Friday Fun: The John Bell and Spring Fever Video Jaunt

I have to give credit to Autumnforest for the inspiration for today’s Friday Fun. Recently she got a Flip cam that she’s been using to film all sorts of things she’s been putting on her blog, like a sort of Haunt Jaunt she made with some friends, including the lovely Julie from Above the Norm, and her swimming pool. (The last one may sound weird but it was quite refreshing, let me tell you!)

At any rate, I thought it was super fun. A neat insight into her life and a little extra taste of her personality.

I don’t have a Flip cam. I just have a little Canon Elf camera that can take video in addition to pictures. (It’s what I use for the giveaway drawings I sometimes film.) My poor pets can attest that more often than they’d like they’re the subject of my photo shoots or homemade movies.

But this past week I found a couple of new things to shoot. (See below.)

THE BELL WITCH’S JOHN BELL?

There’s this historic marker on a street corner two miles from my house marking John Bell’s birthplace. I pass it all the time and have always wondered, “Is it that John Bell?”

You know, the one who was tormented by the Bell Witch? (And who’s “cave” is allegedly right here in Tennessee. It’s also not far from where I live. Just up the highway in Adams, Tennessee.)

The other day I braved the honks and rubberneckers to take a video of it. (Easier than writing down all the info.) I wanted to have it to reference when I finally researched if it was the Bell Witch’s John Bell.

Which I did. It is not. According to the legend, the Bell Witch’s John Bell hailed from North Carolina. (And arrived in Tennessee in 1804. This John Bell had just been born in 1796.)

But now I have some new questions: What did this John Bell (and his relatives) make of sharing the same name as the other one? Did he even know of the other one’s woes being haunted by the Bell Witch? Did he even know of him at all?

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE…OF SPRING!

There’s nothing supernatural about the above clip. The spookiest thing about it was what I did: something that’s probably illegal and could’ve gotten me busted if a cop had caught me doing it. (And considering there was a police station less than a mile away, I’m lucky no cops spotted me doing this!)

What was it I was doing? Driving under the influence…of Spring!

The only other time of the year when Nashville’s (heck all of Tennessee’s) scenery truly is just breathtakingly stunning is Fall. And then, like now, the trees are the stars of the show.

But bushes and flowers (daffodils and tulips primarily) are also blooming with a riot of color. It turns mundane streets into corridors of wonder!

I was driving along such a corridor the other day and decided to tape it. I hope it’ll provide a small, pleasant distraction for you today. Happy Friday!

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.