Mobile, Alabama, founded in 1702, Mobile is Alabama's oldest city and one of the oldest European settlements on the Gulf Coast. With more than three centuries of history shaped by French, Spanish, British, Confederate, and American influences, the city has accumulated a rich collection of ghost stories, legends, and paranormal traditions. Historians and paranormal enthusiasts alike often point to Mobile's long history of epidemics, wars, fires, hurricanes, and maritime disasters as contributing factors to its reputation as one of the South's most haunted cities.