The Bell Witch: The Full Account (36 page)

Of all the supernatural entities discussed, only a

Spirit possesses intelligence and has the ability to

summon, bind, and command entities to act on its

behalf. The Spirit behind the Bell disturbances

manifested its “high-ordered” characteristics on its

own and directed entities such as poltergeists and

demons to manifest its “low-ordered” characteristics.

When looking at the Bell disturbances from a

chronological perspective, one should be able to infer

that the Spirit itself did not visit the Bells until about

the time of John Bell’s death, which was about the

same time it progressed to the Second Order. The

author feels that before John Bell’s death, the Bells

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were terrorized by entities acting on behalf of the

Spirit; and when the Spirit reached a higher level of

purity and stability (around 1820 — the year of Bell’s

death), it commenced terrorizing the Bells directly.

The Spirit’s order and subclass at a given time

determined which entities were enlisted to do its

“dirty work,” and in what manner. This can easily be

seen by comparing the aspects of any particular

disturbance to the characteristics of one or more

supernatural entities, and then “mapping” those

characteristics to the orders and subclasses of

Spiritual progression. Along the same lines, one

must also remember that sorcery is a philosophical

type of magic; and as such, enabled the Spirit to

direct the different entities to act according to its

philosophy at any point in time. A Spirit’s

philosophy changes as its order and subclasses

change – from impurity to purity. Before discussing

the Spirit’s possible agenda and what “triggered” its

manifestation at that point in history, let us first

answer the question, “Where did the Spirit come

from?”

Where Did “Kate” Come From?

A Spirit can attach itself to a person, place, or

object. Because of continued reports of

unexplainable incidents in the area, and the

existence of certain factors to be discussed shortly,

the author feels that the Spirit was not attached to

any particular member of the Bell family, but to the

land upon which they lived. Let us discuss the

interesting history of this land.

History of the Land

The land that comprised the Bell farm is the final

resting-place of hundreds and possibly thousands of

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269

Native Americans. Archaeologists from the State of

Tennessee have estimated that most Native American

graves on this land are between 500 and 3,000 years

old. Many years after these early Native Americans

were buried in Robertson County, the Cherokees and

Choctaws made their permanent homes in east

Tennessee and Mississippi, respectively. These two

Nations used Robertson County and other areas of

middle Tennessee as a hunting ground, but buried

their dead in the same regions they lived in.

The ancestors of the Cherokees and Choctaws

were the Woodland and Mississippian tribes, both of

which buried their dead throughout middle

Tennessee, including the land that would later

became the Bell farm. Even those who came before

the Woodlands and Mississippians, thousands of

years before Christ, buried their dead on the land

that later became the Bell farm. This was

determined by archaeologists who examined the

different types of Native American graves and

artifacts found in the area of the old Bell farm.

The most recent Native Americans to bury their

dead on this land were the Mound Builders, a branch

of the Mississippian culture that existed between 950

and 1650 AD. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto

encountered and wrote about the Mound Builders

during his early expeditions through the area in

1540-1541 period.

Ancient Native Americans did not choose their

burial grounds arbitrarily. The land had to be

considered sacred and possess strong Spiritual

qualities to become a burial ground. The land that

comprised the Bell farm was used not by one, but

several Native American cultures over thousands of

years because of its perceived sacredness. Add to

this perceived sacredness the hundreds and possibly

thousands of souls that are buried beneath the old

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Bell farm. It should not be difficult to conclude that

this land was, and still is, a “hotbed” of Spiritual

activity.

A Vortex on the Bell Farm

Paranormal investigators have detected unusual

electromagnetic and other energy fields on and near

the old Bell farm, especially in the cave and where

the Bell home stood. The consensus among many of

these investigators is that there exists a vortex on the

old Bell farm. A scientific discussion of vortexes
and

related topics such as Einstein’s theory of relativity,

the Philadelphia experiment, Project Magnet, and the

Temporal Transmission Research Project, is

important but beyond the scope of this book. The

important thing to understand about vortexes is that

they are considered essentially as “doorways”

between the material and Spiritual worlds. Such

places usually possess one or more scientific

attributes that bring two or more planes of existence

together at a single point.

Spirits are everywhere; however, because the Bells

lived on a Spiritual hotbed and near a vortex, the

concentration of Spiritual and other supernatural

activity on and near where their farm was is much

greater than in most other places. The most logical

question one could ask at this point is “If that land is

still such a Spiritual ‘hotbed,’ then why are the

supernatural encounters reported there today less

frightening and intense than those which took place

there nearly 200 years ago?”

Think about a vortex the same way you would

think about a volcano. A volcano can be inactive,

active, or erupting and sending hot lava everywhere.

Volcanoes erupt because seismological conditions

become such that an eruption is the only natural

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271

outcome. The supernatural encounters on the Bell

farm nearly 200 years ago were more frightening and

intense than those today because Spiritual

conditions were right at the time. Dead souls remain

buried in this sacred land, and a vortex still exists

there; so, what happened during the time of John

Bell that made the Spiritual conditions different than

they are now?

The Spirit Was “Called”

The Spirit world was “called,” thereby bringing the

already-Spiritual activity at the vortex into full force.

At first take, one might assume that some action or

inaction on the part of the Bells “called” the Spirit

world; however, many things happened in the Red

River area at the time that brought Spiritual

discontentment and emotional turmoil to its citizens,

including the Bells.

The author feels that it was the community’s

emotional turmoil and Spiritual discontentment as a

whole that “called” the Spirit world. What happened

in the early Nineteenth Century that caused the

otherwise happy and God-fearing citizens of the Red

River community so much emotional and Spiritual

grief?

Turmoil in the Early Nineteenth Century

This was at a time in history when revivals were

everyday occurrences, evenings were spent praying

and singing hymns, revival camps were the only

vacation retreats, and the church took an aggressive

interest in the business and personal lives of its

members. In addition, the Red River area was

considered by many to have been one of the most

religious places in the country at the time.

A number of theological differences existed at the

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time, which caused church congregations to split,

people to be excommunicated from churches, and

people to question their own religious beliefs and

convictions. Sermons within the same religious faith

but delivered by different preachers were often

contradictory, prayer meetings were often disturbed

by the emotional outbursts of those who questioned

their own faith, and many friendships were ended

because of religious differences.

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was formed

as a result of the “Second Great Awakening,” or “The

Great Revival,” which began about 1798 in Logan

County, Kentucky near the present-day town of

Adairville and only a few miles from the Red River.

In its infancy, this revival was known as “The Red

River Revival,” and later became known as “The Cane

Ridge Revival.” Although the entire country was

affected by this revival, its impact was felt most

heavily in Tennessee and Kentucky, where it was

estimated that over 12,000 people attended one

outdoor service at a time in history when the area

was being settled and boasted only a sparse

population.

During this period, the “Old Sides” dominated the

Presbyterian Church. One of the revival’s most

significant effects was that the Presbyterians living in

the west began to reject the Old Sides view and

became known as New Sides, or “New Light”

Presbyterians. Many people withdrew from the

traditional Presbyterian Church and formed the

Cumberland Presbyterian Church, which was so

named because most of their churches were located

in the region drained by the Cumberland River in

Tennessee and Kentucky.

The “Second Great Awakening” was the first revival

in which a noticeable number of people spoke in

tongues. James Johnston, John Bell’s closest friend

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273

and neighbor, was a strong supporter of this

movement and founded a campground for prayer

meetings and revivals on his property at the

confluence of Johnston Spring and Sturgeon Creek.

Within all likelihood, it was from the meetings at

Johnston’s Campground that the reference to,

“Sturgeon Creek, where all the speaking in tongues

went on,” originated. Johnston’s Campground

remained an active place of worship as late as 1854.53

This area at the confluence of Johnston Spring

and Sturgeon Creek was once the site of

Johnston’s Campground.

Aside from the “Second Great Awakening” and its

implications to the Presbyterian Church, another

theological difference was inherent in the Baptist

faith at the time. The beliefs and teachings of Red

River Baptist Church during the John Bell era were

consistent with those of the Primitive Baptist faith,

most notably the church’s strict adherence to the

doctrine of Predestination. 54

53 Correspondence with Mr. Jim Brooks, a direct descendant of James Johnston.

54 A discussion of the Primitive Baptist faith is included in Appendix F.

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Pioneered by the sixteenth century theologian,

John Calvin (1509-1564),
Predestination
is the

Christian theological doctrine that teaches that a

person's eternal destiny has been predetermined by

God's unchangeable decree, and is based on an

understanding that the gift of God's presence is an

act of sheer grace. To emphasize that God wills the

gift independently, some asserted that their relation

to God depended only on God and His eternal decree

established before the beginning of civilization. 55

There was considerable dissention among

members of the Baptist faith regarding the intent and

interpretation of scripture used by Calvin to justify

his doctrine. At issue was whether the Bible

intended Predestination (Calvinism), or Salvation

(Arminianism).

Pioneered in Amsterdam about 1591 by James

Harmens, which in Latin means
Jacobes Arminius,

Arminianism
is based upon scripture which holds