Melody Martin is thrilled to be back in Tennessee to spend a week with her best friend, Jamie Snavely, over the winter break. Melody's family had moved to Florida, and though Melody loves her new state, she has missed her friend. Without Melody knowing it, however, Jamie has invited another girl, Gwen Jones, to join them for a sleepover. Melody never liked Gwen because the girl constantly brags and makes up wild stories that can't be true, such as an encounter with the infamous Bell Witch spirit. To make things worse, a sudden blizzard knocks out all the power and phone service to the area. Wyatt Payne, a local teen, is caught out in the blizzard and breaks his ankle. He frantically hobbles through the storm to the Snavely farmhouse in hopes of getting help, all the while being tormented by terrible, unearthly laughter. Now, with Melody, Wyatt, Jamie, Gwen, and Jamie's mother trapped in the dark, cold house, they learn that Gwen's stories of the Bell Witch are not so wild after all. And the dreadful, invisible spirit has come there for a reason.

Each Ameri-Scares novel is based on or inspired by an historical event, folktale, legend, or myth unique to that particular state.