Highway 431 - The road to Fort McClellan

Dedicated to my dad

Let's go back for a minute. It's a Friday in the middle of November. I get on the road after dark and drive four hours to Anniston Alabama, my dad's hometown. There is no internet and the only restaurant open is an understaffed Bojangles next to a rundown truck stop.

The moment that I had so confidently declared that I was doing this outrageous art project, he had told me exactly where I needed to go. Anniston had been the home of Fort McClellan, the Army base at which my grandfather was stationed. When it closed, it took the infrastructure and half the population. What stayed were the walls that were once full of people. Gas stations, churches, warehouses, homes, and restaurants all sat empty. As we passed through, there was barely any light, just massive dilapidated skeletons of the '90s. It seemed like the population was made up of travelers who would leave as soon as they could. "If you were in Anniston, you were lost," he said.

We rolled up to the only hotel within 30 miles of the base around midnight and got up at six the next morning. I figured fewer people would be awake to ask questions about what I was doing with a massive camera in questionably safe buildings. At first, I contributed the fact that I saw nobody to the early time on a Saturday. But the hours ticked on and I only saw maybe seven cars on the road. It turns out that the town was not just sleeping, it was dead.

431 Finds

The mini putt-putt place where my dad had three birthday parties growing up.

Empty tank

Gas stations

This mini-series was not originally in the plan but as we drove down highway 431, the number of abandoned gas stations and gas pumps was strange. If you are driving through Glencoe AL, you better make sure you have a full tank of gas.

Fort MCClellan

The "radioactive" base

A classmate of my father helps run the Fort's remaining functions. She helped get us access to all the old buildings and explain their history, saving me the risk of trespassing on U.S. Military property. Which I would say is a win.

Let's go back in time. Having opened in 1917, Anniston Alabama is later named 6th on the list of probable Russian nuke targets. Why? Because a large surplus of chemical weapons is there. My grandfather joins the military in 1968 and serves as a doctor on the base, moving my father's family to the small army town.

The year is now 1999, the base is closing and everyone is leaving. Flash forward and suddenly every vet from McClellan is at risk of toxic chemical exposure. These toxins include cesium-137 and cobalt-60 from training exercises, chemical warfare agents from testing sites, and PCBs from a Monsanto plant. The small sleepy town of Anniston Alabama is suddenly considered one of the most dangerous towns in the US, and wow, it looked the part.

Let's go walk through the abandoned empty structures that remain on the base. Watch out for ghosts. They are the only society that remains.

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