John Bell raised his family on his Carolina home
A planter and a farmer with a business all his own
He hired him an overseer to help at harvest time
Who was trouble from the day they met and hard to keep in line

John Bell's daughter Mary was the fairest in the land
Who courted many suitors that were looking for her hand
The overseer grew jealous and took poor Mary to his bed
So John Bell lined his pistol up and shot the rounder dead

[Chorus]
Have you seen the lonely Bell Witch?
Have you heard the Bell Witch crying in the sky?

John Bell moved his family to the state of Tennessee
When strange things started happening that he had never seen
His slave awoke one night her face gray-blue as sugar cane
She said it was the overseer arisen from his grave

Then one night that old witch came to call on old John Bell
He said he loved poor Mary and would surely treat her well
John Bell wouldn't have a spirit married to his kin
And let the Bell Witch know that was an evil kind of sin

[Chorus]

The Bell Witch courted Mary and drew her mind up in a haze
She caught the scarlet fever and was stuck in bed for days
The doctors tried to save her with their medicine and prayers
But Mary closed her eyes and died - a girl of twenty years

When they carried Mary's body from the wagon to the ground
A great black bird flew in the sky and circled all around
The bell around its neck did toll a lonely mournful cry
Mary Bell forsaked him on the day after she died

[Chorus]