Bell Witch Cave

John Bell settled near what is now Adams about 1804, according to Goodspeed's 1886 history of Robertson County. Ingram dates the first disturbances to 1817, when Bell is said to have shot at a strange animal sitting in his corn rows. A voice followed, then slapping and pinching aimed at his youngest daughter, Betsy. The neighborhood called the voice "Old Kate Batts' witch," after a real neighbor, and the family came to call it Kate.

Ingram has John Bell dying on December 20, 1820. A vial no one in the family recognized was found in the cupboard, and a cat given a drop "died very quick." The witch said she had put the vial there and "gave Old Jack a big dose out of it last night." Brian Dunning of Skeptoid found no newspaper, court, or church record of the death, and Ingram's book is the only source anyone has cited for the vial. Goodspeed's paragraph mentions no vial. It says "nor will a rational explanation be attempted" and offers the events "as an example of superstition."

Ingram said his account came from a manuscript by Bell's son Richard Williams Bell, called "Our Family Trouble." No one has produced it.

The Jackson story

The visitor the legend repeats most is Andrew Jackson, and the record gives him three different lines. In Ingram's eleventh chapter, a Clarksville lawyer named Thomas L. Yancey writes on January 1, 1894, what his grandfather Whitmel Fort told him. Jackson's party was riding from Nashville when the wagon stuck fast. Jackson said, "By the eternal, boys, it is the witch," and after a night of pranks, "This beats fighting the British." Ingram's Jackson was "anxious to stay a week," but his party left, spent the next night in Springfield, and returned to Nashville.

The Daily Picayune of New Orleans printed a different line on July 26, 1894: "better than fighting the British! I never had so much fun in my life." The line in circulation now, that he would rather fight the whole British army than face the witch, is not in either text. The National Register nomination for the cave traces it to a book by Harriet Parks Miller and the cave's 2006 rack card. The Tennessee Historical Commission marker in Adams says Jackson "retreated to Nashville after his coach wheels stopped mysteriously." Dunning says Jackson's movements between 1814 and 1820 are well documented and that no known record shows him visiting Robertson County.

The cave

The Bell house is gone. A 1925 letter from Joel B. Fort says the well and the farm trees were all that stood. The cave is a limestone opening near the Red River about half a mile from Adams, and its main passage runs about 330 feet. The National Register listed it on March 21, 2008, for tourism and recreation, not for the haunting itself. The nomination counts about 17,000 visitors a year and says the cave "did not need" to advertise, "relying on the legend of the witch." The log cabin beside it holds a chimney stone and an iron kettle from the original house and is otherwise a replica.

The operator sells one ticket for a guided cave tour of about 40 minutes and a guided tour of the John Bell cabin of 30 to 40 minutes. Tickets are bought on site and the operator takes no reservations. In November 2026, its pages list weekends only, mostly 10am to 3pm, with the last tour at 3pm. The season closes after November and reopens in May 2027.

Rain decides the day. The cave floods, and the operator closes during and after heavy rain, sometimes without notice in a pop-up shower, so it recommends checking its home page or calling (615) 696-3055 before a long drive. The cave stays at 58 degrees. Closed-toe shoes are advised because feet can get wet, and rubber boots and boot covers can be rented. Every visitor signs a waiver, children under 18 need an adult, children 3 and under are not admitted to the cave, and the minimum tour is 2 people. The cave and cabin are not ADA accessible, and the footing is uneven. Pets, food, drinks, and smoking are not allowed inside.

The nearest hotel is in Springfield, about 10 miles away, and Clarksville is 13 to 15 miles away. The Tennessee Historical Commission marker, 3C 38, stands along US 41 in Adams about three quarters of a mile south of the cave and can be read from the roadside at any hour.