The Leaf-Chronicle from Clarksville, Tennessee • 29

MKBDDrEmR tick Tl oo Stories SHU Interest Young And Old been an opera singer. After a few years, she died. They, being newcomers to the U.S., had no established ties to any other location, so she was buried in one of the Bell cemeteries nearby. "About 1958, Mr. C.L.

Covington, a great-great grandson of John Bell, acquired the Bell farm and was building a monument to the pioneer Bells. Around this monument, he built a large marble wall. "From the little cemetery nearby, he moved the graves to within these walls. When the grave of Mrs. Mudroch was opened, no trace could be found of a decaying casket--not a nail, or screw or handful of black dirt.

"What had happened? There was no indication that a casket had ever been interred there. Could it be that an outsider was not welcome in a Bell cemetery? Could the body have been removed by supernatural or natural forces? No answers were forthcoming. "Could this have been the reason Mr. Covington established the policy of covering each casket with concrete? have attended the funerals of three of the last four people who have been buried there. After the service; the congregation is dismissed, and the pallbearers -wait by the open grave.

A ready-mix concrete truck appears from nearby, backs up to the wall, puts the spout to the grave and unloads, his load. What is the answer?" Another Winters' story involves a strange occurrence at Bell High School in 1965. Here is how he tells the tale: "In 1912, Dr. Charles Bailey Bell gave a beautiful wooded lot to the Adams community on which to build a high school. This was named Bell High School.

The school building and grounds have been the scene of the annual homecoming each Fourth of July for many years. "After a day of various activities and the meeting of old friends from many states, a talent show is held in the gym at night. In 1965, the program included a mystery guest, who was to tell about the Bell Witch. "Joe Winters, then a 17-year-old high school youth with a flair for dramatics, had arranged the lighting effects to throw grotesque shadows on the wall, and he accompanied these with gutteral, awesome sounds. When he started, some thunder could be heard in the distance and some flashes of lightning was seen.

"When he reached the point in the program where Jesse and Frank James were hiding in the Bell Witch Cave and counting their money from a bank sound amplified and the storm broke in all its fury. "The constant lightning flashes in the semi-darkened room made things seem more eerie. Nothing could be heard over the constant loud thunder. This thing began to look real and screams could be heard from the audience. "Why did the storm reach its intensity right at the peak of the show? Could it have been talking about the Bell Witch, on Bell land and in the Bell High School? Who knows? I "Some who were in the audience still think that something supernatural was going on." The witch's destruction of the romance between Joshua Gardner and Elizabeth Bell is the basis of still another Winters' story on the Witch.

Out of respect for two good friends, Winters has changed the names of the couple involved in a strange courtship lasting 50 years. "When I was a boy in Adams in 1912, my father had a general store. These small town stores would stay open after supper until 8 or 9 o'clock. Miss Sally Gardner was a clerk in the dry goods department. "Each night before closing, George Bell would appear and walk home with Sally.

This courtship continued, and a few years later as I was gooing to visit my girlfriend at was the customary hour in this little town-I would meet Goerge on the way home from his courting. Now George was a big six-feet, 200-pound man of almost 30 at the time. Why did he go h6ihe so early? "George was the great-great grandson of John Bell, and Sally was the great-great granddaughter of Joshua Gardner. In the legend of the Bell Witch, it is said that the Bells were to have nothing to do with the Gardners and proceeded to break up the courtship between Betsy 'i Elizabeth) Bell and young Joshua Gardner. "It was whispered around Adams that this1 was the reason George Bell and Sally Gardner did not marry.

This courtship continued. "In the 1930s, Percy Richardson opened an eating place about four miles from Clarksville and 16 miles from Adams. George and Sally started having Sunday night supper there. "One Sunday night, they would come the 16 miles and arrive at Percy's at exactly 6 o'clock. Then they would return home by way of Clarksville and Guthrie, about 26 miles.

The next Sunday they would reverse their trip and come the long way and return the short way, but always arriving at exactly 6 o'clock. Continued on Page 8-C Ta es of the Bell Witch are common around the small Robertson County town of Adams. Since the mysterious Witch first afflicted the John Bell family in the early 19th century, almost every strange occurrence around Adams has been attributed to the workings of the Witch. As a result, stories of the strange deeds of the Witch are plentiful. The Witch has been blamed For freeing the wheels on Andrew Jackson's wagon, for scaring Frank and Jesse James when they spent' a night in the Bell Witch Cave after robbing the bank in Russellville, and for several strange deaths in the Adams community.

Many of the Bell Witch tales border on the obsurd and can be explained, but others are strange stories of unexplainable The Bell Witch stories have beenyJold and, retold hundreds of times, but they neveff ail to interest people. Being the time for witches, ghosts and goblins, Halloween is a perfect time the year to retell some old Bell Witch tales and perhaps tell a few new ones. Ralph Winters, 866 Greenwood has spent countless hours researching and collecting stories about the Bell Witch. He probably is the leading living authority on the Witch. Some of Winters' stories will appear in this article.

But first a brief summary of the original Bell Witch tale. As chronicled in the "Authenticated History of I he Bell by the late M.V. Ingram of Clarksville, the John Bell family moved to Adams from North Carolina about 1805. The Witch started to afflict the family around 1816. Actually the Witch was more of a ghost or spirit than what is traditionally thought of as a witch.

Some of the spirit's favorite tricks on the Bell family were pulling the covers and pillows from the bed, scratching and clawing at the bed posts, and terrorizing John Bell and young-Elizabeth Bell. According to Williams- Bell, John's son, the Witch seemed to have only two purposes. One was the persecution of John Bell to the end of his life. The other was to destroy the anticipated happiness of Elizabeth, who wished to marry Joshua Gardner. As, the Witch continued to haunt the Bells, it many people to the community, including future presidents Jackson and John Tyler.

The visitors were always welcome in the Bell home and would converse with the Witch, who seemed to enjoy conversation. According to the legend, the Witch liked Mrs. Lucy Bell and cared for her when she was ill. However, the Witch hated John and continued to torment him. In December 1820, John Bell died and the invisible Witch took credit for poisoning him.

A si range vial of poison was found on the shelf where John's medicine had been. After John's funeral, the Witch ceased most of her disturbances and left the family in the spring of 1821 saying she would returrrin seven years. In February of 1828, Williams Bell wrote that the Witch again visited the family for about two weeks. After it departed, the Bell family never heard from the spirit. The Bells always blamed the Witch for the death of John Bell and the destruction of the fourtship of Elizabeth and Joshua.

While the original Bells have been dead for many years and no one by the name of Bell still resides in Adams, stories of the Bell Witch still abound. One of the many stories Winters' has collected about the Witch concerns the disappearance of a body buried in the Bell Cemetery. Here is how Winters tells the story: "In the early 1900s, a part of the original John Bell tract of land was still owned by his great-Urandson, Dr. Charles Bailey Bell. This land joined the town of Adams, and about 1913 or 1914, Dr.

Bell sold a building lot to Professor Mudroch, a Bohemian music teacher, and he built a beautiful home on it. "The beautiful wife of Professor Mudroch had I jr.wmmtM?' v. t. I i 111 0 ft. VI 1 1 1 4- Ii MWJPMKt I ii UT-1FA I EH Awordi mm 1 i i 1 ii lit 3 tf 1 OCTOBER 27, 1974 SECTION Drawing by Jackie Cook What happened to Mrs.

Mudroch's body? FORT CAMPBELL-If you are one of those people who get nervous when reading about experiences with the supernatural, then stop reading. Because this story is about one man who has had some dealings, some mighty strange incidents that to this day are unexplained. First Sergeant James Milligan of Ft. Campbell's Dental Activities isn't superstitious and freely admits that his father was one of the best story tellers about ghosts and goblins in Activities Headquarters and walks as far as the first sergeant's office, then stops. When he gets up to check, there is nobody there.

Milligan, along with several other people who worked at the Hacienda Service Club at Ft. Sam Houston, related their incidents in a book written by Miss Susy Smith. Miss Smith is a reknown expert on spirits and other supernatural experiences. She has written several books on ghosts 'and spirits, one titled "Great American another in which theMilligan related events are told is titled "Ghosts in the Service Club Number 2 at Ft. Sam Houston was first built in 1946 and has been used as a number of things aside from simply being a service club.

It started as a hospital recreation center. Later it was converted to a headquarters building. "It's been said that there was a suicide in that building when it was serving as a headquarters building, and it's speculated that that is where Harvey originated," said Does Harvey still play his games? "I don't said Milligan, "About four years ago some people heard about our spirit and visited the service club and "crossed" Harvey's spirit. This was supposed to put him at rest, but I will find out as I am planning to return there to work after I retire inta couple of months and perhaps Harvey and I will meet again," said Milligan. Aren't you scared of ghosts and spirits? 'No, like I tell people around here, I have never really seen anything that scares me.

But if I hear those footsteps in the hallway arid something touches me, I will make a new door in my office. Besides, Harvey hasn't done anything to hurt anyone and probably never will," said Milligan. sign of anyone having been in the attic," he said. Milligan and the other workers at the club instituted a log of the strange happenings that went on in that building. The first entry in the log was dated 1961, but according to Milligan incidents had been going on, but no one bothered with them thinking that it was either the wind or someone else's fault.

The log had been kept by Milligan over the years, along with a copy thatiskeptat theserviceclubatFt. Sam. "I've never really seen anything that scares me," said Milligan. "But I don't want to see anything either, but it can't be denied that these incidents happened." The veteran of 24 years' service told about oneof the custodians of the service club reporting for work an hour early. He closed and locked the front door behind him and was doing some paperwork in the office when he heard a piano playing.

So he went to check it put. Up on the stage behind the curtain defying all house rules was a soldier in a crewcut just playing away on the piano. According to Milligan the custodian ordered the soldier to stop playing and to get down off the stage, but the soldier ignored him. So he decided to go up on the stage and throw him off bodily. The instant the custodian's vision was blocked by the stage curtain the music stopped.

By the time the custodian had reached the top of the stage the soldier was gone and the piano was closed tightly. By the time help arrived there was no sign of the soldier. None of the doors or windows had been opened in more than a week and there was no'real hiding place for him. When the custodian reported the incident and the mysterious disappearance of the soldier to the service club director, she laughed and jokingly said, "Oh, that 's just Harvey," and from that day on all strange happenings in the building were attributed to Harvey. "He is really a harmless ghost," said Milligan.

"He only does these things occasionally." Milligan tells of another incident which apparently involved Harvey. "Four men had signed out a record player for an hour. They had kept the record player much beyond the assigned time limit and I paged them to turn it in at least four times. Finally I went to retrieve the record player," said Milligan. "I found the four men huddled around awindow trying to open it.

They were as white as a sheet anoytrembling. They explained that they had been trying to get out the door since the first paging, but something or someone would not let them go near the door. So they were trying to open the window to get out. I checked the window and it worked perfectly and there was nothing apparently wrong with the door," said Milligan. That incident was the only one where somebody said they actually touched something or someone they couldn't see.

"One other time three of us were cleaning up when we heard somebody playing ping pong in one of the game rooms. We went to check it out and there was nothing. The paddles and ball were lying in the center of the table like they had never been moved. We turned to leave and the paddle slammed onto the floor as we turned around. All three of us saw that the paddles were in the center of the table before we turned around.

There was no chance they could have fallen off by themselves," said Milligan. Well, ghosts have a way of following certain people around. Milligan tells of at least three incidents he attributes to Harvey at the Dental Activity at Ft. Campbell's U.S. Army Hospital.

He says that Harvey opens the door of the Dental his neighborhood. But his real life experiences with the unusual didn't start until his assignment at Ft. Sam Houston, Tex. He served as a special services club custodian at Service Club Number 2, now known as the Hacienda Recreation Center. Milligan tells it this way, "I was working the evening shift at the club.

At closing time I went around closing all the windows and doors like normal. I knew that I had closed all the windows and locked them. The next day when I came to work, the service club director was there. She proceeded to chew me out because I hadn't closed the window over the front door," he said. "Well, I knew I had closed tje window and insisted that I had done it.

So this night the service club director followed me around to check me, and another man checked her. The windows were all closed and locked. But sure enough after we closed and locked the front door, we looked up and the window was open again," said Milligan. "So we unlocked the door and went all the way around to close the window again. That Monday we called the post engineers to come and check the building, as we thought that maybe an AWOL soldier had been hiding in the attic of the club.

They spent an afternoon checking everything from window latehe3 to looking for finger prints; They found no i.