another interesting historical haunting- the Bell Witch Farm- Which president Andrew Jackson even went and investigated himself- and left spooked- from an article:
“Farmer John Bell and his family moved to Red River, Tennessee (now named Adams, Tennessee), back in the 1800s. Bell made a living as a farmer and rose to become a respected local leader of the town church. He and his daughter Betsy were said to be tormented by a malicious entity called The Bell Witch.
The Hauntings
Legend has it that the Bell Witch began to haunt the Bell family around 1817. One day while John was inspecting his massive cornfields, he encountered a strange-looking animal. The creature had the body of a dog and a head of a rabbit. Stunned by the sight, he proceeded to shoot it several times, but it later vanished.
John thought nothing of the encounter until nightfall came. The family was tormented by strange beating sounds and a faint chorus of women chanting resonated through the house. As time went on, Betsy became a target of the Bell Witch, and she often suffered physical and emotional torment at the hands of this supernatural entity.
The Bell Witch eventually got the upper hand when it claimed the life of John Bell. It was later reported that the witch’s laugh was heard all throughout John’s funeral.
Many consider the legend to be one of the most notable in Southern folklore. But a lot of people have argued that the terror was all real. Even former president Andrew Jackson was intrigued by the rumors and decided to go and investigate himself. Jackson happened to know the family well, having fought alongside Bell’s sons during the Battle of New Orleans.”
https://www.wowamazing.com/trending/spooky/chilling-haunted-house-legends/
Did they eat ergot infected bread? Could have been a bad case of St. Anthony’s Fire, ergotism.
[[Adding to the list is a man who asked the time of day and then drank himself to death at a bar, another who killed himself at the same bar by eating cigar butts, and another who ordered a drink and then blew his head off. On top of this countless people were being hauled off to insane asylums and it was as if everyone had just suddenly and completely gone stark raving mad.]]
We shouldn’t forget that drugs were very easy to get back then- and not regulated- and a lot of the seedier crowds back then used them a lot- so a lot of the bizarre acts could have been attributed to drug addiction
There could have also been geological or chemical events that caused madness- or maybe even culinary- who knows- could have been demonic too- not discounting that- but there may be perfectly natural reasons too- Hard to tell- but it did seem people were gravitation to demonic rituals at that particular time- likely due to a concerted effort to spread it there- and back then, people were pretty superstitious=- and likely would turn to that for ‘protection’- The Salem witch trials were based on superstition and fear too-
Is Black River Falls near Plainfield... where Ed Hein lived? Wondering if there was a connection.
Sounds like a normal day police blotter in Chicago, Baltimore, Los Angeles, etc. Wonder if Black River Falls was run by democrats?
[[The wrath of nature and paranoia about supernatural forces, ...sudden joblessness ... the added horror of the great financial depression gripping the nation ...
all conspired to create a bleak and volatile environment that would become a breeding ground for the terror and grotesqueries to come. ]]
Very unfortunate set of circumstances likely lead to people’s fears and dementia-like thinking- it was likely a very very tough time that tried the souls of man back then- looks like they were starving at times then- jobless- desperate- all physiologically devastating no doubt- financially and physically desperate people do desperate things many times- looks like it was a ‘perfect storm’ likely enhanced by some contaminant at the time-
I can’t even imagine what it musta been like to live there during that time- musta been pretty horrible-
Kind of sounds like a medicine show passed through there selling tainted potions, Not an uncommon event in those times.
PING
” another woman who would go around and break as many windows as she could.”
Ernestine T. Bass. Grandmother of the Mayberry terror.
I dont know avgreat deal about Black River Falls so I cant say much more other than to add that there were a number of areas across the northern part of Wisconsin that reported some pretty strange events back then. The effects are evident even today.
Belgians were the primary settlers in the immediate atea near where I live today. To this day some farms have a shrine like a mini church at what would be the front left corner of the property to a person standing on the front porch.
Of course, if you’re snowed in or something you could pop in there to appologize for not making it to mass or to do some late night praying for a sick one without waking the family but thats not why they were originally built.
The short version is that about this time there was a proud man that was expecting a huge sum of money but it was given to a very pious local priest instead. The proud man cursed the priest but God deflected the curse and it bounced back. For the rest of the proud mans life he was followed by human faced pig demons that tormented him. To interact with or cross the path of the proud man could occasionally cause one of the pig demons to follow one home. Without the shrine designating your property as belonging to one of The Lord, yhe demons could infect your home and call allies to torment your family too.
Just a ridiculous local legend about a local priest I suppose...but if it was, why did the human faced pig demons subsequently appear in Tennessee?
Don’t drink the water.
Could just be someone starting a bunch of tall tales to bring in tourists or to write a book. There are some wild stories online about our hometown which are total hooey but the little nothing town is trying to get tourists. We just shake our heads...
But I bet the local diner serves damn fine coffee.
bookmark
bump
I’ve lived in Wisconsin for 50 years, knew of the town but never heard of this alleged weird history.