Chilluminati Podcast - Episode 270 - The Bell Witch Haunting Part 3 - The End of Ol' Jack

Episode Date: October 20, 2024

It's the end of the Bell Witch Haunting, but not before Mike tells Alex and Jesse about Black Dog and the crew. Get Chilluminati Live Tickets Here! - https://lh-st.com/shows/12-20-2024-cox-n-crendor-chilluminati/ Special thanks to our sponsors this episode - MERCH - http://www.theyetee.com/collections/chilluminati ZocDoc - http://www.zocdoc.com/chill PDSDebt - http://www.pdsdebt.com/chill 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

Landlord telling you to just put on another sweater when your apartment is below 21 degrees? Are they suggesting you can just put a bucket under a leak in your ceiling? That's not good enough. Your Toronto apartment should be safe and well maintained. If it isn't and your landlord isn't responding to maintenance requests, Rent Safe TO can help. Learn more at toronto.ca slash rentsafeTO. Hello everybody and welcome back to the Chiluminati Podcast, episode 270 as always. I'm one of your hosts Mike Martin joined today by the Jack and Diane of LA.

Little Diddy. Jesse. Didn't you do that already? Haven't we already Jack and Diane? I don't know. Have we Jack and Diane? You've been Jacks. Jack has been brought up before. I just don't know if it's this Jack or another Jack. I'm gonna say we have it feels familiar Jack and Jill

I've done Jack and Jill. Maybe it was Jack and diet possibly No, that never happened. Although Jack and diet would have been good here About Jack and diet It's a coke, but it doesn't have as much sugar as regular Coke. Welcome back to the fucking Sugar Man podcast. Oh, God. And you can find that comedy in Chicago on December 20th. That's true. I hope you find a little bit better comedy than that in Chicago. Well, I know they were selling fast, but yeah, if you guys haven't heard, we are doing a live show at the Lincoln Hall in Chicago on December 20th.

It'll be a double feature, starting with a Cox and Cran door, followed by a Chaluma Nadi. The tickets are on sale now. Link will be, wherever you're listening, there should be a link in the description. You can find it on Twitter, find it on Instagram. We try to post it everywhere. They literally always sell out, so don't wait.

Yeah, this is gonna, it's gonna sell out quick. I would be surprised if we have tickets by early to mid-November. We'll see. Don't wait! Don't wait, go get them. Yeah, I got that. What else do we have, Alex? I don't know how to segue for you from here.

Little diddy about patreon.com Slash the pod. It's where you should go They don't serve regular coke there They just serve the coke with no sugar and I'm not talking about coke zero either. We're talking about straight-up old-style diet coke So go go there Coke Zero either. We're talking about straight up old style diet Coke. So go go there. That pause felt longer than it probably actually was.

That dead air. It was just like, I just, I just needed it to land. We needed to just get a little reset. You know, like when you're doing a combo and you need to do a reset. Yeah, that's kind of what happened right there. You got to let it sometimes you can't link the two moves. You just gotta You just got to do a reset. Mm-hmm patreon.com slash humanity pod dot is dot org dot DVD Dot pizza. Are you good? Are we coming? Are we good? You mean like am I still yeah, can I move on you mean like is my shill done for this fine website that we have? Yes, is it is it finished? Yeah, I mean sure excellent as long as they know that they can go to that website and get all sorts

of great freebies like no, I'm just kidding All right, then away from the shilling and onto the entertainment boys It is time for the final part of the bellwitch haunting saga that has been taking us through October spooky month here What does this mean for us? What do you mean? What does this mean for well? I mean You're saying to me that This is the end this is the last part What is that what is the last because This is the last part. What is that? What is the last? Because we've talked about the origin. We talked about hauntings. And we and and now what are we doing? We will spill into the rest of the haunting that leads to the

death of John Bell, which is where the story comes to an end. We have new characters to introduce this episode. There's a whole lot more to keep going. You're going to be very surprised how much more there is. But to give you a reminder as to where we left off last week, I think we left off with that skeptic who came in, who attempted to disprove it, who apparently got beat up in his room and then left the next morning when the witch told

him to sit in his chair and don't move until the sun comes up or if she's going to beat him again. And we also learned that young Betsy Bell was being courted by a Joshua Gardner who was the 18 year old which is closest to her age as well as the 31 year old Richard Powell who was also her teacher in school that Lucy Bell which was Betsy Bell's mother wanted to have him court her daughter. You remember that part? Which again, like how weird is that? It's exceptionally weird and uncomfortable by modern standards.

Sure. It feels weird now, but 1818 is like when this little conversation supposedly happened with the mother and husband pipeline. Very common. The teacher doesn't sound great. Doesn't roll off the tongue. I mean, did I say this that there? I don't know if I said this on air, but in my high school, I had an English teacher and he had a very younger wife, a much younger wife, and it came to learn. And the school sort of celebrated it kind of often

that she was his student in English while he was teaching English still in the same high school in the same place and he met her when she was like in 10th or 11th grade and then they got married I just she turned look I don't know what it is about English teachers but I also have an English teacher story or my favorite English teacher who during my senior high school was like the guy that got me into so much literature and Like writing like just a I honestly was like what a great guy like so down to earth Like one of the nicest guys the year after he left he ran away with an 11th grader to like Mexico My school being Catholic just kind of celebrated it for whatever reason.

It was like this guy fled the country. I was about to be like, you know, it's crazy is I was about to be like, what is going on in your schools? But then you know what? I realized is that I know two people. This is their this is their exact story of how they met. Oh, man. It's just I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. It just reminded me. Betsy Bell, the English teacher. Well, it's been 1818. He's 31. I want to be clear that my friends that I know with this situation did not occur while they were students at the school. Correct.

Which is happening in this story, which is a little different. Yeah. So just to remind you where we never change but luckily some things do i don't it is again it is by modern standards absolutely insane that someone as old as him would it be like yeah this 13 year old's fine um but I mean, for most of human history, like everyone 30 was like that dude's dead in 10 years. The fact that he's still alive is crazy. Yeah, we call him Gramps in the gang.

Yeah, in the gang. So right around this time, we're at 1818, 1819. When this relationship with Joshua and Betsy is starting to actually progress, the bell witch herself can't help but begin to insert herself into the relationship angle of this family. She's in there like causing drama. She's the Maury povich of this entire. The bell witch began to make it known that she was displeased with her

relationship with young Joshua. She did not like that Betsy and Joshua were mingling. Wait, why? We'll get I mean, we'll get to it, but that'll be up to you. You have to kind of figure that out on your own. Okay, there's no real clear answer as to why she decided like this spirit got involved in the relationship. There's theories, but we'll talk about it when we get to the end of the story here.

So yeah, Betsy and Joshua were frequently spending a lot more time together on the Bell Farm, walking the property, sitting over by Red River, and it was during these quiet moments, supposedly, that the entity's presence would become especially strong. When Betsy and Joshua were together in one instance, they would often hear, she said they would often hear strange noises, sometimes something simple like whispers or knocking sounds, or other times eerie laughter. And while initially unsettling, they just tried

to ignore these events and enjoy their time together. However, the entity's actions slowly began to escalate, especially as their relationship became more serious. And it's here I'll let you know that Betsy and Joshua courted each other for about two years. They essentially dated for two years. So from like ages 12, 13 to 15 for her. And he would be in like, he'd be 20 around that time.

As they escalated, the Bell Witch's physical attacks on Betsy also intensified during her courtship with Joshua. The entity would continue slapping her, pulling her hair, pinching her whenever, whenever the two were together, as if trying to prevent the relationship from progressing or just interrupting. OK, so so just in. So it wasn't like, get off my man. It was like it was like just any time they were near each other.

Actually, when he would stop dating him, like, yeah, just like slapping her, pulling her hair, just like an old sugar mouth like like, stop dating him. Yeah, just like slapping her, pulling her hair. She's calling the other guy fucking old sugar mouth. Like, you know what I mean? Like I feel like she's got opinions. Yeah, the Reverend. Yeah. Yeah, James Gunn. Remember, don't forget about Reverend James Gunn. And on several occasions, Betsy would suddenly cry out in pain

only to find red welts or handprints on her skin where the invisible force had struck her. Like, yeah, so like the ghost was just heavily inserting herself into this. And then the bellwitch didn't just attack Betsy physically, it also began to verbally taunt her whenever she was with Joshua as well. The disembodied voice would insult the young couple, calling Betsy names and telling her that her engagement to Joshua was doomed from the start. It would say things like, quote, you'll never marry him. Betsy. He's not the one for you.

That's just how she knows. It's the quote. Okay. So she's in love with Betsy is what it is, but she was. So what you learn is she wants Betsy to date Richard Powell. Oh, now I don't like it. Now I don't like it. Now it feels like Richard Powell is the hoaxer. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, maybe. Yeah, like the Bellwitch's opposition to the marriage became even more explicit when it began to tell Betsy directly that she must not marry Joshua Gardner.

The entity made it clear that it disapproved of the union and that if Betsy proceeded with any engagement, there would be dire consequences. At one point, the spirit reportedly said, break it off, Betsy. You are not meant to be with Joshua. Break it up, Betsy. Break it up, Betsy.

That sounds like something from a Seinfeld episode like George, like break it off, Betsy. It does not sound like. I don't understand. I don't understand what the like what this is like. Like, am I just sitting at my kitchen table, like chilling out, eating like fucking my toast and having coffee? And then all of a sudden it's like I'm about to take a bite and it's like, bring it off, Betsy. And I'm like, oh, fuck. Or is it like it would happen when the when the two of them were together, it would happen the most.

So like when they're sitting by the river holding hands and then getting slapped occasionally. And a voice just comes from nowhere. You're not, yeah, be like, break it off, Betsy. You're not meant to be with them. And it would repeat that command pretty frequently when the two of them were together, just constantly interrupting and being like,

break it off, Betsy, you're not meant to be with Joshua. Constantly. But it was not just Betsy that the ghost was bothering, or Joshua as well. Richard Powell was also being visited by the spirit for the same reason. There's one particular incident that I wanna highlight that I find hilarious.

While the Bell Witch primarily focuses attention on Betsy Bell and John Bell and even Joshua Gardner, there's this lesser known account that's only in one of the books from involving Richard Powell himself. The story goes that while Powell was walking near the Bell property one day, he felt a sudden and unexplained slap to his jaw

as though he had been struck by an unseen hand. And according to the account, Powell was walking alone when this hit him, there was nobody with him. And when he looked account, Powell was walking alone when he when this hit him. There was nobody with him. And when he looked around, saw nobody around, he imagined that it was the witch who was responsible for this blow. Now, there were then imagined it was the way she met then on as he continued to walk. The ghost, this witch spoke out and they had a bit of a back and forth. Who wants to be the ghost? Jesse's the ghost. Alex had a good, oh, show him.

Alex had like a sugar mouth kind of voice. I'll be the guy. I assume G is ghost. Yeah, G ghost, G ghost, R Richard. Go for it, you got this. Yeah, G is for ghost. Nice, solid notes. Lowercase G.

Here's the count out. So Joshua just, rather, Richard just got slapped in the jaw and then this back and forth happens. All right. Betsy and Joshua will soon announce their engagement. You must act now before it happens. Why should I do that? Because you love Betsy Bell. If I were to step in and press my suit, would I succeed with Betsy? Most assuredly. What proof can you offer me? I offer you nothing except the promise that I will not beat you into a simpleton. And that's that's a threat.

All right. I'm not sure what that I will not beat you into a simpleton. That's a pretty brutal. But I don't I don't know that I've ever not beat you into a simpleton. That's uh... pretty brutal. But I don't know that I've ever heard a story of a ghost that was like, If you don't do what I say, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you. Like I've never heard that ghost story before. That's what it was like last episode. It was always just threats of violence to the preacher, as well as mocking the fuck out of it and then beating the shit out of Betsy.

Now when it comes to like why... And this this is Richard Powell told this story to people, according to an account, yes. You got to keep in mind, I'm conglomerating multiple different accounts here into like one cohesive story as best I can. It is a game of it's a decades a game of telephone that became folklore. So, you know, this is only one account. But yes, supposedly this is how it went down. And then he said, okay, I guess.

Like, I don't know, like, there was, that's just how the account ended. He was just scared for his own safety. And so he decided he had to pursue her as his wife. He also did have some feelings for Betsy. It wasn't done at a pure survival. He did like Betsy. Thank you so much to today's sponsor, ZocDoc. And listen, some things in life at a pure survival. He did like Betsy.

Thank you so much to today's sponsor, ZocDoc. And listen, some things in life that are okay to be total crap shoots are like things like buying a new type of milk for your coffee or a cheap Instagram ad impulse buy, but hey, you know, I try to avoid those myself. Or just like rolling the dice on a new workout class for those of you who ever leave your house, unlike me. But the one thing that shouldn't be a total crap shoot

is finding the right doctor. And with ZocDoc, it's not because you've got more options than you know, but because you will have access to all the right specialists or the right doctors that you need for your particular health desires, health needs, desires, you know, your desires, your desires for your health should be the needs for your health Listen both of the words work

Okay Zoc doc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in-network doctors choose the right one for your Needs and click to instantly book an appointment We're talking about in-network appointments with more than 100,000 health care providers across every specialty from mental health to dental health Eye care to skincare and much much more You can filter for doctors who take your insurance, who are located nearby, who are a good fit for any medical need you may have and who are highly rated by verified patients. Plus, ZocDoc appointments happen fast typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking. You can even score

same-day appointments. I have used ZocDoc myself and something I think you should check out too, especially for somebody who doesn't like to make phone calls. So stop putting off those doctor appointments and go to ZocDoc.com slash chill to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash chill. ZocDoc.com slash chill. When we're talking about like why it was inserting itself into like the relationship, there's really no good fucking real reason. The only kind of theories you want to go into the paranormal world as to why it would happen is because again, poltergeist kind of feed off the energy, the confusion, the chaos.

And so just making things more chaotic and destabilized for Betsy and the family would just be a way for it to continue to like say itself on however it's supposed to be manifesting itself in this world. I'd there's no real answer. It just did get involved for some reason now, obviously, there's the hoax theories of like maybe this is just a way for them to have like get him her away from Joshua.

But again, there's a lot of weird haunting stuff that doesn't really it's really hard to like disprove or prove in any way. Regardless, whatever the reason, the ghost had firmly planted itself within the family as it continues to slowly destabilize them in this time. And remember, during all of these weird interactions, she was still being slapped, dragged, lifted, throws shoes thrown, you know, the usual shit that was still happening to her. People were witnessing this happening. Their house has become a tourist attraction.

People were coming in from all areas of the country to come spend time there. So if it was a hoax, it was pretty well-considered. Very similar to Jeff the Mongoose, remember? That's the similarities that we have here. Yes, the ghost was so intertwined with the family at this point that during one family picnic at the Bell's home after a few hours of the gathering with the family and friends there Joshua who had been courting Betsy at this point for

about two years had been nervously planning here at the picnic to announce his intention to marry Betsy Bell. He was about to let everybody know. And this is the more age appropriate boy. The ghost, however, was having none of it. And before he even did anything, the ghost supposedly spoke to him saying, even if he wanted to marry her

and run away from all of this, they would all be a waste of time. The ghost was eternal and it would follow Betsy to the ends of the earth no matter where he went. And then apparently the ghost then spoke to Betsy saying please don't marry in Betsy Bell. Don't marry Joshua Gardner. And as the ghost but as the ghost fully in this stop that he did not announce his intention to marry that was enough to like stop

that from happening. And as the ghost fully entwined, he witnessed it and was like, I better not. Joshua Gardner was like, hell no. He didn't announce his intention to marry her at the picnic, he didn't do it. But as the ghost fully entwined to their romance life, it seemed the physical abuse finally had started to lessen off of Betsy Bell.

It became more of an emotional, like vocal presence than a physical one. But that wasn't to say that it hadn't left, the physical abuse had left entirely. It merely moved over to a different Bell, John Bell himself. Now remember, at this time, John Bell began to suffer from some sort of illness. He had been good health prior, before the onset of his illness, At this time, John Bell began to suffer from some sort of illness.

He had been good health prior before the onset of his illness, but this all suddenly changed when he would have episodes of his swelling tongue, his aching jaw, and the slight twitching of his facial muscles, and other things that made it difficult to swallow during these episodes. And they would only last for a few minutes,

usually in the beginning. Enough for him to be able to hide and move on and they would only last for a few minutes usually in the beginning. Enough for him to be able to hide it and move on and not really worry about it. But as time went on moving in from 1817 now to 1819 not only was it impossible for him to hide it, the town was starting to know that he was getting sick as well because these episodes went from being a couple of minutes to somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes long with his twitching face. His throat would feel tight. He'd have a hard time breathing. His tongue would swell and he wouldn't be able

to speak clearly. And these would last for 20 to 40 minutes before eventually it would have subside. Now, obviously local doctors were consulted, but they were also completely baffled by the illness, but also keep in mind. It's 1819 doctors So God knows what they could even fucking have done at this point It's 1819 doctors

You know the fever out of his blood, you know That kind of shit was like still going on in all that while this is happening. The ghost has also begun punching slapping pushing John to the ground and not letting him get up as he attempts to, taunting him. The violent actions had very much almost entirely moved over from Betsy to John. He would continue hearing the knocking, the scratching and the strange voices.

And it wouldn't be long before the Bell family began to connect John's mysterious illness to the supernatural disturbances and saying that it was the ghost that was causing John to be ill. But it's also important to remember that around this time as well, John is about 71 years old. Right. He's not going to be fine. He's not going to be fine. And this illness, even if this haunting was going on,

this illness in my mind was not tied to that. It was very much he's getting sick with something. They don't understand. It's like fucking him up. I am and there's the with the hauntings being such a tourist attraction tying it to it was the easiest way. I think for them to just explain something that doctors could not explain.

As John's illness progressed, so did the physical attacks. These weren't just random, the entity seemed to delight in targeting John when he was already at his weakest. The spirit would slap him across the face, push him to the ground while he struggled to walk around the house. The family would often hear John cry out in pain, only to find him on the floor bruised and confused with no visible attacker. The Bell Witch's voice also became

a constant presence around John. The voice was incredibly intelligent, seemed to know intimate details about his life as it always did, and had a new nickname for John now. The witch now called him Old Jack. That's it, Old Jack. Old Jack, your time's coming soon, it would see, the witch would say,

would also say, quote, you won't survive much longer, John Bell. I'll see to that. Not even like Long John or Johnny Boy. No, Jack. Little J. Jack, old Jack. That's it. That's all it is. And when he would have his moments of like swelling, he said they would that she would say, quote, you'll never speak another clear word before I'm done with you

So just got very so could could have you speak even though he couldn't speak Yep, so there so so there's no way that John Bell could be the Bellwitch. No, I don't think so No, this is a just an old farmer at this point like his swelling tongue We would make it impossible for him to speak he could barely breathe This is just an old farmer at this point. Like his swelling tongue, it would make it impossible for him to speak, he could barely breathe, but these things were still being said, you know, while it was happening.

And by 1819, and by 1819, John Bell's condition had worsened dramatically. He was often bedridden for most days, unable to speak without great difficulty due to the swelling in his throat and his tongue. His once strong presence around the house as the head of the household was slowly disappearing, leaving his family and farm in disarray.

And his weakness and dizziness became so severe that he could no longer tend to his daily responsibilities on the farm and he withdrew from the community, which is how the community just kind of knew he was really sick and they would come by and do their best to help. But because he got so sick, that drew back home some of his children.

The Bell brothers in particular, John Bell Jr., Drew Rebell, and Jesse Bell, were all either living away from the Bell farm or traveling during some parts of the haunting. However, they often came back to check on things, but as his health declined, they all came back for a much longer stint with the family. Upon their return to the farm, the Bell brothers were immediately struck by the supernatural atmosphere that enveloped the home.

They reportedly experienced the same kinds of noises, disembodied voices, scratching chains that the rest of the family had endured. However, for them, the experience is more confrontational as the Bell Witch seemed to mock their return and challenge their attempts to protect the family as she did. She like this. This goes like so like a red bank. Yeah, she did. Revelled and being an absolute asshole. It's just a total shitty ghost shitty person of a ghost.

Yeah, there were does it got when they get home. There was reports of whispers that were followed by it Like ice cold wind that followed the brothers around that they considered unnaturally cold even on calm nights when there was no breeze and Like John Bill senior the bell which didn't just limit itself to verbal abuse the entity reportedly attacked the brothers as well They experienced similar phenomenon to what Betsy Bell had suffered, such as being slapped, pushed, or having their hair pulled. The entity would sometimes throw objects at them, such as stones or small household items like a picture frame, like flung across the room, or like a silverware, making it clear that no Bell and the Bell family was fully safe from its wrath, though John Sr. would continually get the worst of it. One particularly harrowing account describes the brothers feeling invisible hands

grab them or push them when they were alone. And this kind of direct contact added to their fear and frustration that this witch kind of fed on. There was a back and forth that I also have here that I would love to have you boys read between the bell witch and John Bell Jr. that is a little bit easier for you to read. Who wants to be, are you gonna still, yeah, Alex has to, he is canonically.

I'm G for ghost. Yeah, I'll be, how old was John Bell Jr.? At this point, he's in his, I think his 30s. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Here we go. Oh my God. Mathis. Is this a wrong, bad place to put this? Like where can I put this to be better formatted?

No, it's fine, just the formatting is insane. I know, I don't know how to do it, look better in this, okay, excuse me. All right, so 30 you said? You're John Bell Jr., he's in his 30s, he's coming home, and his father's been being tormented by this ghost. 30s in the 1800s, got you.

1819, yeah, yeah, yeah. Why do you torment my father? What has he done to deserve this? Your father is a wicked man and I'm here to make him pay for his sins. You're no right. My father's done nothing wrong. Leave him and this house alone at once. You think you can order me around, boy?

You are powerless against me. There's nothing you or anyone else can do. If you're so powerful, then show yourself! Face me! Face you? You wouldn't know what to do if I did. Even if I stood before you now, you are too blind to see me. Why hide, why hide, she witch? Show yourself, we'll handle this. Settle it even right here. I'm in character. Settle it right here. Jesse's inserting words. He's really gutting himself into 18, 19, 30 year old man.

Listen you old motherfucker, I hide from no one. I'm here to do what I came for and smoke hella weed. And that's to see your father buried You can't stop me. Get me a root beer and neither can your prayers Damn you, you know we're fresh out of Chasperilla We'll stop you somehow My father doesn't deserve this Your father's time is coming and there's nothing you can do about it Johnny

Why don't you worry about your own fate instead of his and pick up a copy of Silent Hill 2 remake on PlayStation 5? This ghost that is definitely not a witch no no it's a ghost That's the argument they apparently had after the physical like pushing around they had. But still, the Bell Witch lingered. And not too long after the brothers returned, did new paranormal characters enter the household. Oh, Leo Stans? Five, five new ghosts are brought into the home by the bell which Welcomed by the time these they sort of appeared one day

These five like things like the ghost gang in Casper. Where's like a whole they've got of wacky ghost Oh, they've got names and personality and personality. With these five new entities, the bell which haunting was at its peak. This was the like the most haunted it got. John Bell Sr. was gravely ill at this point, and the brothers were being bullied. Betsy Bell was a relationship with Joshua was being strange. She was kind of debating leaving him at this point. And one night, seemingly out of nowhere, the Bell Witch began to claim that it was no longer alone. In a dramatic escalation, the disembodied voice that had tormented the family for years suddenly revealed that five additional spirits were now present in the Bell household? The Bell Witch introduced them by saying, quote, You've only met me, but there are others.

We are many. The pronouncement shocked the family. This was not what they wanted. They were not excited about this. And while the Bell Witch had always been terrifying on its own, the sudden mention of multiple entities left them feeling more vulnerable than ever. These five new entities were as follows. First was Black Dog. Black Dog was the most menacing of the five spirits. It took the form of a large

black dog with glowing eyes, often appearing to the bell family in the dark. And the name Black Dog comes from its spectral canine appearance, as it was described having an unnatural size and eerie malevolent presence. It was very much in charge of the other four ghosts. It was the one that called the shots. A what? This is a poochy scenario. This is like, this is like when YouTubers get old, they start the channel when they're like 17 years old,

and then they're like, suddenly they're like 30 years old and they gotta like bring in new energy. So they like suddenly they're like 30 years old and they got to like bring in new energy so they bring in or like the jackass guys brought in like the young crew you know what I mean yeah this is this is like yeah it's like a new marketing angle these ghosts these ghosts are the Smosh gaming of ghosts that's what you're telling me exist anymore but just smosh It was like a whole new crew, but then like the old guys keep showing up, and it's like yeah Yeah, they're much older than everyone else and it shows

Yes, instead of that we I just left YouTube and said I'm gonna podcast like most old men That's what I'm gonna do yeah This is like giving you but this is like the ghosts given like like a five new comics like their own type five opportunity to like give them Gimmick like ones the fat one and one's the one that looks like a dog ones. Yeah, so we got once an old lady Then the second ghost name was mathematics the second spirit Mathematics no, yeah. yeah, it was a cousin. The spirit claimed to be an intelligent entity obsessed with numbers and logic.

Unlike the Bell Witch, which used sarcasm and mockery, mathematics preferred to engage in riddles and puzzles. This is a team of golden age superheroes. This is crazy. That references numbers, calculations, and measurements. You'll never stop me. It seemed to just enjoy. I enjoy with the power of mathematics, but it would also like ask questions that were unanswerable and just

it seemed to delight in confusing the family asking things like quote. What is the some fear? What is the sum of your fear or how many tears will it take to drown your sorrow literally just numbers is his theme. One is a dog and one is a numbers guy. Mathematics rarely did anything physical. It was just there to like torment them psychologically.

He was like Spider Ham from across the Spider verse. Yeah, got it. This is like the Spider verse. We're getting all the different versions. And then third spirit, there was a cypocryphi cypocryphi. No, no, this one was the most was named by a child. This one was the most mysterious of

the five spirits as its name itself suggested something hidden or cryptic. The spirit often spoke in whispers or mumbles that were difficult to fucking even hear in the first place. The thing is, like the ambient noise goes out of us.

And it would then put it to the board. Oh, that's just simple. Griffey, don't mind him. Yeah. Don't mind the simple. Down, black dog. Down. I have a mathematics problem for you. I want number. You can see it then when you can occasionally hear it, it would say the most cliche shit like,

I know what you've done. And then go back into whispering or, There are things you'll never understand. I know what you did last summer kind of vibes, okay. Yeah, but the very first one, this is the origin of the movie. This is Bell Comics. That's what this is. The fourth of the five spirits called itself Jerusalem, and its behavior was notably different from the others. Jerusalem seemed to be less malevolent than the rest of the five spirits called itself Jerusalem, and its behavior was notably different from the others.

Jerusalem seemed to be less malevolent than the rest of the spirits, often speaking in a calm, authoritative tone. It presented itself as a spirit of judgment or punishment, often referencing biblical themes and suggesting that it had been sent to the Bell family for a divine reason. Just a good Christian spirit.

Yeah, but it would often quote scripture, yeah, use religious imagery. It would make it appear as though it was delivering a form of divine retribution. For example, it said things like, quote, the sins of the father will be visited upon the children. Or you must repent before it is too late. And I will strike down with great vengeance.

No one, first off, no one had any inclination that, uh, I guess, look, I have a question about ghosts. Can there in fact, if there is say an afterlife and if there is a heaven and if there is some connection between being very religious and going to heaven, then like, what's this dude doing? How this guy fail? Why is he a ghost and not like an angel? You know what I mean?

Like what's the deal here? Cause if it is, if it's like with the restroom, it's probably not an actual angel. It's probably something just tricking and just playing the mole. We got data back from the audience. And here's the thing. Even the Christians love the ghost angle, right? We live in a modern world. It's 1818.

You know, we can have a secular ghost, but we're just, we don't want to alienate the Christian viewers. We still need to get God in there. So we think instead of being an angel... I have no problem with anyone in any religion. I have a problem with this guy being hyper religious and then being stuck as a ghost. I feel like it's unfair.

I'm just saying the numbers from the audience on bellwitch.com viewers are just there. They think a Christian ghost is gonna be nice. The Jerusalem's gonna boost numbers. A niche demo. Like it doesn't do bangin' numbers. You know what, I don't. We choose 1 30 a.m. Talk show space kind of I don't we shouldn't let out with the term of what ghosts we choose For our haunting guys. This is our belt. This is the Bell farm

This is a big brand. This is a old-fashioned down-to-earth Grassroots haunting and we got a dog. We a nerd We love the numbers. Yeah. Yeah, we got a whisper guy and now you just want to throw in like a religious guy It's more questions that answers to be honest. What happened to good old-fashioned chains? We got a chain. Do we have a chain? Go to that chain still going still got a ghost that like You know spits on people. How about a a ghost that shoots lasers out of his eyes? Yeah, what about one of those ghosts where like you smell tobacco? It's the South, that's a good kind of ghost.

Sure, we got one of those. The fifth ghost is none of that. In fact, the fifth ghost doesn't have a name. It's just simply known as Black Dog's Companion. This spirit was like less defined than the others, but was frequently apparently like seen alongside Black Dog. It didn't have a distinct form of its own and seemed to be more of just like a shadowy figure that followed Black Dog wherever it went.

We should have described it as a shadow person or a dark mist that would linger near the Bell family. We trusted the art team too much. We trusted creative too much. They delivered freedom in the art team. We should have. Like we should have a list of Fox sound characters, but they just gave up on the last guy. This guy is another invisible guy that follows this guy.

It's Black Dog's companion. They ran out of time. They ran out of time. You can't really see his design. It's Big Boss! It's really a cool design, but you can't really see it, you know? But that's like a villain you pull back on 20 years later in a mega arc that's resetting the comic universe it's that thing that's that's that was different okay fair enough uh yeah this thing didn't really do anything it other than it gave like the feeling of like people it was people were being watched or like a weird kind of just like lingering dread it's kind

of all it was and all these five showed up uh this was enough for john the five of them showed up and who was getting more and more sick. He's like fuck this I'm gonna leave I'm leaving he's he planned on taking his whole family and moving out But before he could even put that plan into action the ghost haunted him letting him know that no matter where he went It would follow so he decided not to move and stayed where he was He just stayed and they just had to deal with these five new ghosts. And what these five new ghosts did was phenomenal. Once the five spirits made their presence known,

they reportedly gathered each and every night engaging in what seemed and sounded like drunken revelry. The Baal family would hear the spirits laughing loudly, talking among themselves, making strange comments and seem to mimic the behavior of people partying. It was said that these spirits even clinked. Is it one, a dog, and two of them are invisible and don't speak at all? They would even hear them clinking glasses together as if they were toasting to something,

despite the fact that no physical objects were anywhere near them. And then sometimes the spirits would toast and say things like quote Here's to the downfall of old Jack or another round for the lot of us They were literally the ghosts were just fucking having a drinking night every goddamn night. I don't it's The idea of spirits drinking or acting like rowdy guests at a party layered such a weird like level of surrealism on this this whole thing. And Betsy Bell, who had already been dealing with constant physical attacks and emotional torment, was deeply disturbed by these nightly gatherings of ghosts. She hated it. She hated the sound of drunken laughter, the clinking of glasses.

They reported often hearing sounds of footsteps pacing back and forth as though the spirits were wandering around the house in a drunken stupor. So they're just partying invisibly now? Yes. They're just having a fucking party in the bell house every single fucking night. Have they been invisible at any point before this?

No. They seem black. They've seen like the black dog. This is like the only one that they've caught a glimpse of. And glimpse of and that's a black dog's companion who's like even less. Yeah, the amorphous dog. Exactly. That's it. That's it. However, they would show up every night loudly, not like visibly, but loudly. And the way the way they showed up is every single one of them showed up.

That a song preceded their arrival. What do you mean? Like instrument, like instrument sounds, they have seen songs arrival. Like a baseball game would have like like trumpets and like horns and would have like drums and like like music. Each ghost would show up like wrestling and like little intros for each ghost would play and they would arrive.

This is some fan fiction. This is pure fan fiction., this is pure fan fiction This sucks It's time to play the game And then he comes out Oh that's Black Dog, he's here And then, but not all nights did they decide to torture the family Some nights when they arrived, they would put on a concert.

For the family? For the family. They'd be like, come on out. They would last. I don't know what this turned into. The concerts, when they did them, lasted hours. They would be playing things like fiddles, flutes, drums, even though no instruments were around.

The music ranged from chaotic discordant notes on the nights that they were being torturous to Harmonious pleasant music on the nights. They just wanted to put on a show for the fucking family for some reason. I told okay So here's here's here's I'm starting to get a vibe on this. I'm sorry to get a vibe on this whole situation And I'm ready to say that the bell witch haunting is the very first like family YouTube channel ever made. I can see that. I feel like this is something that they immediately got in over their head with. And then they just kept it rolling and they just kept it

popping and wouldn't have people in and do little tricks for them together as a group, get little storylines going and then people are starting to lose interest. We got to roll out the fucking Muppet Baby ghosts. You know, like it's time for that. Now we're like in the time when like SEO behavior is changing. So we're pivoting to music. We're pivoting to sketch comedy. We're trying all the different bits. We're going to start doing like long video essays now every couple months. It's a weird. It's a weird vibe out there on the in the space in 18. It's a new time for all these ghosts, dude. And along with music, the spirits would also sing along. The voices would shift from beautiful harmonies to loud off key screeching, adding to the chaos. I think I'm right right Yeah, I think this is real now I really do believe what I, what I'm putting down here In this weird dimension the ghosts are like

We're trying to keep our fucking entertainment brand going I think it's a hoax, I think it's a hoax that they keep trying to change the story of To make it more interesting for these people that are coming to the house But remember the father isn't getting, he's refusing money He's feeding these people who are coming to the house He's not making money off this he's just dying slowly yeah maybe maybe he needs to keep the ghost real like as part of the thing like maybe he was dying and he wrote it into the storyline you know what I'm saying maybe maybe maybe it's part of it yeah again this all originally came from the fact that there was a beef between two different people. Yes. And I, you said before that, uh, the, the, oh man, Kate was Kate, what her name? Kate, the witch. Yep. She held like a multi-year grudge. So in no way do I think it wouldn't be the same for the Bells. Like they hate this woman and it was 1800s.

It takes time for stuff to get places. So you might as well hold that grudge for a few decades. And so it makes perfect sense to me that they would make this all up just to be like, it was her, she cursed us. And they gotta keep it interesting, gotta keep it high. We'll see, we'll see if you hold that theory

about Kate Batts later. Not that it wasn't a hoax, but that it was Kate Batts doing the stuff. Oh, I thought it was her doing it. But if it was, awesome. I love her for it. If she was in like the closet doing voices, like, come on, let's sing a song.

It's a great roast on her to make her the villain. Yes, yeah, yeah. One of the lyrics the ghost would say would be like, "'Oh, Betsy dear, please shed a tear, "'for your love will soon be gone.'" That's like some of the lines that it would sing to Betsy, whether they're talking about Joshua or Father, who fucking knows.

Then there were the theatrical performances. In some versions of this, the Five Spirits also engaged in theatrical performances, not like random acts of chaos. These seem to be like deliberately staged out. Like Hamlet? Yeah, but they were designed to frighten and confuse the Bell family. They would pretend to act out scenarios,

like sometimes playing roles as if they were actors in a play, and they would create loud voices, sound effects, staging what seemed like an elaborate drama that only the ghosts could see. One of the more disturbing aspects of these performances was how the spirits would mimic the Bell family's own voices and actions. Like their own plays would be like these recreations of the Bell family moments in like their own twisted way. Like a story of like the Bell family getting murdered or something. So like the Bell Witch and the companion ghost would imitate the family members, creating a distorted or exaggerated version of events that had happened

earlier in the day. For example, if John Bell Jr. had argued with the Bell Witch, the spirits would reenact the argument and twisted mocking way, adding elements of cruel humor to just belittle John Jr. They might take turns imitating John Bell, senior, making him sound old and frail with the bell, which voice booming Jack to eat to fight to blind to see or Betsy Bell would often be imitated in a similarly cruel way with the spirits mocking her fear and repeating her screams in an overly exaggerated high pitched tones. Like, that's the kind of shit where they're like,

childish, like mocking things, all while John Bell's being punched in the face and pushed around. In other cases, the spirits seem to be entertaining themselves. They would put on shows, not for the Bell family, but just for each other, often discussing the family's future fate,

as if it were part of a script that they were writing. The voices would argue among themselves, sometimes taking on different personas or characters, and the Bell family described hearing the spirits laugh at their own performances and jokes as though they were acting out a dark comedy at the family's expense. The amount of stories that there have to be

that you went over to put this story together, I bet you it was just nonsense at this point. Yeah, yeah, of course, absolutely. And there's endless books. Did it really progress this much? Did did it really just like kind of progress through these phases or do they overlap with each other in real life? No, they like progress like in this way. Like, but like there's no for especially some of the stuff we're talking about. Like there's even less less evidence for certain people who have claimed to went to go visit the house that

they were there. But it's also 18 fucking 19 in the records we have in that time are so minimal, but this is absolutely, like if we want to break away from the story for a moment and just kind of think about this from like a lot, I guess, logical perspective, decades of telephone, decades of storytelling layered on top of each other. It's it's retold and retold and retold and retold till it becomes this mythological, this folklore

that is part of this area forever. And how much of it is true and how much of it's elaborated. We could probably sit here and parse the obvious elaborated parts, but there are still parts of the story that ring so close to other things we've covered that I'm like, maybe there was just something weird going on and then it just did get out of control

and the story did kind of just go out of control after the father died and the family left and all that other stuff. Like whatever did happen. People are fucking weird, yeah. Like, I don't know, five extra personality ghosts showed up but some Jeff the Mongoose type personality fucking with the family doesn't ring like totally impossible.

It makes perfect sense that the five ghosts showed up. Like in any version of this, somebody was reaching when the five ghosts showed up. Like, I don't know if it's a hoax. I don't know if it's a paranormal thing. I love it so much that it was just like, I had to put this in the script. Like I had to, it's such a good part of the story.

Five other fucking characters show up. Thank you so much to PDS Debt for sponsoring today's episode. No one wants to think about debt but the hard truth of it all is as many of us will get into some sort of debt, especially during the holidays. I'm no stranger to it myself. Last year, half of American consumers took on debt to pay for the holidays and this year could be you. Could be me. If I hadn't already done so. But it's never too early to start planning to get out. And my friends at PDS Debt can help you with a personalized solution just for you. If you're making payments every month on your debt and your balances aren't going down, PDS has solutions for you.

Everyone with $10,000 or more in eligible debt qualifies and there is no minimum credit score required. Bad and fair credit is accepted. Save more while paying off your debt in a fraction of the time. Debt is something that sits heavy on our shoulders. It's something that can be necessary sometimes, but you don't want to let it linger and get out of control. Taking control of that debt is something that I've struggled with and so many others do and PDS Debt is here to try and make that struggle just that much easier for you. So start planning today. Get a free debt analysis right now at pdsdebt.com slash chill.

It only takes a few minutes to get it done. And if you're not sure how much debt you need to try and make that struggle just that much easier for you so start planning today get a free debt analysis right now at pds debt.com slash chill it only takes 30 seconds at pds debt.com slash chill pds debt.com slash chill thank you again to pds debt for sponsoring today's episode and obviously through all these nightly gatherings the Bell Witch seemed to be playing the role of Ringmaster during it all. This ghost, the Poltergeist orchestrated the performances, ensuring that the Bell family's torment was as complete and thorough as possible.

While the five additional spirits played their parts, it was always clear that the Bell Witch was in total control, like in control of them. The Bell Witch's voice could often be heard directing the other spirits, telling them when to stop or start the music, or encourage them to play louder or sing higher. It would frequently stop in the middle of a performance to mock the family directly, making sure they understood that this was all part of its plan to drive them

to the brink of madness before picking back up with the music. Like who just stopped playing music and be like, hey, hey, we're gonna fucking torture you forever. And then back to music. Like, that's fucking chaos. Is it, is it, is it, is it like, is it all the Bellwitch? Is that like part of the question? I mean, yes, that part of the question is like,

is it all the Bellwitch or is it just other, like, trickster-type things that are similar to the Bellwitch that are like Having easy in and because this place is such a tourist attraction so many people are coming and going Yeah, maybe we'll go fuck around and see what it's like out there It implies so many specific facts about the spirit world that it's very funny to me, right? Yeah, yes that we all obviously know from all of our scientific research here at Shaluma Nadi into the spirit world itself that we all obviously know from all of our scientific research here at Shaluminati into the spirit world itself.

Yeah, as time went on, obviously the performances were, they do less pleasant ones and more consistent chaotic ones. And this bell witch took complete pleasure in pushing them family's mental and emotional limits to the brink, forcing them to listen to hours of discordant music and bizarre performances. And again, taking this as true, you can't get away from it. No matter where you go, it fucking follows you it's awful and after this but here's the part that I like I had to take note after a few months of this because they couldn't get away from it remember one of her brothers and one of her other brothers that initially tried to fight the ghost remember last episode we talked

about like tried to like coax the ghost out fight Well, he came back and he did the exact goddamn thing He just came back to the house having heard what the family was going through Entered the home and on the first night just tried to taunt all of them into fighting him Like the same logic applied if he can make them appear physical and he can beat them up. He can make the ghosts go away It didn't work John once again John senior sick as he was once again thought about leaving like he can make the ghosts go away. It didn't work. John once again, John Senior, sick as he was, once again thought about leaving. Like, we just got to maybe we seem to fucking go. And once again, the bellwitch replied, don't you dare, John, for I will follow you

into the deepest reaches of hell. So like he's just like, don't go anywhere. And so he didn't go anywhere. But time continued pushing forward and his illness kept getting worse. His 20 minute fits of swollen tongue, difficulty breathing were happening more and more regularly. And with the town now very aware of John's illness,

even some of the townspeople were coming around, bringing meals, trying to help out as he was getting ill. But even while he was ill, the house still maintained being a tourist attraction through it all. And now we move into 1820, the final year of the Bell family's difficulties with this ghost. Now the nightly family gatherings where they were talking and the ghosts would show up and do chaotic shit, they were so regular that when the family would get together at

night and just have their normal conversations, the bell witch would just kind of chime in and just be part of the conversation. Just hanging out, listening. Just normal conversation, yeah, giving her points of view, insight on whatever happened during the day, as though she was just part of the fucking family. Just like, ooh.

While still torturing them all. Yeah, but yes, remember last week we learned that she was like the rumors. She went out and got rumors around who drank, who hit their kids, all that shit. And alongside the music, the other spirits brought the bell, which had also her voice began changing a little bit because she was singing a lot more. They said her voice, according to some tellings of this, had actually gotten more sweet to listen to and was just became a better singer as she continued singing.

She like practiced and got better. That's what I that's how I that's how I interpreted what they meant by saying that I think that I was like, she got better by practicing. I don't fucking know. This is then again, this is and then another story to show that the bellwish is just like it's its existence is so chaotic is what in 1820, the story of the Bellwitch Cave. Now, the Bellwitch Cave wasn't mentioned in the earliest accounts of the Bellwitch Cave. Now, the Bellwitch Cave wasn't mentioned

in the earliest accounts of the Bellwitch haunting. I'll put that out there right away. It became a part of the lore way later, but they became such a huge part of the lore that it was told in all stories after its first appearance. Like it became a part of the story. Many believe that the cave was either a hiding place or a dwelling for the Bellwitch spirit, that this cave was where it would go. It was often associated with supernatural activity,

and several stories have surfaced about unexplained phenomena that occurred in and around the cave, particularly in connection with visitors or locals who encountered something strange. And this cave, there is a cave that is close to the Bell Farm property that they're referring to. And the Bellwitch Cave is located in Robertson County, Tennessee, near the Red River, and close to the original Bell Family Farm where the haunting of the Bell Family had occurred.

The cave is a small limestone structure. If you know anything about paranormal, limestone is said to hold the energy of ghosts and stuff, like energy or like electromagnetic energy. I don't know the science behind it. Yeah. Jesse, do your Googling, please. Oh, I'm looking up. I literally typed in, why does limestone hold ghosts? I hope you get an answer. It's porous. But this is typical of the geography in this part of Tennessee.

And it sits on what was once part of the Bell family property. Today, it's actually just privately owned and operates as a historical site that attracts tourists and paranormal enthusiasts as one place like this would with such a story behind it. Do you have an answer for us about Limestone, Jesse? Yeah, and it's so disappointing. It's so disappointing. Is it like that Limestone is like like housed spirit house of spirits traditionally yeah so there are people who are asking about why limestone would hold or keep ghosts and it all comes back to stone tape theory which is absolutely hilarious so the idea for limestone or material

holding ghosts like any type of Material holding ghosts comes from the stone tape theory which claims that ghosts are recordings of past events made by the natural Environment the theory is the best part popularized by 1972 BBC Christmas ghost story the stone tape interesting Best part popularized by 1972 BBC Christmas ghost story the stone tape interesting but now that's why but everything else coming from that is basically saying that Yeah, like it's it's creepy and the quarries the stone quarries. It just looks scary, which is why

It's people would avoid them Because it's like a dark cave and things like that. And so people don't want to go into those different places. And so, yeah, that's really what it is. It's fucking dangerous in there too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's where this is. So this comes up because the story goes with this particular cave that, uh, Betsy and one of her friends, a young boy, we're out walking the family farm, just kind of doing what kids do in 1819, a whole lot of nothing and a lot of walking. And, uh, we're curious about

this cave on the property, the rumors that that maybe the bell witch had been there had supposedly began to kind of like make their way around the town. So there's kids being kids were like, let's go check the cave out. And as as they were checking out the cave, the young boy wanted to go and explore it, but Betsy didn't and she's she stayed out. And as he went into the cave to explore it, some rocks had become dislodged, they had fallen and he became stuck.

His body became wedged tightly between a few rocks and he couldn't free himself. He began panicking and this thought like this is where he was gonna die. And this is where it gets fucking weird in that with the bell witch. Just when it seemed like there was no hope for the boy, the children, Betsy and the boy claimed,

I don't have the boy's name unfortunately, that suddenly they both heard a disembodied voice and the voice which was immediately believed to be that of the Bell Witch spoke to them in a calm but commanding tone. According to the story, the Bell Witch told the boy, yeah, simply said to the boy, quote, hold still and I'll get you out of this.

To the children's amazement, the boy suddenly began to feel the pressure around him lessen. The rock seemed like loose in a bit. And a gentle and invisible force pulled him free from the narrow passage that he was trapped. And within moments, the boy was able to wiggle out of that type spot and get back up to Betsy and away from the cave. Face turn ghosts like that. Yeah, it makes no fucking sense to me.

It makes no, I'm like, yeah, this is like a good, this is the part where I'm like, if it's an entity, it's not a ghost. It's like some weird trickster thing that just is like enjoying the chaos. Like it doesn't make any sense otherwise. Then after this event happens and the haunting continues, the family decided they were gonna reach out

to yet another professional. A man by the name of Dr. Mize. Dr. Mize was a double professioned individual. He had two professions. One, he was a physician, a doctor. Two, he was also a wizard. Oh. He was a wizard. Like magic wizard. Oh. He was a wizard like. Like magic wizard like whoo-hoo going to cast spells wizard 18.

Remember 18 remember I told you in the beginning episode one folk magic is very common still around this time. Sure. He's practices a type of biblical sorcery that he calls it. Where it's like invoking God to use magic. if my doctor started to do biblical sorcery on me I don't even know what biblical sorcery is I sat through you know what? Biblical sorcery is witchcraft, but just condoned by the Bible I don't know about this because I was Catholic, right? I mean, no, I'm pretty sure it's in there. Catholic though. Yeah. Like the transfer configuration of like turning the bread to flesh and the wine to blood. That's all supposed to be real.

The biblical sorcery is totally cool. But like if you're a witch, nah, that's not, no, no, no. But wishing for Jesus. That's where it's at. That's sick though. That's where it's at. I'm a witch, but for Jesus. That's what I'm saying about Jerusalem. That's exactly what Jerusalem is. Jerusalem, the ghost. Yeah. Right. Right. Oh, Alice, you have thoughts that you'd like to share with us?

Yeah. Not at this time. What do you think about Jerusalem? Yeah. Do you think you have thoughts? Not in this forum. I might not be the guy. I don't think Jerusalem was actually ever truly religious. Dr. Mize was the ghost. Yes, of course, the ghost.

I'm just making a joke. I'm making a zinger before the the witches come after you. Thank you. Yeah, before I get witched online. The doctor Mize is somebody, family reached out to specifically. They believe that with his dual knowledge, that he'll be able to fucking figure this shit out. They were desperate for a solution at this point, and Dr. Mize, they had heard that he had the expertise

dealing with not only just supernatural, but strange illnesses that their father was suffering from, and they believed that with his arcane knowledge, he might be able to either cure John Bell's mysterious illness or drive away the Bell Witch herself. Hopefully both if it worked. And according to the accounts, the Bell Witch family or community members, depending on the story, it's either community did it or the family did it, petitioned to Dr. Mize to come to their aid. And it was not just like an informal visit request. It was a formal request that he apply his knowledge

of the occult to rid the family of this spirit. And he obviously accepted and made his way out there. When Dr. Mize first arrived at the Bell Farm, he was reportedly completely skeptical of the stories that he had heard about the Bell Witch. Like many others, he believed the phenomenon might have a rational explanation and was initially determined to apply a scientific

background to the situation however as the events unfolded he quickly realized that the bellwitch was maybe not such an ordinary case as a hoax but initially those first three days when he was there nothing fucking happened for whatever reason nothing he was not haunted. They like very, nothing happened at all that like caused him to believe it. And he believed that the reason that this was the case wasn't because they were hoaxing it,

but he declared that the lack of supernatural events was in fact due to his incredibly powerful aura that he believed that his spiritual and magical strength was so great that it had intimidated the bell witch, keeping the spirit at bay and that his aura, mystical energy surrounding him at all times was said to be impenetrable, which explained why the bell witch had seemingly ceased her activity for those three days. I must stress to everyone listening at home, to those of you who get to watch this, to

my co-hosts, I realize now that a three-parter was a mistake. This is the rise of Skywalker of trilogies that we've done. I hate how everything you're saying is infuriating me. Like this one from two really fun episodes to a third episode where it's like, F it, we're going off the rails. And I hate it.

I hate everything happening here. But that's part of the folklore of this whole story like if I leave this out I'm leaving out such a huge chunk of like What is part of this? I bet if we went to another podcast and or weird paranormal video YouTube channel this part was left out I'm letting you know they definitely left this out. This part was left in because that's what gets them clicks and they treat it as real And serious are you fucking kidding me? You're telling me there's a video out there where guys like and then This part was left in because that's what gets them clicks and they treat it as real and serious Tell me there's a video out there guys like and then The five other ghosts showed up Jesse Jesse Do you need to do any to do we need to give you a re-education on how YouTube works nowadays?

I hate this dude. I this episode is making me so mad because it's like Literally the guy goes there nothing happens and rather than go for the most obvious thing which is it's all BS he's like my paranormal reflective powers radiated so effortlessly that the five ghosts plus the witch plus any other specters ghouls or apparitions were not in my vicinity. It was a simple quote. You go ahead and give yourself the nerdy voice if you want, but that's the quote he apparently said.

Ahem. The spirit dares not approach while I'm here. My aura is too powerful for her to act. Don't worry, princess. You're safe. Don't worry, princess. You're safe with me. The reason I think this stuff is worth listening to is because... Of course it's worth listening to.

It's fun as fuck. The very reason is because it makes the story way dumber. The thing is, it demystifies... If you actually read the whole story, everything seems much more like fake and dumb and and like, like, how do I describe it? Like if if more stories, all of it were told, all the dumb parts were told. I think people like Jesse would have less trouble, you know, like, I'm really curious where this is going to. Yeah.

What are you taking? I feel like you would be into this. I feel like you would be into the idea of the dumb details being shared because those are the things that those are the things that like blow it up and show you that like as with most crazy American like sensationalized ghost stories and crazy like magic Christian ghost stories and crazy, like, magic Christian folklore stories or whatever, like, eventually you just realize it's Muppet Babies, right?

And I think that's important from a cultural perspective just because it's fun and interesting, but also just from a skeptical perspective because it shows that there's not that many good convincing ghost stories out there. Even the famous ones that people reference all the time, like this one. I'm with you. My outrage isn't the content. It's the maybe it is. Maybe maybe I'm fine with the context, not the content. I don't know what the situation is.

But the idea is that with it, man, that this very spooky, clearly like it isn't just fakery. It's like lazy fakery. You know what I mean? Like it is, we're descending. Once we hit, I was just right, once we hit five ghosts, it like became a mockery of itself. And everything you're telling me after that

is a bigger mockery. Again, it's the Rise of Skywalker of trilogies. The first two that we did I was like yeah you know I don't believe it but like all right this is fun and then it was like a slap in the face to everything I was enjoying it's like no this is just garbage you have to pay $20 to fucking have me tell you this story you're right obviously this is like so much of this is such fake but I love that it's so fun to just imagine this is happening imagine this is actually happening every day the chaos of it occurring and what that would even be like wouldn't feel like I would just lose my mind like that's the thing that

does make sense about any of this I once saw a YouTube video where a guy was looking in the mirror and the mirror had like blood on it and said get out and he's like, okay. And he was like packed up and left his home. That's how I feel about this. You bring slapped in the face every day. No, I'm leaving. I'd be like, no, no, I don't want to jump. I don't want to take the tickets then. I don't want to jump to the don't want to take the tickets then I don't want to jump to the end But like in terms of like explanations to take this is true One of the theories that people have is you know mass delusion remember the dancing episode you did people dance to death Sure and shit like that because they just got swept up into it very similarly your brain can do a lot if you can convince You that certain things are happening when they're very much. It's true

it's like those speaking in tongues like type people who like go and like smack someone in the head on the church and they like fall on the ground and like start shaking and shit just purely because they're like, I mean same thing with the Ouija board. Yeah, literally sold by a company and people are like, it's real. It's like, is it?

Yeah, the idiom, idiometer, idiometer. I don't know how you say it properly, but that's the effect, yeah, that works on. But so yeah, he declared. Ooh, lights the feather, stiffens the board. That's the best one. There you go. So yeah, the spirit, he declares,

you know, the spirit is just really afraid of him after the first three days, but he was like, you know what, let's look, there's gotta be some reason this is happening. So before he left, before Dr. Meis decided to bounce, the Bell family did mention that they had a shotgun that had mysteriously stopped working. Oh no.

The weapon which had previously functioned perfectly now seemed unable to work at all. And so Dr. Meis. Chekhov's gun. Dr. Meis inspected the gun and hoping that his magical expertise could fix whatever had happened to the gun, Dr. Mize confidently with his abilities determined

after an examination that the shotgun was hexed. And that was why the Bell Witch was tormenting their family so much. So Dr. Mize removed the hex by cleaning and repairing the gun, basically. It was just a gun that he'd be cleaned and repaired, but he did some magical and biblical incantations over it,

cleaned the shotgun, fixed the shotgun, muttered some more incantations and biblical scriptures and from ancient times to ward off evil and gave the gun back and said, I did it. And he said, actually, I have a quote, here you go. Good, Dr. Mize. Which one is that? Which one of us is that?

No, that's you, Jesse, because you were the nerd. It's the same nerd, the same nerdy doctor. After he fixed the gun, this is what he said to the family. This weapon will now work as intended, but only because I've used the power of the word to clumsily. It was the spirit's influence that had hexed it, and she will no longer have control over it.

Can I just say he's like a genius for this if this worked? Yeah, if it worked, it would be genius. Because like, if it is a mass delusion or it is some kind of like, just people in a frenzy. This would be like, like just buying into their Lord just enough to like let it be. And then it changes his like, his like the spirit, dares not approach comment to like be more smug. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Um, to give you, just so you know, what biblical sorcery is too. I did write this in the script just so you know,

the concept of biblical sorcery that's described by Dr. Mai specifically is a form of magic that he said is rooted in Old Testament and other sacred texts and involved using scriptures and prayers in conjunction with occult practices to bind or banish spirits. Dr. Meis believed that certain passages from the Bible held magical power inherently and when used correctly and combined, he combined these with magical rites to increase his effectiveness in dealing with the witch. It's like hellboy Christianity. Yeah. So he gives himself a magical buff to deal with the witches, the spirits basically.

Christianity as like a magical class. Yeah. It was basically a fusion between Christianity and folk magic. Again, folk magic was still very common back then. He explained that the shotgun had been restored, basically was done, power of God, et cetera, et cetera, you're fucking cured. And after three days of inactivity and a cured shotgun,

during which Dr. Mize had again boasted once again about his aura toward the end when he repaired the shotgun, the bellwitch returned with vengeance. The disembodied voice suddenly reappeared out of nowhere and it wasted no time in taunting Dr. Mize for his arrogance. The bell witch ridiculed his claims of having a powerful aura and dismissed his efforts to fix the shotgun, saying things like, quote, you think your tricks and prayers can stop me? You've only delayed the inevitable. Or you think that aura of yours scares me? you're no better than the others

who have tried and failed before also during this time however black dog appears appears he appears in current directly confronts dr maize during the his attempt to deal with this haunting he's a dog right yeah a large spectral canine with glowing eyes is known for his ominous presence like i said before and it starts to represent like a dark force within the bell, which is entourage. But when the black dog appeared to Dr. Mize, it was not just in the form of a silent, haunting figure. The spirit reportedly began engaging with him, speaking in a deep, threatening voice, challenging Dr. Mize's authority and understanding of sorcery.

Dr. Mize's magical knowledge. He was confident in his arcane knowledge in the biblical scripture, but Black Dog challenged that. Speaking as a disembodied voice, he taunted Dr. Mize, suggesting the sorcery he practiced was weak and ineffective. The spirit claimed that the power possessed

by the bell witch and her companions was far beyond anything Dr. Mize could comprehend or control with his rituals, and it would sort of engage with him in an almost pseudo-intellectual back and forth about magic and what he knew and what he didn't. Black Dog saying things like, your so-called sorcery is nothing compared

to the ancient powers we wield, or you think your words and symbols combined us, we were here long before your tricks were learned. Just like, just straight up confronting him. The entire time you were talking about Black Dog, half of what you said went in one ear, not the other, because all I could think about was the fact that there is a movie, I think it might be from the 90s,

I don't remember, called Black Dog. With Forrest Whitaker? Starring, no, Black Dog stars Patrick Swayze, Randy Travis, and Meat Loaf. And I'm pretty sure it's about truckers, and I just that's all I can think about is like Patrick Swayze is Black Dog That is fucking insane, which I kind of like the idea Randy Travis and Meatloaf being the other ghosts I think that's actually really cute Yeah, so Black Dog would just break him down and be like, you know nothing, your magic is weak, I've been here way longer than any of the tricks, your shit.

Yeah, he sounds like an anime character, like an anime antagonist. You know nothing, you are weak. I have been here for so long. The two quotes you missed while you're, one in your one ear and out the other were, your so-called sorcery is nothing compared to the ancient powers we wield, and you think your words and symbols can bind us? We were here long before your tricks were learned. That's like what Black Dog apparently said.

Um, but Dr. Mize, to his credit, had been unfazed by the spirit's taunt, argued that his knowledge of biblical sorcery was enough to banish the bell witch and her spectral entourage. He defended his practices, claiming that the power of God and holy incantations could overcome even the darkest forces, saying things like, quote, the power I wield is older than you know,

rooted in the divine word. You may mock my sorcery, but it is light that will drive you back into darkness. Your ancient powers may be strong, but they pale in comparison to the forces of biblical magic and the strength of the sacred word. Literally like a character quote from when you like mouse over a guy

that you're about to pick for an RPG. Yep. Yep. Black Dog countered by claiming that the sorcery Dr. My's practice was nothing more than parlor tricks compared to the true magic that he and the others here wielded.

He boasted that Dr. My, what's wrong? True magic, he knew true magic. He boasted that, what's wrong? True magic, he knew true magic. He boasted that Dr. Mize's incantations would have no effect on the Bell Witch or the other spirits as their power came from a different realm entirely, one beyond the reach of human magic or religion. Another quote was, your incantations are but words,

powerless against the forces we command. You speak of God, but even the holy tremble before us. Or you can chant all you wish. Yeah, Black Dog. You can chant all you wish, but it will not stop the inevitable. Your so-called light is too dim to chase us away. Your so-called light. Yeah. So they basically got into debates and philosophical argument

about the limits of human knowledge and magic when facing truly ancient forces. That's just life. I don't know why There's no other way to fucking put it by the end though despite his bravado. Dr. Mays eventually acknowledged that his sorcery was clearly not enough to drive out black dog or the other spirits. The Bell Witch's entourage seemed to operate on a different level of power that he could not control. It could not be controlled or banished through human magic or religion, religious incantations and black dogs final taunt cemented the fact that Dr. Mises magic, however powerful he believed it to be, was ineffective against these particular supernatural beings saying,

quote, now you see the truth wizard. There are forces at play that your human mind can't grasp. Now you're just doing Darth Vader. Now you're just doing Darth Vader. No, yeah, yeah, yeah. Leaving on the other side. Your sorcerer's ways do not give you clairvoyance enough. Be careful not to choke on your ambitions, Senator.

I mean, Doctor. Leave now before you're consumed by what you cannot understand. He's sounding exactly like Kylo Ren right there. Yeah. After his argument with Black Dog and his realization that his magical practices would not work, he eventually decided to leave the Bell Farm. And as he was getting ready to leave and he was about to go, his horse would not run. And then the Bell Witch in one final taunt said, do you need my help, doctor doctor or can your own mind move even your most feeble of horse? And don't know how to fight. And then he reached back and apparently when he hit the horse to go it fucking broke out into a sprint like a canter super fast.

As that the Dr. Mize failed, there was one last individual who came by to inspect to see if they could get rid of the bell witch Himself who do you think it's gonna be no way you have any idea anyway? Kate Kate Kate Kate Kate somebody who can get rid of the bell which themselves there they think they can they're on their way It's like they're gonna. It's like Harry Houdini. It's like I think they're gonna it's like Harry Houdini. It's like Like Bruce Wayne somebody like so close dude so close None other than what would eventually be our seventh president little bit Andrew Jackson stop Yeah, what he did he just had been hearing about it, and he just marched on down there

At the time of his alleged visit to the Bell Farm Andrew Jackson was a well-known general and his curiosity about the supernatural had piqued his interest when the stories of the Bell Witch haunting had made their way to him. Absolute monster of a human being. Absolutely a horrible, horrible, horrible man. As the legend goes, Jackson had heard from soldiers who had visited the area about the unexplained disturbances happening in the Bell farm, such as the disembodied voices, the physical attacks, objects moving on their own. Eager to see this for himself, whether the rumors are true, Jackson and a group of his men, including some soldiers and friends, he just brought his entourage as well, made their way to the Bell family's farm in Adams, Tennessee. They were skeptical but intrigued, and Jackson was said to have remarked that he wanted to see whether the stories of the Bell Witch were real. So one of the things that supposedly happened on the way as Andrew Jackson's men were approaching the Bell Farm, they reportedly encountered their first sign that something was wrong. The group's wagon, which was carrying

supplies, suddenly stopped moving despite the horses trying to pull it. No matter how much they whipped or urged the horses, the wagon did not budge. It's said that Jackson's men inspected the wagon and found no apparent reason for the sudden halt. The wagon wheels were not stuck and the terrain was flat, yet the horse could not move it. As the men continued to struggle with the wagon, they apparently a disembodied voice reportedly filled the air, the voice which they believed to be that of the Bell, which mockingly said, All right, General, you can go now. I'll see you tonight. And immediately after hearing the voice, the wagon was free to move again, and the horses resumed pulling it as if nothing had happened. When Jackson and his men finally arrived at the Bell home,

they were welcomed by the Bell family, although John Bell Sr. was already in ill health due to his mysterious illness and was bedridden at the time. But he still got up and went to greet Jackson because, again, he was a well-known general and his men in the group settled in for what was supposed to be a night of conversation and investigation. They were going to do a little ghost hunt. Despite the earlier incident with the wagon, some of Jackson's men were still skeptical about the haunting. One of Jackson's soldiers described in some versions of the self-proclaimed witch, in some versions of the story,

one of Jackson's men was a self-proclaimed witch hunter. And he boasted that he could outwit the bell witch and claim that no ghost or spirit could scare him. And he even had a six shooter on him, like a revolver that had a silver bullet that he carried around specifically when dealing with supernatural creatures. He's a self-proclaimed witch hunter? Yeah, he's a self-proclaimed witch hunter.

I'm a self-proclaimed witch hunter too. Oh fuck, congrats. I didn't know that happened. Yeah, look at me. I just did it on the show. Do you have a gun with like, you have a gun with a silver bullet? I've got, I got a silver PlayStation controller. It's like he's got a bowl with a silver spoon.

Eat my cereal with that shit. Has the group prepared to retire for the night? The witch hunter decided he was going to stay up and he boasted that he was going to be able to handle the bell witch and take care of it. So other than having his pistol, he also pulled out of a sack, a cat tail that he would hold up to his nose. And he said that he knew the bell, which would be nearby when the cat tail would stink.

That would tell him the bell, which was near. This is crazy. The what that is like, what the fuck is that? Is that is that folk magic? Yeah, like off of an actual cat. I guess so. Like, I don't really know what the fuck the origins of having a cat's tail smell tell you the bellwitches nearby.

So weird. That's sure. Yeah. The witch hunter suddenly, as the group settled down, the witch hunter went off. The witch hunter suddenly began to scream and convulse, claiming that he was being pinched and slapped by invisible hands. So he's like, ah, ah, ah, ah, as he's twitching and getting his fucking body slapped and pinched. I don't know.

According to the story, the witch hunter was then lifted from his chair and thrown across the room by an unseen force. Terrified, he begged for mercy, pleading with the bell witch to stop tormenting him. The disembodied voice of the bell Witch is said to have laughed at his distress, taunted him for his earlier boast and reportedly said, how about that silver bullet now? Not so brave anymore. Are you so you know Bell Witch doing what she do while Jackson himself was not physically attacked.

He was reportedly impressed by the Bell Witch's power and admitted that he had witnessed something truly supernatural in some versions of the story. Jackson even said to have remarked to his men, quote, I'd rather fight the British than deal with the bell witch. Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson, seventh future, seventh president. I literally can't believe it, but like, I guess I can. I know. The perfect take. The perfect take. After that incident, the single night that they spent there Jackson and his

men decided it was time to go. They left the farm the following morning and some accounts claim that Jackson wanted to stay longer to investigate further, but his men were too afraid to remain after what they had witnessed and they all wanted to go. The Bellwitch had proven their power to them and they knew there was nothing more they could do. So they wanted to get the fuck out. All right, Jackson seemed like he was in. He was like, cool, I guess.

As they leave, no more major characters are introduced. In fact, we kind of end to the back end here as John enters the last stages of his life at the age of 71 years old. John has just gotten more and more and more and more sick, more unable to move and having a harder time breathing. The seemingly seizures seem to come on way more often. And while this is all going on, Lucy Bell, his wife, would actually ask the ghost to leave John alone. It would last each effort. Lucy's like begging the bell witch to stop it,

asking her to take Lucy instead. Take me, leave John, let him live. But the bell witch did the exact opposite. It would actually apparently take care of Lucy, singing to her, often bringing her her favorite foods, being there to give advice and to just talk to. But as the kindness with Lucy grew, the cruelness for John increased.

And as John's illness worsened, the fear of the Bell Witch grew within the household and the family began just to avoid discussing John's condition too openly anymore as they feared that mentioning it might further provoke the Bell Witch to make it worse. The haunting was already affecting Betsy Bell at this point who was frequently slapped and she's no longer

with Joshua Gardner. It affected her to the, and she's no longer with Joshua Gardner. It affected her to the point where she broke it off with Joshua Gardner, and she would end up marrying Richard Powell in 1821, I believe. I didn't write it down, just trying to remember what I read. So Richard got what he wanted in the end. Correct, Richard got what he wanted in the end, yep. As the weeks leading up to John's death because his

illness was just that bad, the Bell family discovered something kind of strange. Next to his bedside on a bedside table, they discovered a mysterious vial that was filled with a really dark liquid. No one knew where the vial had come from or what the liquid contained, but the Bell Witch's voice allegedly claimed responsibility for this strange substance saying something along the lines of quote I've given him what he needs that will finish him off What the Bell family tested the liquid by giving a small dose to the household to a household cat which apparently it died almost instantly Afterward what this confirmed there were spheres that the bellwitch had afterward. What the f- This confirmed there were fears that the Bellwitch had maybe already poisoned John Bell and the family could do nothing but wait as John's condition continued to worsen.

Fucking ghost poison? Yeah, poisoned him. Now, one of the accounts says what actually happened is that they basically put the ghost, put Betsy Bell into a sort of possessed state and had her gather the things and make the poison, but she had no memory of it at all. Regardless, on the morning of December 20th, 1820, John Bell was found unresponsive in his bed. He had slipped into a coma and later that day had died. The Bellwitch took full credit for his death, reportedly saying, I fixed him, I fixed him over and over. And the disembodied voice of the entity was heard laughing at the family's grief, mocking John

even in death at his funeral. The Bell Witch's voice continued to taunt the mourners, adding to the whole situation. Everyone at the funeral heard this again, supposedly. Yes, supposedly. My God. After John Bell's death, the haunting immediately began lessening. It didn't stop entirely, but it did lessen.

The Bell Witch had seemingly accomplished its primary goal, but it continued to interfere in the Bell family life for a while, particularly in Betsy Bell's romantic entanglements. Betsy's decision to break off her engagement, or rather her relationship with Joshua Gardner, may have been influenced by the Bell Witch's threats, and this marked a turning point in her life as she did eventually marry Richard Powell. But as time went on, the haunting did cease entirely. And John Bell's death is often where the story of this all ends within American folklore.

How far after was the last haunting? Just like a month or two after. was very soon like lingered for a bit and then it kind of just dissipated. She went off to marry Richard and that's kind of just where that's in that usually where the story ends. Now when talking about the realistic aspects of it, there is a theory that I want to bring forward when it comes to his death, particularly one that's talked about that theorizes that it was Betsy bell who very cognizantly slowly, but surely poisoned her father. Oh, I was about to say, I completely agree with that. Yeah, absolutely.

And the reason why is because she loved Joshua and she wanted to be with Joshua, but there was just like these other issues going on and there was a lot of control in her family and she was sick of it. And then there's the theory that the theory rather that the beatings were actually just the father hitting her. Oh, I totally believe that too. I'm absolutely convinced that we're sure like that. It's like for a lot of the story that makes a whole lot of sense for me as well.

And then the exaggerations just happen as time goes on. But again, the first time we even hear about the story is 30 years after it happened in the first place too. So like there's a lot of time there for things to just get filled in. Regardless of the fact, it does seem that once the goal was accomplished, John Bell having died again at 71 in 1820, which is old as shit for that time, it ceased and the haunting for Betsy Bell and the rest of the family finally came to an end after four long years. And as it ended, so too does the story and legend of the haunting of the Bell Witch.

The end, boys. At the end, I think I agree with you. I mean, I think there's a lot there that's just made up and filled out for story purposes. I wouldn't be wholly against the idea of her having murdered him. Another theory, I think I heard, I can't remember where I heard it. That maybe the father was mentally ill and they were hearing things due to mental illness. I think it's family hoax. Like weird, overblown family hoax that like got real weird that's my that's my thought on it yeah like it broke up the monotony of their weird-ass life and got them this weird attention and they just kept it rolling

the idea that there was so much physical violence that it's not something you hear often about ghosts and to me it makes me think that the dad was just very abusive and You know because this is a 30 year later story not a while this was happening people were like publishing crazy books and stuff to me it seems like This is a tale that was told to cover up the familial abuse happening in the household So it seems like obviously that is just me stretching I have no clue, but like it felt like that from episode one I even saw on reddit a bunch of people were like I don't want to put this on the family But it does seem like abuse is happening there, and I think that's really rare

Yeah, yeah I mean you get keep in mind to like this is a conglomeration of multiple stories and multiple sources put in like this is just For the stories for the fun of a fucking ghost story But yeah, there's you know like most ghost stories who have a lot of detail. Once you start looking into a lot of it, a lot of it gets starts getting insane sometimes hilarious. But like the core reason is just like blown out of proportion. But a story is still worth knowing and telling and if you've ever been out to the uh, the bell farm, the cave, the bell witch cave, I'd love to hear if you ever went there.

I don't it's out in Tennessee. So I don't know who's out there, but like that'd be witch cave. I'd love to hear if you ever went there. It's out in Tennessee, so I don't know who's out there, but that'd be fucking sick. I would love to go. I bet you would be awesome. Yeah, that'd be really fucking fun to go to. Yeah, I'd be sick. But that's it for this episode. That's it for the series.

We're outta here. We'll be back next week with another episode equally spooky for this Halloween season. We're off to go do a mini soda for patreon.com slash juluminati pod. Thank you so much. We appreciate you. We love you.

Goodbye. Bye. Anyway, me and my wife were sitting outside Thank you so much. We appreciate you. We love you. Bye. Bye Anyway Me and my wife were sitting outside indulging on our porch one night enjoying ourselves I needed to go to the bathroom So I stepped back inside and after a few moments I hear my wife go holy shit get out here So I quickly dash back outside. She's looking up at the sky in the fall I look up too and there's a perfect line of dozen lights traveling across the sky in the fall. I look up to them and there's a perfect line of dozen lights traveling across the sky. So Thanks for watching! you