John Bell and the Bell Witch part 3 of 4 - compilation of tales written by 8th graders

In 2002, I conducted a 10-week Creative Writing & Research Class. Our primary focus was the Tennessee Bell Witch, the poltergeist who haunted the Bell family from 1817- 1821. This is a compilation of what my 8th-Grade students wrote about John Bell.

John Bell Murders A Young Doctor Named Nathan Briscoe

Adam – 8th-Grade Boy:

Later, I went back to the cabin and fatally hit a doctor, Nathan Briscoe, in the head with

my gun. This is the beginning of the haunting.

Dee – 8th-Grade Girl:

Then I heard a knocking. I hid behind the door with my gun still drawn. The man entered, asking if anyone was there. Then he saw the body of John Black. I didn’t want to kill him, but I couldn’t take the risk of him telling. So I hit him in the back of the head with the butt of the gun.

I had to move fast and get everything cleaned up. I ordered two of my slaves to dig one hole big enough for three people with the threat if they told, they would go in with John Black. The other man was Nathan Briscoe. We threw his body over his horse. I took his wallet and we directed his horse away from my farm.

My excuse for the missing John Black was that he skipped town for some unknown reason. My family and I decided to move to Adams, Tennessee. The good thing was that nobody ever suspected anything and nobody ever wondered why John Black left.

Tiffany – 8th-Grade Girl:

But then someone went into John Black’s cabin and saw him. His name was Nathan Briscoe. I found him in John’s cabin looking at him. I had my gun with me and I took the butt of my gun and killed him instantly.

Kevin – 8th-Grade Boy:

Nathan Briscoe came to John Black’s cabin. John Black had been planning to take him over to the Main House to ask John Bell to hire him as his family doctor. The two of them hoped that John Bell would take both of them with him when he moved to Tennessee the following spring. Nathan knocked on the door. No answer. He let himself inside. He saw the dead body of John Black and the three bullet holes. There was blood everywhere.

John Bell saw the open cabin door. He ran as fast as he could. He killed Nathan with the butt of his gun. He never told anybody about this.

John Bell And Family Move To Robertson County, Tennessee

Adam – 8th-Grade Boy:

In the spring of 1804, my family and I and some other people moved to Adams, Tennessee a few months after I killed John Black and Nathan Briscoe. Cate Batts and her husband and children and many other people from my part of North Carolina came with us.

The House Of John And Lucy Bell Is Haunted (1817-1821)

Adam – 8th-Grade Boy:

After we moved into our new house, strange things began to happen. There were some noises to start out with, but it got really, really worse. The children were slapped, scratched, bothered, and even got the covers pulled off of them at night. People around the state started coming to witness the workings of the ghost. The ghost was very smart too. You could ask it questions and it would answer them by banging on the walls in the form of one knock for yes, two for no. The ghost later on learned to talk. It caused great mischief and havoc to our family. You had to have been there to understand the grief it caused us.

Dee – 8th-Grade Girl:

Everything was going great until they started — the hauntings, I mean. I went through torture. Every member of my family did except for Lucy. Many terrible things happened to my family. Many people think that Cate was the reason for the hauntings, but I know different. The people I killed came back to haunt me. I truly regret killing John Black and Nathan Briscoe. I wish I could go back. Let the truth be known that I am a killer and am one reason my family suffered so much pain. I’m truly sorry!

Nick – 8th-Grade Boy:

John Bell’s Diary:                                                                                                      Oct. 12, 1817

I am becoming greatly annoyed by this spirit. It will not let us sleep. I have recently thought back to that time in 1803. I have a strong belief that the poltergeist may be John Black or Nathan ... whatever his last name is. It is now nearly midnight and the poltergeist is still pulling hair and slapping me as if with no end. I remember it started with simple knocking on the other part of our house. That is all tonight.

David – 8th-Grade Boy:

John Bell sat frozen in his chair. He looked around the room, over the faces of tonight’s gallery of guests. The whole room was as silent as death. Everyone was waiting, waiting for the ghost.

“Will my secret be revealed?” John Bell thought to himself. Each night he sat here worrying, worrying that his darkest secret would be revealed. Would the ghost tell of his murdering John Black and the young doctor, Nathan Briscoe?

A guest spoke, “It’s not going to show.”  Sighs and a chorus of disappointment spread through the room. John Bell breathed a relaxing breath. Maybe the ghost had finally left and he would be left in peace.

“I apologize,” John Bell spoke, “that the ghost you seek has not come.”  Suddenly, the window blew open with great force. The air was bitter cold even though the night was warm. Shocked cries and screams filled the room. Furniture rattled and window panes shook. The ghost had arrived.

Reverend Gunn stood. “In the name of the Lord, who are you spirit?”  John Bell shuddered. This was the part he feared the most.

The ghost’s voice filled the room. “Reverend Gunn, you have posed the question so earnestly, that I would be loath to lie.”  The ghost paused, “I am nothing else but Cate Batts’ witch. I am here to hurry the life out of Old Jack!”  Fear spread through the room.

“It’s happened!” John Bell thought. “My secret will be revealed and then the ghost will kill me!”

Melinda – 8th-Grade Girl:

John Bell’s Journal:                                                                                                   Dec. 16, 1820

Today it happened again. The hauntings still continue. The scratching and pulling of hair and other strange happenings only stop when God’s name is mentioned. I can only wonder when the truth will come out. I also wonder if these hauntings have anything to do with the two men I killed on October 5, 1803. If so, I hope I die before the truth is revealed. I am feeling weak from strep throat and muscular disorders. If I die, I hope my darling Lucy never finds out I killed John Black and Nathan Briscoe.

Austin – 8th-Grade Boy:

I, John Bell, always wondered if the people of Adams would ever find out it was me that killed them. I never found out it was John Black and Nathan. I was wondering who it was. I never found out for sure. I knew that it wasn’t Cate. I knew that the poltergeist was just covering up for their own actions. I never revealed my secret of knowing to no one. Besides, I guess I should have been haunted for what I did. I killed John Black for breaking one of the Ten Commandments, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”  I should have thought of the Commandment that states, “Thou shalt not kill!”  I guess I was wrong.

John – 8th-Grade Boy:

Today, the spirit was at it again. People from all over had come to listen to her talk about everything from religion to who she was. I didn’t know for sure, but I guessed it was John Black and Nathan Briscoe, the two guys I murdered years ago. I never spoke a word of this to anyone, not even the spirit, for fear it would tell everyone of my awful deed. Each time someone would ask the spirit who it was, it would always have a different answer. And each time it began to speak, my heart would freeze with fear. But each time it would give a new answer. Every time it did, I could almost feel its eyes staring me down and I would sweat for what seemed an eternity. I did feel a bit sad for the two men, but what had to be done, had been done.

Donajo – 8th-Grade Girl:

When I killed John Black, I felt a sensation that I wasn’t going to be alone for awhile. During the hauntings, I would pray that God wouldn’t let the spirits talk and confess who they were, because I had a feeling that it was my long lost “friends.”  Every time someone asked the spirit who it was, I held my breath. I still wonder if it is who I think it is. Each time it answers to a different name, I wonder why it hasn’t told and gotten me in trouble yet? What does it owe me? Nothing ... nothing at all.

... People think the spirit is a woman named Cate Batts. I don’t mind them thinking this; in fact, I love it. If they found out the truth, I wouldn’t be the nice guy I’m made out to be. But I must admit, I wish the truth would come out sometime because I’m tired of holding my breath.

Ashlyn – 8th-Grade Girl:

Dear Journal:                                                                                                             Nov. 7, 1818

It happened again today. I could feel the sweat running down my forehead to my eye brows. I was scared to death. It was going to tell on me. I knew it! “What would it say?” is all I had on my mind. I could feel the terror running through my body. “It is going to tell,” is what I thought every time someone asked it, “Who are you?”  What would it say, that I was the murderer of John Black and Nathan Briscoe? Would it say I did it?

Carly – 8th-Grade Girl:

This can’t be. Am I going crazy? Things scraping on the floor. My poor daughter Betsy being abused. Is God punishing me? No, it was 1803 when I took the lives of John Black and the doctor, nearly 14 years ago. This can’t be the ghost. It even said she was Cate. I wouldn’t be surprised. I knew she had something to do with this. She has been trying to get that land back from me. Ha! She’ll never get it back as long as I live. I have to be nice to her since she is my beloved wife’s niece. I love Lucy with all my heart and my children. Why is this ghost hurting my children? They haven’t done anything. But I am very grateful that this spirit has not harmed my lovely Lucy. My family and I have hardly slept a wink since that late fall night in 1817. It started in my children’s bedroom — that awful racket that thing makes. I thought it might have been an animal, but it started to talk in the spring of 1818. The spirit told us countless stories of buried gold, lost teeth, a child dying before its time, and other exaggerated stories. When will my family and I get peace? What does this spirit want with my family?

Jennifer – 8th-Grade Girl:

Journal:                                                                                                                       March 8, 1818

I’m so scared. The hauntings have gotten worse. My poor Betsy and other children are suffering so badly. Betsy can’t even be courted by Joshua Gardner. The spirit asks her not to marry him for he will be a bad husband or a slave driver, as the spirit says. Betsy always replies, “You can’t tell me who to marry.”  That follows with a slap in the face or hair pulling or pinching or needles being stuck in her poor darling body.

I often wonder who the spirit really is. She lied before about being a child who died before its time or guarding a buried treasure or a body whose grave was disturbed. Why should I believe this is Cate Batts’ witch? Cate has so many other problems with her kids and her husband being ill and people discriminating her. My wife Lucy is in a dreadful state. She is worried about the children. I love her so dearly!

I really do wonder who the spirit really is. What if I knew this spirit before it died? Hmmm ... What if the ghosts of John Black and Nathan Briscoe have come to claim my head? Oh, but it couldn’t, ... they wouldn’t just start coming out now. Would they? Dear Lord. Help me! Please let it not be true. Shame on me for what I have done. All of this is all my fault. My wife and kids in terror all the time. Shame on me! Shame on me! Maybe it’s not them. Maybe it’s nothing but a ghost that was here before we moved.

Well, I’m going to go to bed. I’m dreadfully tired!                                       John