Finally! I've put off MoMo for two years now because I knew you would cover him eventually! There's so many apeman and Bigfoot sightings that there really has to be something to them. Whether it's a super-recluisve creature or even something trans dimensional, I don't know. But there has to be something out there.
Happy Halloween to everyone! I hope people enjoyed another stroll into the unexplained for another month. Stay safe out there tonight! But for people in smalltown Alabama, they have even more to fear when the sun goes down.
In the small town of Abbeville, Alabama, there is a legend that is passed down from generation to generation. For mothers who want their children to hurry home before dark, she is a helper. But for children, she is downright terrifying. Throughout the years, the town of Abbeville has suffered many tragedies. From the struggles of European settlers to the surrender of the Creek Nation, and from the harsh realities faced by black people during segregation, the town has seen its fair share of hardships.
After a devastating fire in the early 1900s that burned down the entire town, stories of Huggin' Molly began. As the legend goes, Huggin' Molly is a phantom woman who only appears to children at night. She appears out of nowhere, standing at a towering height of up to 7 feet tall, wearing dark clothing and a wide-brimmed hat. She sneaks up behind children then squeezes them tightly before screaming in their ears. While she never harms the children, some claim to experience ringing in their ears after encountering her.
There are different accounts of who Huggin' Molly was when she was alive and why her ghost haunts the streets of Abbeville. In some versions, she was a woman who lived in the town a long time ago and suffered the tragic loss of her own child. The grief she experienced was so overwhelming that it drove her mad. As a result, she began to wander the streets at night, seeking out local children to hug as a way to cope with the death of her own child. In other variations of the legend, Huggin' Molly was a woman who was brutally murdered on the very streets she now haunts. Some say that she is seeking to fulfill something unfinished or seeking justice for her own death. Perhaps she was killed in the darkness of night, with no one to protect her, and is now looking out for others to prevent them from meeting a similar fate.
One local man claimed that his father had an encounter with the creature, and he believed him. The boy went out for a stroll one night and began hearing thumping sounds behind him. The next thing he knew a big set of arms wrapped around him, and he heard a scream in his ear that left both of them ringing.
Like most smalltown tales, Abbeville has built businesses upon the hugs of Huggin' Molly. Jimmy Rane was so fascinated with the story of Huggin’ Molly that he opened a 50s-themed restaurant in her honor in 2006: Huggin’s Molly’s, on 129 Kirkland Street, Abbeville, promises visitors a trip down memory lane and is filled with 1950s music, memorabilia, antiques, and nick-nacks from gone-by years. The local eatery pays homage to Huggin’ Molly with a special-prepared dish called Molly’s Fingers and boasts an authentic soda fountain.
So if you're ever in Abbeville, stop in and have a meal. But it might be best to go there for lunch.
Happy Halloween!