The Bell Witch

Between 1817 and 1821 the family of John Bell, on their farm in Adams, Tennessee, was tormented by an invisible presence that scratched at the walls, pulled the children's hair, spoke in voices, and swore it would kill the father. The haunting drew crowds and, by legend, a visit from Andrew Jackson himself. When John Bell died of a strange poisoning, the witch is said to have claimed the credit.

The Bell Witch is the most famous haunting in American folklore, the rare case that local record and legend both insist upon, and the supposed source of a curse that lingers over the cave on the old property. A Man of Coastal Sorrow tells it as a ballad.