LIFE LIST UPDATE – No. 856: Visit the Pickens County Courthouse in Carrollton

Pickens County Courthouse in Carrollton, Ala.

Monroeville claims to be the home of the most famous courthouse in America, and while that maybe true, there’s another courthouse in Alabama that’s almost just as famous, the Pickens County Courthouse in Carrollton, Ala. Thanks to Kathryn Tucker Windham’s famous book, “13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey,” every school kid in Alabama with a library card knows that the Pickens County Courthouse is famous for the “Face in the Courthouse Window.” According to legend, the ghostly face of Henry Wells, a man who was lynched in 1878 after being falsely accused of burning down an earlier courthouse, can still be seen in one of the building’s attic windows.

Like a lot of Alabamians, I’ve always wanted to see this place for myself, and I’ve had this trip on my “life list” for a couple of years. During a trip to Tuscaloosa on Saturday, I made a slight detour over to Carrollton to visit the Pickens County Courthouse and to see if I could see the face of Wells for myself. As things turned out, I wasn’t disappointed.

I arrived in Carrollton (pop. 987) around 10:45 a.m. and parked across the street from the old courthouse in front of the Carrollton Post Office. It was cold, cloudy and misting rain as I got out of the truck and stepped onto the sidewalk to get a good look at the old courthouse. Carrollton’s downtown square is relatively small, I’d guess about an acre, and it’s dominated by the old courthouse building.

The “Face in the Courthouse Window” is easy to find. In fact, if you look at the north side of the building, you’ll see where a white highway sign has been affixed to the building beside the attic window with a black arrow pointing to the exact window pane that contains the ghostly image of Wells’ face. I was actually somewhat shocked to see with the unaided eye the famous ghostly image that I’ve always heard so much about.

I don’t have the best vision in the world, but I could clearly see with the unaided eye the watery image of a face in the window. Who knows if its really the image of a ghost or not, but you can definitely see what all the fuss is about. Across the street from the courthouse, on the northeast corner of Tuscaloosa Street and Phoenix Avenue, you’ll even find a permanent set of pay binoculars that will allow you to get an even better view of the famous “Face in the Courthouse Window.”

If you’re interested in reading more about this famous courthouse and its well-known ghost story, be sure to check out “13 Alabama Ghosts and Jeffrey.” I’d also direct you to another great book with information on the subject, “Haunted Alabama Black Belt” by David Higdon and Brett Talley. Published earlier this year, “Haunted Alabama Black Belt” contains details about the building you won’t find in Windham’s book.

In the end, I really enjoyed finally taking the time to see this place for myself and officially scratching it off of my “life list.” How many of you have ever visited the “Pickens County Courthouse”? Did you see the “Face in the Courthouse Window”? What did you think about it? Let us know in the comments section below.