LIFE LIST UPDATE – No. 824: Visit the 'Devil’s Soup Bowl'

The "Devil's Soup Bowl" in Monroe County

All my life, I’ve heard about the “Devil’s Soup Bowl” at Megargel in South Monroe County, and when I drafted my first “bucket list” several years ago, it was one of the first items that I put on the list. Yesterday, with the help of a local guide, I finally got to see this geographical oddity for myself, and it was a trip that I will never forget.

Like most people in Monroe County, I was first introduced to the “Devil’s Soup Bowl” through the writings of the late George Buster Singleton, who wrote a weekly column for The Monroe Journal newspaper in Monroeville for decades. Singleton was best known for his columns about ghost stories, local legends, folklore and other oddities. In 1991, Singleton published a book called “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” and in this book Singleton dedicated an entire chapter to “The Devil’s Bowl.”

Singleton described the “Soup Bowl” as “truly one of Monroe County’s strangest sights,” and having now seen it for myself, it’s easy to agree with him. Located on private hunting club property about three miles off State Highway 21 at Megargel, the pool is about 30 feet in diameter and is right out in the middle of the woods. In fact, it would be very easy to drive right past it if you didn’t know where to look.

The “Soup Bowl,” which isn’t fed by any surface streams, has the reputation for potentially being bottomless and it also contains fish and vegetation. The “Soup Bowl” carries a certain mystique among locals, and Singleton theorized that it might have been created by an ancient meteor. He also considered that it might be the remnants of a dead volcano. Others theorize that it's a lime sink.

Several months ago, I mentioned the “Soup Bowl” in a Facebook post, and my friend Robert Sims of Monroeville saw it. Robert, who’d once been in the hunting club where the “Soup Bowl” is located, told me that if I wanted to see the "Soup Bowl" for myself, I needed to contact Jack and Glenda Griffin of Goodway. A series of exchanged Facebook messages later, and I was all set to meet Jack yesterday at 3 p.m. at Lowe’s Quick Stop in downtown Megargel.

At the appointed time, my young son and I met Jack, hopped in his truck, and he drove us a short distance south on State Highway 21 to Soup Bowl Road, a private, gated dirt road that's near Gorum's Store. Jack, a 70-year-old retiree, explained that the land belongs to the Megargel Hunting Club and is teeming with large deer and other game animals. On the way to the “Soup Bowl,” he pointed out other landmarks like Snake Creek, which runs off of Lovett’s Creek to the west.

A few minutes later, we arrived at the “Soup Bowl,” which wasn’t visible from the road due to the thick growth of trees and underbrush. The pool is actually located about 50 yards off the dirt road, and Jack used a machete to cut us an easy path to the small body of water. When we eventually came out of the woods and finally laid eyes on the “Soup Bowl,” I was almost at a loss for words.

It’s hard to verbalize, but I was immediately struck by the mystery of the place. How the place got its name was very obvious because the place looks just like a big bowl that has been set into the ground. Jack said that he doesn’t know how the “Devil” stuff came into play, and he doesn’t believe that the pool's bottomless. However, you could see by the lay of the land that the bowl had been much larger at one time, and Jack said the amount of rain the area receives in any given year will cause the pool to get deeper.

Jack’s lived in the area all of his life, and he said that the “Soup Bowl” has been there for as long as he can remember. He also told tales of catching fish as large as a man's hand in the pool, but he said that never liked the idea of eating them. Scores of deer tracks surrounded the pool as well, indicating that it’s a popular watering hole for local wildlife, and Jack said he’s sure that wild hogs visit the pool frequently too.

Having now seen the “Soup Bowl” for myself, and assuming that the pool isn’t a completely natural formation of some type, I’m inclined to believe Singleton’s theory that a falling meteor created the pool. I’m no expert on such things, but the place does look like a crater of some type. On the other hand, maybe it is a shaft from a long dormant volcano.

In the end, how many of you have ever been to the “Devil’s Soup Bowl”? What did you think about it? Do you know of any other cool locations like the “Soup Bowl”? If so, where are they located and what are they like? Let us know in the comments section below.

(Also special thanks to Jack and Glenda Griffin and Robert Sims for helping me arrange this field trip. The “Soup Bowl” is a place that I’ve always wanted to see for myself, and without their help it’s likely that I would have never gotten to go.)