Thrasher – August 2019

104 Thrasher

INTO THE PIT

Birmingham is home to a lot of heavy things: heavy terrain, heavy history, James Hardy,
heavy-up-and-coming skaters and the haunted Sloss Furnaces. In the early 1900s, James
“Slag” Wormwood was the foreman running the graveyard shift at Sloss. Under his watch, 47
workers lost their lives—ten times more than during any other shift in the history of the place.
In October of 1906, Slag mysteriously plummeted into the pit of Big Alice, the highest furnace
at the plant. His body immediately melted! He had never set foot on top of said furnace during
his years of employment, and legend has it that he was fed to the melted ore by disgruntled
employees. To date, there have been over 100 Birmingham police reports of suspected
paranormal activities at the site. We hit it up and it definitely felt haunted as hell. Going “into the
pit” became a negative mantra for us on the trip, something one should avoid at all costs.

HOW TO GET INTO THE PIT

Watch Jamie 50-50 a kinked rail first try

Eat at Waffle House after 4 am

Leave your board in the van at a spot

Go soft after the age of 24

Drink the coffee at Bregguer’s Bagels

Watch Jamie get five clips at one spot

HOW TO GET OUT OF THE PIT

Grind a 28-stair rail

Eat at Whataburger after 4 am

Play Bad Brains

Hang with the other weakest links on the trip

Drink Americanos

Spend $60 on ibuprofen, KT tape and Band-Aids

DUCKY AND PEDRO S PIT OF DESPAIR

Fuzzy reception? You might have a
Duck on your dish. The author drops
into the danger zone. Side note: Ducky
literally shit his pants trying this

–Ducky Kovacs

“Dude, I think I could

grind this on rollerblades”