18 of the Most Haunted Places in Alabama – AZ Animals

Alabama has beautiful beaches and the best southern hospitality. There is an atmosphere of peace at their Orange and Gulf Coast beaches that you cannot find anywhere else. Alabamians wear their hearts on their sleeves and carry kindness in their eyes. Coincidentally, there is a dark side that not many people know of. Here are 18 of the most haunted places in Alabama.

To be able to explain some of the scary occurrences that have happened within this state, I need to give you some of this states history.

Alabama became a state in December 1819, initially separating itself from the Mississippi Territory. Slavery did not end until 1865, almost 40 years later. They were littering the territory with plantations and enslaved person quarters. Several stories about the civil rights movement are told because it is a massive part of Alabamas history.

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Subsequently, in addition to the states history, the culture that fills it has many depths. Storytelling was an essential piece of history with folktales of every generation. Stories of family ties and statewide politics. With such a rich cultural infrastructure, it should be no surprise that quilt-making and music are a considerable part of Alabamian history.

With storytelling and history being a big part of Alabamas framework, you should already be aware that not all the stories told are pleasant. Some will make the hair on your neck stand on end. They will give you a chill up your spine and goosebumps down your arm.

Stories that could never be untold and places that can never be unseen. These kind of things you will find in their history. Whether you spook easily or are incredibly brave, I have found something you can take to your grave.

During my research of the most haunted places in Alabama, you would not believe the amount of information that I found. It almost seemed endless. Every new search procured thousands of new stories.

Regardless of the reasonings for the hauntings, they happen. Stories upon stories of death and sadness and the darkness lurking in between the borders of this southern state.

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Considering the large amount of information I came across when compiling my list, I found it easier to separate them into categories: Homes, Landmarks, Schools, and Places of Public Service.

These vary. Some are historical mansions that the government has preserved. Others are just homes whose walls are full of the lives theyve built. No matter the kind, they have one thing in common. Spirits have been lurking in their hallways.

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The Sweetwater Mansion was built in 1828 in Florence for officers to use during the Civil War. While there, you can hear children playing that are not there in the house. People claim to see things being moved around the mansion without actually being moved. The TV Show Paranormal State has also investigated this location with its paranormal team.

According to WAFF48, a local New Station,

Architectural historians say it is one of Mobiles best preserved and elaborate examples of mid-19th century domestic architecture.

Found in Mobile, Alabama, and built in 1860, the state of Alabama is specifically preserving Richards DAR House as a museum. It was one of the first mansions built in the Italianate style. A steamboat caption had it made for his large family, with the home totaling 10,000 square feet. The American Revolutions Daughters have been running this house since 1973.

Reports for the haunted house have stated a ghostlike feature stands in the upstairs bedroom window. In the halls, you can hear laughter that is said to be a sound like something youve never heard. Sure enough to make you look in all directions.

This plantation house was built in the 1850s in Demopolis. It was the largest plantation house to be made in the county. That is why this home has garnered much attention. The home is said to be haunted by a former housekeeper from Virginia. You can hear her playing the piano in the music room from time to time.

Another plantation house on our list. Residents have claimed that a former housekeeper stands in the courtyard. Looking in your direction, almost right through you. A gentleman staying there had stated that a light attacked him, explained to be almost orb-like. This happened near the cemetery on the plantation.

These are public places in Alabama where something had happened to change its future. These locations hold so many secrets. Ones that we may never truly know.

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The Eliza Battle was a steamboat that could carry people and cargo. While on a run from Columbus, Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama, carrying 60 passengers, 45 crew, and some cotton, the steamboat reportedly caught fire via the cotton bales at around 2:00 a.m.

The captain tried to steer the ship ashore but had difficulty seeing. All the smoke and fire made it hard for the people aboard to get to the lifeboats, causing people to jump into the freezing water and sink somewhere off Alabama Highway 114.

An author named Kathryn Tucker Windham had written about this event in her book called Thirteen Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey. In her book, Kathryn talks of how the steamboat can be seen floating down the river occasionally. Looking close enough, you can see that it is engulfed in flames while music can be heard in a muffled tone.

You would not expect to find a large tree growing out of a grave, but in Mobile, Alabama, that is just what you will find. In 1835, a 19-year-old kid was convicted of the murder of his friend. This kid was a poet and musician named Charles Boyington. Although he claimed his innocence until the end, he stated a tree would grow from his grave to prove such.

Two hundred years later, every year, on May 14th and 15th, the Bogington Oak Festival is held in honor of Charles. People visit his gravesite and the fantastic southern oak tree that has sprouted. Also, people visit his home and some of his favorite places he likes to go.

In the 1950s, a school bus full of children was on the way home from school. The bus came across train tracks while driving down Country Road 12 in Coy, Alabama. During their crossover of the tracks, a train hit the school bus, thus killing everyone on the bus.

Late at night, you can hear the screams of the children coming from the tracks. If you stop to hang out, you will see apparitions of the children walking the tracks.

Depending on your level of bravery, you can also see a glimpse of the ghosts in action by dusting baking flour over the trunk of your car. People say if you put flour on your trunk, sit on the tracks with your car off. Childrens handprints will be imprinted into the flour when you pull away.

In Hueytown, Alabama, you will find a ghostly man pacing Lilly Lane late at night. Wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans, he can walk up and down the lane all night. Some residents have even claimed to have found him in their houses.

In Rogersville, Alabama, at the Second Creek Bridge. A musician was trying to catch a ride after a jazz show in the area when he was struck by a car and killed. If caught crossing the bridge late at night, you might see him walking along, trying to flag people down, still looking for that ride. Zoot suit and all.

Locals say if you stop and offer him a ride, he will mumble something about his trumpet before disappearing.

Deep in the woods of Gadsden, a witch is said to wander around. This is as folklore tells us. They say she sold her soul to the devil for immense power. After collecting several photos, investigators found orbs floating down this path.

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A little girls death in the gym of an elementary school located in Bonneville, Alabama, has left the school with several reports of hauntings. The girls ghost can be found running up and down the halls outside the gym and in the bathrooms, where you can see her in the mirror. The girls locker room in the school had to be closed off due to her sightings. This was for safety reasons of the other students still attending the school.

Several children of this Fort Payne school died in a fire. They haunt the gym. The girls locker room has been a place of heavy activity. People say you can hear lockers slamming and benches in the locker rooms moving. Also, the showers and faucets will turn on and off in the locker rooms, and the toilets will randomly flush. Lastly, people have made claims to hear kids giggling.

A mansion built on a large plantation in the late 1850s, previously known as the Carlisle-Martin House. Edward Kenworthy Carlisle, a prominent lawyer and cotton grower, owned it before it became a school.

Throughout its lifetime, it is said that a previous housekeeper haunts the fourth floor. She waits in the window for her lover to return. Visitors have reported several testaments of this.

She was known to the staff and residents past and present as The Red Lady of Pratt Hall. Martha attended the college between 1900-1950. Martha loved the color red and would decorate the whole side of her dorm. Her bed, her curtains, and most of her clothing were red. Even though Martha enjoyed her studies and loved the colleges academics, she was not enjoying college life so much. She did not have any friends.

Shortly after, her roommate and the only person she could talk to moved out of the dorms, and people stopped seeing Martha around the school. She quit attending classes, and classmates reported not seeing her at lunch or the library. When concern started to hit peoples lips, her roommate returned to check on her. When she reached the fourth-floor dorm, she found Martha in her bed. She had committed suicide. It was documented that her blood had soaked everything around her. This meant the scene was considered red.

A cheerleader was on the football field taking her homecoming pictures when she climbed on top of the goalpost. Thinking these would make for some great photos, she started to pose, when suddenly she fell to her death.

On homecoming night, if you go out to the 50-yard line on the football field and call her name. This is when she will appear and walk towards you.

This hotel was built in the 1920s and has been known as a great tourist attraction. People from all over the world come to visit for two different reasons:

Hank Williams, the famous country musician, stayed his last night in the hotel before passing the next day in the back seat of his car in 1953. Williams ghost can be seen wandering the top floors, aka The Penthouse, late at night.

Claims of other paranormal activity throughout the hotel have also been reported. According to WHNT, a news station in Alabama,

Redmont guests have reported doors opening and closing, furniture or bags moving around, and even the ghost of a small dog roaming the hallways.

I found this place listed on several things revolving around The Most Haunted Places In Alabama. It is a National Landmark, being built in 1881. The Sloss Furnaces was a steel production plant. Once built, it offered a growing economy for the newly founded city of Birmingham. The steel was in high demand, for railways were the primary source of transportation at that time. Not only did it offer a product, but it also offered employment. Thousands of jobs had become available.

Although the work was hard and incredibly dangerous. The men employed there worked 12-hour days while getting paid a meager wage. Most cases reported only earning scripts they could use at the company store.

Johnny Cash wrote a song very fitting for this type of employment.

As previously said, the work was dangerous, causing several work-related injuries and often leading to death. One of the worst stories told is when a workers item of clothing got caught in the machine gears at the plant. As the gears turned, it dragged the man in click by click by click. Several of his coworkers stood around as they watched in horror, unable to do anything to help, watching him as he disappeared.

The Travel Channel talks of this place in detail, mentioning that,

Screams are heard, apparitions are seen, and on the second floor of the Blower Building, theres the sinister presence known as Slag, an overly cruel foreman who can still be heard belittling his crew.

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This was a mental health hospital, helping patients with their psychiatry needs. This is still currently a behavioral health center today. Staff and patients alike have reported hearing strange noises coming from the hospital. There have also been reports of large shadows and dark masses wandering around the facility.

Whether youre coming to Alabama to visit 1 of the 18 Most Haunted Places In Alabama or to swim in one of the great beaches you will find here. One of the things you will not be able to miss out on is the history that fills the place.

It will be hard not to hear of the hauntings of the schools, homes, and places full of such history. It is hard for people to want to leave it behind, so they choose to stay forever.

On a side note, if you want to swim while you are here, you must do your Alligator research. Not all of our waters are a safe spot to submerge yourself.

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18 of the Most Haunted Places in Alabama - AZ Animals