Read The Bell Witch: The Full Account for Free Online Page A

thought nothing more of the incident until
    dinner one evening about a week later when
    Elizabeth and Drewry mentioned having seen an old
    woman walking in the orchard and mysteriously
    disappearing after a short time.
    Upon hearing this, he told them that who they saw
    was probably a new neighbor who had accidentally
    wandered onto the property and quickly exited upon
    seeing them and realizing their trespass. Given the
    large number of people migrating to the area at the
    time, this was a reasonable explanation and nothing
    more was mentioned about the incident.
    They continued with dinner until John Jr. asked,
    “Father, why have you not eaten for several minutes?
    It’s not like you to sit at dinner with a half-empty
    plate before you; and, you look like you are worried.
    Is something wrong?” John Bell replied, “Thank you
    for your concern, son, but all is well. This has been
    a very busy week, and I was thinking about some
    things I hadn’t had time to think about until now. I
    offer my apology if this has disrupted your dinner.”
    “John, you do look very tired; perhaps you should
    retire early this evening and get some rest,”
    suggested Lucy Bell. “I think it would do me some
    good,” he replied. The family finished dinner and
    John Bell retired shortly thereafter.
    About halfway through dinner the next evening,
    Drewry Bell walked in and exclaimed, “Father, you
    won’t ever guess what I just saw! It was the largest
    bird I’ve ever seen, sitting right on the fence out by

    38 P A T
    F I T Z H U G H
    the lane! I thought it was a wild turkey, so I fetched
    my gun; but it flew away as soon as I aimed at it. I
    watched it for a good distance, and I swear it was
    either the world’s largest wild turkey or some type of
    big, ancient bird!”
    “Are you sure it wasn’t an eagle, son?” John Bell
    inquired, “you know eagles can get very big, and they
    are very plentiful in these parts.” “No, father; I’m
    sure this wasn’t an eagle, it didn’t have the grace nor
    the wingspan of an eagle. I will look around the farm
    in the morning and see if I can see it again,” replied
    Drewry. “So just what did this magnificent bird say
    to you, brother?” asked Elizabeth. “It said that
    you’re not at all funny, little sister!” exclaimed
    Drewry. “Okay, enough of the foolishness; you need
    to eat your dinner before it gets cold,” Lucy Bell
    remarked.
    Philis, one of the house slaves, spoke up and said
    she had heard her older brother, Dean, speak of a
    large, black dog that followed him when he visited
    his wife at the Gunn farm each night. The dog
    jumped out of the bushes at the same place each
    night, and would follow him to the Gunn property
    line before running away. “Well, Dean is a very good
    and honest man, Philis, but his imagination is
    sometimes as big as Kate Batts’ stomach,” John Jr.
    said laughingly. After some family conversation and
    a long prayer later that evening, the Bells retired.
    Knocks on the Walls
    Several weeks elapsed without incident, and then
    the Bells began hearing faint, knocking sounds on
    the door and outside walls of their house after dark.
    After being victimized by this seeming “prank” for
    several evenings in a row, John Bell and his sons
    rushed outside whenever they heard these sounds,

    THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT
    39
    hoping to catch the culprit. They kept up this
    routine night after night…always returning
    frustrated and without an explanation.
    The force and frequency of the knocking sounds
    grew with the passing of each night, and fear began
    to set in as hopes of finding an explanation for the
    “pranks” quickly faded. Something was terribly
    wrong, and the Bells now knew it. The Bell children
    found it increasingly hard to go outside after dark,
    and John Bell himself often initiated important
    conversations with his sons just prior to going
    outside, so they often followed him to continue the
    conversation. The rest of the