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‘Alabama White Thang’ turns up in new graphic novel ‘Snag’

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‘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.

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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.

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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.”

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“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



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Quilts of Valor brings comfort to Alabama veterans

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Quilts of Valor brings comfort to Alabama veterans


Quilts are warm. Quilts are comfortable. Quilts tell a story, spark memories and stand as works of art. But perhaps the greatest function a quilt can have is to bring peace and comfort to those who defend this nation. That’s the belief behind Quilts of Valor, an organization that started with a mother wanting to comfort



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Alabama Trending Towards Securing Commitment from Elite Recruit

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Alabama Trending Towards Securing Commitment from Elite Recruit


Nothing is set in stone just yet, but it’s looking like Alabama is going to build on its trenches.

According to On3 / Rivals’ National Recruiting Reporter Sam Spiegelman, the Crimson Tide are trending toward receiving a commitment from four-star 2027 interior offensive lineman Ismael Camara.

Should Alabama nab the talented recruit out of Gilmer, TX, it would be the second high-ranked interior lineman of the 2027 class.

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Earlier this season, the Crimson Tide had secured a commitment from Jatori Williams, the four-star lineman out of Phenix City, AL, and one who is the fifth ranked player at his position in the country.

Camara spoke with Spiegelman and revealed that he, along with 20 other recruits will be in Tuscaloosa for the LSU game – a game that holds such importance.

Not only that, he spoke on the relationship that he holds with offensive line coach Chris Kapilovic, and how that relationship resonates with him.

“Coach Kap told me two things when we first talked — he has the best job in the world and that all the things he wants from his players are passion, a good attitude, maximum effort, being a good teammate, being prepared and available, and being coachable. That requires zero talent.”

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He then went on to say how much the persistence in maintaining that relationship is something that he will always hold onto.

“I appreciate him investing in me like that, and I am trying to get better to live up to the standard at ‘Bama.”

The “Standard” is a real thing, and it’s not something that the brass take lightly. Nick Saban spent 17 seasons implementing a culture of greatness and players that have the dog in them to be great.

So Kalen DeBoer and his staff don’t want to lose sight of it. It may have been in question for a little, but for the time being, what you’re seeing is what you’re getting.

But the “Standard” is something that means a lot to Camara too, and it’s what has set apart Alabama from other schools.

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“When we got into the facility and saw all the nattys, the SEC championships and Heisman Trophies, I really had the butterflies,” Camara said. “The way they treated each other and the way they treated me — it was not just an honor for me to be there, it was an honor for them to be there. They practiced like that. They operated like that. They hung together like that. That was when I really started to understand what makes Alabama ‘Bama,’”

Aside from it being a big game on the schedule, it’s a big game for the coaches take make sure the people they’re bringing in for the future know that the staff’s future is just the beginning for these young men.



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Alabama man charged with threatening synagogues, mosques

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Alabama man charged with threatening synagogues, mosques


A Needham, Alabama man has been charged by federal prosecutors with making threats to rabbis and imams across the South.

Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker faces a charge of an interstate communications threat after investigators say he made multiple threatening calls and messages to Jewish and Muslim religious leaders.

The threats were made to rabbis in Alabama and Louisiana, an imam in Georgia, a church in North Carolina and more.

According to court documents, agents discovered multiple firearms in Shoemaker’s home as well as a suitcase containing ammunition and papers listing the names, addresses and phone numbers of religious leaders and other prominent figures.

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Shoemaker told agents he did not intend to carry out an attack, but engage in “psychological warfare.” 

An FBI agent attested that Shoemaker came to the department’s attention after making a series of threats including to a Mountain Brook rabbi earlier this month.

“I want you to die because you want the death of us,” Shoemaker said during one call. “You want the West to die off.”

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The FBI agent also noted a 2024 threat from Shoemaker to an Islamic center in Louisiana, and a threatening message to a Georgia imam earlier this year.

U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama — and frontrunner for Alabama’s next governor — has recently drawn attention to the Muslim community, calling “radical Islam and Sharia Law … the greatest national security threat facing the United States.”

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He also called Islam “fundamentally incompatible with our Western values.”

“So, wake up America. The Quran instructs Islamists to fight Jews and Christians, along with anyone else who doesn’t believe in Allah,” Tuberville said. “Simply put, Radical Islam teaches that it is righteous to kill Christians—[that] it’s righteous. There is no peaceful coexistence with this type of people. None.”



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