Get Your Scare On While Discovering Alabama’s Place in the Industrial Revolution

Alabama is no stranger to haunted sites and buildings. As a matter of fact, folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham wrote about a handful of Alabama ghost stories in her book 13 Alabama Ghosts & Jeffrey. Here’s a tale of one of the most haunted places in all of Alabama as well as a place with one of the scariest seasonal haunted “houses” in the state: Sloss Furnaces National Historic Site and Fright Furnace in Birmingham.

From 1882 to 1971, Birmingham’s Sloss Furnaces transformed coal and ore from surrounding acres into the hard steel that would pave the way for the Industrial Revolution.

From skyscrapers in New York’s glittering skyline to automobiles being built in Detroit, America came to rely on Birmingham and Sloss Furnaces for providing materials needed to produce thousands of products.  Birmingham grew to a metropolis almost overnight, earning it the nickname of “The Magic City”.

In the early 1900’s, James “Slag” Wormwood was foreman of the “Graveyard Shift” where a skeleton crew of nearly 150 workers toiled to keep the furnace fed.

To impress his supervisors, Wormwood would make his workers take dangerous risks, forcing them to speed up production. During his reign, 47 workers lost their lives, ten times more than any other shift in the history of the furnace.  Countless others lost their ability to work due to accidents, mishaps, and even a recorded explosion in the small blowing engine house in 1888 that left 6 workers burned and blind.

In October 1906, Wormwood lost his footing at the top of the highest blast furnace (known as Big Alice), and plummeted into a pool of melted iron ore.  His body melted instantly.

It was reported that “Slag” must have become dizzy from the methane gas created by the furnace and lost his balance–but Slag had never set foot on top of a furnace during his years of employment. Sloss Industries soon discontinued the graveyard shift, citing numerous reports of accidents and “strange incidents” that decreased steel production.

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 1947, three supervisors turned up missing. Found unconscious and locked in the small boiler room in the southeastern part of the plant, none of the three could explain exactly what happened to them. All agreed they were approached by a man whose skin appeared badly burned and who angrily shouted at them to “push some steel.”

Probably the most horrifying tale occurred in 1971, when, the night before the plant closed, Samuel Blumenthal, the Sloss night watchman who was nostalgically 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 Dr. Jack Barlo, 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. From minor incidents such as steam whistles apparently blowing by themselves, to major sightings and the rare physical assault.  It is interesting to note that the majority of these reports happen in the months of September and October at night, during the old “graveyard shift.”

Although the National Historic Landmark is temporarily closed due to COVID-19, Sloss Furnaces provides a glimpse at Birmingham’s rich industrial heritage and a monument to the Industrial Revolution, above and beyond its haunted tales. Keep up to date on its reopening at https://www.slossfurnaces.com/.

Media Contacts
Laura Hicks, Laura.Hicks@tourism.alabama.gov
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