Eerie Alabama: Chilling Tales from the Heart of Dixie

by Alan Brown, Kari Schultz (Illustrator)

Overview

Mysterious creatures, strange happenings and ghost stories. Alabama has them all and more - despite its glorious depictions.

Alabama claims an abundance of fascinating mysteries and legends despite being known for its antebellum mansions and sunny beaches, . The White Thang is a Sasquatch-like creature that has terrorized Alabamians for generations. For a brief period in the 1980s, Needham gained national attention because of its "crying pecan tree." In 1854, a farmer named Orion Williamson simply vanished in a field in Selma. From the aquatic beast known as the Coosa River Monster to the story of the Leprechaun of Mobile, these stories have evolved over generations. Author and ghost-story guru Alan Brown presents some of the strangest stories from this collective tradition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781540240118
Publisher:	History Press Library Editions
Publication date:	08/26/2019
Series:	No Series Linked
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.44(d)

About the Author

Dr. Alan Brown has been a professor of English at the University of West Alabama since 1986. For the past few years, Dr. Brown's interest in southern folklore has manifested itself in over seventeen publications of southern ghost stories. He has served as president of the Alabama Folklife Association and as a member of the American Ghost Society, Ghost Chasers of Mississippi and of the Mississippi Writers' Guild.

Table of Contents

Introduction 9

Chapter I Mysterious Monsters

The "White Thang" of Alabama 13

The Downey Booger 15

The Wolf Woman of Mobile 16

Mobile's Leprechaun Sighting 18

Alabama's Hogzilla-Real or Fake? 20

The Coosa River Monster 22

Alabama's Fossilized Sea Serpent 24

Alabama's Wampus Cat 25

The Bell Witch in Alabama 27

Two-Toed Tom: Alabama's Monster Alligator 29

Huggin' Molly 31

Chapter II Underwater Mysteries

Catzilla: Just Another Fish Story? 33

Lake Martin's Drowned Towns 34

Does a World War II-Era Airplane Lie under Lake Martin? 35

Alabama's Underwater Forest 36

Chapter III Buried Secrets

Hidden Civil War Gold 39

Fort Morgan's Mystery Ship 42

"There's a Dinosaur in My Front Yard!" 44

Alabama's Buried Giants 45

Alabama's Ancient Cave Coffins 48

Alabama's Lost Silver Mine 48

The Lost Cannons of Fort Toulouse 49

Birmingham's Underground River 50

Alabama's Lost Pirate Treasure 53

Chapter IV Mysteries from the Skies

The Odyssey of Eastern Airlines Flight 576 57

The Falkville Men 59

The Fyffe, Alabama Sighting 60

Fortean Evidence from Alabama 61

"It Came out of the Sky-in Sumter County, Alabama" 62

Ann Hodges: Alabama's Only Meteorite Victim 63

Chapter V Prophets and Seers

Rena Teel: The Seer of Millerville 65

Reverend Constantine Sanders: The Sleeping Preacher of Mooresville, Alabama 67

Edgar Cayce: Selma's Sleeping Prophet 69

Chapter VI Native American Legends

The Legend of Prince Madoc 73

Tecumsch and the New Madrid Earthquake 75

The Legend of Chewacla Creek 77

The Little People of the Cherokee 79

The Legend of Noccalula Falls 80

Chief Tuskaloosa and the Black Warrior River 82

Chapter VII Legendary Deaths

Spartana Morisette: The Lost Southern Belle 85

Harper Lee and the Voodoo Preacher of Alexander City 87

Daniel Webster Sanderson's Lonely Death 89

Hazel Farris: The Bessemer Mummy 91

Chapter VIII Mysterious Disappearances

The Strange Case of Orion Williamson 95

Austin Mize and the Ghost Ship Cyclops 97

The Disappearance of Harris Rufus Loggins 99

The Brasher-Dye Mystery 100

The Case of the Missing Sunday School Teacher 102

Chapter IX Legendary Places

Bear Creek Swamp 105

The Face in the Window of the Pickens County Courthouse 107

Birmingham's Ram-Headed Storyteller Fountain 109

The Ave Maria Grotto 111

Enterprise's Monument to the Boll Weevil 115

The Crying Pecan Tree of Needham, Alabama 117

What Is Underneath Birmingham's Botanical Gardens? 118

Mount Nebo Cemetery 121

Hal's Kingdom 122

Oak Mountain Tunnel 123

Blakeley's Legendary Oaks 124

Chapter X University Legends

The Lady Who Saved the President's Mansion at the University of Alabama 125

The Legends of Athens State University's Founders Hall 127

The Covered Bridge at the University of West Alabama 129

The Strange History of Auburn University's War Eagle 132

Chapter XI Legendary Characters

Mobile's Runaway Princess 135

Here Comes the Goat Man! 136

Lou Wooster: The Madam Who Saved Birmingham 138

Maria Fearing: The Slave-Turned-Missionary 141

Railroad Bill: Alabama's Shape-Shifting Outlaw 142

Works Cited 147

About the Author 157