As a ghost tour guide, most often I am the story teller. My goal is to present the factual accounts of haunted, historic sites in an entertaining way, hopefully with the guests feeling a wide range of emotions throughout the evening.  

But ghost tours are a very personal experience for most people. Often guests are there for a reason. Many times they have lived in a family home that was haunted by an ancestor, or they worked at a place that had paranormal activity. This experience has sparked their curiosity in the supernatural, and for this reason they have taken an interest in ghost tours, books about haunted locations, ghost hunting programming, etc.

Quite often, guests will want to share these experiences and talk about them. Sometimes they are stories that are very personal.  Sometimes they have great pictures with phenomena they can’t explain. In essence, I’ve collected thousands of ghost stories from people from all over the world.

As fascinating as all of these stories are, there is one in particular that still haunts me to this day. 

If you grew up in the state of Tennessee, there is a very good chance you were often frightened by ghost stories of the Bell Witch. Whether you were at a sleepover or listening to an adult tell these frightening stories around a campfire, there is arguably no ghost story more ingrained in the subconscious of the minds of Tennesseans than those of the truly evil spirit from Adams, Tennessee.

Although the Bell Witch is not “officially” part of the Nashville Ghost Tour, I often will tell her story when guests ask about her. There are countless books written about how the Bell Witch (Kate Batts) haunted and cursed the John Bell family in a violent and horrific manner. The torment of this ghost started in the early 1800s and lasted for many decades.

One night, I was leading the Haunted Tavern Tour with a small group of about 6 guests. I began talking about the Bell Witch. As soon as I mentioned her, a gentleman in my group was struck with a look of horror as he turned a pale, white color. I continued with the stories, but mentally I took note of the man. My assumption was that he must be a local. Many locals had grown up being terrified of the Bell Witch. I went on telling the many stories of the Bell Witch, and when I got to the end, I said to the guest, “I noticed your reaction when I started talking about the Bell Witch. I’m guessing you’ve heard some of these stories before?”

He reluctantly started to speak. By the time he finished his tale, we were all mystified and amazed.  

This is the man’s story, as best I can recall:

 “I grew up in Adams, Tennessee. So of course, we all knew about the Bell Witch. When we were teenagers, the Bell Farm was one of the places the kids would go camping. So one night, it’s me and eight friends from my high school.  We’re all getting drunk and goofing around. It’s getting real late and everybody is pretty well trashed, so somebody gets the idea to go find the Bell Witch grave. Being stupid and drunk, we get in a couple of cars and go tearing through town looking for the Bell Witch grave. We finally pull up to a cemetery somewhere and someone says it’s the Bell Witch’s tombstone. But to be honest, we were so wasted, I don’t know where we were or whose grave it actually was. I kind of doubt it was even her gravesite, but anyway one of the guys starts peeing on her tombstone, showing off like he’s brave. So of course, eventually all of us did it. All nine of us did it.” 

“Somehow, we all made it back to the campsite. But, here’s the tough part, from that day until the day we should have all graduated high school, five of the nine of us were dead. Three of my friends died together in a car accident, one died from a rare blood disease, and the other died in his sleep from an unknown cause. So ever since that day, I have believed that our lives are all cursed because of what we did, and that someday, somewhere, the Bell Witch will get her revenge on me too.”

He quit speaking and you could hear a pin drop. My jaw was probably hanging open at this remarkable and horrifying story. I heard this story over ten years ago, and I think about it often, especially the lost, hopeless look on the face of the man who told it. I’ll probably never know, but I’ve often wondered is he doing ok, or was his fear of being the Bell Witch’s next victim actualized?”

What do you think?  Do you think the man in the story survived?  Comment below.

Happy Hauntings,

Frank

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