Michigan’s Otherside visited the Bell Witch Cave in August 2006. My boyfriend and I went to visit his Grandma in Tennessee and the cave was only an hour away. We got lost because I told him to go down the wrong road, of which there were only two to pick from. We backtracked and headed into the tiny town of Adams and followed the huge signs leading us to the “ Famous Bell Witch Cave” (and the towns only tourist attraction) which is located on a working farm.
A large man in overalls greeted us in the “ticket shack.” He sold us two tickets and said his wife would be back from the cave shortly to give us our tour and to go ahead and wait outside. The temperature that day was at inferno levels and my jeans felt like they were melting against my legs like plastic in a fire. I vowed at that moment to finally invest in a pair of shorts.
We sat down at a picnic table and lit up a cigarette, only to hear an annoying voice from some lady behind us saying we weren’t allowed to smoke. I looked at the ashtray on the table and the sign behind us that read, “designated smoking area” and invited her to look at the two pieces of evidence that clearly proved the area was for smoking. The man in overalls, who turned out to be the owner, came out and stated he used to smoke but quit. He started going off on smokers and how he was getting tired of picking up cigarette butts all over the property. Our smoking moment was ruined as we started to feel like we were committing a sin. We stubbed them out and the owner’s wife came up to the “ticket shack” and lit up a cigarette.
Only three of us were waiting to go on the tour. It was me, my boyfriend and some guy from Louisiana there for business wearing really expensive shoes. He had seen a special on the Bell Witch on TV so he thought he’d check the place out. Our tour guide finished her cigarette and we followed her down the path to the cave. The walk down to the cave was really beautiful. The cave entrance has a large, iron gate in front of it that they keep locked at all times. When the movie “An American Haunting” came out, the police actually had to sit and stake out the area, escorting curious teens off the property all hours of the night.
The cave is small 
but filled with undiscovered tunnels that possibly run for ten miles or more. The first room you enter is large and has an old Native American grave in it. The skeleton is long gone but the area where they carved out the rock for the tomb is still there. While we were standing in that area, a strange sound was heard. Almost like a low moaning. Scott and Louisiana both glanced at each other when they heard it. Was it something paranormal? Who knows seeing caves make all kinds of strange sounds, but it definitely was eerie.
We traveled further into the cave, careful to avoid mud puddles and creepy bugs and spiders clinging to the damp, cave walls. At the very end, there was an area you can take a picture of that looks like a skeleton face.
They say if you take something from the cave such as a rock for a keepsake, the Bell Witch will torment you. It was slightly tempting to pick something up just to see if anything bizarre would happen, but superstition still gets the best of me and I decided my life would go on just fine without waiting for the Bell Witch to strike. I won’t even pick up a penny if it’s heads down.
I recommend the tour for anyone interested in the Bell Witch haunting. It was fun, reasonably priced but there is some tricky maneuvering while walking in the cave and if you’re claustrophobic, you might not have the best of time while squeezing yourself through tight passage ways from room to room.
There’s no point in us recapping the Bell Witch story when others have done it already!
Check out Troy Taylor’s article and Pat Fitzhugh’s work on the Bell Witch story. Pat Fitzhugh is an expert on the subject and has researched the story extensively. Pat and Troy’s are the best books out there to read on this famous story.
The Bell Witch Haunting by Troy Taylor
Written by Amberrose Hammond