The Best Haunted Places to Visit in Birmingham, Alabama

When one thinks of haunted places, Birmingham, Alabama generally isn’t on the list. It should be.

From the battles of the civil war, mining ore, slavery and the underground slavery network to civil rights, one would expect
a few spirits to linger.

Sloss Furnace of Birmingham is considered to be one of the top 100 haunted sites in America.

In 1881, The Sloss Furnace Company was founded by Alabama railroad magnate and entrepreneur James Withers Sloss. Production of pig iron at Sloss Furnaces began in 1882 and continued for almost 90 years, until it quit production in 1971. Called “The Fright Furnace”, there are many instances of hauntings, sightings and other unexplained oddities:

• Sloss Industries discontinued the graveyard shift, citing numerous reports of accidents and “strange incidents” that decreased steel production, due to a cruel foreman on the midnight shift at the furnaces that worked his men relentlessly under grueling conditions, with temperatures often rising above 120 degrees. This resulted in an unusual number of
deaths on that shift.
• Workers continuously complained of an “unnatural presence”
• A night watchman in 1926 sustained injuries after being “pushed from behind” and told angrily by a deep voice “to get
back to work.” The man, upon searching the grounds, could find no sign of any other living person.
• In 1971, the night before the plant closed, Samuel Blumenthal, the Sloss Night Watchman, taking a last look about, found himself face to face with “the most frightening thing he had ever seen.” He described it simply as “evil”, a “half man/half demon” who tried to push him up the stairs. When Blumenthal refused, the monster began to beat on him with his fists.
Upon examination by a physician, Blumenthal was found covered with intense burns. He died before ever returning to Sloss.
• There have been more than 100 reports of suspected paranormal activity at Sloss Furnaces recorded in Birmingham
Police records.

The Tutwiler Hotel, is Birmingham’s oldest operating hotel. Located on the north side the Tutwiler has its namesake
haunting the staff. Visitors have also reported seeing apparitions and other apparent ghosts but the most famous is Colonel Tutwiler, himself.

The main story varies in nature but as can be read on about.com, “a bartender got in trouble for leaving all of the lights and stoves on in the restaurant after closing. He insisted he had turned everything off, but whenever he gave one last look back
at the room, everything was back on. He had finally given up and gone home. This went on every night for a week. On the
last day, the manager came in the next morning to find someone had cooked a large meal and taken out a bottle of wine. On that day, the employees of the hotel began to tell Colonel Tutwiler, “Good night Colonel, and please turn the lights and stove off, and don’t make a mess!”

Guests have reported seeing men in civil war uniforms walking the halls, heard footsteps but seen no one and the old Birmingham hotel has even had a few overnighters say that things in their rooms were moved.

Arlington Antebellum Home & Gardens is Birmingham’s only antebellum home and pre-existed the city’s founding in 1871. Built between 1845 and 1850 by one of Birmingham’s founders, William Mudd, this Greek revival mansion has been completely restored and is open as a museum representing the era.

Arlington was the gathering site for the union soldiers, as they prepared the burning of the University of Alabama, some 30 miles west.

Some guests report rocking chairs that rock by themselves, the feeling of being watched, hearing doors close and the like.

Wherever you choose to start your haunted tour, Birmingham, “the steel city”, will not disappoint.