December 1820, a freezing Tennessee graveyard, and as a prominent farmer's casket is lowered, an invisible entity shatters the silence by belting out a rowdy drinking song. Welcome to the Bell Witch, arguably the most famous poltergeist legend in American history.

We move past the campfire version to examine the actual mechanics of the legend: how a 19th-century farm became a supernatural theater, how folklore weaponized the voices of the marginalized, and whether an elaborate ghost story masked a very real human crime. We also dig into the shaky source material that made the whole myth possible.

• How the phenomena escalated from strange creatures in the woods to violent attacks on young Betsy Bell and the spirit named Kate who claimed total omniscience
• The chilling poisoning of John Bell, the cat test where a single drop  ...