'Booger Bottom' said to be between Burnt Corn and Pine Orchard

James Salter Monument on County Road 5.

Where exactly is Booger Bottom?

This is a question that I pondered last Thursday afternoon as I rode up County Road 5 between Burnt Corn and Pine Orchard in western Conecuh County.

Nearly a year ago, a nice lady came by The Courant office in Evergreen and, while taking care of some other business, she said that she’d been reading the local Bigfoot stories with more than a little interest. She said that she grew up in the Burnt Corn-Green Street area, and these modern tales of Bigfoot sightings reminded her of stories she’d heard as a child.

She said that when she was a young girl, many of the community’s older residents told stories of mysterious creatures that lived in the woods along County Road 5. In fact, there was one stretch of County Road 5 that folks called “Booger Bottom” because this was an area where supposedly these mysterious creatures would grab folks off the road and haul them off into the woods. She said that many of the older people were afraid of that area and she recalled hearing her mother and other relatives often talk about this spooky location.

As best the woman could remember, “Booger Bottom” was somewhere between the Old Watkins House at Burnt Corn and Ramah Church, a distance of about three miles. She said that even when she got old enough to drive, she drove a little faster to get out of this area because of all the tales she’d been told as a child.

If you drive this stretch of road today, about the most significant landmark you’ll see between the Old Watkins House and Ramah Church is the James Salter Monument, a large stone marker on the east side of the road honoring one of the area’s early pioneers. Last Thursday, I got out for a closer look at the monument and couldn’t help but wonder just how far I was from “Booger Bottom.” For all I knew, I was standing at ground zero.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this “Booger Bottom” story is how close it is to places where Bigfoot sightings have been reported in recent times. Ramah Church is right down the road from where the Acreman Brothers reported seeing a Bigfoot cross the road in 2015, and it’s also a short distance from where Bigfoot activity was reported near Pine Orchard by Ashley McPhaul and Carl Pugh. Also, through the woods, it’s not far from where rabbit hunter Marcus Lee had an encounter with Bigfoot-type creatures in 2015.

One is left to wonder what types of encounters old-time residents of the Burnt Corn and Green Street communities had that caused them to nickname a stretch of County Road 5 as “Booger Bottom.” Did they repeatedly see or hear something they couldn’t explain? Were there disappearances of animals or people years ago that led people to blame something mysterious that lived in the woods?

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone in the reading audience who knows exactly where “Booger Bottom” was located. I’d like to see the location for myself and to document the exact location, so that people years from now will know where it was. I’ll even meet you there if you’re willing to show me.