Adams, Tennessee and the Bell Witch

Adams, TN is best known for its historic Bell Witch haunting, where an evil spirit tormented the Bell family, and finally killed the family patriarch, John Bell, in 1820. I had heard the Bell Witch stories growing up in rural western Kentucky, living only a little more than an hour from the haunted Adams farm, where “Old Jack” Bell had been murdered by the ghostly presence.

In a scene right out of a horror movie, I received a warning! As I walked around shooting photos in the old downtown area of Adams, an older man and a young boy pulled up and parked in front of an old dilapidated business, that had been rusting and rotting for years. They got out of the car and started walking toward me. The boy carried a large stuffed snowman in his arms. As we exchanged greetings, the little boy ran up to me, and gave a stern rebuke, “You shouldn’t be here.” I asked him why, and he said, “Ghosts.” About that time, the older man had caught up, and said that he and his grandson came there to walk. He added that he sees a lot of people shooting pictures of the old buildings.

We talked for a few minutes, and he suggested a few places in the area that would offer some great photo opportunites, including an old church in Guthrie, KY, just a few miles up the road, that I could hit on the way back home. I thanked the man, and asked if I could snap their photo. He moved out of the way, and asked his grandson to lift up his stuffed snowman, and I snapped an image. He took the boy’s hand and they started walking away. The boy turned back at me and warned “Don’t go in there. Those buildings are full of ghosts.”

I had been duly warned, and stayed out of the dilapidated, abandoned buildings, which had boards over the windows and graffiti spray painted all about. The warning, however, didn’t stop me from shooting some great exteriors in the old downtown area. I wondered how much longer the old church will be there before becoming a pile of rubble and a memory. The old brick businesses, with rusty tin awnings over the sidewalks, across the road from it weren’t faring much better. In the not too distant future, photos and memories will be all that is left.

My wife got the dogs out of the truck and let them walk about for a few minutes. I got behind the driver’s seat, and Daisy, our pug, jumped in and sat in my lap looking out, as my wife snapped a photo of us together.

We moved on to the old Bell School, where some historic buildings from the area had been moved and restored, including an old barber shop and a doctor’s office. But, the main attraction for us was the old cabin that had been located on the haunted Bell farm. It’s not the main Bell family house that was haunted by the evil spirit, but one that was used by members of the Bell family on the farm at that time, and the only one that has survived.

I’m not going into a long history of The Bell Witch, as space doesn’t permit, and many others have written about the events that occurred between 1817 and 1821. However, the story goes that the Bell family was visited by an invisible and very vocal spirit, claiming to be “Old Kate Batt’s Witch.” The haunting started with various family members seeing strange animals, which weren’t quite as they should be. That was followed by sounds in the house, such as knockings and chains dragging. As time went by, these progressed into voices and singing, and things became physical with hair pulling, hitting, scratching and other violence. The spirit, however showed kindness to John’s wife, Lucy, and referred to her as “the most perfect woman to walk the earth.” The apparition, now fully articulate and intelligent, objected strongly to a relationship of daughter, Betsy, and her boyfriend, Joshua Gardner, so much that their engagement was called off. There are numerous other stories, which include such historic figures as General Andrew Jackson. How much of these tales are true may never be known. However, the legend of the Bell Witch remains strong in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky.

As suggested by the old man, we headed back home through Gurthie, KY, right on the Kentucky-Tennessee line. I spied an old ghost sign advertising Coca-Cola, adjacent to the now defunct Longhurst General Store. Visually, the town probably looks much as it did 50 years ago, and is a back road photographer’s dream location

At the far end of town, we found Lane Chapel CME Church. I pulled in and we walked around. I was glad for the photo suggestions from the old man. Otherwise, I might have missed some wonderful historic destinations.

More can be found about the Bell Witch here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Witch and http://www.bellwitch.org/story.htm I have more pictures on my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bobgbell/