Jess Belle

I just watched it but, no I can't.

Real rustic people are 1,000 times easier to understand than those who portray them in media.

I have to admit, the specifics of that episode tend to get lost in the stunning beauty of both Anne Francis & Laura Devon ...

Jess Belle took the potion, and Billy Ben was bewitched by her just as the witch promised. He left his fiance Elly and went back to Jess Belle. Jess Belle found out that her emotional attachment to Billy Ben was missing. The witch explained that part of her heart or soul was gone. Jess Belle wanted to undo the spell, but the witch explained not only was it impossible, but Jess Belle had been turned into a witch as well.

Things got worse when she found out she turned into a jungle cat (panther?) when the moon was full after midnight, so she had to have her mother lock her in her room at night. She managed to escape her room one night and was shot by a posse out hunting the panther, where she, as the panther, just disappeared into a puff of smoke when shot.

With Jesse Belle now gone, the spell was broken, and Billy Ben eventually married Elly, but the presence of Jess Belle was haunting them - Ellen thought something was grabbing her when she and Billy Ben returned to his cabin after their wedding, and they figured it was Jesse Belle. Billy Ben went to the witch who explained that to finally and completely kill Jess Belle, he had to create a figure of her using something she owned, then stab it in the heart with something made out of silver. Jesse Belle's mother gave Billy Ben one of her dresses, which he placed over a dress maker's form. He then took a silver hat pin and stabbed the figure. Jesse Belle reappeared in the dress, then died and disappeared again, this time forever.

Fair was Elly Glover,
Dark was Jess-Belle,
Both they loved the same man,
And both they loved him well.


[closing narration]