The Blair Witch- Fact or Fiction?

If you've ever seen "The Blair Witch Project", you know that it's purely fiction. Three high school students going into the woods to find a ghost? Not very likely. The fact that they're never found, but their film is made into a documentary? Even less likely. Before the release of the film in theatres, the Sci-Fi channel aired a mockumentary, "The Curse of the Bell Witch". So it turns out, the Blair Witch isn't all fiction. It's based on an actual ghost: The Bell Witch.

The Bell Witch is rumored to have haunted the Bell family in Adams, TN starting in 1817. She supposedly has the voice and attributes of a woman, and though she was never actually seen, she would shake hands and hold conversations with certain people. She was your typical ghost; she did things that were designed to annoy the Bell family. She’d spill milk, empty sugar bowls, remove quilts from the beds and even slap and pinch the Bell children. The pranks and tricks she would perform seemed innocent at first, but soon became more serious.

The Bell Witch is believed by some to be Kate Batts, John Bell’s neighbor when they moved to their plot of land. She claimed he had cheated her out of land, and once on her deathbed, promised to be back to haunt John Bell and his descendants. Tradition says that for years, Kate did haunt the Bell family. She was quite pleasant to Mrs. Bell, but seemed to hate John, and his favorite daughter, Betsey. While she was always kind and polite to Mrs. Bell, it was said that she would throw dishes and furniture at John and Betsey, poked needles into them, pulled their noses and yelled at night to keep them awake. Every visitor the Bells had, Kate was sure to make an appearance.

Kate haunted the Bell house for years, until the death of John. Apparently, John was got sick walking to the pig pen on his farm. Because of his difficulty speaking and swallowing after, some people think he may have had a stroke. After several weeks of being sick, his health eventually deteriorated. One December morning, he never woke up at his normal time, and so his family tried to wake him. He appeared to be in a stupor, and no one was able to wake him up. John Bell Jr. went to the medicine cabinet, only to find that his medicine was replaced with a vial. They called for the doctor, and Kate began calling out to the family that she had replaced his medicine earlier, and given him a dose of the liquid sometime during the night. The liquid in the vial was later tested on a cat and found highly poisonous. Kate left the family alone until the day of John Bell Sr.’s funeral. After John was buried, she sang loudly, obviously happy that John was gone. She left the family alone in 1821, and promised to be back in seven years.

She did return to the house seven years later to haunt John Bell Jr. where it is said she predicted future events, such as the Civil War and both World Wars. She left that same year, claiming she would be back in 107 years (1935), though no one claimed she had returned.