Alabama
‘Alabama White Thang’ turns up in new graphic novel ‘Snag’
A new young adult graphic novel created by an Alabama-born artist features one of the state’s more legendary figures.
“The Alabama White Thang” figures prominently in “Snag,” a story scripted and drawn by Hannah Hill, a Brooklyn-based artist who grew up in Gadsden.
Its first chapter is available for free here. Further chapters will arrive in later weeks.
“Snag” tells the story of Sarah, a 12-year-old girl growing up in a society after its collapse, navigating familiar adolescent issues such as bullying and loneliness. Helping her through it all is the Alabama White Thang, the hairy forest giant of local lore.
The “White Thang” is an 8-foot-tall, furry white creature with glowing red eyes, which reportedly wanders the area between Morgan, Etowah and Jefferson counties. Witnesses say it has the ability to move extremely quickly and emits an eerie screech that has the sound of a woman’s scream. A 2019 survey of mythical creatures around the country gave the White Thang the top spot for Alabama.
While believers maintain it might be some kind of Sasquatch, various sticks in the mud say it’s probably just an albino bear.
It has been sighted in a triangle around communities such as Happy Hollow, Walnut Grove, Moody’s Chapel and Wheeler Wildlife Refuge. In Huntsville, the phrase “Alabama White Thing” is used to describe a humanoid, possibly alien figure spotted in caves or drainage ditches in Jones Valley, along Governor’s Drive and on Monte Sano Mountain.
A team of researchers of the cryptid started a Facebook page called Alabama White Thang.
“Snag” is a dark fairy tale named for the dead tree where Sarah is raised by the creature. Sarah must eventually decide which world she wants to be a part of – the gritty, terrifying world of the humans, or the magical Appalachian forest she shares with the creature.
Hill, 34, has been an artist in New York City for about 10 years. The idea for “Snag” first showed up in her imagination about eight years ago, when she read a story about the White Thang on AL.com. She also felt torn between two competing worlds – missing Alabama and trying to find a place in the art world.
“I created a little story to be able to occupy my mind on commutes, mostly,” she said. “So I spent a really long time knitting the story together, sitting on the 6 train.”
“Snag” stayed in her imagination, even as she saw it potentially as a short film. Then, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she started showing some of her visual ideas to her fellow residents at the Vermont Studio Center. The idea seemed right for a graphic novel.
“I spent quite a long time hand drawing the frames in sumi-ink because I felt the very dark, black ink and the gritty blooms it created really captured something I was going for,” she said. “Meanwhile, my core body of paintings were becoming extremely colorful and so then were my visions of Snag. So I took the opportunity to start the piece over, this time in color, and with the help of digital painting via the iPad, which revolutionized the way I worked digitally.”
Though the story would be categorized as young adult, Hill prefers the term “y’allternative.”
“I know we can challenge young adults,” she said. “We don’t have to pander to them and we do better when we don’t. We’ve all gone through things like bullying, and we will go through even more complicated situations in whatever lies ahead. I think it’s okay to talk about these things.”
Hill has been inspired by her Alabama background in various paintings, saying she had always been drawn to “any dark, wild, spooky narrative,” which made the White Thang a natural subject. But the human characters of “Snag” deal with very human issues, like bullying, substance abuse, loss and grief.
“I want my artwork to be freaky, a little trashy, and a complete mystery,” she said. “As long as I keep surprising myself, I’m happy.”
“Snag” is the creation of Hannah Hill, an Alabama native based in Brooklyn, N.Y.Hannah Hill
Governor Kay Ivey on Thursday set an execution date for death row inmate Jeremy Williams, who was convicted in the 2021 kidnapping, rape and murder of 5-year-old Kamarie Holland in Phenix City.
Williams is scheduled to be executed by the state’s three-drug lethal injection during a 30-hour window beginning at 12 a.m. August 13 and ending at 6 a.m. August 14. The execution date comes after the Alabama Supreme Court granted a request from Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office on June 16, authorizing the state to carry out the sentence.
In a letter to Alabama Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Lovelace, Ivey said the Supreme Court’s June 16 order serves as the official death warrant for Williams.
“By law, I am required to specify the time frame for carrying out the sentence of death,” Ivey said. “Accordingly, I hereby order that Jeremy Lee Williams’s sentence of death be carried out within a time frame beginning on August 13, 2026, at 12:00 a.m. and ending on August 14, 2026, at 6:00 a.m.”
Ivey noted that she retains the authority to commute the sentence before the execution takes place.
Williams, 34, was convicted in April 2024 on four counts of capital murder stemming from Holland’s death. Prosecutors charged him with capital murder during a kidnapping, capital murder during a rape, capital murder during first-degree sodomy and capital murder of a child younger than 14.
Authorities said Holland disappeared from her family’s home in Phenix City on December 13, 2021. Her body was discovered two days later inside an abandoned house less than a mile away. An autopsy determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.
In addition to the death sentence, Williams received several other prison terms. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for human trafficking and for knowingly producing recordings depicting the sexual abuse of a child. He also received another life sentence for a separate sexual abuse conviction, along with a 20-year sentence for conspiracy to commit human trafficking and a 10-year sentence for abuse of a corpse.
Unlike most death row inmates, Williams sought to speed up the execution process. During a hearing, he told the court that he accepted responsibility for his actions and wanted the sentence carried out.
In 2025, Williams dismissed his attorneys and informed the court that he wished to waive any remaining appeals and proceed with his execution. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson determined that Williams was competent to make that decision and allowed him to forgo further legal challenges.
Under Alabama law, capital convictions automatically receive appellate review. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals subsequently affirmed Williams’ conviction and death sentence in March.
After that review concluded, the Alabama Attorney General’s Office petitioned the Alabama Supreme Court in May to authorize an execution date. The court granted the request earlier this week, clearing the way for Ivey to schedule the execution.
If carried out as scheduled, Williams’ execution would occur nearly five years after Holland’s death and a little more than two years after he was sentenced to death.
Williams’ execution would be Alabama’s first by lethal injection since April 2025. The state’s three most recent executions were carried out using nitrogen hypoxia, which Alabama began using in 2024.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) – You don’t find too many camps where you learn how to slap someone. But this summer, you will in Montgomery. It’s one of many kids camps put on by the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.
“We have our Camp Shakespeare Junior which is our half day for the littles, kindergarten through 3rd grade,” said Cameron Williams, the ASF director of education. “We have Big Kid Shakespeare camp and everyone is learning all about ‘Much Ado About Nothing’.”
They learn about on stage combat, different acting techniques, and also how to be creative and think on their feet.
“I think theater skills are life skills. So, what makes this camp special is we’re doing more than just boosting literacy and doing theater things. We’re doing life skills, learning what it means to be team players, about discipline, and working with people who may have different personalities than you.”
Different kids have different talents. And even if your child isn’t up for a lead role in the next play, this place can leave a lasting impact.
“If you’re looking for a place where your kid can come out of their shell, to learn how to speak in front of a group, and develop some confidence, this is the place to be.”
It’s a place that’s a real treasure in Montgomery, and its mining some young gems, who one day, could be on the big stage themselves. There are still more ASF camps going on this summer for pre-teens and even adults.
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Huntsville-based defense contractor LOGZONE Inc. has agreed to pay $507,144 to resolve allegations that it failed to comply with cybersecurity requirements in contracts with the U.S. Department of the Navy, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The settlement resolves claims brought under the False Claims Act alleging that LOGZONE knowingly submitted claims for payment while not meeting certain cybersecurity standards required under two Navy contracts.
Federal officials alleged that between May 2021 and March 2025, LOGZONE did not implement specific cybersecurity controls outlined in National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication 800-171. The standards are designed to protect sensitive defense information handled by government contractors.
According to the Justice Department, the deficiencies were identified during an assessment conducted by the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA). The evaluation resulted in LOGZONE receiving a score of -170 on a scale ranging from -203 to 110, indicating significant gaps in compliance with required security controls.
The government alleged that the missing cybersecurity measures could have increased the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive information or the exploitation of company systems.
The settlement does not include a determination of liability. As part of the agreement, LOGZONE will pay $507,144 to resolve the allegations.
Federal officials said the enforcement action reflects ongoing efforts to ensure government contractors comply with cybersecurity obligations tied to federal contracts, particularly those involving sensitive defense information.
The investigation and settlement involved the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Alabama, the Department of the Navy, the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division.
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Additional details regarding corrective actions taken by the company were not immediately available.
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