew Jackson visited the farmer’s house. The presence of the officer and the brave soldiers and witch hunter accompanying him did not bother the shameless ghost.

First, the ghost jammed the wheels of the carriage on which the guests arrived, then it frightened the soldiers with its voice. The witch hunter got the worst of it - she poked and pinched him. Even though most of the company wanted to leave the house immediately, Jackson said he wanted to stay.

However, the family woke up early in the morning to find that the guests had already disappeared. But it was all pranks. The spirit was capable of terrible things. And one day he showed his evil character.

John Bell, a strong man, was knocked down by an unusual illness. One day, the family simply found their breadwinner in bed, his body in an unnatural position. The doctor, who could not find an explanation for the strange disease, nevertheless prescribed medicine.

Imagine the surprise of the relatives when they discovered that instead of the medicine in the vessel there was an unknown black substance, one drop of which was enough to kill the cat. It is not surprising that John Bell soon went to the Other World.

During the funeral, the spirit behaved disgracefully - screams, moans and curses rained down on the heads of the widow and children. They say that after the farewell ceremony was over, the witch saw off the guests with obscene drinking songs.

After John Bell's death, the ghost continued to haunt his daughter Betsy Bell. He tortured the girl and demanded that she give up her intention to marry her lover. As a result, succumbing to the spirit's threats, Betsy married a man who did not irritate the wayward witch. She was satisfied and even left the family alone for seven whole years.

She kept her promise, returning within the prescribed period, but disappeared quite quickly, promising to appear next time in 107 years to the closest of the remaining relatives of the Bell family. According to rumors, this “luck” came to Charles Bell in 1934, about which he managed to write a book before he died suddenly.

The Bell Witch is believed to still haunt the farm, which has become a tourist attraction for ghost hunters. They say that clots of plasma, mystical mists and shadows of people appear in the surrounding area every now and then.

There is especially much evidence of apparitions in a cave on the banks of the Red River, in which Betsy Bell sometimes met her tormentor. In it, people are overcome by a strange “heavy” feeling and there is a feeling that an unknown force is trying to strangle them and throw them to the floor.

Recently, another version has appeared, designed to explain otherworldly phenomena on the Bell farm. They say that it is located on the territory of an old Indian burial place, and supposedly one day the remains of a young Indian girl were found and taken to that very cave. But confirmation of this fact has not yet been found.

The cave on the river bank is still open to the public. And the chilling story of the Bell family formed the basis of two feature films: “The Phantom of the Red River” and the famous “The Blair Witch Project.”

Although these terrible events happened a long time ago, at the beginning of the 19th century, in America there has still not been a ghost who could do more trouble than the evil witch Bellov, who has gained fame as the most famous ghost in the United States.

Dad, someone is walking under the window again,” little Richard said to his father, looking around in fear. John Bell, a wealthy planter from Tennessee, turned on the light, took a strong club and went out into the yard. Once again he tried to catch and teach a lesson to the scoundrel who had been frightening his family for several nights. However, the yard was empty, and the old watchman swore that no one approached the house.

The rustling and creaking noises outside the windows had long been a source of concern for John Bell: dark stories about vengeful slaves who killed their masters and their loved ones circulated among the neighbors. Bell also had slaves working on his cotton plantations; it was 1817, and human trafficking was still commonplace in the southern states of the United States. Could any of his slaves be up to no good? He had asked himself this question more than once, but he could not even suspect anyone: many slaves even loved him, because John was a zealous Christian and treated his forced people humanely.
It soon became clear that the slaves had absolutely nothing to do with it: strange sounds began to be heard inside the house, but there were no strangers. If only scratching sounds were heard, everything could be attributed to rats, but the rumble of an invisible chain indicated that there was a real ghost in the house.

The ghost did not like such unceremonious treatment of him: after trying to burn him, he went on the offensive.

By his arrival, the ghost seemed to begin to find a voice.

Bell's friend did not give up his attempts to establish a dialogue with the invisible man, and then one day he heard an unclear whisper in response. With each passing hour, the voice of the invisible man became louder and the words clearer. The worst thing is that the ghost spoke only in the presence of Betsy, as if drawing strength from the girl’s energy. This role of a kind of ghost relay was not easy for the poor child: Betsy became dizzy and often lost consciousness. It even reached trance-like states, lasting up to 40 minutes. When Betsy was absent or unconscious, the ghost was silent. They even suspected that the girl was practicing ventriloquism, but they could not prove it.

Ultimately, the ghost was named the Bell Witch. The planter and his family were left alone with a raging spirit, which clearly suffered from a split personality. The fact is that the ghost behaved very ambiguously: for all its evil antics, it could sometimes do good deeds. Particularly interesting are the cases when it saved the life of John’s youngest son, who was caught in a sand landslide. The child was already losing consciousness when he heard an encouraging voice nearby, and invisible hands literally pulled him out of the sand.

Even after death, the ghost mocked poor John to his heart's content. During the funeral, either the heart-rending screams of the witch or her daring songs were heard. It is not known whether the elder Bell stood up for his family in the next world or entered into an invisible battle with this evil spirits, but a few months later, when one day the whole family sat down at the dinner table, a terrible roar was heard, a cannonball fell into the fireplace and immediately exploded. After such a “spectacular” introduction, the witch’s voice was heard: “I’m leaving, wait for me in seven years.”

Vitaly GOLUBEV

Paranormal investigator Jilaine Sherwood identifies five sequential stages of poltergeist behavior:
sensory (senses and smells),
communicative (moans, voices, screams),
physical (touching, slamming doors, etc.),
meaningful (throwing objects, deliberate actions aimed at causing fear),
aggressive (bites, blows, the appearance of blood on the walls, threatening inscriptions, the occurrence of unexplained painful conditions in the victim).
Upon reaching the last stage, the poltergeist, having reached the peak of activity, suddenly subsides and after a while appears again, starting the cycle from the first stage.
Let's see how it all happened for the Bells.
This story began almost two hundred years ago, in 1817.
The young farmer John Bell and his entire family (he had a large family: John himself, his wife Lucy and nine children) moved from North Carolina to the Red River Valley, Robertson County, Tennessee.
He settled in the Adams community and bought a piece of land and a spacious house from a woman named Kate Butts.
Subsequently, Kate claimed that John Bell had deceived her during the deal, but Kate was old, did not enjoy much love from her neighbors, and no one listened to her claims: you never know what the old woman says!
But it was worth listening.
Many later recalled that “old woman Butts” vowed to punish the deceiver, even if she had to return from the grave to do so.
Things were going well for John Bell and his family. Soon he was able to buy some more land, cleared a field and started growing cotton. Over time, John Bell made new friends, became a respected person, and his opinion was taken into account in the community.
No one could have imagined that very soon the Bells’ quiet life would come to an end.

The Bell House, purchased from Kate Butts.

One day in 1817, John was walking around his cornfield when he came across a strange animal with the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit. Struck by the sight of the strange creature, Bell shot at it several times and the beast disappeared.
Probably, later the farmer recalled this meeting more than once - after all, it was from here that his misadventures began.
Late in the evening of the same day, when the whole family was gathered, a knock was heard. It became louder and louder until finally there was a terrible noise. It seemed as if someone was pounding on the walls with all their might.
Bell and his sons ran outside to catch whoever was knocking, but returned with nothing: no one was found near the house, the yard was empty, and the old watchman swore that no one came close to the house. Several times during the evening the farmer walked around the house with a gun in his hands, trying to understand what was going on.
The sound came not from outside, but as if from the walls - but could this be possible?!
Did John Bell think that from that day his life would change forever and that he, an ordinary person, would come face to face with something that had no explanation and from which it was impossible to defend?
The knocking was repeated every night, becoming louder and louder until it became a roar. The Bell family sat awake. The strange knocking caused anxiety and fear, but for the time being, people’s fears were connected, so to speak, with earthly affairs.
The year was 1817, human trafficking was rampant in the southern states, and rumors circulated among planters that slaves sometimes killed their masters or their loved ones. Bell also had slaves working on his cotton plantations, and, of course, the first thing he thought about was them. Could any of his slaves have plotted evil and taken revenge on their master?
But John was a zealous Christian, he treated his slaves well, so, on reflection, he was forced to admit that they had nothing to do with it.
Soon strange sounds began to be heard inside the house. It was as if some evil spirit had come to torment the family and it started with the children. They woke up at night because someone was gnawing the legs of the beds, scratching the floor with their claws, pulling off the blankets, throwing pillows on the floor. Sometimes you could hear an invisible door slamming, someone scratching the glass with their nails, and sometimes in the middle of the night the flapping of wings and growls were suddenly heard above the children's beds.
One night, the Bells' youngest son, Richard, woke up with someone grabbing his hair. The boy screamed in pain and immediately heard others screaming as the evil spirit dragged them by the hair.
Now it was no longer enough for the ghost to just scare people: he began to harass them.
It was especially hard on Belov’s youngest daughter, Betsy, who was 12 years old at the time.
Betsy Bell.

Her spirit was particularly disliked. He either pinched her or beat her (the bruises and abrasions on the girl’s body did not go away for weeks), then tore out her hair, or slapped her.
Soon after, the knocking and rumbling died down. Now a weak, quiet voice was heard in the house, very similar to the voice of an old, feeble woman. All day long the invisible woman was barely audible muttering something, crying or wailing.
"Who are you?" - John Bell asked her and immediately received an answer.
“I am a witch,” answered a female voice. “I am the spirit of a witch!”
Since then, the evil ghost has become known as the “Bell Witch.”
By the way, she terrorized not only the owners.
Once a guest spent the night at Bell's house. At night, when everyone had settled down, the guest’s blanket suddenly flew off and hung in the air, clearly outlining an invisible human figure. The guest turned out to be not a timid person. He jumped up, grabbed the blanket and shouted to the owner that he had caught the ghost of a witch.
They wanted to burn the blanket along with the witch in the hearth, but that was not the case.
Before the guest had time to take even a step towards the fireplace, the room was suddenly filled with a terrible stench. The stench was so strong that the guest, abandoning the captured ghost, rushed out of the room. When, some time later, John and his guest decided to enter the house, the sickening smell had already disappeared, and the blanket was lying on the floor.
Trying to catch her made the witch even more furious.
Driven to despair, John decided to consult his old friend James Johnson, who was very knowledgeable in the occult sciences. Johnson and his wife first went to the Bells' house and spent one night there.
The “Witch” tormented them in the same way as the Bells themselves: she kicked, pinched, and pulled their hair. After James Johnston's blanket was repeatedly thrown to the floor and after several very noticeable blows, Johnston jumped out of bed and loudly exclaimed: “I ask you in the name of God, who are you and what do you want?”
He did not wait for an answer, but the evil ghost calmed down and the rest of the night passed calmly.
The next morning, Johnston, after consulting with John Bell, decided to carry out an exorcism ritual, which was supposed to expel the spirit of the witch from the house forever.

This is how the exorcism took place according to the Catholic rite. I wanted to post a few more photos here, but then I thought that if anyone is interested in exorcism, it would be better to watch the movie “The Exorcist.”

By the way, in early Christianity it was believed that the ability to expel evil spirits was a special gift that could be endowed with both a priest and a layman, but already in 250, one of the lowest positions in the church hierarchy was introduced - an exorcist, who was endowed with special powers.
Exorcism was directly and unambiguously classified as a feat of faith, and, naturally, could not be performed by order or by virtue of appointment.
Great (great) or solemn exorcism, has the goal of expelling the evil spirit from the possessed and liberating him from demonic influences. This sacramental can only be given by a bishop or a spiritual person who has been given the appropriate permission by the bishop. The ceremony is performed according to the Roman ritual.
Small, simple or personal exorcisms in Catholicism, unlike Orthodoxy, are not exorcisms in the full sense of the word and do not contain the formulas of a great exorcism, for example, direct orders given to an evil spirit. Small exorcisms are prayers for personal use by all believers, for example in moments of temptation or torment caused by an evil spirit. These prayers are not full-fledged exorcisms, although they are aimed at liberation from demonic influences (with the exception of possession).
Be that as it may, the exorcist from Johnston turned out to be unimportant: the spirit calmed down for only a few days.
For several days the Belov family enjoyed peace and quiet and hoped that their torment was over.
Their dreams, alas, were not destined to come true.
The vengeful ghost returned and brought all his anger down on Betsy.
The witch pulled her by the hair so that the girl screamed in pain and fear, pinched her, and punched her in the face several times.
Her parents began to fear for her life, especially since Betsy, who had never complained about her health before, suddenly began to lose consciousness, fell into a kind of trance and did not come to her senses for almost an hour. Now the witch's spirit spoke only in Betsy's presence, as if drawing vitality from the girl's energy. When Betsy was absent or unconscious, the witch's spirit was silent. They even suspected that the girl was practicing ventriloquism, but they could not prove it.

Meanwhile, rumors about the “Belov Witch” reached the city of Nashville, where they became interested in Andrew Jackson, a general who was well acquainted with the two Bell brothers, John and Jesse Bell - they fought under his command in the battle of New Orleans.
He decided to personally visit Belov and see with his own eyes what was happening there.
General Jackson did not set off on his journey alone: he was accompanied by several people. They were traveling in a large van, but as soon as they approached the Bells' land, the van suddenly stopped. The horses tried to move him from his place, but he seemed to have grown into the ground!
Trying in vain to push the van from its place, Jackson exclaimed that all this was nothing other than the tricks of the “witch.” As soon as he said this, a female voice, coming from an unknown source, spoke to them. The woman said that they could now move on, but that they would meet again that evening. After this, the van started moving and Jackson and his comrades continued on their way.

In the evening, General Jackson and John Bell Jr. talked for a long time, recalled the past, and Jackson’s companions patiently waited for the evil spirit to finally appear. Suddenly one of Jackson's men, who was tired of waiting, decided to fool around. He took out a pistol and declared that he would be a “witch tamer” and would now call her and kill her.
And at that very moment the man began to scream in pain. He later said that at that moment he felt needles piercing him and someone began to beat him cruelly.
The frightened “witch tamer” and other people began to beg Jackson to leave immediately. They did not spend the night in the “cursed” house, but settled down for the night in a van, in a field, but even there they were afraid of a vengeful spirit.
It all ended with Jackson and his men leaving the Bell farm the next day. General Jackson himself, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, recalling this incident, said: “I would rather fight the whole British army than deal with one Bell witch.” Andrew Jackson later became President of the United States.
No one managed to cope with the “Bella Witch”.
She tormented the family for several years, especially to John himself and his daughter Betsy. As Betsy grew older, she began dating a young man named Joshua Gardner, who lived near the Bell farm. An engagement was announced, but the spirit of the witch announced that the wedding would not happen.
He poisoned Betsy and Joshua, chased them in the house, and on the river, and in the field, threw stones at them, mocked them, pulled their hair and, in the end, swore that if they got married, he would not give the young people a single minute peace.
On Easter Monday 1821, Betsy and Joshua's engagement was called off.
Having achieved her goal, the “witch” left Betsy alone, but set to work on John Bell: she announced that she would bring him to his grave.
From that day on, Bell's health began to deteriorate.
In addition, he was beset by a strange illness: his jaws became stiff, and his tongue swollen to such an extent that it did not fit in his mouth. He could hardly eat and hardly spoke. Seizures began that lasted for hours, followed by a nervous tic that turned into convulsions.
He almost didn’t go out anywhere, because during the time the witch pulled off his shoes, pushed him and beat him.
In the fall of 1820, John Bell tried for the last time to get out of bed and walk to the farm, however, the witch did not allow him to do this.
“My father staggered as if he had received a blow to the head,” recalls his son Richard, “and sat down heavily on a log lying by the side of the road. His face twitched; grimaces quickly replacing one another distorted him.” John Bell's shoes fell off his feet. The boy tried to help his father put on his shoes, but the shoes immediately fell off again. At that time there was noise in the air: frenzied swearing, mocking singing and screams. When everything calmed down and the convulsions stopped, the weakened John, who in addition received a strong slap on the wrist from the spirit, sat down on a fallen tree and began to cry. The witch still broke the will of this strong and self-confident man.
After that, John Bell fell ill and never got up again. On December 18, 1820, when the whole family was gathered on the sick bed, he was given his usual medicine. Immediately his health deteriorated sharply and agony began, which lasted until the morning. In the morning, John Bell breathed his last.
The household found a small bottle of medicine that Bell had taken the day before and, suspecting the worst, John Bell Jr. gave the liquid to the house cat to try. The cat died immediately.
At this point, the "witch" triumphantly announced: "I gave old Jack a good dose of this stuff last night and it helped him."
Instead of sending the liquid for examination, John Bell Jr. threw the vial with the remaining liquid into the fireplace, so the cause of the death of the elder Bell could not be determined.

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Read our family worries by Richard Bell. Cave of the Bell Witch. The tragic story of one family. What's the best advice you've been given in life?