Cryptids of Alabama

I found these cryptids very interesting because I had never heard of any of them, so researching them was very interesting and fun.  I will link the articles that I found of them after each analysis of them.

Lets get into some of Alabamas Cryptids:

The Wolf Woman of Mobile Alabama

 From the limited resources I had, I found this article that has an excerpt of some of their own research that they found from an article that was published April 8, 1971.  There is also  this podcast episode that has a brief 6 min episode on the Wolf Woman of Mobile. 

From my research she was described as pretty, but hairy by the first person to have seen her.  She has the face of a woman and the body of a large wolf.  At first The Press-Register thought it was a hoax until they got as many as 50 phone calls they had received in about a week.  In the article I had found they say that the original reporter for all of this said that the fear from the witnesses seemed real.  Just as suddenly as people had begun seeing her, she disappeared just as quickly.

Rumors flew about what the witnesses had seen.  One rumor was that she was actually an orphan girl that had been raised by wolves and runs on all fours and naked.  Another rumor was that it might have been a confused werewolf during their first transition.  Some even think that it could have been a skinwalker.  Some people thought that a scientist had tried to fuse both people and animals together and the animal portion took over completely and that is why she took off as suddenly as she had appeared.  No one has seen her since those fateful days in 1971.  Is she still roaming the woods near Mobile, but much more stealthy?

The Alabama White Thang (Thing)

The Alabama White Thang or also known as the B14 Monster to some said to be similar to Bigfoot.  Most have described it as 7-9ft tall, covered in thick white fur, glowing red eyes, and stands on two legs and runs on all four.  There have also been some that describe it looking more like a white lion or wolf.  One person even described it as resembling a kangaroo with the head of a cat.  Over in Huntsville, AL people have said that it looked more like an alien and liked to hide in caves, ditches, and other similar areas.  Some believe it to be the albino cousin of Bigfoot.

One thing stays the same, it is completely covered in thick white hair.  Majority also says that it has an extremely strong smell, similar to a dead fish.  Allegedly despite its massive size, it also can move extremely fast.  Another thing that it allegedly has in common with Bigfoot is that it can emit a loud scream that is described as similar to a woman screaming at the top of her lungs.  Some people in Alabama have said that they can hear it screaming in the woods often near their towns/houses.  Some people associate it with death or an omen of death.  Many people claim to have seen it before or after a funeral or right before someone dies.

This man also has a few stories about a few of his own personal encounters with The Alabama White Thang.   The stories were a little chilling and it was fantastic to hear from someone who had personally grown up with the legend of the Alabama White Thang.

The Downey Booger

This is another cryptid that there wasn’t a whole lot of information on.  There is this article written by a wife descendant of the Downey family.  This one is also part animal and part human, I have seen that a lot of people seem to depict it as similar to a short bigfoot.  Let’s get into the story. It all started one fateful night in the 1800s when John and Joe Downey were riding back home after a night on the town when a strange looking animal? Person? Creature leaped out and spooked both of the boys’ horses.  The horses reared and took off in the opposite direction than the creature.  Once John and Joe got their horses under control, they decided to try and go back because they needed to get home.  The horses did not agree once they came to the same sand bed that the creature had jumped out of, the horses stopped and would not move forward no matter how hard the men tried.  John and Joe decided to go the long way around in the end.  They told their parents, who heavily doubted their story because no one else had seen it.

About three months later another family was returning from a church service.  They came across the same sand bed and they saw the creature dart out, stand, and quick as a wink ran out of sight.  The kids were so terrified that the mother made a new pallet for them to all sleep together on.

Now there is another story about Jim Jackson, the man who shot The Downey Booger.  It takes place in the early fall and he was running moonshine on his wagon being pulled by his mules, Pet and Hattie.  When Jim looked over his shoulder, he saw the creature following, on two feet, behind his wagon.  He thought that maybe he could out run it, but the only time his mules were fast was down hill.  Jim remembered his gun that he kept by the seat.  He turned around, aimed, and fired twice. He hit it and it screamed like a woman in distress.  The creature limped away on 3 feet instead of the two feet it was on before.  After everyone had heard about Jim shooting the creature, a posse was formed to find the creature.  The only thing they found was traces of blood leading from the sand bed to a cliff.  Figuring the creature fell off the cliff, the posse was disbanded and the creature hasn’t been seen since.

Huggin’ Molly

Huggin’ Molly is often depicted as a giant woman, about 7ft tall and as big around as a bale of cotton, and dressed in black.  If she sees you at night, she will chase you down, give you a hug and scream in your ear.  The story of Huggin’ Molly has been around for generations to get kids home before dark. This article has a small story about a resident, Tommy Murphy, whose father encountered Molly.  Tommy Murphy and his best friend always believed that his dad had gotten caught by Huggn’ Molly.  There is even a restaurant named after Huggn’ Molly.  She supposedly still walks the streets of Abbeville at night waiting to find her next victim.

The Witch on Hinds Rd

There is a witch that haunts the area around the road and if you were to walk on it alone a ghost witch will run up to you screaming she sold her soul to the devil.

The origin of the witch dates back to the turn of the 19th century on Hinds Rd in Gadsden, AL.  For twenty years the witch, Torbit, would allegedly kidnap children to bathe in their blood to keep her young and use their bones to decorate her shack.  Even most of the adults in Gadsden didn’t want to confront the witch as they were too scared of what she might do to them.

In 1939 the Mayor of Gadsden decided to confront the witch.  He put together a posse of people that were brave enough to confront the witch. When they got there, there was a pond filled with blood, bones, body parts, and whole bodies of children in it.  There was also a cave that had a foul stench and one brave soul went to check it out.  He went in and was heard screaming after entering. He came out and couldn’t speak again.  

When they finally made it to the witch’s hut they saw a young woman with black hair and green eyes. She was naked and covered in blood.  They asked if she was the witch Torbit.  When she confirmed that she was Torbit, they threw their torches at the hut to set it ablaze along with the witch.  It was said that the town could hear her cackling as she burned alive.

There are a few other similar versions for example, one instead of being a lone she had a three year old boy with her and they both were said to have run away into the woods still burning.  This video/podcast goes more into detail about some other versions as well as their own thoughts of what could have really happened.

What do you think about these five cryptids of Alabama?  Do any of you have any stories of your own encounters with these creatures?  Subscribe to my email list to get updates on the next states’ cryptids!  Check out the haunted places of Alabama as well if you are still looking for more spooky things to read about.

About the Spook Shack

The Spook Shack is…A blog that I, Jodie Webb, decided to start to learn/teach about the haunted places and cryptids of different places.  So far, I am working on the 50 states with five cryptids and haunted places/houses, but I plan on going out of the USA and into other countries with their cryptids/haunted places.