Famous Supernatural Events in 19th Century America

Supernatural or paranormal events have long been a newsworthy topic, drawing the attention of believers and skeptics alike. It seems that when something seemingly inexplicable happens, especially when it involves mysterious circumstances like ghosts, it isn’t long before the neighbors start talking, newspaper articles start appearing, and soon the story becomes something of a legend. . Over the years, these stories become more and more embellished and soon become part of the lore of a community. There are numerous fantastic examples of these supernatural tales, and an overview of three of the best known follows.

the bell witch – One of America’s most famous hauntings occurred in what is now Adams, Tennessee, on land owned by John Bell in the early 1800s. The story begins in 1817 when John, a farmer, was working in one of his cornfields and saw a strange looking animal. The creature appeared to have the body of a dog with the head of a rabbit, and John wasted no time in trying to shoot it. After several shots, the animal simply disappeared and John returned to his house. That night, a series of loud bangs began, as if something was hitting outside the house. John and his children went to inspect the noises and found nothing strange, but this was only the beginning of the strange and terrifying events that the family would suffer. Before long, the Bell children began experiencing strange sounds in their rooms, covers being removed from them at night, and even painful pinching and slapping. Betsy Bell was the main recipient of these unwanted events, but the entire family was also traumatized. There were also faint whispers, laughter and crying, and soon John Bell was forced to tell his close friend and neighbor about the strange occurrences. Word of the curse began to spread, and people as far away as Nashville began to take an interest in what had come to be called The Bell Witch. Over the years, the entity’s antics did not cease; rather, they became more frequent and severe. Betsy continued to endure physical abuse from the Witch, and it was not until John Bell’s death in December 1820 that events apparently began to calm down. Descendants of the Bell family have reported the return of the spirit on a few occasions, and to this day, people in the area claim that mysterious things still happen around Bell’s old place.

The Lemp Mansion – One of the finest 19th century St. Louis homes is the Lemp Mansion, located right in the heart of the city. The house was built in the 1860s by brewing magnate Johann “Adam” Lemp, who became world famous for his beers. Lemp and his children made a fortune operating their brewery that covered five city blocks and were well known in St. Louis for their wealth and power. With such success at the brewery, William Lemp, Sr., Adam’s son, built the 33-room mansion that became the family home for all of the Lemps. Troubles began for the family in 1901 when William’s favorite son died suddenly of ill health, and only continued for the Lemps with scandalous divorces, dwindling success at the brewery, Prohibition beginning in 1920, and finally, multiple suicides. By 1922, three of Adam Lemp’s sons had committed suicide, and another son did the same in 1949. With the brewery permanently closed and eventually sold, and the family name so tarnished, Lemp’s remaining descendants lived fairly quiet lives. . But the mansion, it seemed, was anything but quiet. Paranormal events first began to be reported in the 1950s after the fourth suicide. At that time, the house had been bought and turned into a pension. But with the strange sounds and eerie footsteps echoing through the house, the tenants didn’t stay long. In 1975, the Lemp mansion was sold to Dick Pointer and converted into a restaurant and inn. Customers at the venue have reported mysterious sounds, the sensation of being watched, and objects moving of their own free will. Although the Lemps have long since left the mansion, it seems that their absence is only in the physical sense and that their spirits linger, unable to leave the family home.

The Fox Sisters: Sisters Leah, Kate, and Margaret became arguably three of America’s most famous mediums when they began receiving messages from the dead in 1848. Living in a house with a reputation for being haunted, they didn’t it was too far down a stretch for people to believe that the young women had been selected by a spirit to serve as links between the living and the dead. Through a series of knocks, a code was developed where the girls would ask yes or no questions and the spirit would respond with a certain number of knocks. These communications led to the discovery that the ghost was that of a murdered man who had been buried in her basement. Word quickly spread, and soon the girls were becoming famous, traveling and giving public sessions. As interest in spiritualism increased, so did the skepticism surrounding the Fox sisters, with critics loudly proclaiming them to be frauds. It was not until many years later that Kate and Margaret confessed that they were responsible for the blows, producing them through the crunching of the joints of their toes. Although they admitted to misleading the public about their spiritual communication, their story fostered a growing interest in the supernatural and remains one of the best-known examples of paranormal activity today.

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