Sloss Furnace Investigation

A man by the name of James Withers Sloss constructed the various furnaces that are now known as the Sloss Furnace. Construction was completed in 1881, and the first operation started in the following year on April 18, 1882. At the time in which the establishment opened, the furnace was referred to as “City Furnaces”. James Withers Sloss was a planter and was also known as an investor in the area of Northern Alabama at the time. By the time that the 1920’s rolled around, it was time to add a little modernization to the establishment. It was at this time that at least 500 people were employed by the establishment and were also producing steel at the rate of 400 tons daily.

Individuals that worked at the furnace also lived at the facility. There were only men employed by the establishment. Colored men and white men both worked in the furnace. Until the time of the 1960’s there was a high degree of segregation at the facility. There were different time clocks, bathing houses, and more. Despite being separated by color, the workers at the furnace united in their work. They worked in severe conditions. The temperatures were high, and the other environmental conditions of the jobs were extremely dangerous.

The hazardous, high-temperature environment, particularly during the early 20^th century, led to numerous accidents with reports indicating 47 workers died in a six-year period, including legendary fatal falls into molten iron. These included James “Slag” Wormwood who was a foreman who allegedly fell or was pushed into a furnace by workers in 1906 and Theophilus Calvin Jowers, an ironworker who died after falling into molten iron in September 9,1887.

Address:  Twenty 32nd Street North, Birmingham, AL 35222

Phone: 205-324-1911

Owner: City of Birmingham

Website:  www.slossfurnaces.org

Hauntings: The spirit of Jowers still walks among the catwalks and performs his duties in Sloss Furnace.

The next individual that seems to be haunting the Sloss Furnace is a man by the name of James Wormwood. It is believed that this individual was one day overtaken by methane gas while working. When this happened, he was at the top of “Big Alice” that is actually the highest furnace at Sloss. When he was overtaken, he fell and was consumed by the scorching fires within the furnace. Seeing that he was not known to actually work on top of this furnace, several are under the belief that many workers actually threw him into the furnace because of the fact that he created harsh work conditions.

At night, this old building, now a national landmark, still echoes with noises from its perilous past. Screams are heard, apparitions are seen, and on the second floor of the Blower Building , there's the sinister presence known as "Slag," an overly cruel foreman who can still be heard belittling his crew.

Another ghost has been seen around the Sloss Furnaces as well. In the early 1900's, there was a young girl who was pregnant out of wedlock who came here. At that time, getting pregnant without being married was taboo. Anyone who did this was considered to be an outcast. One day, while they were pouring the iron into the sows, she jumped into the furnace and committed suicide. It wasn't long after this happened that they were having some kind of official ceremony at the Sloss Furnaces and a deer ran through the crowd and disappeared. Some people believe that it was the re-incarnation of the pregnant girl who killed herself in the furnaces. It seems that whenever they are having a big event with politicians, that [the appearance of the deer] happens.

There's a building here at the Sloss Furnaces where all sorts of ghost activity has been reported. It's called the Blowing Engine Building . It was built in 1902, and it is the oldest building still standing at the Sloss Furnace. People who work here have reported all sorts of strange things. Workers here have said that they will set something down and a little late it will be moved to a different spot. They have also seen doors opening and closing by themselves.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Sloss Furnace on September 10, 2025  and the team members included: Paul Adams and Dale Kaczmarek.

Equipment setup: Ovilus V, digital recorder and Samsung Galaxy S-21 Slim Ultra for picture taking purposes.

Experiments performed: One single Ovilus V session was conducted near the Racial Violence at Brookside Mines sign both in dictionary and phonetic modes.

Personal experiences:

Dale Kaczmarek: I felt nothing out of the ordinary at Sloss Furnaces but there were a few places that just felt creepy to be near. The Power Room was one of those places where I just felt something or someone nearby. Perhaps this was due to the fact that a lot of electricity came through this building that could attract spirits. Unfortunately, no big power is sent through this building anymore.

Evidence collected: None!

Words spoken by the Ovilus V in dictionary mode; erase, place, crayon and hunting. Words spoken by the Ovilus V in phonetic mode; only two words came through that sounded like hate and bored.

Conclusions: This was a gorgeous and absolutely huge place. You could have easily spent the better part of a day just walking around. There were some locations off limits due to safety concerns and rusty compromises of structure. Access to the big towers were restricted but were open to other ghost hunting TV teams.

I personally would not have climbed the towers as I’m a bit scared of heights. This location is free to all visitors from Tuesday to Friday from 10am to 4pm. There is a small gift shop worth visiting for souvenirs.

The person on duty did inform us that absolutely no deaths had occurred at Sloss Furnaces and that the tales of from 47 to several hundred deaths was an exaggeration. But I find it hard to believe that since Sloss’s inception that nobody was fatally injured or died. It was a very dangerous place to work so it makes more sense that there were some deaths in the history of this location.