When Grace asked for suggestions on where to go for our spooky tour that would be accessible by car from Cincinnati, my response was an eager “Bell Witch Cave!”. This was a big one for me, I’ve been obsessed with the Bell Witch since I was in my twenties and first heard of ‘her”.

How to sum up in a short paragraph all that the Bell Witch is? She’s an entity, or perhaps many entities that haunted and tormented the Bell family from 1817-1821, yanking off covers, pinching, slapping, and pulling the family members hair, appearing as deformed animals, singing bawdy songs and the occasional hymn, yanking off shoes, and delivering gifts from mid-air when the mom was ill. She is arguably the most documented and witnessed spirit, with people coming from miles around to hang out at the Bell’s house to hear the Witch talk and sing. Legend has it that Andrew Jackson came to the farm to see the Witch, and wasn’t disappointed.

The most striking part of the legend is that the Bell Witch is the only entity to have allegedly killed a human, when she poisoned John Bell Sr. with a liquid from a little black vial. She hated John, (she called him Old Jack) and sang bawdy drinking songs at his funeral. She had such great style.

I have wanted to see the area around the farm all these years. The cave wasn’t mentioned in the books I read back in the day, the focus was on the farm, since that’s where the Bell Witch mostly hung out. Since Walter and Chris Kirby bought the farm (not like Old Jack, they bought a portion of the Bell land), they have focused on giving tours of the cave, and there have been a lot of investigations of the cave, including our favorite fellows, the Ghost Adventures crew. The Kirby’s co-authored a book-Bell Witch: The Truth Exposed  with a ghost writer (teehee) in 2015, and the book leaned toward the cave  being the source of the original haunting. I figured out later why it is important to the Kirby’s to focus on the cave.

I researched how to visit the Bell Witch area and what to expect, and I’m glad I was forewarned about a few things. The reviews said that Walter was kind of a jerk, and that the cabin tour was kind of lame. The cave was wet and had a narrow passage in one section. The hours were not always as posted on the website or even their signage. So, I had managed my expectations in advance. Despite my trepidation, when I spotted the sign for the town of Adams, complete with broom-flying witch, I got giddy.  (terrible internet screen cap above. Giddiness does not improve camera reflexes)

We arrived in Adams around noon, bought our tickets, and waited on the porch of the gift/ticket shop. The merchandise selection was uninspired, some inexpensive Victorian style dolls with scary paint on their faces, and unisex t-shirts, and a few doodads like rubber bracelets. I was relieved that Walter had taken the day off, instead, we were rung up by a capable eight year old girl. There was a sign stating the rules, which were pretty standard, no smoking, no eating or drinking except by the snack bar, no alcohol, and… no profanity. Well, if my shoes got suddenly yanked off or I was pinched or slapped by a spirit, you can bet that rule was going out the window. The Bell Witch herself was a profanity proficient, and I doubt she would have approved of rules in general.

There was a female employee sitting on the picnic table on the porch of the gift shop. She held a walkie-talkie, and was extolling the virtues of hunting and how delicious deer meat is and all the ways one can kill and prepare it to two bored young men who appeared to be from New Jersey. They nodded occasionally to her as they periodically checked their social media on their phones. The eight year old cashier came out and abruptly slapped her in the face, which didn’t slow her dialogue, but made for some comic relief. I kind of thought I made that happen with my mind. After moving on in topic to wild turkey (not the whiskey, which I felt could have helped us out at that point, if only it were allowed) she finally communicated to a disembodied voice on her walkie that she was sending a group over to the cabin. Our cabin guide (a young lady more long-suffering than enthusiastic) gave us some info before we went in. We could only take pictures from outside the fence, no photography was allowed inside the house, no recordings inside, the house was a replacement from the same era as the Bell house moved from somewhere else. The original house site and cemetery were a half mile away from this site. What? I knew the house was a replica, but assumed it was at least on the site. I raised my hand- “Is there a way to see the original site and graveyard?”. No, people aren’t allowed on that part of the land because they vandalize and it’s all overgrown back there, nothing to see. My exuberance cooled a degree, but, still, we were near where the Bell Witch had her reign of terror.

The cabin tour consisted of a recording of what we were told was one of the Bell sons, Williams, an eyewitness, re-telling some of his experiences as an old man. Of course it was a voice actor, and they made TBW’s voice like a stereotypical witch one might hear on the Disney haunted house record, but I was grateful they had the recording done professionally and that TBW wasn’t voiced by, say, Deer Meat Lady.

We went upstairs and looked at the children’s bedrooms, which had a few mannequins dressed in period style clothing. Then to the downstairs master bedroom, which had a mannequin of Old Jack in the bed, presumably gasping his last. Still not sure what the harm would be of being allowed to take a few snaps, except that if we posted the photos on that newfangled internets, it might discourage people from paying to gaze at the mannequins in person.

After the cabin tour, we were directed to shuffle down a hill to a path that sloped down by a river that led to the cave.  The walk was shady and quite lovely. Chris, the lady owner and author awaited us at the entrance to the cave. She was approachable and friendly, had her spiel down, and seemed to have a real interest in her topic. After a brief introduction, we filed into the cave.There’s a little creek that does run into it, but it was totally manageable to walk if one was careful. Chris did her spiel in the main room of the cave, lots of references to the Native American history of the cave, and opined that the spirits that tormented the Bells might have originated in the cave because of the “sacrifices” or “rituals” the Native Americans might have performed there. Eh, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I’m not down with that theory, since there is no proof that these rituals or sacrifices occurred. Chris also summarily rejects the theory proffered in An American Haunting, that John Bell might have been molesting his daughter, which caused the poltergeist activity. There is way more evidence of other cases where a disturbed teenager caused poltergeist activity than of Native Americans causing that kind of supernatural problems. Also, the activity occurred when Betsy Bell was twelve, which was the same age Lucy Bell was when John Sr. married her (he was in his thirties).  But I digress.

Not being fond of narrow cave passages, we waited until the rest of the twenty or so other tourists went through the low, twisty passage to the back room. There was more geological history told to us in there, and a formation on the ceiling that is vaguely witch-like was duly pointed out. Chris stated at one point in the tour that she finally got the one person to visit the cave that she always wanted to get in there. We perked up, certain she was about to name drop Zak Bagans. After a dramatic pause, she revealed that her dream guest was a geologist, so she could learn more about the cave itself. There’s no accounting for taste.

She also mentioned that John and Lucy Bell’s children tore down the original farm house after John’s death because they were tired of having the family associated with the Witch and wanted to discourage the Witch-curious from showing up uninvited. She also disclosed that the Bell family descendants still owned the land where the family burial ground is and the plot where the house stood. So, that’s why the focus is on the cave so much. Because they own the cave, but don’t own the burial ground and house site, they want to promote the cave. It is pretty interesting just by virtue of its caviness, and the Kirbys are taking advantage of TBW legend and connecting it to the cave to make a few bucks. They do an OK job at it, I’ve paid more to do cheesier tours. More power to them.

As the tour concluded and we walked to where Jasper was parked, we fantasized aloud about what we would do if we owned that piece of land. Better tour guides, profanity encouraged, only vegetarian porch workers, lady-cut t-shirts in the gift shop. We would move heaven and earth to obtain the old farmhouse site and graveyard, and shuttle guests out there on a tram to respectfully observe those sites.

Still, I left satisfied just to have been in proximity to where all the Witch action took place. We stopped and took some bucket list snaps of me embracing the historical marker

(yaal know I love a historical marker). We also noticed they have a festival and play dedicated to TBW. I bet she would love the publicity.Because what else can you do in Adams? I guess you could always make some deer chili and go spelunking…

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