Here's part one of a famous haunting from Adams, Tennessee, The Bell Witch:

In the early 1800s, John Bell moved his family from North Carolina to the Red River bottomland in Robertson County, Tennessee, settling in a community that later became known as Adams. Bell purchased some land and a large, log house for his family to live in. The Bells quickly made many friends and gained prominence in the community. Over the course of several years, Bell acquired additional land and cleared a number of fields.

One day in 1817, John Bell was walking in his corn field when he encountered a strange-looking animal sitting in the middle of a corn row. Shocked by the appearance of this animal which possessed the body of a dog and the head of a rabbit, Bell shot several times but to no avail. The animal vanished, and Bell thought nothing more about it. That evening, the Bells began to hear what sounded like "beating" on the outside walls of their house.

These beating sounds continued for several nights, and the force and frequency seemed to increase each night. Bell and his sons would often hurry outside with hopes of finding the culprit, but always returned empty-handed. These nightly noises continued, and were followed by more problems when the Bell children began waking up in the middle of the night frightened and complaining of noises that sounded like rats gnawing at the bottoms of their bedposts. The children also complained of having their bed covers pulled, and that their pillows were tossed onto the floor.

As time went on, the Bells began to hear faint, whispering voices when encounters with this mysterious "spirit" took place. The voices were too weak to understand, but sometimes sounded as if they were a feeble, old woman crying or singing hymns. The encounters escalated in frequency and intensity, and the Bells' daughter, Betsey, experienced a series of brutal encounters with the "spirit." The "spirit" pulled her hair and slapped her face repeatedly, leaving handprints on her face and body for days at a time. The experiences escalated to the point that the Bells had all they could take. It was time to share this "family trouble," as they called it, with people outside the family.

The Bells decided to tell their neighbor, James Johnston, about the encounters and seek his guidance. Johnson and his wife spent the night at the Bell home, where they were subjected to terrifying noises, their bed covers being pulled, and several episodes of being physically beaten and slapped. Johnston finally sprang out of bed and exclaimed, "I ask you in the name of the Lord God, who are you and what do you want?" The "spirit" did not respond, and the remainder of the night was peaceful.