The tour
Past the blower building and hot blast stoves I found myself at The first stop is the Spray Pond. Sloss continuously used five No. 1 furnace and cast shed. There are two furnaces at Sloss, but No. million gallons of water to cool each furnace, every day, to create 2 is home to the Sloss Metal Arts Program and not part of the tour. The cast shed is where the liquid iron came out and flowed steam, power machinery and cool molten iron and slag (impurities removed from iron ore). Here the water was cooled before into floor castings with a long trench called the sow and smaller trenches off the sow called piglets, which is where the term pig going through the plant again. As I turned around, the facility lay out before me. Follow- iron originated. With the exception of taking a few more photos, this was the end ing the map, I walked between buildings and down into the of my tour. And no, I didn’t encounter stock tunnel where raw materials were any spirits and I haven’t found any lurkweighed, transferred by rail to skip ing in my photographs. What I found buckets that took it to the top of the instead was a new appreciation for the furnace by steam- powered pulleys. As men who worked in this grueling indusfor ghost hunting … well, I could certry; maybe that’s the true spirit of Sloss. tainly imagine a presence lurking here, even though there were several visitors touring the tunnel along with me. Sloss Furnace turns into Fright FurBack up the stairway, I followed the nace every October. For more informamap past the boilers and around the tion, check the website at frightfurnace. end of the complex. All at once it was The furnaces are quiet, but their legacy lives on. com. quiet. I found this odd, given the numTo view television shows and other videos featuring Sloss Furber of men, women, children and ghost hunters I had encounnace, go to frightfurnace.com/hauntings. tered moments before, but I was selfishly grateful. Sloss Furnace is located at 20 32nd Street North in BirmingThe only sounds were my footfalls on crushed gravel pathways that wove their ways around this labyrinth of brick buildings, ham. For more information about touring Sloss Furnace or special massive pipes and valves, stack pipes and stairways — an unusual events, call 205-324-1911 or check the website at slossfurnaces.com. For more information about visiting Birmingham, call 800-458maze of red and orange painted metal, trimmed in rust and bits 8085 or visit birminghamal.org. A of plant life taking a foothold.
If you go:
Sloss Furnaces, a National Historic Landmark, has the reputation for being one of the most haunted places in Alabama.
Alabama is setting for hauntingly good reads If you’re looking to explore some haunted areas around the state, a number of books have been published recently by The History Press that take readers from one end of Alabama to the other in search of ghostly spirits. Take your pick: Haunted Alabama Black Belt by David Higdon and Brett Talley; Haunted Auburn and Opelika by Faith Serafin, Michelle Smith and John Mark Poe; Haunted Birmingham by Alan Brown (includes Sloss Furnace); Haunted Etowah County by Mike Goodson; Haunted Mobile by Elizabeth Parker; Haunted Montgomery by Faith Serafin; Haunted North Alabama by Jessica Penot; and Haunted Shelby County by Kim Johnston. Each is $19.99 and is available at https://historypress.net or at your local bookstore.
Alabama Living
october 2013 21