Is County Road 5's ‘Booger Bottom’ the scariest road in Monroe County?

Salter Monument on County Road 5.

I read the results of an interesting survey the other day about the scariest roads in Alabama. In the spirit of Halloween, the survey-takers asked 3,000 drivers which “roads they mostly would avoid after dark - those infamous for supernatural encounters, spine-tingling tales and eerie sightings that make the bravest souls’ hair stand on end.” The survey resulted in a list of the 140 scariest roads in American, including three in Alabama.

The scariest road in Alabama is said to be the stretch of State Highway 169 that runs from the Seale community in Russell County to Opelika in Lee County. This highway lies atop a much older road that’s steeped in spooky history. Travelers on this road report seeing the ghost of a man on horseback, thought to be the spirit of a 19th-century highwayman, who charges toward terrified drivers before vanishing into thin air.

The second scariest road in Alabama is Jack Cole Road in the town of Hayden in Blount County. Travelers on this road report seeing eerie figures, unexplained lights, and hearing mysterious sounds in the surrounding woods. Many who drive through after dark describe a spine-chilling atmosphere that intensifies as the night deepens, leaving them with an overwhelming sense of being watched.

The third scariest road in Alabama is a short drive from Monroeville, that is, State Highway 5 in the town of Pine Hill in Wilcox County. This rural highway is known for sightings of a spectral man walking along the road at night, believed to be the ghost of a traveler who died in a car crash. There are also other stories of strange occurrences experienced by drivers, which only add to the road's eerie atmosphere, especially after dark.

All of the above got me to thinking about the scariest road in Monroe County. Several spooky roads came immediately to mind, but if I had to pick just one, I would say it’s the stretch of County Road 5 north of Burnt Corn known as “Booger Bottom.” Over the years, a number of Burnt Corn residents have told me that Booger Bottom was located about 100 yards south of the Salter Monument on County Road 5.

There are many spooky stories associated with this stretch of highway. Some say that an entity called “Harry Bill” supposedly lived in the woods at Booger Bottom. Others have told me that “Hairy Bill” was a fictitious character created by older adults in the community to keep small children from playing in and around the logging woods.

Another lady told me that she remembered not wanting to travel through Booger Bottom at night because it used to give her “an all-over creepy feeling” when she was a little girl. She claimed to have seen “a ball of fire once in a tall tree when mama, daddy and I came home late from a relative`s house. We never knew what that was. It just sat up there in the tree.”

Another story about this area involves a man riding a horse down the road in the 1920s. Something “white” reportedly crossed the road in front of the man and disappeared. This spooked his horse so bad that it refused to go any farther down the road.

In the end, there are doubtless other spooky roads in Monroe County. The stretch of County Road 1 near McConnico Cemetery at Perdue Hill, the road to the Davis Ferry at Nancy Mountain, and State Highway 59 at Butterfork Hill near Uriah come immediately to mind. If you know of any other spooky roads elsewhere in the county, email me at news@monroejournal.com and tell me about it.