BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 130: Visit the Alabama Museum of Natural History in Tuscaloosa

Alabama Museum of Natural History.

The Alabama Museum of Natural History is the oldest museum in Alabama and is located in Smith Hall at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. I lived in Tuscaloosa for a number of years and walked by this building scores of times, but never went inside. I even had a job once where I was responsible for locking this building’s ground-level exterior doors at night, but even then I don’t remember ever actually stepping inside the building.

I added a trip to this museum to my bucket list several years ago, and Friday afternoon I finally got the chance to scratch it off my list when my family and I took a quick trip to Tuscaloosa. This museum contains a number of amazing exhibits, including photos of natural wonders from across the state, huge fossil displays, a wide variety of unusual mineral and animal specimens as well as displays of ancient animal skeletons and skulls. It also contains a number of Native American artifacts, including old arrow heads and spear points.

My favorite display was the exhibit of the famous Hodges Meteorite, which can be found on the second floor Grand Gallery Exhibition Hall. Also known as the “Sylacauga Meteorite,” this meteor is unique in that it is the only authenticated instance of a meteorite striking a human. That incident occurred on Nov. 30, 1954 when the 8-1/2 pound meteorite struck Elizabeth Ann Hodges on the thigh as she napped in her home in Sylacauga.

I have to admit that I also wanted to visit Smith Hall because it has the reputation for being one of the most haunted places in Alabama. According to “Haunted Tuscaloosa” by David Higdon and Brett J. Talley, people claim to have heard all sorts of unusual noises in the building, including the sounds of wagon wheels and horses, echoing footsteps, and the “sounds of a lecturing professor coming from the rooms above, even in the middle of the night, as if a spectral class is taking place that they cannot see.”

Smith Hall is named after the late Dr. Eugene Allen Smith, a Confederate war veteran who was appointed state geologist in 1873. He died in 1927 after a long, distinguished career and today many believe that his spirit haunts the halls of Smith Hall. Others say that the building is haunted by the ghosts of students who were killed in a boiler explosion years ago in the building.

Smith Hall is even listed in “Haunted Places: The National Directory: Ghostly Abodes, Sacred Sites, UFO Landings and Other Supernatural Locations” by Dennis William Hauck. According to that book, the “ghosts of Smith Hall have been making unexplainable noises for over a quarter century. A flurry of activity took place in 1955 and the early 1970s. Students and professors reported hearing the clattering of many footsteps and the disembodied voices of children on the second floor. The building was named for geology professor Dr. Eugene Allen Smith, who died in August 1927. The professor delighted in escorting tours of schoolchildren through the building.”

If you’d like to check out this museum for yourself, it’s open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is charged, but it’s relatively inexpensive. It’s $2 for adults and $1 for children and senior citizens.

In the end, how many of you have visited the Alabama Museum of Natural History? What did you think about it? What was your favorite exhibit? Let us know in the comments section below.