Alabama Short Stories

Terror has been used as a way to keep people in line for centuries. In Birmingham, with easy access to mining supplies, the klan used dynamite as their tool of terror. But they didn’t count on the resiliency of the citizens in the North Smithfield Community that earned the name Dynamite Hill. By the time four little girls died at the hands of a bomb while at church, Birmingham had already earned i...

When conservators removed plaster to ensure the grand staircase in the state capital in Alabama was still safe, they were shocked to find out that they were built by a bridge builder. His name was Horace King. Born a slave, he became one of the south’s pre-eminent builder of bridges, homes, and a staircase or two. Support the show Support the Podcast The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you...

John Lennon was giving a tour of his home to a reporter when he commented on the popularity of his band, the Beatles. “We’re more popular than Jesus now.” This one innocuous line made its way across the ocean to the studios in a radio station in Birmingham, Alabama, where the morning team took offense. Those two DJs would start a worldwide movement to Ban The Beatles.   Support the show Support th...

Lonnie Johnson tinkered so much that the neighborhood kids called him “The Professor.” He won first place in a state-wide science fair in high school and embarked on a career in the military. He later worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to work on the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn. Despite excelling in all these fields, he will forever be known as the person w...

A Japanese war bride who went by the name of Katie Parsons, moved to Birmingham and fell in love with it. When she discovered she had an inoperable brain tumor, her dying wish was to have a garden in her memory in Birmingham. Here about how the town came together to create a garden that was bigger than her dream. Support the show Support the Podcast The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you e...

The daughter of Senator John H. Bankhead of Alabama. Tallulah would forge her own path in life on the stage and on the screen. This outspoken woman charmed audiences and shocked prudes with her talents and antics. Learn how this woman from Alabama became a star on the stage, screen and in the tabloids. Support the show Support the Podcast The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabam...

In 1986, the English goth band Siouxsie and the Banshees released their album Tinderbox and setoff to tour the United States. One of their venues was the unlikely Alabama Theater in downtown Birmingham. Find out about the goths and see if they could hold their own against the Mighty Wurlitzer. Support the show Support the Podcast The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short S...

You see a lot of things driving up and down I-65 in Alabama. Broken-down cars,  the odd mattress, the remains of every conceivable animal, and the devil, Beelzebub himself. Yes, you read that right; the devil is holding court on I-65. Learn about the sign that implores you to “Go To Church, or the devil will get you!"  Support the show Support the Podcast The podcast is free but it’s not chea...

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her bus seat to a white rider in Montgomery, Alabama. This episode is not about her. It is about a 15-year old high school student who sat down for her constitutional rights and was arrested nine months before.  Support the show Support the Podcast The podcast is free but it’s not cheap. If you enjoy Alabama Short Stories, there are a...

Hey, this is Shawn Wright, the host of the Alabama Short Stories podcast. I am happy to announce that season 4 of the podcast is almost here. I capped off three great seasons by publishing the book “Alabama Short Stories, Volume 1.” Now I am ready to share ten more episodes of extraordinary people, places, and events.  This season I tell the story of a woman who would not move from her seat on a M...

I hope you have enjoyed season 3 of Alabama Short Stories. If you haven’t heard the first two seasons, I encourage you to go back and give them a listen. If you prefer to read instead, I’ve got you covered. The book Alabama Short Stories, Volume 1, has been published on Amazon.com and contains all 30 stories from Seasons 1-3, and best of all, it contains pictures. Something that we can’t show on a...

Kudzu covers every part of Alabama, and we assume it grows with wild abandon, swallowing up parked cars and buildings in its path. In this Alabama Short Stories podcast episode, we learn about how it came to Alabama and how much more time we have before the vine overtakes us. You will also hear the Alabama Short Stories Players present the radio play "Gone With The Kudzilla." https://ala...

Have you ever heard the phrase "Stars Fell on Alabama?" Of course, you have. If you grew up in Alabama, you can't avoid it. You probably can't remember the first time you heard it, but it has always been around. Is it a slogan, a song, a book, or an event? Yes, to all those and more. Hear the story about a celestial event that inspired generations of Alabamians on this Alabama...

The USS Alabama, BB-60 was a South Dakota class battleship that served in the North Atlantic and Pacific during World War II. At the war's end, she was mothballed and stored in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in Puget Sound outside Bremerton, Washington. Twenty years later, the Navy announced in 1962 that the South Dakota class of battleships would be sold for scrap. In this episode of the Alabama...

Alabama has its fair share of interesting town names. Of course, we would. A lot of cultures have passed through our state. The French, Spanish, and English all have left their mark. So did the different Indian nations. They left names we use today, some with our own Alabama pronunciations. There are also town names that make no sense at first glance until you learn their backstory. In this Alabam...

Cholera came to Birmingham in 1873 and hit the new town hard. By the end of the summer, over half of its citizens had fled the city. Only the sick, the physicians caring for them, and the prostitutes stayed behind. This Alabama Short Stories episode tells the story of one of those prostitutes that stayed behind, Louise Wooster. Not only did their service in nursing the sick and burying the dead he...

Creating a single emergency number was tossed about for more than a decade before the FCC and AT&T worked together on a solution. On January 12, 1968, AT&T announced that 911 would be the emergency code in the United States. There was no plan for a “first” call, and seeing an opportunity, Bob Gallagher, president of Alabama Telephone Company, decided to be the first in the country. In this...

The outdoor board has been ubiquitous around the state of Alabama. Signs are found up and down the interstate, in our towns, on back roads, and in every imaginable place. But in New York City, specifically Times Square, the creativity and scale of the outdoor boards have been taken to another level. And we have the son of Anniston, Alabama, to thank for that. Douglas Leigh began creating his “spec...

What is a zoo without an elephant? That is precisely what Birmingham citizens thought when the zoo opened in Avondale Park. Park officials set out to find their elephant, choosing an Asian elephant from the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus. She was named Miss Fancy and made her debut at the Birmingham Home Products Show. In this Alabama Short Story podcast episode, you will learn about Miss Fancy’s advent...

Alabama is known for its many aviators and astronauts. In this episode of the Alabama Short Stories podcast, you will learn about a woman who decided that if Charles Lindbergh could fly across the Atlantic, so could she. Ruth Elder left Anniston, Alabama, learned to fly, and became one of Alabama’s first women aviators. You will hear about some of her accomplishments and if she made it across the...

In the summer of 1976, Hollywood descended on Mobile, Alabama, to tell the story of a small child who aliens had abducted.  The Mobile economy had been suffering since the close of Brookley Field seven years earlier. But Hollywood needed what no other location had, huge, empty airplane hangers. Director Steven Spielberg and actors Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Francois Truffaut, and...

Hey, this is Shawn Wright, the host of the Alabama Short Stories podcast. I am happy to announce that season 3 of the podcast is almost here. There was a great response to the first two seasons, and this upcoming season will not disappoint. It’s ten episodes of extraordinary people, state icons, unique events, and questions that need to be answered. We tell a story about the bright lights of Holly...

This is our third and final story featuring Red Mountain in Birmingham. The statue of Vulcan has been standing on a pedestal above lone pine gap on Red Mountain since 1939. Not long after that, he would be seen holding a green or red popsicle until 1999 when he came down from the mountain for a much-needed refurbishment and not because of the end of the world mentioned in episode 4. This is the st...

Originally from North Carolina, William Rufus King would move to Alabama and become instrumental in the establishment of Alabama as a state, writing the first constitution and creating Alabama. He would also serve the country at the national level as well. He became Vice-President of the United States with President Franklin Pierce, but he would never serve a day. This is King’s story on the Alaba...

In season 1, we learned about a man from Germany who moved to Alabama to paint portraits. We also learned about a woman who painted on spider webs. In this episode of the Alabama Short Stories podcast, we learn about a man who painted on an entirely different canvas, the roofs of barns. If you have ever seen a barn roof promoting Rock City, then Byers and his crew painted it. He was born in Alabam...