Chilluminati Podcast - Episode 268 - The Bell Witch Haunting - Part 1

Episode Date: October 5, 2024

Mike, Alex and Jesse celebrate the start of spooky season with an old historical account of a haunting caused by a witch! Special thanks to our sponsors this episode - MERCH - http://www.theyetee.com/collections/chilluminati All you lovely people at Patreon! HTTP://PATREON.COM/CHILLUMINATIPOD Jesse Cox - http://www.youtube.com/jessecox Alex Faciane - http://www.youtube.com/user/superbeardbros Editor - DeanCutty http://www.twitter.com/deancutty Show art by - https://twitter.com/JetpackBraggin Sources - The Bell Witch: An American Haunting                 The Bell Witch in Myth and Memory: From Local Legend to International Folktale

Hello everybody and welcome back to the Chiluminati Podcast episode 268. As always, I'm one of your hosts, Mike Martin, joined today by the John Bell and Kate Bats of LA, Jesse and Alex. Oh, Bell and Bats? My favorite comedy duo. Bell and Bats. Those names will make sense to you by the end of the episode. Oh, all right.

I took a wild swan and clearly whiffed. No. Yeah, no, no Not an actual comedy duo this time. I tried I figured For all those who are not on the patreon tier video To the camera that translates real well to you asked for this viewers Curiously to the camera, that translates real well to podcasts. You asked for this, viewers. Yeah, who wants to be Belle and who wants to be Bats? I'm obviously the Belle of the ball, so I'll take that. You're the Belle because you ring true.

And I'm Batman because my parents were killed in an alley when I was watching Zorro. And I committed my life to solving crimes. I even though this has absolutely nothing to do with this podcast and never will, I got in it while I was out of town. I got in an argument with a person about Batman. Love that. And how Batman as a character sucks. Like I don't believe this, but I was told Batman sucks because Batman's one rule of

not killing. And I was like, it isn't. No, Batman sucks because he's a billionaire. I was like, it isn't because he just doesn't want to kill people. It's that he knows if he kills people, he'll only ever kill people, which is why he doesn't do it because he doesn't want to be a villain like the people he's stopping. It's not that complicated. And they were just like, it's so dumb.

Like what a stupid character choice. I'm like, it's just, it's so wild to stare a living myth in the face. Like one of the only things that humanity has created in the last several hundred years that like somehow has like impacted culture and mythology and to be like, it's lame that he doesn't shoot people. It's like killing the Joker. That's what the Joker wants. Like killing the Joker is the Joker winning.

That's exactly what the conversation was about, was the Joker brutally murdering people again and again and again. Because he's trying to get Batman. And I wanted to be like, Jason Todd literally tells us to Batman, like just kill the dude already. And Batman's like, I can't, because if I do, I won't stop killing.

I was like, it is there already. There's literally a character in Batman called Ghostmaker who literally is the same exact background as Bruce Wayne, like a guy who grew up rich and is like has resources and is fighting crime, except he kills people. And he's, it's obvious what is different about him than Batman and why it like, you would not be like, what a great guy Batman is. Cut the head off of every single villain. I recently just watched Death Note and I know whoever that person is, I don't want them having a Death Note because that's scary.

You know, like they think Batman should kill. They shouldn't know the death. Ghostmaker would just kill him. He would bankrupt the Bic Company. Yeah, he'd be like, light and just sitting in his room writing names for hours and hours and hours and hours. Crazy thing about Death Note. Light is not the hero. Spoilers. No, he's a pure narcissist pure. Guys, he's not a good person. He's a pure narcissist.

That is all he is. His ending. Apparently there's a second half of that show too. Yeah, there is. Crazy. I actually, watching it again, I really enjoyed it more. The second half more than I did the first time

when the shock I think just ruined the second half. I was a hater the first time for sure. I was just being a hater because I liked the best Sherlock Holmes game ever. Absolutely agree. That's not what today's about. Today's about patreon.com slash pod bite. That's.

Slash July, my night. Whoa. That's a different podcast. I do. It just finished their first season. They're not the first series, but they're a huge, they just finished a huge storyline. Go check them out. Go support them. It really, it they're a huge they just finished a huge storyline go check them out

Go support them. It really it really means a lot to them. Go support this show actually turn that comps like pod by night Goes to Mathis's show. I believe Jesse Cox was on there. I heard that was good. He was he was right on there Me and Jesse have a show about Star Wars as well. She goes to that And those are the only patrons you have to support today You don't have to go to patreon.com slash to money pod today. Not if you don't want. I'll give you guys some but if you did, and let's say you're like a rich Prince like man like one of the hapsburgs. Have we got a website for you? Yeah, wow. Yeah. There's so much

there for you to just splurge on Prince. What? So they okay, that just make just give us 10,000 and they get nothing in return. Jesse, what are they, okay, does that just make, just give us 10,000 and they get nothing in return? Jesse, what are they gonna get for that money? I mean, if you're like part of Bohemian Grove, you get my invite to it. There you go. Patreon.com slash. I would love to go,

and I assume wear an owl mask. Yeah. And like quarter vows the shit out of that. That'd be amazing. Yeah, yeah. The other thing before we dive into the episode is I want to remind everybody, hey, if you have December 20th that day, you might want to clear your calendars off

for December 20th, maybe in Chicago, where a double feature will be happening. Both the Cox and Cranedore live, followed by a Chaluminati pod live will be happening at the Lincoln Theater. One night, the best Christmas present you can give, holiday present you can give. Although, you know, I feel like this one is like Santa, he'd respect us.

He'd be like, those are my jolly boys right there. Those are my jolly boys. Oh yeah, those are my jolly boys. That's what Santa thinks every time actually, yeah. It'll be a nice show. Look at my silly boys. Every time, actually, yeah. It'll be a nice show. It is at Lincoln Hall. If it, I mean, if it's real, if it's at Lincoln Hall.

If we did it, it would be at Lincoln Hall. And it's our home away from home. Every time we're in Chicago, it's beautiful. It's wonderful. I've never been. My first time to Chicago. Tickets sell out. So just, they always have, they always will.

So just warning you in advance. That's what we're talking about it now. Make preparations. Yeah. Keep your eyes on our social media. Yeah. Mathis to see jazz. I'm going to see if we can go get a pizza pot pie. Yeah, there we go. That sounds that sounds delicious. Chicago is hell.

Yeah, that sounds like Chicago core. Today's episode is not Chicago core. No, it's October already. Happy Halloween almost. We're spooky month. Are we going to get finally arrived? We're getting spooky all month long. I told you we're covering a certain topic.

I actually realized it was October and I actually have had a topic half prepared that I was ready to dive into for October. We're getting into a very famous haunting that we haven't talked about on this show. That took place in the early 1800s. The haunting of the Bell Witch. Are you familiar? This will be a two parter,

but I don't think it'll be three. Definitely a two parter. Are you familiar with the Bell Witch at all? This is the one where there's like, like these people in a house and this witch like accosts them and like hears like a voice speaking to them from like a far away. Wait, am I the witch in this scenario?

Kate Batts. From the intro? You are. Ehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe- Alex, you're not a John Bell. You are. You are more Kate Bats than you than you realize. Alex, you're not a John Bell. I was Bell. He was. You picked Bell. Okay. Then you're the farmer man.

You're not really a John Bell either. You're like John Proctor. Kind of. Oh, man. But yeah, Alex, you got some of the you got some of it right. Yeah. Like that stuff did happen Yes, but like there's like more detail and I made a video about it like literally 15 years ago somewhere So you know back story question is a B L E or I'm sorry Don't like the L in that sandwich.

I just my brain. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what middle age looks like. This is what it does. What the hell did I just say? It's just B-E-L-L. It's just B-E-L-L. There's no extra E at the end. I knew what you were getting at.

I promise you. B-L-E. Where am I? The Blee Witch. But Bats is B-A-T-T-S. So it's not just, you know, BATTS, a little bit different there. All right. That's what I was just wondering how it was. We're good. Yeah. The Bell Witch has been heavily covered throughout the many, many,

many, many decades. The two main sources I'm using for this are two books, one by the name of the Bell Witch and American Haunting. And then there's the Bell Witch in Myth and Memory from from Local Legend to International Folktale those are the two sources I'm using I also watched like part of a documentary and then it I got bored of it because I wasn't learning anything new and I stopped watching it so this is gonna be fun this is a really fun story that I thought we covered but I'm we haven't I'm really glad we haven't so we're gonna start way back when John Bell himself was born as our story is very focused on John Bell and everything that happened to him in this haunting.

He was born in the ripe age of 1750 in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, which would later become Halifax County. And he came from a modest background at the time, growing up in a rural area during a period of colonial expanse. And his early years were shaped by the agrarian lifestyle that everybody was essentially living at that point.

Fields and farms and livestock, they were just kind of settling their lives down. Sounds kind of nice. When you realize- For some people. Well, yeah, for some people. You just got to ignore the people who were here before that. Okay. Yeah. That's those who were brought later in a vacuum. Yeah. Living in an agrarian society. So, yeah, it does. In any, in any, in any non-specific agrarian society, I could get along quite well.

Yeah. By the time he reached adulthood, John was basically just a skilled farmer, is what he did his whole life. And he acquired land and established himself as a relatively successful farmer in his own community. And like many men of his era, Bell's social status was very much tied to his land ownership and he worked to increase his holdings as years went on. He would eventually marry a woman by the name of Lucy Williams in the late 1780s. She was a prominent and well respected local family of the Williams is known for

just a good reputation. They were just like, well liked in the community as far as kill folks. Yeah, he was in his 30s at the time. He would have been he was born in 1950. So in the 1750s, he's in his sorry, 1750. And then you get, uh, she was married to her in the 1780s. So he's in his twenties, what the 60s, 70s, you're right. Thirties. I did my math wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm more curious about her because I feel like this is one of those situations we're

going to find out like at the right boat age of 14. She was like 30 year old man. Yeah. She was like 16. I think that sounds that sounds right for the time period. Considerably younger than John was. At the same time, this was that was the norm. That's how it was just bad. I would argue that it is still kind of the norm is that older men marry younger women who because of social status and things like that, that happens frequently around the world. Yeah. Let's put it Yeah, literally. They're well known for doing models that are like 18. Yeah. Yeah. Together, the two of them would go on to have six kids.

Jesse, John Jr., Drew, Drew, re Benjamin, Esther and their youngest, Betsy Bell, Mathis, who is out time out real quick. Mathis. Yeah, there's Mathis. There was a child named Jesse bell, Jesse bell. Yeah. John, John bell jr. Come on now, Jesse, Jesse bell or not? No, Jesse bell bell, but just together is just as good as Jesse Cox. This is good stuff.

Jesse bell is like you're like weird, like alternate universe. Like I also have a like kind of sex related situation. Yeah. Yeah. If I had like a drag sona, I would be Jesse Bell. Easy. Yeah.

That's awesome. That's so perfect. We got to get you as Jesse Bell in a live show one day. What was the Overwatch that you did? You did one? Yeah, I've done a lot of. Cause like you did.

May. May. I've done a lot of that. May. Yeah. May. Your May was like, it was like perfection. Look like good model. Money was spent on that. Yeah, I remember seeing the scene. You have blitzkrieg. Yeah, it was nuts. Yeah. So just Jesse Bell. One of my favorite name of the kids is Drewery. Drewery. Drewery bell. Drew Rory Bell. It's a true email. Drew.

Sure. E.W.R.Y. Who drew it? Yeah, it's a jewelry. But like Drew Rory. Yeah. Do you think that's where Drew in general comes from? Jerry? No, it's Andrew. I thought Andrew. Yeah, I thought it was Andrew. I mean, yeah, OK, you're probably absolutely correct.

But I drew it. Jerrys or maybe- I mean, yeah, okay, you're probably absolutely correct, but I, Drury is, that's not a name I hear anymore. Drury makes me feel like I'm about to go down to the weeping oaks, you know what I mean? And like, one of those Cajun Bayou driveways that's like 50 feet wide for some fucking reason. That's where Drury lives His wife Lucy was really well known for her charity and gentle nature by the way She was known for like aiding her neighbors and when they were in times of trouble

Meaning like when they were sick all pieces of shit all of us are pieces of shit. She's known for her charity Yeah, she was just you go out help neighbors if they had hurt or like sick kids or somebody got sick Yeah, I know. I mean admittedlyly it was it was easier to do that then. Yes. Because like, if you think about it, we help sick people across the world with laughter. Yeah, plus a quarter was like worth a thousand dollars in the 1800s. Oh boy. What?

Laughter is the best medicine. And that's what we bring to the people. In fact, I feel like medicine is the best medicine. That's not a scientific fact. That's just like, I think it is. I think that means we're better than doctors. Laughter is like a close second to doctors, though. Yeah, it's like there's a lot of people who do podcasts about stuff similar to what we do podcasts about who are like, we are better than doctors.

So no, I just want to I want to make it clear that we trust medic medical professionals and the advice of doctors. And if you get covid laughter and a dose of ivermectin is all you fucking. Yeah. Yeah. Listen to me. That's from Mathis. The views of Mathis do not reflect the views in the Chiluminati podcast. It's very true. Or scientists or any doctor. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure I fucked an alien last night. But that's just wild. Let's just glaze right over that. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure I fucked an alien last night. But that's just wild.

Let's just glaze right over that. Yeah. That's how you know I'm reliable, because I have the intelligence from creatures far more intelligence than us that pillow talk. They tell me secrets while we're boning. Do you mean intelligence, like information, or do you mean smartness? No, they just get like the both. They use the smarts. They really. Yeah. Yeah. The wisdom, the wisdom, yeah, like with the both. He is the street smarts to banging Elliot, dude.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The wisdom. The wisdom. The hard knocks. Yes. The hard blocks. John Bell's success as a farmer in North Carolina over time, he would just expand his holdings and by the early 1800s, he had amassed a fair amount of wealth, primarily through tobacco

farming. And he began acquiring more land with increased social standing in the local community, where he just became kind of just well known, essentially rich and within his local community. And as he grew in size and wealth, he began to consider opportunities for even further expansion. And where else but the frontier lands of Tennessee were becoming the most attractive place for him, particularly as they were being opened up for

settlement by the U.S. government at the time. In 1804, John made the fateful decision to move his family west to Tennessee, hoping to continue his prosperity on even more fertile lands, which is where all these hauntings end up taking place. The move to Tennessee wasn't unusual for the time, like I said, as many families are looking just like kind of expand and they were opening up new lands in Tennessee, which meant plenty of opportunity in the lands in Tennessee were cheap, abundant and largely undeveloped. The growing population and the promise of fertile soil for farming attracted a ton of settlers, including obviously the Bells.

And on their journey to Tennessee, the first weird event, shall we call it, actually occurred. It's been suggested and reported the Bell family experienced a still well known, I don't want to call paranormal phenomena phenomenon, but a phenomenon known as the Brown Mountain Lights. Brown Mountain Lights are based just familiar to me. I know about still like scientists haven't been able to fully describe it yet. Like it's like one of those things you can just walk right up and fucking see it pretty randomly. Like, yeah, they are basically unexplained glowing orbs that have been seen for centuries now in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.

According to some versions of the Bellwitch legend, the family witnessed these strange lights during their move, which was a possible foreshadowing of the strange occurrences that would later plague their lives in Tennessee But the brown mountain lights are a real phenomena that there's not like a fucktun really there to cover Yeah, they're not like a hoax. They're not a hoax. They're just it's pretty likely a scientific. This is something that like This isn't just myths and legends right right now science Verifiable these are things that happen. Nobody knows what it is, but it's very like tangibly a thing that many people have seen.

You look them up, like it's just like, I'm not saying it's definitely paranormal. In fact, it's probably just something we don't like electric phenomenon or something. But yeah. Is this something that people like science has been researching and they're like, we got nothing, dude. Yeah, you can see this and it is vexing people. They saw that on their traverse to Tennessee. The deciding would have occurred as they passed through the Blue Ridge Mountains

when they were crossing through. But whatever the case, nothing else happened on that trip. It was just the brown mountain lights and they got to Tennessee safely afterwards. In fact, they arrived in 1804 where they purchased a 320 acre farm in Red River, Tennessee, now known as Adams, Tennessee, and the area at the time was just mostly wilderness with few established settlements, but the Bells were determined to make it their new home. So they built a large house and began farming the land, primarily growing corn

and tobacco. Yeah, they just feel like this is it. We're changing the fucking way. A bunch of corn and like smoking a bunch of cigars. Yeah, no, man. I had that kind of gnarly smoked that fucking blunt that one time. And the next morning I had the biggest headache in the world because I didn't realize blunt meant tobacco. And so I bought that like fucking expensive.

Like, did you get got by rap music? Are you like I heard him talk about blunts and I just assumed I thought joints and blunts were the same thing Yeah, I'm often surprised. I'm often surprised that I'll offer someone a blunt and they'll be like Is there tobacco in this and I'm like, it's brown motherfucker. Like what? yeah, it should have been like a Giveaway for me, but you know, I'm just thought it was just, motherfucker. Like what? Yeah. Like there should have been like a giveaway for me, but no, I just thought it was just weird. I mean, there was a time period where dudes would combine

weed with like a cigar. That's a blood. And they still do that out in the UK. Apparently it's like the norm out there is to mix their weed with tobacco, which is weird. They'll do like a split. They're like split it up, but like you used to go buy these ones from the gas station and like cut them.

Yes. And like put wheat in there. Swisher sweets, dude. Oh yeah. The grape one. Yeah. Back to 1802. The Bell Farm where they settled ended up being like one of the largest farms in the area. It had humongous fields for growing all the crops.

Or they had pastures for livestock. The house itself was substantially large. It was a two-story log cabin designed to accommodate John and Lucy's large family. Cause again, it's the time where you have kids because you need workers. Everybody's snarfin popcorn going through two packs a day. Even have to give you an idea of like how well off they were and how big this place was. They had, and this is not like super common for just like the regular

farmer back then. They had their own separate outbuildings for storage tools, livestock that daughter to the entire property. Like they just had a very big place over as they built on it for the first few years in Tennessee, the bell family enjoyed just peace and prosperity. The land was productive and their status in the community grew. John Bell was well, well respected, not only for his farming ecumen, but also for his leadership and involvement in church affairs.

He was a very holy church going man, never miss mass was always there and was very much a leader in that community. Uh, and in Tennessee, uh, in life in Tennessee seemed to be everything the family had hoped for as they arrived, but their peace would not last forever as out in Red River, Tennessee, they would acquire a brand new neighbor by Kate Bat, by the name of Kate Bats, aka Old Kate. And she was like 40 years old, just to give you an idea. She wasn't super old, but back then, that was the old Kate. She moved in next door?

Yeah, she had like property next to his, basically. So we're talking about like 1.3 miles away? Yeah, yeah. You're talking, you know, farming neighbor with their own lands and whatnot. Yeah. Kate Bats or aka old Kate was a neighbor. AKA Bats Maru. Bats Maru. Yeah. She was the neighbor, basically, like you said, a mile and a half or hour long away from the Bell family out in Red River,

Tennessee. And she was known in the community for a few things as time went on. She was first and foremost known for her very eccentric personality. Many viewed her as being a bit quote unquote off. And while she wasn't wealthy, Kate bats owned some land in her family, although less prosperous than the bells had a small farm of their own. Why do I? So I'm assuming she's not married, correct?

She is married. We'll get to that. Yeah, but she bet she I mean I'll mention it but her husband is crippled at this point She's running everything because her husband's legs are unusable because I'm starting to piece together the whole like she's a weird lady That one. Oh sure does things Handles money ideas of her own. Pants with two legs. And to give information- Keep talking about the vote. I'll have none of it. To maybe even add a little bit more context to what you're clearly getting at as well is like the very first things that were written

about Kate were 30 years after the events had taken place still by the eyewitnesses, but there was two or three, I mean, about three decades in between and then the first book book that was really popular was like, it was like 70 or 80 years afterwards. So, you know, we're talking, these are all coming from firsthand accounts. She was real. We have, we have like written documents about some of the things that happened and whatnot, but you know, take it with the at the time and or the male dominated society.

Because she was often described as loud, assertive, somewhat unconventional, you know, and this all made her a subject of gossip in the community. I bet she's a lesbian. She's a witch. Many accounts of Kate Bats as an eccentric woman who didn't conform to traditional norms at the time, because she was running the fucking farm on her own. The bell witch better not just be like a confident business woman. Incoming sad Alex. Not quite, not quite.

So she was known for speaking her mind even in situations where other women may have remained silent. She was assertive, led to her being kind of viewed as abrasive and difficult by some members of the community, again because of the time. One common- What gender were those members of the community? Oh, I think, God, I think they were males? Weird, right?

You wouldn't expect that. One common phrase used in these recollections was that she was considered quote unquote strange or quote unquote odd, a common way to describe people who basically just didn't fit into the societal molds of that time period. Um, yeah. Her ye olde lol cow page was huge. And because she was head of the farm, Kate was said to be physically stronger and more involved in manual labor than was typical for women at the time. This added to her reputation as being unusual or you tell me she's the fucking bell witch. I'm going to go smack somebody in the face.

Just hang out for the story. We're going to go spank someone's butt. We're going, we're going, we're going to get there because, uh, the bell witch is actually one of the few stories where there's an actual death due to poltergeist activity. I thought you were about to say what there's actually for real a witch to know, but his death from something bizarre. But we'll get there. We'll get there. Again, her being basically strong added to her reputation as unusual and quote unquote

unwomanly. When in the area were particularly rural areas were just expected to handle the domestic duties at home But Kate obviously was outside on the farm because her husband was crippled as he was working out on their land well at one point in time a tree fell and fucking crushed his legs and he was unable to walk ever again like The local the local doctor aka the woman next door could not save him. So the barber and the baker doctor, AKA the woman next door, could not save him. Sadly. Also the barber and the baker, oddly enough. And the candlestick maker. Yeah. Uh, he, he, like, it wasn't anything like we, it was just like bad accident

at a time where medicine could not do anything other than give him some wheels to roll around on. They were like, maybe we should just cut them off. Yeah. Yeah. Like exactly. There was no attempt at fixing them They could there was just well, maybe we could bleed you like that might help some leeches Yeah, exactly in one recollection about seeing Kate It was noted that Kate could be seen driving oxen which was a task reserved for men and that made her very Peculiar indeed that was reserved for men and that made her very peculiar indeed. Reserved for men?

Yes. Like in the way that like boys hang out and smoke cigars or just because it was hard? Exactly that way. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Kate was often described as being larger than most women of the time, both in height and physical presence. This further set her apart.

You're selling me on Kate. I think Kate is kind of fucking cool. This is gonna be like, she was just a good old woman working hard and she was the witch. There's aspects of Kate that make her such a cool character. It's more than she's just a hard working woman, I promise you. I need to stress this to you.

If it turns out that Alex is correct and Kate's the witch, but more importantly, she actually was just like, the coolest person but also she was a witch dude she was killing people I'd be so excited I was like get him Kate get him Kate Wokeness, wokeness like victim like fucking like gamer gate the first gamer gate victim the bell witch yep yeah um so yeah her husband's name by the way was Fred Uh, and uh a couple of she had a couple of sons, uh, jack and calvin who were described at the time as Spindly and gawky boys who didn't take to society. Those were kate's sons. Um She she she also had a daughter, uh, mary described her who was described as both beautiful and bright Who's barely mentioned the story because it seems like the moment

she was able to she fucking left Kate and like the farm and just fucking I wonder if that assessment of her plus her leaving is she was kind of in, you know, societally embarrassed of her mother doing all of that. It might be so I was like, she's the normal one because she was like, I got to go get married. Yeah. Yeah. It's very possible. Like, I wouldn't doubt that at all. So, you know, when people refer to her as old Kate, this is the context simply behind old Kate. Like, this is what they fucking mean. It was very much a derogatory term toward Kate in particular.

And she was called old. Yeah. Old Kate was derogatory. Like, yeah, you look at 30 year olds in the 1980s and it's like, Whoa bro. Yeah. And, uh, yeah. Times change. We'll talk about it in a recent episode, but you see those like 1920s kids on the street seeing a camera for the first time or earlier and they look like little adults, little, little 60 year olds and so weird little five o'clock shadow, like balding guys. Yes.

They have the eyes so sunken into their heads. But again, like you've all been saying, the reason for her cantankerous attitude was because she was the fucking head of a family in a male-dominated society, dealing with other families, other businesses, and dealing with men also treating her like lesser than. So she became boisterous, paranoid,

and unafraid to get into arguments with any one male or female, because she refused to take shit from fucking anybody. And that made her look down upon, which I think makes her fucking bad ass. And as you can imagine, that went over about as well as you would expect at the time. And over time rumors began to bubble up that Kate was in fact actually a witch. Now this was about a hundred years or so after the Salem witch

trials and all that was well done. So she wasn't living in the area where there was any of that stuff. That said the rumors of her being a witch, at least initially seemed to be rooted in more than simple distaste for Kate Bats. It seems Kate had some bizarre behaviors that added fuel to that fire that she might actually for real maybe be practicing some sort of witchcraft. I want to give also context, this is like early early 1800s. Folk magic was still common even amongst practicing Christians because it was built into fucking everything.

I mean, even if we go back and we talked about it a little bit, but the Mormons and Jack Smith, Jack Smith or Joseph Smith, whatever, he was the one or that he was also practicing folk magic before he came into the Mormonism world and stuff like that, which we'll talk about in more detail one day. the Mormonism world and stuff like that, which we'll talk about in more detail one day. So like folk magic wasn't particularly uncommon. It was what she was doing that made it kind of weird. She was Kate was also kind of known for using a lot of strange language. She would make a lot of unusual gestures when interacting with people in the community. And these kind of I would just say quirky mannerisms added to the perception that she was different and involved in a cult practice. I love, I, this is my favorite part of religion, the cultism, all stuff where like speaking in tongues, Christian speaking like gibberish stuff.

Like, no, no, that's evil. It's the exact same thing, but one is fine because you did it in a church. You're wearing like a nice white suit. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Kate. So some of the behaviors that she did that also made things kind of weird is one of the

things Kate did was she was known to lend out goods or money to her neighbors, but she was rumored to be particularly aggressive about collecting debts. This often resulted in her getting into feuds, especially with those who couldn't pay her back on time. And these disputes further damaged her standing in the community, adding to the narrative that she was being like intimidating or a malicious figure. The other thing she apparently liked to do was she was known to have said, and the unusual habit of asking women in the community for their bronze pins or bodice pins, which were like just slender metal pins that fastened clothing

and lace up bodices in the 19th century. And the reason this is weird is because in the context of folklore and superstition, this behavior was seen as odd and suspicious because at the time asking for such personal items, especially items related to women's clothing and bronze pins was part of witchcraft or spell casting. Like that was part of some of the rituals. Like getting a bobble. The men, since many believed that the witch could use personal items to place a curse on somebody so she could get something of yours and then use it as a

focal point for her curses and curse you if she wanted to. Um, so like the, her habit of asking for these pins further fuel local gossip about her being a witch. And some accounts say that women were hesitant to give her the pins, fearing that she might use them in a curse or some other form of dark magic. And one girl at the time said she had actual proof that Kate was in fact a witch. According to this particular story, one of Kate's neighbors had slighted Kate in some way. We don't know the details as to how, either by refusing her a favor or maybe she wasn't

failing to repay a loan. And in retaliation, it was said that Kate muttered a curse under her breath and shortly afterward, the curse made sure that the neighbor, their butter would not churn properly. And she churned that butter for over two hours and it would not churn properly and it eventually spoiled. Da da da da da. Da da da. In rural communities though, the process of making butter was very important.

This was a very important task that was viewed often viewed as a sign of bad luck. Maybe I just don't have my priorities in place. Yeah. So, and then when, so when this didn't happen, when the butter wouldn't turn, this was seen as a sign of bad luck or in more superstitious cases, the result of a curse or witchcraft and the butter spoiling incident was seen as proof of Kate's ability to curse others. So this girl having decided it must have been Kate was out to prove it was and so what she did was she had the and the weight of getting foolproof proof was that's a weird way of saying that and writing that she took a fire poker heated it in the flame until it was white hot. Then she took that fire poker and plunged it into the unchurned butter

where she said it immediately curdled and began to steam. Then after she did that, she left her house and quickly made her way over to Kate's house for some reason that isn't given. And when she entered the house, she saw that Kate's hand now was also burnt as Kate then made up quote unquote an excuse about grabbing the wrong side of her own fire poker earlier that day. And that's why there was a burn when in fact she got burned because the fire poker in the butter supernaturally then transferred the burn through the curse to the palm of Kate's hand.

So the implication is that the reason the butter wouldn't churn is because Kate's magic hands were were it she like summoned very much like D&D a you know like some sort of magical hand that was in the butter stopping that like holding the like I'm not gonna let you churn this I'm not gonna let you do it. Well fingers go up there and like start like messing up with it and screwing up all the churning And so she just burned it and there was a burn on Kate's hand and that was enough. So people were just fucking crazy Nothing came with this accusation though. People are just looking for drama at this point. This is just what the fuck else

Are you doing an 18 fucking whenever like what what are you doing? Fucking jacking off? I don't know. Going outside? That's a sin. That's a sin. Going to the west, manifest destiny, killing people that didn't deserve it. Like there was a lot of stuff going on. But that's how they got the land they're on right now.

They don't want to now leave that land. Instead you're like, wait a minute. This poker burn. Wait, you have a burn. Wait, did you transfer your burn with magic? You evil person. I know you've been taking my fucking shirt brass. All this shit going on, you know, obviously is hilarious. But Kate isn't completely like a perfectly innocent and good person all told. Now, again, folk magic very common at the time, but also very common at the time was slave ownership and Kate owned slaves as many of the people did back then. Whoa, whoa, whoa, question. What year is this?

Early 1800, like 1805, 180 something, like it's right around there because the haunting starts in 1817. So we're like in the early eight years of him moving in. Oh, wait, so this story wasn't, it was 1780 is what you're saying. Yes. We started in that. He was born 1750. For some reason in my brain, I thought you meant 1850. And then this took place in 1880. No, no. Was 1780 is when he married Lucy. I was like, then he moved here. He moved to Tennessee in 1802.

Yeah, we're not, I'm just giving you the main two characters. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I just for some reason thought we were in the 1800s. Good. God, God, we can clarify. Happy to clarify. Yeah. So yeah, Kate obviously owned slaves like many people did back then,

which brings us right back to the Bell family and the dispute that would that would occur that would set all of this shit in motion and the haunting to begin. You see, obviously with her husband, Fred, being disabled and having one less pair of capable hands to work the farm, Kate and her family couldn't maintain the entirety of the property that they owned. It was just too much. So her goodly neighbor, John Bell, proposed that he'd pay her a sum of cash for an

unused part of her farmland. And after a bit of bartering back and forth, what ended up being settled on was that she would trade a piece of her land for a cash loan and a slave from John. So he was loaning her money, but giving her a slave instead of it just being here's cash. He's like, OK, here you can get a slave and then I'll loan you money and you have to pay that money back. You look confused, Alex. You good? No, I'm just letting it wash over me that the full picture of the 1780s at this time

is like all this stuff's going on. 1804 or five at this point, but yeah. Well, yeah, but you know what I'm saying? All this stuff's going on and oh yeah, they're slaves still. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Like all this stuff's going on and oh yeah, they're slaves still. Yes. So I had to like, I had to just let that, I had to let that amend my understanding

of this time period a little bit. Yeah. In that bill of sale with that deal written down, however, John had written no interest rate on the bill. And when it was done, John supposedly, when he came collecting for the loan, put an interest rate that was absurdly fucking high.

Like he didn't put an interest rate on the bill. She didn't really notice it, I guess. And like the the deal was done and now she just fucking change the document like it's your house after the fact at this point. Yeah, I mean, yeah,

also kind of true. Like it's just that time at that time. So she was pissed. He was asking for an absurd amount of money. Yeah, I mean, yeah, also kind of true. Like it's just that time at that time. So she was pissed. He was asking for an absurd amount of money. So in retaliation, Kate Bats publicly shamed John for being a dick. Essentially, she publicly could like was just blaming him for all this, letting everybody know what he'd done. And this just wasn't like a one night thing or a one week thing.

She did this for a long time and maybe it was just because of the time period. But it reminds me of Ben Franklin in the poor man's almanac and torturing that man even after he fucking died. She went on about this for five years. That's one of those. What do you have to do in the 1800s? That's like difference. That's the difference between we have the Internet and they don't that right there, that type of grudge for that type of thing. It probably hurt for five, probably was absolute torture for the guy. It probably worked so goddamn good.

Yeah. And so, and like, this is, so now we're kind of moving to like 1817 into like that era. This is when this is all going down. Um, And so yeah, like five years of this straight, and this wouldn't be just some feud that resulted in a nothing. No, at the end, after the little over five years in 1822, John Bell was excommunicated from his church for usury and coveting his neighbor's land. Like he, there were real world consequences

for all of this. I mean, if you think about it, like the way that you're telling this very much seems like this guy was trying to scam her because he thought that this woman didn't know any better. For sure. And then she was like, bitch, and came down on him. And it's, you know, there's a lot. This is like when we were talking about the wild west and how criminals can do a lot of stuff, but like for some reason, horse

thievery was one of the worst. Yes. Right. Absolutely. You like murder a person, but like, it's the great unifier. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah.

And say, and same here's the same idea where it's like, you don't cheat your neighbor out of land because that's like, once we start doing that, you live right. He crumbles to live right fucking next to him too. Like how fucked up are you? So this is getting to the point where he's excommunicated. We're kind of jumping to the end. We're going to rewind time. But before I do, I also want to throw in that there was some conjecture as to the real reason the church excommunicated him

because when the excommunicated him, he was also kind of like shut out from the society. He had to leave. He had to leave the town and a lot of that because there was all this supposed demon activity happening in his home and it was just becoming a nuisance for the town. Priests were coming in and trying to deal with it and whatnot. And they were so fucking sick of it. There was all, they were just, maybe, maybe they were just like, you know what? You got to fucking go.

And we're just going to use Kate Bats as reason as they're, you know, law-abiding quote unquote reason that communicate you, but we're getting sick of your shit. You have to go. And we're just going to use Kate Bats as reason as they're, you know, law abiding, quote unquote reason that communicate you. But we're getting sick of your shit, you have to go. But we'll get to that because that's the as jumps to the end as a little preview, but we're not going to get ahead of ourselves too much. We're going to rewind back to 1817. Because there's one incident that the people look back on that at the as the center point, the incident that truly began

the bell witch hauntings. Did you shoot a bunch of snakes out of her eyes at somebody or something? No, no, no. Like truly crazy? As we talk about this, I need you to put yourselves very briefly in the mindset of a weekly 1817 churchgoer in a small town during the 1800s. You're in church every week. You never miss mass on Sunday. And most people there are going to... Slaves are legal. Slaves are legal. The most, most people there are not missing a single service in the community.

And Kate was also one of those people who went to church every single Sunday and didn't miss mass. However, Kate was locally notorious for showing up to the mass about halfway through the service, locally notorious for showing up the mass about halfway through the service, being the loudest singer, providing the loudest amens and generally making a show of it every single time. You mean my grandmother? You mean my, my rest her soul grandmother who every time I would go to church, she would sing the loudest. We'd be late every time. And she oh, yeah. And she would like not just loudest, but also like obnoxious falsetto. Like, like, just that's exactly like that lady on the bus.

Dude, from now on, Kate, think of Kate is your grandmother, because I think she might fit the bill rather well. Oh, yeah. She was this is just who she was. This is why people are another reason she was like she was like annoying to people in the town is because she was just this huge personality, a bombastic human being, very bombastic. And she was also known for trying to appear smarter than she was. Commonly, she would use big words in a sentence completely incorrectly and even Edward Norton and glass on you.

And even made up words entirely that just kind of sounded fancy that maybe had like a real word people know that she was doing this or they call her out on it I think so but like I don't have any accounts of her calling it just very common a giant talking rooster off of her so back 1940s. So back to the event. This incident that started it all occurred one Sunday during a sermon by the reverend of the local town. And it was a kind of what you would call, I don't know, like the kind of sermon that's all about guilt.

It's all that was all about hell and how if you sit, are you going to go to hell? It was all very kind of doom and gloom, I think is the word I'm looking for here. And one of those angry speeches and during this intense speech of the dangers of sinning, the horrors of Satan and hell itself, one member of the church, a man by the name of Joe Edwards, felt the Lord fills insides and decided that right then and there made sermon. It was time that he had to repent and he stood up walked over to the altar

collapsed to his knees and kind of surprised the church took a moment but they all got up and they circled around him they began placing their hands on him praying and as he did he fell to the ground and Joe began just shouting his sins into the air to repent in front of God's name, in front of God and the reverend. You know how you're talking about like everybody preaching and like talking in tongues normal? Like this is the town's like, all right, yeah, we're going with this. This seems totally fine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And in the middle of him doing all of this, shouting his sins to the world, the congregation of the church around him, the doors would fly open and midway through who else but Kate Bats enters the church for the Sunday service,

sees the church circle and all the goer church goers with zero actual clue what the fuck was going on. But without missing a beat, walked over, pushed herself through the linked arms of the circle, threw her skirt up over her shoulder, and plopped her ass down on Joe's chest, straddling him with her 200 pound weight is apparently how much she weighed, which immediately silenced Joe in the process. Immediately, it's like it sat on his, shouting his sins, just like, oh, now she's sitting on him. For what purpose?

Wait, just we're not done yet. Not done yet. The circle went silent. And after a bit of Kate, she just started shouting at him, just like, oh, yeah. Like nonsense, no words, just like yelling at him. Joe stopped shouting his own sins and then began praying for something else entirely saying, quote, Lord, save me. Sweet Jesus, lift Satan off of me or I shall sink into the eternal torment of hell.

So he was like, she's Satan, get this bitch off. Get her off me. Get her off me. She didn't get off. Then the reverend walked over and asked her to get off to which she replied, not the priest, one of the congregation people, which was a professor. And she said to him, no, thank you, professor Powell. This altitude is so consoling to my disposition that I feel amply corrugated. I don't know what that means. I don't know what she meant, but apparently that's what she said. Then when somebody suggested that she was crowding the mourner, which means the mourner beating somebody who's in distress, going through something intense. You're just too, you're on top of him.

Get off of him. She then replied, here, Jesse, why don't you, why don't you take this quote? I'm just trying to figure out what the corrugated. She said she's corrugated. Yep. Yeah. I'm trying to figure out what like, I don't know what corrugated means, but I don't know what amply corrugated, I don't know. And it has to be like a term from time. I am folded in a way that I am happy with is what I am amply corrugated

with. I guess. Yeah. So then they said you're then it's like, hey, you're crowding the mourner, aka you're like on top of him, get off. Jesse, this is how she replied to that. Oh, God bless this woman. Oh, that don't disperse my perspect, perspacuity. Yeah, perspacuity. Perspacuity. I'm a very plain woman and I do love homogate near the altar while the law with the Lord while making configuration among their singles. Bless her. It's homogating. She was homogating. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what the fuck that means. I don't know, man. I'm just like everything she says. I'm I'm Googling. This is great.

I she amazing. So I don't know. She then, you know, the congregation freak out. No, they they did. They call our actions at a front to God in the out. No. They, they, they, did they call our actions at a front to God and the church? No. Everybody actually thought this shit was fucking hilarious. They started just laughing at the whole thing. Um, you can hang on the boys are in mid read. I can see them. I just hang on. We'll wait. Let them research. I mean, there's home homogulate remember, she made up words. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's hom- homogulate. Remember, she made up words. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, like- Homologate. Homologate could be what she meant. I just love the audacity of her. Oh, God. I feel like-

That's exactly it. I just, everything about this woman I am obsessed with. Yeah. I'm not stressed that enough. She just seems like, like what people mean when they say that someone is a character. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yes. Yes. Yep. Um, then they said to her, you've got to get off of him. You're actually suffocating him. Uh, this is what she said to that. Feel free to take it. Let him suffocate preacher. I'm helping him get closer to the law.

And I'm like, I love this one so much. And again, the congregation didn't freak out. They all started laughing. This fucking was hilarious to them. And I'm so glad to fucking hear that when I read that some of them, they were laughing so hard. They had to step out of the church because they could not stop themselves from laughing.

But there was one person in the congregation that didn't find any of the shit funny whatsoever. That person being another than John Bell. And according to some, this is the back and forth that happened between them. Is it not enough that you belittle the worship of the Almighty by your constant lateness, woman? Must you make a mockery of a man's awakening to the light? And before you respond, she responds with an incorrect Bible

quote. This is what she said. This is not a Bible quote, but she's good. Well, you or she says, well, you take the log from your own sinner that you shall see clearly to remove the mole from mine. I don't even know what that means! It's so good! This was the last straw for John? This almost seems like a Mark Twain character. This is not a real... I love her! It's like literally Coen Brothers.

If the people who were giving the eyewitness accounts weren't saying, dude, it was hilarious, then I would maybe not believe that this happened. But the fact that everybody was laughing except for John makes it feel like they're telling the truth. Do you think, do you think she like, again, do you think she saw the ridiculousness in the moment of this dude? Like, in the middle of it, and she was just like, this is so fucking low. It's gonna be one of them days. Maybe she really seems like the person in the town that just loved attention. Like she was, she would be on this podcast if she was here today. She feels like everybody gives her the business all the time and alienates her and makes her like a pariah. And so she

just doesn't give a fuck and like exists in a world where she is above all this rabble. Don't give a fuck vibes are fucking immaculate, dude. It has the same vibe as when you talk to a lot of comedians. They'll always say that the reason like jokes or being funny or the class clown or whatever is to take it like it's the coping mechanism to deal with. Oh yeah, something. And in this case, I imagine it would be she is a woman who's running a home that's very weird and is called all sorts of things. And she's like a bigger gal who plows the, like, yeah, there's so

many ways to attack this woman. And she's like, I'd rather they laugh at me. Yeah. Then they attack me and like my family, like, like it has that vibe. It definitely does have that for me. It's just chronic depression So this this when she said that incorrect Bible quote to him This was it for him John like he was pissed at this point in front of the congregation that he He called and accused Kate right then and there being a witch to which Kate took great offense But hilariously instead of pushing back and denying it fed right into it and in the middle of the church, supposedly this is how she replied to John calling her a witch.

Jessie, this was her again, there's a made up word in there somewhere. So go ahead. This is what she said in reply to being called a witch by John Bell. Which am I? Then let me offer you a witch's malfunction. Oh, John Bell. You may have your broad acres as well as mine purchased at a pence. You may have your big house and your salubricated health right now, but just wait and see what

said changes shall soon as descend upon you and more than among the bells. Laugh. She was like, laugh it up. Yeah, you're going to be with your mind. Then you're cursed and other people in your family are cursed. Fuck you. Shit's going to get bad. But she does say, I mean, what's interesting here is I know this is one of those things like and then people could accuse her being witch. But she literally says, even though it's with words that aren't words

Yeah, she says you stole you stole my land. Yep. Hell. Yeah, I'm gonna curse you asshole. Yeah, she's saying Yeah, yes exactly what she's saying. She's like fuck you dude. Yes, get the fuck out of here I'll often die and all your family but even this witch's curse couldn't stifle the congregations laughter They still found this hilarious. So much so that the reverend had to make the decision to just end the gathering then and there. It's over. We're not going to finish the ceremony. And he sent everybody home, and Joe got up off the floor. And when he Joe got himself off the floor, he declared himself free of sin. Sure. It's like, yeah.

I am now free of sin. Yeah. I can- I'm going home. Church is done. She sat on me and it was great. I'm doing pretty good everyone. Well, that ruled. That was in fact very awesome. Yeah, I kind of like a woman sitting on me actually. I got to go home and think about

that. Guys, that was great. More women should sit on me. And it's right around this time that the haunting of the, of John Bell's home began. And what's interesting is that the haunting seemed to target, not the entirety of the Bell family, but really two people specifically, John himself and his youngest daughter, Betsy who was 12 years old at the time and was about to go through, go through life's built in torture known as puberty. And I,

Oh, is there a cat? Not in part one, really? No. It was about to go through life's built in torture known as puberty. And I- Oh, is there a cat? Not in part one really, no. Okay, okay. Whoa, there's a part two cat? You might be thinking of something else though that's coming up. I think-

Or maybe it's a dog. I can't remember. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hang in there. You hang in there, yeah, yeah. I just had older spoilers. You just had like a memory of like something. Yeah.

And I bring up, she's going to puberty because in case you've forgotten, we've done ghost episodes in the past, but it's been a while. It's like poltergeist and haunting activity tend to pop up and intensify around people, particularly young women who are going through puberty or young girls. I shouldn't say young women. That feels gross. But unlike many of those, the haunting here didn't actually start with Betsy, the girl who was about to go through puberty, but kind of oddly with John, and not inside the home,

but actually on the outside on his property, at least initially. And for example, the very first encounter we know about is in 1817, while he was out inspecting his corn tobacco fields, John claims that when he looked up, he saw a large black beast sitting at the edge of his field, simply watching him. John claims that it had the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit with

bright green eyes that just glared at him. Yeah. Weird like amalgamation of, of animal dogs. I've never heard of that before, but I kind of liked the vibe. Yeah. Sounds like a D&D monster. Say it again. A rab. Okay.

Say it one more time. A large black beast that was the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit with green glowing eyes. That's cool. I like that. Body of a dog and the head of a rabbit is like- If anything, it could be kind of what you would imagine, uh, like a noobus looking like. Yeah. Obviously not the head of a rabbit, but like the big ear bit. Yeah, yeah a weird cartoon dog kind of like, you know It's weird is what I'm imagining like the head of a rabbit and the head of a dog are like From from a far distance similar looking but you would look pretty stupid up close Stupid little his big- ass little ass mouth. He's chewing on the corn and the tobacco.

According to John, they stared at each other for a few minutes before John made the most American decision he could have made. He pulled out his flintlock pistol shot in the face and pointed at it and fired a shot at the beast. And when that old timey smoke from that flintlock pistol cleared, he says the beast was nowhere to be seen. But that's because it was 45 minutes later. History jokes.

This kind of weirdly gives me like Skinwalker Ranch vibes where the giant wolf that they shot at with their fucking shit and it just didn't do anything. But then it went away and killed it's like their cow or whatever it was. It's so funny that they were like with their fucking shit and it just didn't do anything but and then it went away and killed it's like their cow whatever it was it's so funny that they were like shoot ha it's just what what's just what they do man like dogs aren't even it's not a big creature well no it was a giant version that's why it was like a weird spooky animal but the creature sightings didn't stop there as John and his son Drury saw apparently a giant flying

bird that was double the size or twice the size of a turkey take off and fly away before either one of them could even get a shot off. That was how I just realized this is not related to the muffin man lives on Drury Lane. Oh shit. Oh shit. You're right. Oh man. We're back. The sightings outside continued. Another one was what they considered or what they called an invisible creature in the trees

as John and his son. So they just saw nothing. But John and his sons were walking through their property one night when they heard what they said. They said sounded like branches breaking from something heavy walking through and what seemed to be something moving through the trees. But when they went to go look to see what it was, they saw nothing. All it was to them, they said, was an invisible presence that heightened their fear, and that something unnatural

was happening around the farm. Well, of course. So they were just getting very spooked. Then there was the little girl that was suddenly seen on their property more than once. Around that time, we're entering the late 1817, late 1817 now, John Bell's daughter, Betsy Bell, began seeing a young girl

wandering through the Bell property, not like in a regular pattern, but at night every so often. And particularly, she would see the young girl in their orchard. Initially, they chalked it up to neighbors, that it must be new neighbors, but when they brought it up to John at the dinner table, all John

did was apparently stop eating. He sat there in complete silence for a few minutes before quietly just getting up and going to bed. Clearly, they said freaked out. Man was like, I have time for this. I got crops. The man was like me with aliens. Like I got bills to pay off time for this. And it's not long after this sighting that Betsy had that while John and his daughters were walking the property one night, they caught something out of the corner of their eye that looked green in the distance that was like somewhere halfway up a tree. And as they got closer, they saw what the green was. It was in fact a green dress on the corpse of a young woman who was hanging from the tree.

The kids said that while she clearly looked dead, she still had tears streaming from her eyes. The kids said in that moment, they felt terrified like their energy was being drained from their body. And as they tried to run away, they couldn't for a little bit until eventually they said they were able to break free from this they couldn't for a little bit until eventually they said they were able to break free from this entrancment and run away. And when they looked back, the body was gone. When the girls got back home and told the head slave what they saw, the head slave apparently told them to be careful because green is the color of the devil's head. Is that why you chose it for Chilumati? Yeah. Six and a half years later.

Now you know why. Now everyone knows green the color With a devil's hair add it to the wiki the devil's Devil's hag green is the official color of the Chilumati podcast It's a new it's it's one of the finalists for the Crayola crayon of the year. Devil's hag green devil's head green Yeah, God will get there halfway between booger and highlighter green. Yeah, God will get there. Halfway between booger and highlighter. These haunting events only

remained outside for so long before eventually weird things began happening in and around the Bell Homestead, starting with what else but classic poltergeist activity like knocks and bangs on the walls and doors.

And again, all this is post I'm going to haunt you, I'm gonna haunt you. Or I'm gonna get you with my witch powers. Yep, this is all after that. So these sounds would happen at night, mostly between the hours of 10 p.m. and midnight. And what would happen is what you would expect. Knocking on the door, banging on the walls.

And as they would run outside to see who was doing it, there would be nobody there. Now John believed that this was just Kate Batts sending over her slaves to knock on the doors and basically ding, like a ding dong ditch their neighbors to trick them. But they could never, he would try and sneak out there at night to confront them,

but he wouldn't consistently be met with nothing. Those bangs and knocks, and I imagine that like, I don't I don't know, man. Listen, it's. Is that something that what you would do, like send your slaves over to, like, prank your neighbors? Honestly, his own slaves probably were like this. Let's get him. Yeah.

It's bumming me out to even like I just the idea that you're like, send the slaves. Yes, let them prank our neighbors Yeah, so stupid and like demeaning and racist as fuck. Yeah but before long these bangings on the doors and and in the outside walls Began to make their way inside as the kids began to wake up from hearing what they described as rats gnawing at the end of their bedpost and distant dragging chains in the other room. And when they would go looking for the sources, they could get out of bed. The sound didn't just disappear. It actually you said was said to move to a

different room altogether. Do you think ghosts like come from like, there's like a set time period from when we see ghosts from connected to our time period, because it really seems like in the 1800s, it seems like a big feature of ghost stories that like are in the 1800s and ghost sightings is like dragging chains. And if you like over the last 200 years, like ghosts have kind of like grown to look more like people from the 1800s. So like maybe that's a 1600s with the chains. Well, it's the idea of like there's different kinds of hauntings and poltergeist activity doesn't really seem to be attached to an individual dead person,

but more of like energies being built up and just kind of being unleashed in uncontrollable ways that are just like, yeah, bizarreness. That's kind of what we're looking at here. And then there's the hauntings of like, yeah, I don't know why chains's kind of what we're looking at here. And then there's the hauntings of like, yeah, I don't know why chains kind of went out of fashion. I don't know why ghosts, what are they like, is it because they're shackled to this world still? Is that what the vibe? But if we're looking at this poltergeist activity,

more being fed by an energy and like the thought, like the thoughts of these people, I imagine one of the things they're like, it may be just feeding off or grabbing common, like subconscious ideas of what they're most afraid of. The sounds of rats in their house can be probably the worst living back in that time. Having chains dragging across the floors, probably like what they see symbolism as being imprisoned in slaves. Like, I wonder if that's part of it.

If we're looking at it from the perspective of the poltergeist, whatever it might be feeding off the energy happening in the home that's being built up from puberty happening, plus the very intense confrontation between himself and Kate and then him internalizing this curse that he got. And it's just like feeding off that idea. There were blood stains everywhere. Like I feel like two things are happening. One, the story of chains and like the ghost stories we're getting in the new world. Again, this is the early 1800s. Like historically, a lot of these people are moving to places where they're like, wouldn't have been another house with an older white guy living.

Like it's just like British ghosts, right? It's British ghost stories. It's stories that traveled with them and they sort of incorporated. But also another thing I think is super interesting about this is I was watching a documentary about, making of, I guess, like a very Christian movie, like one of those like made by like the God's Not Dead people. Jared Sarkissian Kurt Cameron type. Pete Slauson Yeah. Jared Sarkissian It was like a horror movie they created. And in the horror movie, that again,

had like one of those like, it's not really a horror movie. It's just like, be a good Christian. You won't get killed. The real horror is having sex before your marriage. Pretty much that's it. Yeah. That's how you live your life. They kept saying that on set they would like, demons would try to get him.

And it was like so terrible. And the documentary was about that. But like the big takeaway I got from that was the fact that before it started, the directors sent the cast and crew a video of other documentaries about how the Omen and poltergeist and those sets were riddled with like demonic energy challenging demons expected. And so everyone expected it to happen. Yeah. So every so I'm doing that because there was the yeah, if you want to get cursed, I'll curse you. Literally everything that could go wrong, they were like, the curse. Absolutely.

Like I was saying, like, if chains are in your mind as something that's synonymous with ghosts, and you hear something somewhere in your house, whatever it may be. You're like, could that perhaps be the chains of a ghost? It's not as crazy as it's sounding to me now in 2024 where ghosts look like the cast of Seinfeld. Yeah, yeah. We got to throw rotten popcorn this month. I got to, it's my turn to pick a movie, but I got to pick something very Halloween focused. We got to do like a Halloween spooky movie this month this month Halloween 3 I can't wait like obviously I'll be long dead but like imagine it's 2205 yeah, and

The ghost sightings are like literally someone from the 1980s It was so weird. He had it. He had an adidas jacket on These things where you pump up the shoes. He floated away. He was drinking a tab cola. You think that's how he died? Yeah, I think it had aspartame in it. He was mostly microplastic. I saw a ghost that was a naked old man except his balls were plastic. So other than the gnawing of like rats on their bedposts and chains, other sounds began being mixed in with this one of them would be mixed in with the gnawing would include the sounds

of gurgling and the struggle the struggle of someone who sounded like they were being strangled. Oh, that was also mixed with the sounds of wet smacking lips Eww! Dude, that is fucked up That is genuinely fucked up That's like the worst sounds you can have I'm trying to get you in there You sound like corn, you sound like the bad corn right now Oh yeah, bleh bleh bleh I must stress You sound like you sound like the bad corn right now

Okay, I must stress these like I'm sure it was just some dirty sex going on and people like like whoa ghost, dude Those $20 tier patrons are getting a show. I'm telling you right now. They're really happy they got video for this. That was, that was full nude, bros. Patreon.com slash superbeardbrook. You can't make that promise.

We're gonna have to do that in the future. Patreon.com slash pot by night. Things continue to intensify. Mind you, the banging and on the doors and all that stuff didn't stop and it would just get louder. They would describe it as like loud rocks that were being dropped onto their roof is what it sound like loud rocks. Yeah, like little large rocks that were being dropped onto their roof roof making loud sounds.

And then they will also have sudden storms and dark clouds would appear out of nowhere despite the family saying that there were no signs of a storm coming. It would just be there. And this all all this mix with obviously the the chains and all that had a new noise eventually mixed into it too which was the snarling and growling of what else but dogs lurking in the corners of the homes. But it wouldn't just be growling and snarling. Eventually, the sounds of ghost hounds fighting each other viciously was also happening around the house. Did they not have actual hounds on the property? I don't think they did, or if they did,

alien one, but it's not really anywhere in the shit I read. Yeah. So yeah, they just like ghost dogs to start fighting in the house. And then that wouldn't be the only ghost animal noise. The last one wouldn't be just ghost dogs, but they also heard ghostly ducks that they heard quacking. I'm sorry. What?

They also heard ghostly ducks that they heard quacking and clapping throughout the home. Spooky. I'm trying to get really scary. So I also heard ghostly trying to get really scary. Ghostly ducks. Ghostly ducks. It's the worst scary shit I've ever heard. Ghostly ducks. The way you said it, I was like, hold on, wait.

What, ghostly ducks, dude? Yeah, ghostly ducks, yes, correct. Yep, they heard ghostly ducks. This is like, this is the equivalent, the horror equivalent of throwing a rubber duck in your video game Ghostly ducks. Hey, man, that's what they said. That's just like I don't know the curse had some ghostly duck action in their house Yeah, wait, wait, it's laughing lots of angry flapping No, that's angry fapping that's right. Sorry shit, that's totally different do that's a that's angry fapping. That's all right. Sorry shit. That's totally different. That's angry That's ghostly fuck you got that going with the moans of someone suffocating in the background. That's ghostly sucks

Oh, do you do you think do you think it was ghostly fucks, but it got corrected? Oh fuck It is outlined. Yeah, like you never believe it there are ghostly You never believe it. There are ghostly ducks here. All of this is happening in the same year. 1817. I'm so ducking tired of these ducks, dude. Doc, they're so ducking scary, bro. And this all happened in 1817 as chaotic and dark, have duck sandwich. The poltergeist activity, though, only continued to intensify even after the ghostly ducks and no longer associated

with just creating simple sounds and like large bangs on the on the house itself. The poltergeist finally moved into the realm of physical interaction with the family itself, starting with the classic tearing of the sheets off of the bed of young Betsy. It would just pull the sheets off middle of the night, just slip them off. And then the hauntings also went from being between mostly 10 PM and midnight to 10 PM and 2 AM after this, for whatever reason, I don't know. And yeah, so they were just now starting to pull the sheets off of the bed. And this quickly escalated into violent attacks that focused on Betsy Bell.

First, bestie experienced what she said was her hair being pulled. It would get yanked in the middle of the night as the sheets would get ripped off. And as she screamed and somebody her family would run in the father would seem to nothing and it would suddenly stop. She goes on to say that as her hair would get pulled, if she attempted to resist, whether it was the hair pulling or the sheets being pulled off, she would get slapped on her face or pinched on her arm or her back

by this unseen force until she stopped fighting. And on several occasions, she was reportedly thrown out of her bed and slapped so hard that red handprints would appear on her body. These attacks terrified her and increased intensity over time. And the slapping seemed to occur as punishment for the resisting of the hair pulling

and pushing and the sheets. Now John would run into his kid's room, see his daughter covered in red marks and welts, shouting at God asking, why would he let this happen to his daughter? And on one night in particular, after he went in and tucked Betsy back into bed, just as he turned around to leave,

he heard Betsy scream, so he whipped Brown back around and he said he saw Betsy holding her hands up to both of her ears as her hands were covered in blood. What? Okay, wait, what is that supposed to imply that her ears got boxed? I imagine like, what are you what are we supposed to what are we supposed to believe happened here? I don't know. Yeah, like she got hit like her ears got hit is

what it sounds like. Like he left after like tucking her into bed after whatever happened happened to her. And he didn't even leave the room. She screamed just as he about to leave. He whipped around. She was holding her the sides of her ears and she had blood on all in her hands from the, from them. I don't know what that means.

I don't know how. I don't know what that does, but it's blood out of her ears. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She just got bloodier powers and John being the Holy man that he was at this point, this was the straw that broke the camel's back. He turned to where else but the church.

I'm still picturing down a Lewis from my boy. No, from what's the one with the witches? Salem's lot. No, the prestige. What's it called? No, Jack Nicholson is Satan. What's the witch? The witch. The fucking witch play the with John Proctor. Yeah. Yeah. I'm literally had it before.

Not the prestige. It's the crucible. The crucible. Same thing. I have no idea where we even talking about anymore. He's talking about the piece. I'm at the place. You know, the crucible. The crucible. Yeah, sure. The Cruc- He's talking about the play slash the book. You know the Crucible.

The Crucible. Yeah, sure. The real life events made into a play. Yeah, I'm still picturing Daniel Day Lewis from the Crucible as John Bay. Maybe it's right. I don't know. I've never seen the Crucible, so I couldn't even tell you. I know, surprise. Not even Tichu Bo? I know of her historically. We'll talk about that one day.

So now we move into early 1818 and he decides, like I said, he's gonna reach out to a Reverend, but it wasn't gonna be his local Reverend. Actually, he reached out to a man by the name of Reverend Johnson. And Reverend James Johnson was a Baptist minister and a close friend of the Bell family. He lived in the surrounding community,

not the community he was from, but nearby. And he had a good reputation among the local families, including the Bells. So when the strange occurrences of the Bell household escalated, John Bell turned to him for help, hoping that his religious authority and faith might prove some relief from the torment that they were now experiencing on an almost nightly basis. And by the time Reverend Johnson was called upon, the Bell family had been

enduring strange noises, the physical assaults, mysterious and a new thing. A small mysterious illness that started affecting John Bell. He started getting a little sick. It wouldn't go away. The family had kept the events quiet for a time, but as they became more frequent and aggressive when they reaching out to their old trusted friend, it became a little bit more public that they were going through something weird. I mean, they called a reverend from a different community to come deal with whatever was happening at the house. As he arrived, Reverend Johnson,

he stayed and lived with the Belles during this time. And he agreed to stay the night, the first night at the Bell home, to just observe the event for himself. He wasn't gonna get involved, just wanted to see it. And he brought his wife with him, intending for the two of them to witness the haunting and see if they could determine the source

or offer maybe some spiritual protection or whatever have you. Shortly after the Johnson's settled in for the night, the mysterious noises immediately began. They heard loud knocking on the walls like the family had, which seemed to move from room to room. These knocks were described as unusually loud and seemingly deliberate as though something was trying to communicate or make its presence known. The knocking was followed by the sounds of scratching, then the chains being dragged,

which Reverend Johnson found deeply unsettling. And during the night, Betsy Bell also experienced one of her usual physical attacks. She was slapped hard across the face by an invisible force, leaving visible marks on her skin. She cried out in pain, and Reverend Johnson and his wife rushed to her room and to her aid. And despite searching the room, they found nobody in the room responsible attack. I just imagine them lifting the sheets up,

looking under the bed, opening a closet expecting to see her older brother there. But no, they found nothing. And for them, this was the first direct evidence for the Johnsons that something truly unnatural was occurring. And then, as the night progressed, the Johnsons also reported hearing whispers in the dark. The voices weren't distinct at first, they claim, but it sounded as if multiple people were talking just out of earshot.

The voices then grew louder, and they could make out taunting remarks directed toward John Bell and the family. Though they weren't always coherent, the whispers had a mocking tone, they said, adding to the eerie atmosphere in the house. Not coherent? Yeah, like, I guess I don't know how you can tell. John Bell, you fucking smell like a fucking piece of fucking peach pie.

Fuck. Fuckin' slap you around with my titties, you dead car. After witnessing even further frightening events, Reverend Johnson decided it was time to take a direct approach by leading the Bell family in prayer. So he gathered the family together and began the prayer for protection and deliverance from whatever force had been tormenting them. And as soon as Reverend Johnson started praying, the voice of the entity began to mock him. He they mock in the room. Yes, apparently in the war in the room, the spirit apparently mimicked his words, repeated

parts of his prayer at a high pitch sarcastic tone. And as Reverend Johnson continued, the voice only grew louder, more aggressive and interrupting him repeatedly mocking his every fucking effort. It just laughed even though it brought up like when he brought up Jesus's name It doesn't say you know the name of God Oh, yeah, the name of the father son the Holy Spirit. It was like all it was do is just fucking mocking the fuck out of this Is a crazy question Did any of these people did was jewelry a ventriloquist?

No, they're all farmers, bro. They're all fucking farmers. It's all they do. And it like, yeah, no, they weren't. There was no ventral loquism happening. I know. This is just such a crate. Like this just feels like random. It feels like we're like, yeah. Just like put it out there like Bell. This this he didn't make any money off this

because he fucking died from this. The person who dies is John Bell. So like, what? Yeah, we'll get for next time. Yes, it is. We're going to get there. We got to look. Yeah, man. The Shire's to a ghost. Well, we'll talk about it next time.

That's why I said two part. There's a lot to the story that, you know, when you do some digging, a lot of people have done a lot of research. There's a lot there. The voice was mocking him. And during the prayer, the entity also just started making blasphemous remarks, being like just to show that the prayer was doing nothing,

ridiculing the family's faith and Reverend Johnson's authority. It seemed to take particular pleasure in consistently challenging the minister, at times quoting parts of the scripture itself before Reverend Johnson could finish it. Like, no, it knew the Bible better than him and was just going off on him and laughing at his own.

That's a weird take from a demonic creature. Which is why I'd just be like, I'm so evil. I know all the Bible quotes. But if this is again, you know, looking at this from like, okay, this is real in some way. If this thing is just energy, devil's just a fallen angel. If this thing is just a focus of energy feeding off of others like, you know, like subconscious, whatever he knows.

I'm because you know him. Yeah, he's pulled whatever it is, pulling it from your mind and you're getting a reaction that you're almost expecting to happen. It's like a mind where you're there for and that's what you're expecting is going to happen. And that's what this thing does is just like, is that like the low key like Chaluminati like God theory, like to like the like paranormal lore that there's like some creature that shows us what we want to see. Is that like the is that like the most true thing in November or December?

We're going to talk about it in like three or four. It's going to be a huge series, but I'm not entirely not convinced that we are like some sort of hologram and not like the Star Wars style, but in like what? Quantum style. What? Like where we're math. To give you like, we are three dimensions and our shadow is a two dimensional hologram projection of ourselves. That one guy who dreamed that he turned into math was the right guy?

That's kinda right. And that we are like a three dimensional hologram of the fourth and fifth like time space dimension. And like, that's how we perceive things. And it's just a really, yeah, yeah, it's gonna be great and shout out to math guy because that guy has been stuck in our brains for years he's i want to meet that guy i hope he shows up space up here where i constantly think about math guy yeah he broke he broke down into equations man that shit is crazy i I love that. It's amazing. And who knows? Maybe he was right the whole time.

But yeah, this thing is just mocking them. Finishing the scriptures is just there to like laugh at them. And this like unnerved Reverend Johnson and reinforced the belief that the entity was not only intelligent, but probably demonic in nature as well. At one point, the Spirit's voice became clear and began a direct conversation with Reverend Johnson. The voice asked questions, then made accusations,

and continued to both insult the minister and John Bell. And according to some of the accounts, the entity addressed Johnson by name, which unnerved him since it indicated that the Spirit knew personal details about him that he hadn't openly shared. During this interaction, the entity first referred to itself as Kate, which led some to believe that the spirit might be that of actual Kate Bats, like projecting herself

in, like, I don't know, magically, like, out of body astral projection way, I guess. Like, I don't fucking know. Did anyone tell the student in advance that, like like this lady Kate messed with like, you know I'm sure the whole town fucking saw it like yeah Absolutely others However did believe that this was actually all just a trick and the spirit was using the name to hide its true I Jenna entity that it wasn't actually Kate and again if you would look at the poltergeist feeding It's just pulling what you already kind of believe it to be. After witnessing and this is all like on night one, after witnessing the night filled with

weird terrifying activity, Reverend Johnson and his wife left the Bell home. Johnson was reportedly shaken by what he experienced as the events went beyond anything he could explain through natural causes. He believed that the Bell family was truly being harassed by a supernatural entity that was both powerful and malevolent. Reverend Johnson later told John Bell that he believed that the family was truly being harassed by a supernatural entity that was both powerful and malevolent. Reverend Johnson later told John Bell that he believed that the family was dealing with something that's just not of this world, though he refused to say he was certain it was a demon. And while Johnson was a devout man,

the nature of the attacks and the intelligence of the entity led him to conclude that the haunting was beyond anything his prayers or efforts could even resolve. And he began to suggest that the family needed to continue seeking spiritual help, but he was uncertain about how to stop the entity. And so while Reverend Johnson would come back and we'll revisit his his other visit next episode, Bell, the Bell family began reaching out to other reverends as well, all in a desperate attempt to have somebody

come alleviate the things that were happening to him. All while John Bell got more and more weirdly sick, which we'll talk about in much more detail next week. In part two, this is so the final part of the the haunting of the bell. Which feels like, you know, you know, those like horror games we've been playing, Jesse, lately that are like you just find the anomaly. It's just like something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're like, you don't know which one it's going to be. It's different for everyone. Yep. This is just that. It just feels like at this point, like we have like a very clear storyline going like a very

like clean narrative of like, Oh, like this lady, she's like a pariah. They're going to blame everything on her. And now we're just like, in the like part where like, we're just, there's just more and more weird, weirdness happening at this point. This, so this is a future scary game squad, but there is an episode of something coming up that we recorded where everything until a certain point was like, it's a mystery we're trying to solve. And then suddenly ghosts, like suddenly demons pulling people into portals. And Alex literally says like, this is not where I thought this was going to go. That's how this feels. Where it's like, all right, the witch. Nope. We are, it's demons now. Like, okay. That's why it has to be two parts, man. There's a little much history there that is like so

many, so many books written about this. You can go read so many. Again, if you want to read the ones I've read, The Bell Witch and American Haunting and The Bell Witch and Myth and Memory from Local Legend to International Folktale. Phenomenal reads. I think there's like a real cheapo movie of it too. Like a real- Oh yeah, no, there is a movie about it.

There's documentaries about it. You can read, I think it's American Haunting is the one you can get an audible for, like a audio book if you prefer to listen. But there, she's a historical figure. This all like a lot of this is documented on paperwork and all that shit. And yet it takes a direction where you're like, this is like, this can't be like what she thought like was going for. And that's where it goes in the poltergeist activity. You're like, what the fuck is going on? And then when you hear he dies, you're

like, wait, what? He didn't make any money. It ruined his life from the very beginning. Batrassi will pick that up. That's it for episode one. I don't want to keep going. You're like, wait, what? He didn't make any money. Ruin his life from the very beginning. Batrassi will pick that up. That's it for episode one. I don't want to keep going already. Now when happen anyway, so episode two will wrap this up next week as our introduction to spooky October month, where we talk about some really fun shit. Thank you guys so much for listening again. Save December 20th on your calendar, Chicago.

There will be a live show. Tickets are going to go on sale very, very soon. Save the date plan ahead. And Jesse said these things sell out every time so just every ready Just be ready to grab them when you can. Thank you guys so much. We appreciate you. We love you We're off to do a mini-sode. I'm so excited to go to Chicago. Dude, I've never been I've never been to Chicago I'm excited. Oh and in the winter you'll love it bud I'm from New England. So like winter keep bringing it on. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I can't wait. It's worse in Chicago Yeah, it's probably like the yeah, it's windy if Windy City and all that shit. All right, we're out of here We got a mini-show to go do where there's like some weird quantum breakthroughs

I can't wait to talk about and some cool shit. So thank you guys so much. We appreciate you. We love you. Goodbye Bye Babar man, the elephant HBO presents Babar. HBO Kids presents. outside she's looking up at the sky in awe. I look up too and there's a perfect line of dozen lights traveling across the sky. So Thanks for watching!