US 41E crosses the Kentucky Line at 0 m., 26.5 miles southeast of Hopkinsville, Ky., and at 5.4 m. crosses Red River.

The BELL WITCH FARM, 5.6 m., has long been so called because it is widely believed that a witch hag rode John Bell and his family here during the early part of the nineteenth century. At the turn of the century John Bell came to Tennessee from North Carolina, bought a tract of land here and settled with his large family and numerous slaves. To round out his holdings, Bell bought a section of land from Mrs. Kate Batts, a neighbor who had a reputation for meanness. Bell was noted for an almost grim piety and uprightness; yet no sooner had the land transfer been completed than Mrs. Batts began declaring that Bell had cheated her. This fancied injustice vexed the old woman for years. On her deathbed she swore that she would come back and “hant John Bell and all his kith and kin to their graves.”

Sure enough, tradition says, the Bells were tormented for years by the malicious spirit of Old Kate Batts. John Bell and his favorite daughter Betsy were the principal targets. Toward the other members of the family the witch was either indifferent or, as in the case of Mrs. Bell, friendly. No one ever saw her, but every visitor to the Bell home heard her all too well. Her voice, according to one person who heard it, "spoke at a nerve-racking pitch when displeased, while at other times it sang and spoke in low musical tones.”

The spirit of Old Kate led John and Betsy Bell a merry chase. She threw furniture and dishes at them. She pulled their noses, yanked their hair, poked needles into them. She yelled all night to keep them from sleeping, and snatched food from their mouths at mealtime.

The witch, so they say, did not confine her capers to the Bell farmstead. She attended every revival in Robertson County and out-sang, out-shouted, out-moaned the most fervent converts. The unseen Kate was also very fond of corn whiskey. She constantly raided still houses, they say, got roaring drunk and went home to belabor John and Betsy Bell with renewed fervor. When Betsy fell in love with Josiah Gardner, a young man who lived on the adjoining farm, Old Kate included Josiah in her vigorous displeasure. Gardner finally gave up and fled from the State.

When Old Kate’s fame at length reached Nashville, Andrew Jackson and some friends determined to face the terror and 'lay” it once and for all. In very high spirits they set out for the Bell farm. Suddenly, on the boundary of Bell’s property, it is related, the wagon in which Jackson and his friends were riding would move no farther. The mules strained and Jackson cursed. Out of the empty air came Kate's voice: “All right General, the wagon can move on.” And it did.

That night Kate kept the house in an uproar. She sang, she swore, she threw dishes, overturned furniture, and snatched the bedclothes from all the beds. Next morning the harried Jackson made an early start, crying out to Bell as he left, "I'd rather fight the British again than have any more dealings with that torment."

The Bell Witch disappeared when John Bell died. The original farmhouse has been torn down.

At intervals the newspapers revive the story with an account of how some descendant of Bell’s is due for a visitation, which they say is the lot of one person in each generation. But Old Kate is apparently frustrated by present day publicity methods.