- Feb 5, 2002
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From possessed dolls and Bloody Mary to the Bunny Man and the Jersey Devil, here are the origins of 18 famous scary stories, adapted from an episode of The List Show on YouTube.
1. THE BELL WITCH
Ten years before he became president, Andrew Jackson heard a story that had spread from the town of Adams, Tennessee, about a ghost witch that was supposedly haunting the Bell family. It began in 1817 with knocks on their door and escalated to singing, bed covers being pulled off, objects moving, physical injury to young Betsy Bell, and even the death of the father John Bell. The entire family claimed to witness these paranormal events.
Jackson, intrigued by the story, decided to investigate in 1819. It’s said that his horse-drawn wagon suddenly stopped in its tracks when he got close to the house. The horses couldn’t pull it any closer. Jackson left sooner than planned, and can you blame him?
The legend of the Bell Witch spread even further in the late 1800s thanks to a book written by one of the sons, which formed the basis for a more wide-spread account by a different author. But the son was young enough at the time of the haunting that many are skeptical of his claims. And some believe that Betsy Bell’s future husband was pretending to be a ghost in order to break up her engagement to another man.
Continued below.
The Real Origins of 18 Scary Stories
1. THE BELL WITCH
Ten years before he became president, Andrew Jackson heard a story that had spread from the town of Adams, Tennessee, about a ghost witch that was supposedly haunting the Bell family. It began in 1817 with knocks on their door and escalated to singing, bed covers being pulled off, objects moving, physical injury to young Betsy Bell, and even the death of the father John Bell. The entire family claimed to witness these paranormal events.
Jackson, intrigued by the story, decided to investigate in 1819. It’s said that his horse-drawn wagon suddenly stopped in its tracks when he got close to the house. The horses couldn’t pull it any closer. Jackson left sooner than planned, and can you blame him?
The legend of the Bell Witch spread even further in the late 1800s thanks to a book written by one of the sons, which formed the basis for a more wide-spread account by a different author. But the son was young enough at the time of the haunting that many are skeptical of his claims. And some believe that Betsy Bell’s future husband was pretending to be a ghost in order to break up her engagement to another man.
Continued below.
The Real Origins of 18 Scary Stories
