Gates: On this episode of "expedition x"...
Chobot: Check this out.
This is the spot.
Gates: My team braves the backwoods of tennessee
To investigate a terrifying legend 200 years in the making.
A vengeful spirit that locals say has returned.
Something crazy happened in there.
Chobot: They look like claw marks.
Oh, wow. Way more bones.
That [bleep]. Is that a human bone?
Did you hear it?
Gates: Some legends refuse to die...
Are you still at the bell farm?
[ bleep ]
There are big scratch marks in here.
What the [bleep] happened down here?
Gates: Because the witch...
Chobot: Be careful!
Gates: ...Is...
Torres: Think I just heard it again.
Gates: ...Back.
[ grunts ]
Phil?
-[ grunts ] -are you okay?
Gates: Terror of the bell witch.
Which my name is josh gates.
In my travels, I've experienced strange things
That defy logic and made me question everything.
Oh, my god.
Now, I've put together a team to investigate
The stranger side of the unknown.
Let's go!
Gates: Phil torres is a scientist
Who hunts for rational explanations.
Jessica chobot's paranormal research
Has made her a true believer.
Phil, do you see that?
I just saw something run across.
Gates: Together, we're searching for answers...
Torres: What is that?
Gates: ...To the world's most extraordinary mysteries.
This is "expedition x."
-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
All right, I hold in my hand
A very important book to the paranormal community.
"harry potter."
Great guess, incorrect.
Supposedly, this is a work of nonfiction.
In it, the author describes events
That purportedly took place on a rural farm in tennessee
In the early 19th century, a haunting
That left the family who live there gripped with horror.
So we're talking about the bell which.
Yes, this is the authenticated history
Of the bell witch by m.V. Ingram.
I love this story, read the book in college,
And it scared the absolute daylights out of me.
This book scares a lot of people.
And the reason for that is that a lot of people believe
That what's in it is true.
Why do I feel like I've seen this movie before?
Well, because you kind of have.
The bell witch was the inspiration
For so many stories and movies that followed.
Some say this was the inspiration
For "the blair witch project."
In many ways, this really is the most famous
Haunting in american history.
♪♪
The year is 1894.
Author m.V. Ingram writes what he claims
Is a terrifying, but true story.
He reports that local farmer john bell
Is tending to his crops
When he spots an enormous black dog-like beast
With glowing red eyes.
When he fires his rifle at the creature,
It vanishes like a ghost.
Soon after, the entire bell family
Is terrorized in their home by unearthly sounds of gnawing,
Scratching, chains rattling, and intense knocking,
An invisible force is said to attack the bell children
Ripping their bedsheets from under them in their sleep.
Slapping, scratching, yanking hair.
15-year-old betsy bell gets the brunt of the trauma.
It's reported that the voice of the witch is heard
By many people who set foot in the bell farmhouse.
Eventually, word spreads,
And crowds flock to the bell farm,
Hoping to hear the whisperings of the specter.
It's even said that general andrew jackson,
Before he became president, is among the visitors.
Ingram writes, "the more attention the spirit receives,
"the more powerful she becomes until one day
She actually starts to speak."
It's said that she torments young betsy the most
And even identifies herself as old kate batts' witch.
Kate batts lived next door to the bell family.
It's said she was angry with john bell
About a financial matter,
And on her deathbed she cursed him,
A curse that gave rise to her malevolent spirit.
Ingram concludes, "in a final act of terror,
The spirit announces its intention to kill john bell."
Days later,
He is found dead with a vial of poison at his side.
♪♪
Today, the residents of the small tennessee town
Are terrified once again experiencing what they say
Can only be the work of the infamous witch.
Sightings of an unidentified creature with eerie red eyes
Have been reported once again,
A monster that locals believe is not only connected to the witch,
But possibly the witch herself.
There are also incidents of strange, disembodied voices,
And just recently, a local man claims he was restrained
And viciously attacked by an unseen entity.
But skeptics counter that it's simply superstition
And that the story is nothing more than just that --
A tale made up entirely by author m.V. Ingram,
Perhaps a horror writer way ahead of his time.
Woman: [ whispers indistinctly ]
So?
I just got to say,
It seems a little too impressive to be real.
I mean, this isn't a ghost story.
This is a ghost novel.
And so, it claims very clearly up top
"authenticated history."
-So you know, it's true. -Exactly.
So it was written 1894. -Yeah.
When did this supposedly actually take place?
About 77 years earlier.
So that's a long time for this story to change.
Well, hold up.
I mean, the bell family was a real family, right?
Yes.
Yeah, but this idea of a talkative, invisible entity
Attacking people just seems a little over the top.
Keep in mind that this is the 1800s.
They're not going to just make something like this up
Because that can get you ostracized from church
And from society.
So there's nothing for the bell family to gain
By coming out with this.
But there's a lot that the author,
M.V. Ingram, would gain by selling this book 77 later.
It's true.
The other thing that we're not even talking about
Are the recent accounts.
And really, this debate is exactly
What I want you to settle.
Okay, your mission is to go to tennessee
And to meet with folks
That are having supposedly current experiences,
But also to do what you're doing right here
To unravel the legend itself.
You up for this?
-Absolutely. -I'm in.
This is either a work of fiction
Or the most terrifying, true story ever written.
The team travels 765 miles
From new york city to nashville, tennessee.
From there, it's only a 40-minute drive north
To rural robertson county and the small town of adams.
♪♪
All right, looking at this, we got rolling hills,
Corn fields, old farmhouses.
I think we made it to adams.
Home to the story of the bell witch.
Oh, it's more than a story.
I don't know about that.
I do have an open mind, but with this case,
It all just strikes me as a spooky,
Tall tale that was retold so many times in this community,
It kind of became true.
But jess is gonna fight me on it every step of the way.
So I've been reading up as much as possible.
One of the things that kind of stood out to me
Is general andrew jackson's visit.
Of all of the witnesses to have --
Andrew jackson is a pretty big one
On the list.
According to ingram's book, he came with a group of his men
And they basically went on a witch hunt.
He was really interested in it
And he was doing what we're doing.
They made a road trip to come witch hunting.
Which is super cool.
So you're convinced that at least part of this story
Is rooted in actual history and not just tall tales?
I do think that something unexplained happened
To these people out here.
That's why we're here to figure out
What actually did happen then.
Gates: The town of adams, tennessee was founded in 1869,
Nearly 50 years after the initial bell witch hauntings
Nevertheless, in this small town of about 700,
The legend is all too real.
My team's first stop is at
The bell willett museum and archives
Where tyler estep, the curator, has agreed to meet with them.
-Hi. -Hello.
We're basically here interested in all things bell witch.
You come to the right place, then.
Are these teeth?
Those are joel bales' false teeth.
When his body was moved back to adams
To bellwood cemetery over here his false teeth were found
And sent to the museum.
Torres: From original photos to family heirlooms
And copies of the ingram book
That made the bell family famous,
It's clear that the bells and their legacy
Are more than folklore.
I'm seeing some of the ingram books here.
-Absolutely. -Yeah.
Well, do you have an original at all or...
-Yes, I do. -Oh, that's the one.
Yes, this is the one.
Would you like to take a look? -Yeah.
♪♪
-Ooh, nice. -Wow.
Super cool.
One of the things I wanted to look at
Is that our family trouble section --
Of course.
...Which is supposedly a direct account from john bell's son,
William, right?
Kind of the deal was with a diary was
After everybody had died,
Then they could make a publication of this so
The diary was given to ingram.
He writes a book, the diary disappears.
No one knows where it is. -Interesting.
So ingram is the only person we have to go on that
Has ties to this story.
Yes.
If the only direct evidence ingram had from the bell family,
This diary was lost,
Who's to say it ever existed in the first place?
Or if it did that, it would corroborate ingram's book?
It's at least certain that the bell family was here
And something happened with them.
-Something happened. -Mm-hmm.
I don't think anybody knows exactly what happened.
And there are people in town who believe that whatever
Happened out on that farm is happening again today?
Of course there are.
Chobot: Tyler directs us to meet a local resident of adams who,
Just like the bells,
Has had experiences she simply can't explain.
And lucky for us, she owns the local diner.
That looks great. -So good.
Oh, I hope you enjoy the pie.
Now, brenda, we are here for two equally important reasons.
One of which is that I heard you have the best pie in town.
Yes.
But two, we heard you had a bell witch experience.
I had the experience.
I was driving close to the bell farm
And I looked over and I saw this animal
Coming toward me.
I don't know what he was. It was black.
The only thing that I really saw and it scared me
Was the blazing red eyes.
Two red eyes coming at you, then it was gone.
It disappeared as fast as it come toward me.
So when you saw the eyes, were you able to kind of
Guesstimate how big the animal was?
Maybe about the size of a great dane?
I mean, it was -- I mean, it was big.
You could see like a shape of a head.
I can't explain the shape.
The most detail I had was the red eyes
Because I've never seen anything like that before.
So what is it that you think you saw?
I don't know.
For anyone who grows up in adams
Are they raised hearing stories of the witch?
When I was growing up, my grandfather told me stories.
He was saying that his great-grandfather
Was fixing to come across a bridge
And all of a sudden the mules just stopped.
So he got off the wagon, took the reins
And hit the mules again.
Try to get them to go.
Still wouldn't go.
Talk is if whatever you are, just let me go
And said he heard a shrill laugh.
[ laughter ]
And then he was able to go home.
Wow.
So what would you say to people kind of like phil
Who don't believe in the bell witch?
There has been strange things that has happened
To make believers out of the nonbelievers.
Because a lot of weird stuff does go on
That you can't explain.
Chobot: Brenda's account matches the first incident that
Ingram's book attributes to the bell witch
When john bell shot his rifle at a horrific
Dog-like beast with glowing red eyes.
Soon after, the witch attacked the bell family.
And this is why many believe that this beast might not
Only be connected to the witch,
But maybe they are one in the same.
And some locals believe the same supernatural pattern
Detailed in ingram's book is starting all over again.
♪♪
Hey, you must be philip.
I am, great to meet you.
Chobot: Caving expert phillip rykwalder says
That while on a recent solo expedition
In a newly discovered cave,
He encountered something that shook him to the core
And left his arms badly scratched.
So was this the cave where you had the experience?
This is it.
So what happened?
I was in there and I heard something.
♪♪
Didn't quite know what I heard, so I stopped.
Everything was quiet,
It almost sounded like a voice,
A menacing voice.
So I started going out, I started getting up the rope
And something pulled on hair and something scratched my arm.
I turned around. I didn't see anything.
I just felt this panic.
And I got out.
Do you think it could've been an animal?
Negative, totally not.
-That's scary. -Yeah.
It's definitely something that's gonna stay with me.
I mean, you mentioned the cuts.
Do you still have any scrapes or marks from it?
I took pictures of them.
Oh, perfect. Okay. Oh, whoa.
And those definitely look like claw marks.
Yeah, it's hard to tell, especially the long ones here,
The others kind of look like you could be scrambling scars.
When you're caving, you get scratched on your elbows
And your knees, but nothing on your forearm.
It was going for both my arms.
Chobot: The bell witch has long been associated
With caves in the area.
According to the legend, the witch's sanctuary
Was hidden somewhere in the vast cave network deep below adams.
Have you heard rumors about the caves here
And their association with the bell witch?
Did that come to mind when this happened?
-Yes. -What have you heard?
Oh, I've heard stories. I mean, growing up, caving here.
I started caving when I was a kid.
We're actually gonna go in there and see
If we can't get the same experience.
-Okay. -Do you want to come with us?
Totally not, I'll go in any other cave,
But not -- not that one.
-All right. -Okay.
I can understand that, but you're the expert here.
What's the easiest way to get down the bottom?
There's only one way down.
If you go up around the high side of the sinkhole,
You can rig your rope to that big tree,
Then repelling in.
Chobot: Something attacked philip in this cave.
And any evidence or maybe the attacker itself...
Torres: Going down!
Chobot: ...Lies deep underground.
Whoa! [bleep].
Gates: My team is in tennessee
Exploring the legend of the bell witch.
Their investigation has led them underground,
Where caving expert philip rykwalder
Had a bizarre encounter that around these parts
Can only be explained as pretty bell witchy.
♪♪
Torres: Going down. Whoa! [bleep].
This drop is no joke.
Oh, my god, look at this place.
♪♪
All right.
Jess, you good?
Chobot: Ghosts and paranormal activity don't scare me,
But heights, well, that's another story.
This is so steep.
It's okay, just go slow.
How much further?
Just 10 more feet, jess. Almost down.
♪♪
Whoo, all right.
All right.
Torres: Philip rykwalder believes he was attacked
By some sort of unseen entity.
But a more likely explanation is he disturbed a coyote
And was disoriented in the dark.
Careful.
Opens up back here.
Oh.
-Ouch. -Wow.
My hope is that if we thoroughly explore the cave,
We may find clues left behind from whatever it was that scared
And scratched our witness.
Let's see what have we got?
-Looks like passage back there. -There.
Looks like we got one up here.
I'm kind of favoring this one
Because it looks like it kind of launches off into a larger area.
Okay, let's go for it.
♪♪
-Oh, my god. -What?
This place is filled with bones.
Check it out. Look at that.
Holy [bleep].
What, is that a human bone?
I don't know what kind of bone it is.
Oh, my god, there's a huge pile behind us.
You see all those? -Oh, wow.
What are these from? Is something living down here?
Could still be here?
[ whispers ] I don't like this place.
I feel like we're being watched.
All right, should we keep going?
I kind of feel like we already found this,
We have to keep going.
I'll follow you.
All right, tight squeeze.
♪♪
Oh, wow.
Way more bombs.
-More? -More.
It's like a graveyard down here.
Oh, god.
♪♪
This looks like some animal was storing its food in here.
Look at that, what are these? Walnuts?
And it also seems to be like bedding
All the leaves and everything.
Is that a candle?
I mean, this is a candle.
This looks old.
That -- that is so weird.
Oh, I feel creeped out just holding this thing.
♪♪
Somebody actually came down here at one point to do a ritual.
♪♪
I have no clue what would make this combination
Of all the walnuts and the bones
And then there's a candle, too.
So that, to me,
Says a human or someone was down here.
This, to me, says, you know, probably some kind of animal.
Maybe it's a combination,
Which is we're also known for having familiars
And familiars were, like, with various animals
That would do the witches' bidding
Or it would be the one to carry out
And help her with her spells.
In wiccan mythology,
Familiars are supernatural entities or demons
That can take the form of many animals.
Traditionally, they've provided protection for their masters
And help them perform magic.
And walnut trees were once feared as a bad omen
And holds special significance as gathering spots for witches.
Piles of bones, walnuts, and candles
All in one specific area of this cave,
It can't be an accident.
This is still the weirdest pile of anything
I've ever seen in nature.
This could be a wild animal just in its space,
But that candle?
I feel like that candle is kind of the bridge
To whatever's happening here.
Hear that?
It was like a rock fall or a knock?
Shh.
[ clatter ]
[ whispers ] it came from over there.
Something could be down here, I'm serious,
We got to be careful.
Yeah, for sure.
You wanna go that way?
-Wow, big drop over here. -Really?
Big drop.
The tiny passage opens up to a larger section of the cave
Where we get confirmation that we're not alone.
Yeah, look at this. -What'd you find?
See that?
That looks like -- yeah. Can you see that?
Toe pads, one, two, three, four.
Oh.
And those talons right there,
Those two are how you know it's canine, whatever it is.
I want to keep pushing through.
♪♪
Pretty slippery here.
We follow the passage deeper into the darkness,
But we find no signs of additional tracks.
Wow, look at this place.
Ooh, whoa.
Wow.
Oh, wow. Look at all these stalactites.
This is where you could see the power of all that erosion
And all the water that runs underneath
Tennessee connects all these caves.
Mm-hmm.
If you believe the legend, the caves beneath adams
Were once the stomping ground of the bell witch.
Old kate batts' witch, as she was also known.
It's rumored that kate batts was john bell's neighbor
And she cursed him on her deathbed.
Her voice and sightings of a black dog-like beast
Were both reported to have appeared
In chambers like this one.
I think it's worth looking around here to see
If we can find any evidence of anyone else being here.
Mm-hmm.
But also I want to take out my gas meter
Because, you know, with this story that philip had,
It's kind of hard to believe for such an experienced person
To not know what was happening here.
So if I can detect some sort of gas,
Maybe he was hallucinating or something.
That's why I think it's good to use a detector.
Okay.
Torres: Methane gas is commonly found in cave networks
Such as this one
Migrating through the limestone walls
And underground water systems.
Let me just get the sensitivity.
So this sound means it's working.
It'll be very loud if it detects something.
[ monitor beeping rapidly ]
It's getting...
It's getting a little bit, nothing too crazy.
Nothing that can kill us?
Yeah, not that I can tell.
Inhaling too much methane can cause visual
And tactile hallucinations,
Which could explain what philip experienced here.
Trying to check some of the fissures in the rocks
To see if anything could be seeping out of there.
The detector's recording very low amounts
In the surrounding limestone
So we can cross that theory off our list.
That's another pile. Tons of bones.
-Really? -Yep, lots of sticks.
Something is putting little shrines all over the place.
Why would someone be putting these piles of bones
And shrines around here?
Who knows? They could be protection shrines,
Homages to something that it worships.
Many cultures believe that caves are portals
To the spiritual world, and it's not unusual
To find shrines or offerings inside of them.
What's strange is finding a shrine-like piles
In a cave that is so inaccessible.
So let's just do some call and response
And set up some equipment
And see what we can get out here.
If the spirit of the bell witch is down here,
I'd like to say hello.
She's supposed to be talkative.
Right? Yeah, she is.
Ingram states in his book that the witch actually spoke
To those she tormented
And that 15-year-old betsy bell was her favorite target.
So even if she decides to communicate
In the faintest whisper, my audio recorder's
Sensitive microphone can pick up the most subtle sounds
That are undetectable by the human ear.
I also have a vibration and motion detector,
A device wired to pick up
The slightest reverberations down here.
If anything moves in this area, the alarm will be triggered,
Displaying lights and an audible alert.
♪♪
Kate, are you there?
Kate, why did you hate john bell so much?
I know you spoke to betsy bell, can you talk to me?
♪♪
Are you, kate?
[ beep ]
The detector is moving.
Yeah, the detector's moving.
Dude, the detector went off right when I said, are you kate.
Is there anything you need to tell us?
Did you get it?
I'll be honest, that sounded
Almost like a voice.
[ speaks indistinctly ]
I wanna see what that was.
Here, give me that.
-Hold this. -What? Where you going?
I wanna know what it is.
Ah.
Whoa! [ grunts ]
Phil?
Did you hear that?
♪♪
I'll be honest, that sounded
Almost like a voice.
What? Where are you going?
I want to see what that was.
♪♪
[ grunts ]
Phil?
Oh, [bleep].
Phil! Phil, are you okay?
[ groans ] I'm all right, I'm all right.
I'm all right, I'm okay.
I'm coming up.
What happened!
Oh, I heard moving out there.
It was sizable, it was moving,
And then I kind of fell down the hill.
-Are you all right? -I'm fine.
But seriously, though, are you okay?
I'm fine.
I mean, I'm down to still stay in here
And do a little bit more exploring.
Okay, let's keep going.
Chobot: We continue to search the cave for hours
Looking for the source of what sounded something
Like a disembodied voice,
Whether it was a real animal or a harbinger of the bell witch
Who knows?
But there's no doubt in my mind that the piles of bones
And candle we found are evidence that something very strange
Is going on below the surface of adams.
So we decided to check in with josh
To figure out our next move.
-Hey, josh. -Hi.
-How are you? -Good.
Have you found america's most famous witch yet?
I mean, possibly.
Okay, we've got a possibly. What's up?
We actually met up with some eyewitnesses
Who claim to have seen the same dog-like creature
That ingram writes about in his book.
So we went and explored this cave
And we found multiple piles of bones
As well as a candle, and it looked like
It might have been used in some sort of ritual.
So a lot of really weird stuff.
And we did find a canine paw print in there.
Okay.
So something's living down there or trapped down there.
So at least that part of his story holds up.
So I see jess hasn't fully convinced you yet, phil?
-Oh, no. -I'm working on it.
We definitely did hear something down there.
I will give her that.
It is fascinating that the modern sightings
Are mimicking the book, but the really frustrating part
Is we don't even know if anything in the book is true.
Right.
And this really is the heart of the matter, right?
I mean, this is where the legend comes from.
So to that end,
I've tracked down a historian named david britton
Who has recently found what could be like an honest
To god smoking gun document.
-Okay. -That's awesome.
Yeah, that sounds intriguing.
I'm told that it's a document of some kind
That hasn't seen the light of day in 200 years.
And whether this is something that proves that
Ingram was literally crying wolf or whether it reveals
There was something terrifying happening out in the bell farm,
This could be the key to unlocking the whole legend.
How do we get a hold of this guy?
I'm setting a meeting this afternoon out
At the old bell farm, so he'll meet you out there
And hopefully bring whatever he's found with him.
-Perfect. -Great.
Good luck and stay safe, okay?
Chobot: Ever since I read
The authenticated history of the bell,
Which back in college I've been hooked on this story.
But separating 200 years of fact from fiction
Is no easy task.
I'm just getting a little overwhelmed at this point.
Like, we've got hellhounds attacking people.
We've got the ingram book.
What part of it is true? What part of it is false?
What is something that we should be paying attention to
And what is something that we should be dismissing?
I'm really hoping that he'll be able to tell us,
Historically speaking,
What information is verifiable and what isn't?
We're meeting historian and author david britton
On the old bell farm property,
The location where the legend began.
David has been researching the story for years
And is currently writing a book on the subject.
Thanks for meeting us out here.
Absolutely, it's my pleasure.
So are any of the buildings still standing?
Not at all.
No, they've they've been gone for, you know, decades,
If not over 100 years plus.
Wow.
There's, you know, graves and remnants of a well
And that's about it.
So we've been here investigating.
Some people are saying that there's haunted caves.
Other people are saying that's there's --
-Hellhounds. -Yeah, the hellhound.
In this local community,
It's such a strong story and has been for so long
That any time something unexplained happens,
Blame it on the bell witch, right?
-Got it, yeah. -So.
So with the ingram book,
Is that something we should completely write off?
No, it is not.
Scholars up until this point have generally thought
That ingram made this up
Until I accidentally discovered a resource.
Can I show it to you?
-Absolutely. -Yes.
It's a journal of a soldier.
He was part of a scientific expedition.
Wow.
So he's about as professional as you come --
-Yeah. -...At this point.
And as I was reading through it, came across this entry.
This is Thursday, October 19, 1820.
He says that rather a singular circumstance was here
Related to me of a young girl
Of about 15 years of age.
A voice accompanies her.
[ indistinct whispering ]
Thousands of persons have visited her to hear this voice,
He's talking about betsy bell.
He's writing this down
And hearing about it as it's happening.
-That's correct. -Oh, my gosh.
So this is a true primary resource
As far as history scholars are concerned.
But this does tell us is that everything that comes
After it has a kernel of truth.
That is so cool.
That makes me so happy to hear that you found that.
How did it get lost?
It was a document just in the dustbins
Of the national archives.
And so nobody was really looking for it.
You guys are actually the first people
Outside of my close friends to hear about this.
That's fantastic. Also, thank you.
-Yeah. -Absolutely.
-I promise not to tweet it out. -All right.
-Yet. -Yet.
David discovered the first recorded eyewitness report
About the supernatural events on the bell farm.
It proves that ingram didn't invent the story,
As many have suggested,
And that he was recounting some sort of actual terrifying event
On the bell farm decades earlier.
And if the spirit still exists,
The farm is the most likely place to make contact.
So as daylight starts to fade, we make our way
To the cornfield, just like john bell did in 1817,
Right before a hellhound paid him a visit.
Torres: Oh, this corn is so thick.
Ah, I'm already getting smashed in the face.
At the middle of the field is a lone hackberry tree.
All right, let's go see the tree up ahead.
All right, keep heading that way.
This was the center of the old bell farm.
♪♪
Oh, all right, made it to the tree.
Look at this, I see the well.
That's the bell family well.
Well, this is the only thing left from the original
John bell house. -Yeah.
-Where everything began. -Yeah, yeah.
I want to see how deep this thing is.
Oh, that is deep.
-We should investigate it. -Yeah.
Chobot: Some believe that spirits can attach themselves
To everything from people to property.
At the bells home played host to the witch,
And if her presence also exists underground,
Then this well is all she's got left,
A portal between the farm and the other side.
-You got my line? -I got your line.
Okay.
All right, going down.
A supernatural portal?
I'm not so sure about that.
But it is the only remaining part
Of the original bell farmstead.
And I want to get a firsthand look.
Oh. [ exhales ]
♪♪
[ exhales slowly ]
I'm down. Wow.
Weird. -What? What? What?
Holy [bleep].
There are like big scratch marks in here.
♪♪
[ exhales ] all right, going down.
Oh.
[ exhales ]
♪♪
[ exhales slowly ]
I'm down.
Wow.
Weird. -What? What? What?
Holy [bleep].
There are like big scratch marks in here.
Seeing them here, here, here.
Like, something was trying to climb out of here.
God, that's dis -- there's hair.
Oh.
It looks more human than animal.
What the [bleep] happened down here?
If you can bring any of that up, bring it up with you.
Yeah.
♪♪
-Phil? -Yeah?
Hurry up.
I just heard something rustling around close to us.
All right, got too much slack, you gotta pull it tight.
All right.
♪♪
All right, pull more.
Okay!
[ bleep ]
[ grunting ] oh.
You okay up here?
I straight up heard something out here,
I feel like somebody is here.
Let me show you what I got. Pretty gross hair.
Okay, you can hold that. I don't need to hold that.
That's great.
This is creepy.
Oh, yeah.
Okay, let's see if we can figure out
Where that noise is coming from.
♪♪
We push even deeper into bell family territory.
David britton also talked about nearby gravesites
On the property.
Other, you know graves and remnants of a well,
And that's about it.
Chobot: If the bell witch tormented john
And lucy bell in life,
Perhaps she still haunts them in death.
So we make our way to the bellwood cemetery,
The final resting place of the bell family,
Hoping our presence might draw out the witch.
Whoa.
This place is kind of creepy.
♪♪
I want to see what some of these names are.
♪♪
Joel bell. -Okay?
So where are john and lucy buried, then?
Well, I mean, I'm assuming by the obelisk?
Let's check that.
So...
So this is it. John bell and lucy.
Uh-huh.
This is the couple that was haunted by the bell witch.
Yeah, whose farm included the land hereabouts built --
Wait a minute. So I don't get this.
254 rods north, 23 degrees east from here.
Yeah, so that's telling us where their house was.
And then their graves are 267 rods north
18 degrees east from here.
So they're not even buried here.
-No. -This is just a memorial.
So where are they buried?
267 rods north, 18 degrees east.
So... -Okay.
We got to figure out how long a rod is.
-All right. -Maybe we should look this up.
Well, it is defined as 16 1/2 feet.
Okay, then, we have to do 267 --
Uh-huh.
...Times 16 1/2 feet.
Okay, 4,405 feet.
That's like just shy of a mile.
Okay, so then north, 18 degrees east from here.
So there it is.
All right.
Almost a mile in that direction
Are the actual graves of john and lucy bell.
Yeah. And that's where we need to go.
We got some hiking to do.
Chobot: John and lucy bell's true gravesite
Is located about a mile
In this direction with no clear trail
And no landmarks to help guide our way other than the well,
John and lucy's graves are the only remnants
From their time.
If we can find them, it could help us make contact
With the witch that haunted them when they were alive.
I think now that we're close,
Best chance of actually finding this thing
Is to fan out a little bit.
I'll head this way, you that way 1,500 feet.
Mm-hmm, okay.
♪♪
It is so creepy in here.
This place is, ooh, it's weird.
♪♪
Oh! I found it.
You found it, for sure?
Absolutely, for sure.
All right, can you shine your light and holler a little bit?
I'll come your way.
I'm over here!
♪♪
-What you got? -Check this out.
Oh, my gosh.
John bell... -Mm-hmm.
1750 to 1820.
Yeah, and his wife lucy.
This is the spot.
Yeah, this is it.
Something's in the bushes over there.
Something big.
I see some eyes shining. I see some eyes shining.
♪♪
Did you see it anymore?
No.
I saw something, for sure.
Maybe she's watching us.
One of the most famous legends surrounding the bell witch
Which is that then soon to be president,
Andrew jackson had his own terrifying encounter
With the spirit.
To help separate fact from fiction,
We reached out to the director of interpretation
At the andrew jackson hermitage in nashville, tennessee.
Please welcome mike zimmerman. So, mike, what's the deal?
Any chance that andrew jackson went out to this farm?
You know, I wish I could say that he absolutely did.
I mean, I will be honest. There's a slight chance.
But frankly, when I look through jackson's letters,
He does not demark one note about john bell, the witch,
Anything like that.
The bell boys were involved with jackson, the war of 1812.
And I could see where the connection would come from.
But he was pretty tight-lipped if he did.
One would imagine
That if something like this had happened,
Word would have really gotten out quickly.
Oh, absolutely.
So not impossible that he went out there,
But nothing in the historical record.
Yeah, I don't have anything for certain. I wish I did.
Well, there you have it.
While phil and jess continue their investigation,
This particular piece of folklore
Appears to be just that.
Gates: Jess and phil are on the old
Bell family property in adams, tennessee,
Investigating the legend of the bell witch
A deadly paranormal entity made infamous
By the writings of m.V. Ingram.
And perhaps, it's more than just tall tales.
I see some eyes shining. I see some eyes shining.
♪♪
Do you see it anymore?
No.
I saw something, for sure.
Maybe she's watching us.
There's something out there with eyes shining,
And it took off.
Chobot: Ingram's book says
That the sighting of a supernatural creature
Often precedes an attack from the witch,
From the cave to the burial site of john and lucy bell,
And into the expanse of cornfields on this property,
It seems like something has been stalking us.
And if we're going to make contact with the bell witch,
It's going to be right here tonight.
All right, well, let's set it up.
We find a small clearing in the corn
And set up various trigger items --
An old photo of the bell farmhouse
And a candle similar to the one we found in the cave
Might elicit a response from the bell witch.
We're also rigging infrared motion sensors
Around the area.
If a spirit, an animal, a ghost,
A witch, if anything passes by,
We're gonna know about it.
All right, call me on the walkie if anything happens.
All right.
We're splitting up to cover more ground.
Today, the land is a maze of endless rows of corn.
♪♪
I swear it is so hard to see anything in here.
♪♪
Chobot: I'm way deep in the field.
I'm gonna go and sit down here
And see if I can communicate with the bell witch.
Copy that.
Chobot: I'm using a device
That scans radio frequencies and white noise
That many believe spirits can use to communicate with.
Are you still at the bell farm?
Kate, is that you?
♪♪
Kate, is that you?
♪♪
Did you hear that?
[ rustling ]
It's like it's moving around us.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, [bleep].
Jess, did you hear that?
It sounded like a voice to me.
If it's a person, then why the hell can't we see it?
You got anything on the thermal?
I don't see a thing.
♪♪
If it was the bell witch,
Which was that you making that noise?
Did you hear that?
Phil, are you there?
Yeah, go ahead.
So I just said, if you are the bell witch,
Did you make that noise?
And the ghost box said, yes, yes.
What? Are you sure?
[ bleep ]
♪♪
[ indistinct whispering ]
Phil, are you there?
What's happening?
I hear that noise again,
And it's really close this time.
It's right by me.
[ indistinct whispering ]
Yeah, I think I just heard it.
I'm going after it.
Me, too. What the [bleep] is this thing?
♪♪
Okay, something was loud. What was it?
It was right next to me.
It sounded like something was coming through the cornfield
And it was close.
Did you notice the candle's out?
No.
I didn't hear the sensors go off.
Definitely heard something in the corn,
The candle's out. -Mm-hmm.
There's essentially zero wind here tonight.
We just got some responses. We're not calling it a night.
-Okay, let's keep at it. -All right.
Torres: We continue to search the cornfields and graveyards
Of the old bell farm,
But whatever was lurking and whispering in the shadows
Has fallen silent.
With the sun about to rise,
We finally make our way back to the main road.
I love the fact that we now have our own bell witch story,
And I think it's amazing that we got that
Yes. Yes, right when I mentioned the bell witch
And kate's name.
Gates: The story of the bell witch
Was popularized by the work of m.V. Ingram,
But was he reporting on true events?
With this legend,
The lines between fact and folklore seem to blur
Between the edges.
Was the voice that seemingly spoke
To jess simple radio interference or kate batts
Trying to make contact from beyond the grave.
Did you hear that? It said yes, yes.
Gates: More questions left unanswered.
Don't get me wrong, we saw some weird stuff,
Heard some weird stuff from the cave to the cornfield.
Gates: In a local cave, the team found evidence
Of animal activity and also potential ritual items,
But also heard what sounded like a voice.
At john and lucy bell's grave, and in the cornfield,
Something seemed to be hiding in the shadows.
Gates: Lab analysis of the evidence
Phil collected in the well concluded,
The hair sample was, in fact, human.
How and why it got down there is anybody's guess.
But one thing is certain,
New documents confirm that a ghostly presence
Has at least been reported on the bell property
For two centuries.
To me, the thing that stands out the most
Was that historical document.
From a soldier unassociated with the bell family,
He's completely impartial.
He's just jotting down what he knows as fact
During the time that it was actually happening.
That's a needle in a haystack find.
To me, we found the bell witch.
I will agree that something unexplainable
Must have happened right there 200 years ago.
I can live with that.
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