The One Who Waits Beneath

Nightfall Crypt

In the quiet fields of Adams, Tennessee, something ancient still lingers beneath the old Bell home—something tied to a tooth buried and forgotten under warped floorboards. When a skeptical teenager returns to her family's ancestral house, she begins to experience a series of eerie disturbances that mirror one of America's oldest supernatural legends. Whispers in the walls, dreams that feel too real, and a presence that knows her name... As the past rises from the earth, she's forced to confront the horrifying truth: some legends aren't just stories—they're waiting for you to come back, the suspense building with each step she takes.

Transcript

00:00We no longer talk about the cave. Even those who lead the so-called historical tours

00:05stay on the surface, pointing flashlights toward the darkness but never fully immersing themselves.

00:11They'll joke about it, rattling chains, flickering candles, theatrical screams.

00:18But nobody stays after dark. Not really. Not if they've heard it.

00:25I didn't believe it at first. My mother's family grew up in Adams,

00:31and I used to roll my eyes every time they brought up her. The bell witch. A tooth-stealing spirit.

00:38A moaning ghost who hated weddings and loved quoting scripture.

00:42I was 17 the last time I stayed at the old house before we sold it off to the tourism folks.

00:48My great-grandfather had held onto it till he died, swearing the house had never once

00:54misbehaved in his lifetime. That's not true. And I think he knew it.

01:01For me, it all began with the hallway outside the guest room.

01:05The floorboards there had a distinct smell. It wasn't a typical musty or wooden scent.

01:12It was more like burnt sugar and bile. A sickly sweet odour that lingered only at night,

01:18adding to the sense of dread that was beginning to envelop me.

01:21The first time I noticed it, I was brushing my teeth and heard whispering in the hallway.

01:28I assumed it was wind. Old houses breathe. But then I listened to my name. Not shouted and not groaned.

01:38Just whispered, like someone testing how it felt in their mouth.

01:43Elena. I froze. I called out nervously.

01:51Mom? No answer.

01:55I opened the bathroom door and peeked down the hallway.

01:58The scent hit me hard. Sharp and sweet and sickening.

02:03The boards in front of the guest room appeared warped as if the heat had bent them.

02:10Then one of them lifted.

02:12I swear to God. Just barely. But it moved.

02:17I heard the creak. I saw it tilt. I ran back into my room and locked the door.

02:22The next night, something more significant occurred. I had fallen asleep with the fan on

02:29and woke up to silence. Dead silence. The power was out. Or at least the fan had stopped.

02:36But my phone still worked. That should have tipped me off. It was too quiet.

02:42Then I heard it. The sound of a wooden chair scraping against the floor. Slow. Deliberate.

02:53I sat up and waited. Straining to hear it again. There. Beneath the floor. This time.

03:02A knock. Another knock. Three knocks. I felt it through the soles of my feet.

03:09By the fourth knock, I realized it was trying to say something in Morse.

03:16I didn't know Morse. But the spacing between the knocks felt… intentional.

03:23I didn't sleep. The next morning, I asked my aunt about the house's history.

03:30She was chopping apples in the kitchen.

03:31Oh, honey. She smiled too widely. You're just scaring yourself. Don't read those old stories.

03:40They always exaggerate. Didn't one of the bellboys take a tooth from the cave?

03:47Her knife paused. Then I resumed chopping.

03:52Don't go into that cave. She said without looking at me.

03:56I wasn't going to… You don't go looking for something that wants to be found. Do you understand

04:05me? That night, I didn't even wait to fall asleep. I just lay there with the lights on,

04:13watching the door, feeling like something was standing on the other side of it.

04:17Then came the dreams. They weren't like normal dreams. They felt… older.

04:27I was lying on the same wooden floor, but I was wearing a dress I'd never seen before. Blue, homespun,

04:35stained with earth. My hands were smaller. I had no voice.

04:40The dream me crawled toward the porch and reached through the cracks in the floorboards. Down there,

04:49glowing faintly in the dirt, was a tooth. Tiny. Human. Yellowed with age.

05:00As I touched it, the ground seemed to inhale. That's the only way I can describe it.

05:05Like breath from beneath the house sucked into my lungs. I woke up choking. The next morning,

05:14I found fingernail scratches on the floor, where I had dreamed I'd been reaching. My fingernails were

05:21blackened and packed with soil. I had not gone outside. I told myself I would leave. I even packed.

05:30But something kept me there. I don't know if it was curiosity, guilt, or the feeling that she had chosen me.

05:40The final night, I went into the hallway again. This time, I brought a crowbar. I pried the warped

05:49board loose and pulled it up. There was something wrapped in burlap beneath it. Old, rotted cloth that

05:57disintegrated when I touched it. Inside was a wooden box. Not locked. Inside the box was… nothing.

06:09Nothing except the smell. That awful, sweet, sick scent. Thick and clinging. But the moment I lifted

06:16the lid, the wind howled outside. The door slammed shut behind me. And a voice. Not spoken. But inside me,

06:25me whispered. Found it. The lights flickered. And then I heard crying. A girl's crying,

06:34low and guttural and furious. I slammed the box shut and ran. But the hallway seemed to twist and turn,

06:42trapping me in its claustrophobic embrace. I lost track of time, turning corners that led back to the

06:48same four steps. My aunt found me in the morning, still clutching the box. Teeth chattering. The

06:56feeling of being trapped. Refusing to leave me. She said she'd seen the same thing in 1983.

07:04She never spoke of it again. We left that day. The house was sold to the county within the year.

07:12They claim nothing's ever happened there since. But sometimes in the fall, people say the candlelight

07:19still flickers in the old upstairs window, when no one is inside. And every once in a while,

07:26the new floorboards creak, even when no one walks on them. The bell witch didn't come for vengeance,

07:35not just that. She came for what was stolen. But once it was found, she had no reason to leave.

07:44And she never will. Not really. The bell witch didn't come for vengeance. Not just that.

07:52She came for what was stolen. But once it was found, she had no reason to leave.

07:57And she never will. Not really. Not really.

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