There is a small town in Alabama by the name of Carrolltown where a small courthouse stands. Many years ago, there was a black man (Henry Wells) accused of burning down a building, and an angry mob gathered outside the courthouse where he was being held. The mob got angrier and angrier and decided to lynch him. Before that happened, lightning struck nearby, and the terrified face of Henry Wells was forever etched into the window pane.

That’s the story Doug told us when we were visiting there, and he had seen it personally, as had six of his mobile home moving crew. Still, we were a little dubious. There was a picture of the window on the internet, and frankly, it looked like a window - nothing to be seen at all.

We drove down there yesterday though, and can assure you that there is definitely a face in the window. It’s kind of hard to describe what it looks like - probably the best description would be a clown face. It’s a little like the face out of the “Scream” movies, in that it has the white face with black holes where the eyes and mouth are. It doesn’t have any amazing features that would identify it as more than a basic human face, but it has an open mouth, terrified look.

Now, the skeptic in me has to say it also looked like someone had gotten a bit of fuel and smeared it on the window lightly. From certain angles, it had a rainbow prism effect, like when you see oil in a puddle in a supermarket carpark. Still, it has been cleaned to make sure it is not a prank smear, and apparently the window has been shot out a couple of times (local kids with BB guns having fun) and each time they replace the pane, the face returns.

I’d personally like to see someone remove the pane, put in a new one and then have that pane guarded for a long time with maximum security and see whether the face comes back.

Still, I have to say that we both saw it quite easily, and that if it were a prank, there would be more commercialism about it. There was nothing in the town except for the courthouse, it seemed. We could not even find a grocery store, and the town is very small. Surely, if it were just a prank, there would be someone selling “I Saw Henry Wells Ghost” T-shirts? Seems to be the way with any attraction over here we’ve found.

So, the skeptic in me still has trouble accepting it could have happened, and the “I Want To Believe” Mulder side of me says it is definitely there and all the evidence seems to be pointing to something paranormal.

Got to depart now - we’re in Memphis now (drove up last night after seeing the face) and we are about to go see something called “Ducks Unlimited” because, well, let’s face it - ducks are good.

Categories: Travel, Odyssey 2001