Posted on 08/04/2019 10:52:36 AM PDT by robowombat
another interesting historical haunting- the Bell Witch Farm- Which president Andrew Jackson even went and investigated himself- and left spooked- from an article:
“Farmer John Bell and his family moved to Red River, Tennessee (now named Adams, Tennessee), back in the 1800s. Bell made a living as a farmer and rose to become a respected local leader of the town church. He and his daughter Betsy were said to be tormented by a malicious entity called The Bell Witch.
The Hauntings
Legend has it that the Bell Witch began to haunt the Bell family around 1817. One day while John was inspecting his massive cornfields, he encountered a strange-looking animal. The creature had the body of a dog and a head of a rabbit. Stunned by the sight, he proceeded to shoot it several times, but it later vanished.
John thought nothing of the encounter until nightfall came. The family was tormented by strange beating sounds and a faint chorus of women chanting resonated through the house. As time went on, Betsy became a target of the Bell Witch, and she often suffered physical and emotional torment at the hands of this supernatural entity.
The Bell Witch eventually got the upper hand when it claimed the life of John Bell. It was later reported that the witch’s laugh was heard all throughout John’s funeral.
Many consider the legend to be one of the most notable in Southern folklore. But a lot of people have argued that the terror was all real. Even former president Andrew Jackson was intrigued by the rumors and decided to go and investigate himself. Jackson happened to know the family well, having fought alongside Bell’s sons during the Battle of New Orleans.”
https://www.wowamazing.com/trending/spooky/chilling-haunted-house-legends/
Did they eat ergot infected bread? Could have been a bad case of St. Anthony’s Fire, ergotism.
Interesting.
Interesting.
[[Adding to the list is a man who asked the time of day and then drank himself to death at a bar, another who killed himself at the same bar by eating cigar butts, and another who ordered a drink and then blew his head off. On top of this countless people were being hauled off to insane asylums and it was as if everyone had just suddenly and completely gone stark raving mad.]]
We shouldn’t forget that drugs were very easy to get back then- and not regulated- and a lot of the seedier crowds back then used them a lot- so a lot of the bizarre acts could have been attributed to drug addiction
There could have also been geological or chemical events that caused madness- or maybe even culinary- who knows- could have been demonic too- not discounting that- but there may be perfectly natural reasons too- Hard to tell- but it did seem people were gravitation to demonic rituals at that particular time- likely due to a concerted effort to spread it there- and back then, people were pretty superstitious=- and likely would turn to that for ‘protection’- The Salem witch trials were based on superstition and fear too-
Is Black River Falls near Plainfield... where Ed Hein lived? Wondering if there was a connection.
that’s kinda what i was thinking, along those lines- tainted food- bad storage practices- perhaps drinking out of contaminated water sources- seems weird that surrounding towns didn’t have the problem at that time too- sounds like it was localized- and could well have been due to something contaminated-
Here I was thinking democrat mayor.....
Make that Ed Gein... auto- correct is a pain.
That was my thought also. Lead poisoning from the water supply.
The ‘Ghost Hunters” that used to be on TV- the group from Massachusetts, not the movie lol- I believe went out there to the bell witch house- and didn’t find anything spectacular- of course they hyped it up to keep viewers interested- but nothing astounding came from the investigation- I can’t recall if it was them now or not- but i did remember whoever it was talking about president Jackson investigating it himself- so looked it up- and yup- he really did-it was considered them ost haunted house in America-
Sounds like a normal day police blotter in Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, etc. Wonder if Black River Falls was run by democrats?
[[The wrath of nature and paranoia about supernatural forces, ...sudden joblessness ... the added horror of the great financial depression gripping the nation ...
all conspired to create a bleak and volatile environment that would become a breeding ground for the terror and grotesqueries to come. ]]
Very unfortunate set of circumstances likely lead to people’s fears and dementia-like thinking- it was likely a very very tough time that tried the souls of man back then- looks like they were starving at times then- jobless- desperate- all physiologically devastating no doubt- financially and physically desperate people do desperate things many times- looks like it was a ‘perfect storm’ likely enhanced by some contaminant at the time-
I can’t even imagine what it musta been like to live there during that time- musta been pretty horrible-
“Is Black River Falls near Plainfield... where Ed Hein lived? Wondering if there was a connection.”
It was Ed Gein. From my experiences in small Wisconsin towns, my feeling is most of them are SQUIRRELY as hell-especially the further north you go.
Kind of sounds like a medicine show passed through there selling tainted potions, Not an uncommon event in those times.
I remember reading a book for a class when I was in high school. It must have been titled “St. Anthony’s Fire,” but I’m not sure.
The book told the story of a town in France where something similar happened.
People started acting crazy and going crazy.
One guy was running around town naked. He was caught and was tied down with leather straps. The man chewed thru the leather straps and escaped, continuing to run around town.
The cause was believed to be a local mill....the kind of mill that turns wheat into flour. The wheat at the bottom of the pile had a fungus growing on it that had properties similar to present-day LSD. When this fungus-infested wheat was milled, the flour was made into bread and people “tripped out” after eating the bread.
I wonder if this was what happened in Black River Falls, Wisconsin, although the situation there in Wisconsin was far worse than what happened to the town in France.
I have wondered for years if a similar situation happened in and around Salem, Massachusetts in the late 17th century, leading to the infamous witchcraft trials.
PING
” another woman who would go around and break as many windows as she could.”
Ernestine T. Bass. Grandmother of the Mayberry terror.
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