Strange Alabama- The Face of Henry Wells

In 1876, Pickens County suffered an architectural loss when it's newly erected courthouse was burned to the ground. Looking for someone to blame, everyone turned to Henry Wells, a freed slave living in Carrollton. He was then arrested and held in the attic of the new courthouse building.

Legend has it that one afternoon in February of 1878, a crowd of angry townspeople gathered below the attic window requesting that Wells be lynched. As Wells peered out the window, a ferocious storm flared up and a lightening bolt struck nearby. Apparently, the result of this particular lightening strike engraved the horrified face of Wells into the attic window and can still be seen today. The face is located in the lower right-hand windowpane of the new courthouse.