Sloss Furnaces was a pig iron and steel production facility, built in 1881. Unsafe working conditions, long hours, and lack of worker protections led to a number of violent accidents and deaths over the years. It's no surprise that hauntings have been reported for decades, and that Sloss Furnaces is a hot destination for paranormal research groups. Being only two hours away, BCPI could not resist checking out this amazing historic site.
March 9th, 2019 was a very windy day in Birmingham, AL. The wind whipped through the stacks and boilers, occasionally causing an eerie whistle. Alongside the wind, there was a lot of background noise, with the nearby highway and almost constant freight trains running past. While we did get a couple opportunities to do EVP sessions without other people around, most of our audio recordings were compromised, either by the wind, or the background noise. This investigation was a daytime trip because reserving Sloss for an overnight investigation is quite expensive. We believe activity can be just as intense in the daytime as overnight, so we weren't worried that being there during the day would affect the outcome.
The first room we checked out was the Power House. As we stepped onto the landing after climbing the stairs, we were hit with a sudden wave of intense psychic activity. Our designated sensitive, Amber, wrote down what she was feeling. The feeling was so intense that we all talked about it while it was happening, which is usually against the rules. We prefer that if anyone experiences a psychic event, they write it down, and don't talk about it until after the investigation, so that other members' opinions are not affected during the investigation. But this time, the feeling was so heavy and so terrible that we couldn't help but talk about it. We are unaware whether this particular room had a death associated with it, but we would not be surprised if one or more people died there. You can read more about each member's personal experiences in a forthcoming post.
We set up to do an EVP session in the Power House, placing our DVRs on a saw table. Among other things, we asked if anyone had something bad happen to them in the room. We hoped to be able to confirm the psychic experiences by capturing a relevant EVP. Unfortunately all of our audio recordings from this session were compromised by background noise. We did catch some interesting "whispering", but can't be sure whether it is part of the background noise or the strange watery sounding backdrop this particular DVR had. (EVPs are best listened to with headphones.)
Next, we set off to find the Boilers. On our way, we encountered interesting sights that made for great photos. We stopped to check out different locations, with our DVRs running the whole time just in case, but we did not encounter that deathly feeling on the way to the Boilers. We stopped at a small brick building and tried to see inside, but it was too dark. We decided to use the night vision on the handy cam to peek in. When Erin asks if she should use the night vision to look in, a voice appears on the audio recordings. Listen for it at about 5 seconds:
We found the Boilers, and set up for another EVP session. At this site, several of us again felt the strong negative feeling that we felt in the Power Room. For some of us, it was even worse. After investigating, we learned there are myths and stories about people falling, or even being pushed, into the molten metal, where their bodies would dissolve completely. There are many gruesome stories about different locations all over the facility, but that is best saved for an upcoming article.
Overall, we had a great time checking out this historic site, and introducing ourselves to its ghosts and memories. Right next to Sloss Furnaces is a brewery called Back Forty Beer Co. where we went to have a drink and talk about our experience, and try to shake off that feeling of violent death. Upcoming Articles: Personal experience write ups by all members in attendance. Brief History of Sloss Furnaces and its reported hauntings.
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AuthorVarious BCPI members will post articles here about our investigations, and the locations. Archives
September 2021
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