The Bell Witch Cave

Between 1817 and 1821 the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee reported years of harassment by an invisible entity that spoke, sang, slapped children and, in the accounts, killed John Bell Sr. in December 1820. The story circulated as the family's "Our Family Trouble" manuscript and reached its printed form in Martin Ingram's 1894 An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch, and it remains the most cited poltergeist story in American folklore, claimed by some as the only case where a spirit was credited with a death. The karst cave on the property carries the legend's name, and the site's operators present the family account as the tradition's own record, not as settled fact.

The cave and a replica of the John Bell cabin have run as a commercial tour site for decades, drawing folklore tourists and paranormal investigators. Tours walk the cave passage and show a burial site inside that the operator presents as an ancient Native American burial, treated respectfully and without a people attached to it by the operator's materials. Seasonal events run through October, and the schedule closes entirely each winter.

Visiting

The operator's pricing and tours page carries the seasonal schedule (May weekends, summer Wednesdays through Sundays, fall weekends, special October hours, closed December through spring), weather closures and ticket details; tours are 40 minutes in the cave and 30 in the cabin. Reported pricing around $23 adult, $15 child, confirm at the gate. The site is at 430 Keysburg Road, Adams, Tennessee.

Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bell_Witch_Cave.JPG), CC BY-SA 3.0, Www78.