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Century-old story of massacre at CTX jail leaves haunting questions

Posted at 5:15 PM, Oct 31, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-31 18:22:11-04

The old Bell County Jail has been remodeled, but coats of paint can't hide the massacre that happened over 100 years ago.

The story goes that on May 25,1874 nine prisoners that were being held in the Bell County Jail were murdered by a mob of people while the sheriff was out of town.

The men were allegedly part of a criminal gang terrorizing Texas citizens.

Sheriff Robert Halley captured men, eight of them for horse theft and one for murdering his wife with an ax and put them in the Bell County Jail.

"Once news spread throughout the state, it can be assumed that people wanted to enforce justice," Executive Director of the Bell County Museum, Coleman Hampton said. "The mob broke in and according to the two prisoners who were not harmed, the prisoners were questioned and then shot and killed by the mob."

The members of the mob then dragged the bodies into the yard of the jail where they remained until being buried in a mass grave at a cemetery in Belton.

While their bodies remain there, some people, including Rick Bell who leads the Ghost Wagon Tour in Belton have said their spirits do not.

"It's some sort of a spirit-energy entity that is coming through that's literally trying to communicate with us," Bell said. "The indications we have is that there is some residual energy here from them, they specifically come through when we are here on our audio equipment and video equipment."

Bell adds that what the spirits said, only confirm the reports of what happened that fateful night in 1874.

"This area in front of the jail is very active and the words that come through are murdered, I was murdered, massacre, hanging, I was shot," Bell said.

For more information on what happened at the old Bell County Jail, you can visit the Bell County Museum and for the paranormal side of things, you can take a ride with Rick on the Ghost Wagon Tours.

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