According to the legend, the first manifestation of the Bell Witch haunting occurred in 1817 when John William Bell, Sr. encountered a strange animal in a cornfield on his large farm in Robertson County, on the Red River, near Adams, Tennessee. The animal, described as having the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit, mysteriously disappeared when Bell shot at it. This incident was quickly followed by a series of strange beating and gnawing noises manifesting outside and eventually inside the Bell residence. Betsy Bell, the family's younger daughter and the only daughter still living at home (Bell's oldest daughter Esther married Alexander Bennett Porter July 24, 1817), claimed to have been assaulted by an invisible force.
Bell Sr., later in life, suffered frequent facial seizures, often rendering him speechless. He died on December 20, 1820. A small vial containing an unidentified liquid he allegedly ingested was found near his body. When some of the contents were force-fed to the family cat, the animal died. The vial was then disposed of in the fireplace.

Pat Fitzhugh's retelling of the Bell Witch legend concludes with a statement to the effect that some people believe that the spirit returned in 1935, the year when the witch claimed it would return ("one hundred years and seven" past 1828), and took up residence on the former Bell property. Other sources say that 1935 brought nothing out of the ordinary to the Bell descendants or the surrounding community.
Andrew Jackson, later to be President of the United States, is alleged to have visited the Bell Family and to have witnessed the phenomena. According to legend and the diary of Dr. James Killian, Jackson arrived prepared to spend the night in mid 1817, but was so overwhelmed with fright by what he witnessed that Jackson fled. Killian, a devoted abnormalist and cryptid hunter was originally at a loss to explain the phenomena.