'Devil's Soup Bowl' left Singleton with many unanswered questions in 1971

The "Devil's Soup Bowl" in 2013.

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “The Devil’s Bowl” was originally published in the April 15, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

What’s in a name? Could this really be what the name implies? Approximately 80 feet in diameter, this pool has been the topic of conversation by the people of the Goodway and Megargel communities for many, many years.

Located about three miles off Highway 84 [sic], this is truly one of Monroe County’s strangest sights. As one examines the immediate area, one will notice that lilies and water grass grows in abundance for about 10 feet around the water’s edge. The center of the pool then becomes dark as though of great depth.

The water is fresh and one can see many minnows on the surface. The fact that life exists there is no mystery, but where does the fresh water come from? Where does it go? To have fresh water such as this one it must have a source from which it comes. Also there must be a stream or an overflow. Here, none exists.

Although I have not had the opportunity to measure or try and find the bottom, the rumor that has circulated over the years say that there is none. Perhaps the depth is so great that the bottom has never been reached.

One has but to look at the lay of the land to imagine that at some time in the past, when the world was young, a great meteor fell upon this area with such impact that it buried itself to a great depth; or could it be the core of a small volcano which has been sleeping through the centuries. What is the explanation of the mystery behind the Devil’s Soup Bowl? Who gave it its name?

As I stood there near the pool’s edge and looked into the dark, deep water, I could feel that somewhere beneath the cool clear surface the secret has lain for a thousand years, and I felt reasonably sure it would lay for a thousand more.

(This column was also accompanied by a photo of the “Devil’s Soup Bowl” and the caption beneath that photo read as follows: The Devil’s Soup Bowl – one of Monroe County’s strangest sights.)

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born during a late-night thunderstorm on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from 1964 to 1987. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)