Bell Witch Poems

 

Queen of the Haunted Dell

'Mid woodland bowers, grassy dell,
By an enchanted murmuring stream,
Dwelt pretty blue-eyed Betsy Bell,
Sweetly thrilled with love's young dream.

Life was like the magic spell,
That guides a laughing stream,
Sunbeams glimmering on her fell,
Kissed by lunar's silvery gleam.

But elfin phantomas cursed the dell,
And sylvan witches all unsean,
As our tale will truely tell,
Wielded sceptre o're the queen.

From M.V. Ingram, Authenticated history of the Bell Witch, 1894.

 

Kate's Still About

In the howling wind and the lighting's flash
The drumming rain and the thunder's crash
The fires burned low and the lamps are out
It's time for Kate to move about.

Above Red River, on the bluff's high path
When the thunder's quiet, you can hear her laugh
With now and a loud, long shout
Kate wants all to know she's still about.

No sleep for the children, as they shiver with fear
And listen for the sounds they hope they won't hear
No whispering or talking, as they lie in doubt
For at times like this, Kate walks about.

Kate laughs and cackles and the children play dead
With a jerk all the covers fly off the bed
The children shiver and some cry out
This usually happens when Kate's about.

When at day-light and the thunder's grow faint
And the children feel they are "rid of the haunt."
With crackling laughter and a frightening shout
Kate lets everyone know that she's still about.

From H.C. Brehm, Echoes of the Bell Witch in the Twentieth Century, 1979.