Huggin’ Molly is a tale out of Abbeville, Alabama. The story starts hundreds of years ago with a woman who would stalk the city streets on nights so cold and dark and damp, the flames in the streetlamps couldn’t stay lit. She would wear a black cloak with a hood to hide her identity. The story of this figure states she would find people and hug them to death.



Decades later, we got the legend of Huggin’ Molly. This was supposedly a separate woman. She was said to go around hugging children. This was due to her having not been able to cope with having lost her own child. If children wandered the streets at night, she would follow them, dragging along her black dress and hiding her pale face behind her black, wide-brimmed hat. If she caught the children, she would hug them and scream into their ear.



Many years later, another would take up the role. Local college students would wander the streets at night to visit the friends they had missed over the summer. A 7-foot tall male professor grew tired of the students doing this and believed they should remain safe in their housing at night. To scare them, he would dawn the black dress and hat and set out in search of college students to torment.



Today, a restaurant in the town is named for the legend. Many still tell their children of the spirit of Huggin’ Molly to get their children home before dark. One woman tells the story of her childhood friend like this.



A boy was walking home late one night from a friends house. He had heard something brushing along the sidewalk behind him. He turned, he saw a dark figure standing just out of reach of a streetlight. The figure was tall and either wearing a cloak or dress, he did not look long enough to take in the details.



The boy turned back and headed toward his home a few blocks away. He began walking faster but peaked over his shoulder. He noticed the figure was matching his pace, but slightly faster to close the gap between them. He we speed up and slow and every time, the figure would do the same.



When the boy was roughly a block from his home, he took off into a dead sprint. He hurdled his front porch steps and threw the door open, making it safely inside. He ran to the window to see if Huggin’ Molly was outside. He saw the dark figure walk past his house slowly, not looking at him, not stopping. Only searching for another person to hug.



Perhaps the ghost just wants its hugs, or maybe a new person has taken on the role of Huggin’ Molly.