WHAT DID KATE DO?

After this incident, the witch had many claims of different lives of the bunch. One story, however, quickly stuck inside of the town. She claimed to be the spirit of Mrs. Kate Batts, a nice, albeit eccentric lady whose husband was insane and had to be looked after. For her misfortunes, some people shunned Batts. When the witch claimed to be her, those who were already predisposed to mistrust Batts doubled down on it. The witch later denied being Batts, but the name “Kate” stuck, and everyone called the witch “Kate” for the rest of its time with them (Zimmerman 1).

It has been speculated that Kate was not something of the sorts of a witch, but something beyond the belief of the townsfolk. Ingram, who is best known for taking the story of the Bell Witch and writing it in modern form, “speculated the witch might be a human sorceress, a demon from hell, a natural being that inhabits the Tennessee woods, or a soul (possibly of a Native woman) who can’t get into heaven or hell” (Zimmerman 1). Kate became famous for the very reason of the treacherous hauntings of the Bell family and lives on as a legend talked upon today. The story of her infamous “soul-stirring” was so largely renowned that a few movies, which are informative about Kate’s torturous acts brought into the family, have been produced over the years.