North Alabama has many unique characters to dress up as this Halloween! Enjoy a look at my top 10 suggestions and how you can get their look.
Elizabeth Evans Hall Dale Gibbons Flanagan Jefferies High Brown Routt aka Black Widow of Hazel Green
Elizabeth was never charged, but was rumored to have killed 6 husbands between 1795 and 1866. When she started to receive some heat about all of the deaths, she headed to Mississippi and was never heard from again. Grab a period appropriate dress and splatter it with blood for good measure.
Alexander Shunnarah
Alexander Shunnarah seems to be on 25% of the billboards that cover North Alabama. He also calls himself “A man for the people” and in 2019 stated he had an $18 million annual advertising budget. You can dress up like him by wearing a pin stripped suit and carry around a mini-billboard of yourself saying “Call me Alabama!”
Strut that A** Guy
(YouTube Video for 18+ for language)
About ten years ago, a jewel of a man interrupted a news reporter at Big Spring Park to share his feelings about people on the Arsenal ‘struttin’ that a**’ , driving Mercedes-Benzes and being chauvinistic pigs. Most importantly, he wanted the reporter to join him on a 38 mile walk from Huntsville to Guntersville. To embody this character, wear a light striped button down tucked into jeans, cowboy boots, a cigarette pack in your shirt pocket, one cigarette in your hand, and the flexibility to strut that a**.
Lily Flagg the cow
Lily Flagg is an infamous cow in the Huntsville area, known for her high butter production, trip to the Chicago World Fair and large party her owner threw her. Samuel Moore had Huntsville’s first electric lights at the party he had for her. Dress up like Lily Flagg by grabbing a cow costume, a trophy for her winning amount of butter production and a pretty wreath around her neck. Want to turn Lily Flagg into a partner’s costume? Samuel Moore can be recreated by wearing a time appropriate 1890s suit.
Astronaut Jan Davis
Astronaut Davis was raised in Huntsville, graduated from Huntsville High and later received her masters and doctorate from UAH. Davis was part of numerous space shuttle missions in the 1990s and logged over 673 hours in space. Grab an astronaut costume and carry around a shuttle to be our local astronaut hero!
Every Male’s Tinder Profile
If you have been part of the Huntsville dating app scene for any amount of time, you might have noticed a recurring look and profile vibe of straight male prospects. This is an easy costume to coordinate: Polarized Ray-ban sunglasses, dirty Alabama camo hat, and a giant stuffed fish to hold throughout the night.
Dr. William Hooper Councill
Dr. Councill was the founder and first president of what became Alabama A & M in 1875. A former slave, he rose to become a lawyer, newspaper editor, legislator and Alabama Supreme Court Justice. Grab a period appropriate suit, fake mustache (or use yours) and small circular glasses. You can throw in some type of Alabama A & M swag, newspaper or book to highlight one of his many accomplishments.
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Bankhead was born in Huntsville in 1902 and was a famous stage and film actor. Tallulah was the daughter of William B. Bankhead (Huntsville City Attorney to US Representative) and frequently spoke against her family’s politics, particularly supporting the budding civil rights movement. She appeared in 56 plays, 19 movies, and scores of radio and television productions during her 50-year career. Deep red lipstick, a little black dress and pearls are a good start to dressing up as Bankhead, you can also look up different roles she had and dress as her in costume.
HuntsBill
Around early 2020, Molly and Dustin Timbrook created what they hoped would become Rocket City’s mascot, HuntsBill. They explained that HuntsBill “Is an amalgamation of observations about the nature of Huntsville’s engineering and developer workforce. If HuntsBill was a real person, he would be most dads that work in tech in Huntsville.” To dress up like HuntsBill, dress in work casual clothes, have a name badge/scan card, and a cellphone holder on your hip.
Miss Baker and Miss Able
(and/or a banana)
If you’re looking for a creative couples costume to celebrate Huntsville’s history, why not dress up like our famous Miss Baker and Miss Able? Both were squirrel monkeys that became the first US animals to complete a successful flight into space and return alive. Unfortunately, Miss Able died 4 days after her return on the operating table. Miss Baker eventually moved to Huntsville with her companion, Big George, in 1971. Grab some monkey suites, a space helmet and/ or a giant banana suite and become world famous monkeynauts and their favorite food!
Disclaimer: Please be respectful of other cultures when dressing up for Halloween! A good rule of thumb, if you’re not sure you should do it…then don’t!
Ashley Polesak has spent the last 10 years living her best life in Huntsville, Alabama. She loves to explore all of the things that Huntsville and the surrounding areas have to offer and is a big proponent for scouting out local experiences. Ashley lives and breathes the outdoors and recreation opportunities in the area, you are very likely to run into her at a park or on a hiking trail. If she has her two rescue dogs with her, Oba and Twyla, please excuse their over-excitement, they are currently being trained and it’s a work in progress! If she had to describe herself in television characters she would choose 1/4 Eleanor Shellstrop, 1/4 Leslie Knope, 1/4 April Ludgate and 1/4 Margaery Tyrell.
