The Bell Witch: The Full Account by Pat Fitzhugh Read Free Book Online Page A

They
    continued towards the Red River as they planned a
    contest to see who could skip a rock the farthest
    across the river.
    As they approached a large sinkhole near the bluff
    overlooking the river, a cold and unwelcome feeling
    began quickly taking their breath and energy away.
    Dark clouds quickly set in and the temperature
    dropped several degrees in the matter of what
    seemed like only a minute. What had been the
    perfect spring day only a moment before was now a
    cold and gloomy day. As they neared the sinkhole,
    they noticed something in the distance that appeared

    THE BELL WITCH: THE FULL ACCOUNT
    45
    to be greenish in color and hanging from a tree at the
    sinkhole’s crest.
    Now feeling very uneasy, Richard asked, “Are we
    really supposed to be here?” Joel replied, “Well, I
    don’t feel good at all any more. It feels almost as if
    we’re unwelcome here and are being watched from
    the woods. Something is not right here; I can feel it.
    What about you, Elizabeth, why are you shaking?” “I
    don’t know, Joel; I guess that sudden gust of wind
    just caught my senses a little off guard. Let’s keep
    walking; we’re almost to the river and I’m sure the
    bad weather will blow over soon.”
    “So, what’s in that big hole anyway?” asked
    Richard. “It formed many thousands of years ago
    and leads down to the back of the cave that we
    sometimes use for storage during the summer. It is
    cold in the cave all year, so that’s why we keep food
    and other things there,” replied Elizabeth. “Father
    took me into that cave once, and I didn’t like it…the
    air was hard to breathe and a bad feeling came over
    me, which seemed to get worse the farther back in
    the cave we went,” exclaimed Richard; “Father told
    me there are hundreds of Indians buried in the hill
    above it. What is the green thing up ahead? It’s way
    too big to be a leaf, and it doesn’t look like a part of
    the woods!” “Then just stop talking about it, and
    let’s go see for ourselves,” exclaimed Elizabeth.
    A Lifeless Body in a Tree
    As they moved closer to the green object, they
    began to make out the image of the lifeless body of a
    young, dark-haired woman hanging from the limb of
    an oak tree. Her face was very pale, and she was
    wearing a green dress. Elizabeth and her brothers
    cautiously inched forward for a closer look. Although
    the young woman was dead, there appeared to be

    46 P A T
    F I T Z H U G H
    small drops of water running down her cheeks as if
    she was crying.
    Overcome by fear and the strong power radiating
    from the lifeless figure, the children stood motionless
    and speechless, as they wanted to leave but no
    longer had the strength to. The power this figure
    possessed seemed to sap all of their energy. The cold
    breeze they had felt just moments before was now
    completely unbearable, and their faces were as pale
    as that of the young woman hanging from the tree.
    Sweating and trembling from head to toe, they
    once again tried to run and finally succeeded. As
    they made their way through the woods and toward
    their house, all three children turned for one last
    look at the woman. The body was no longer there,
    and the weather had returned to that wonderful,
    spring day it was only moments earlier.
    Upon returning home, they told the rest of the
    family about their encounter with the woman
    hanging from the oak tree. Drewry mentioned that
    on several occasions, he and some of the farm hands
    had seen what looked like dirt being thrown at them
    while on their way in from the fields, and that they
    sometimes saw snakes and other animals in places
    they wouldn’t expect to find them. Joel added that
    while walking past that same oak tree on the way to
    school, rocks and sticks were often thrown at him
    and Richard from thickets in the woods. They tried
    throwing them back into the thickets on several
    occasions, but the rocks and sticks would be thrown
    back as soon as they resumed their walk. They