17 FORBIDDEN Places in Alabama You're Not Allowed To Visit

Seventeen places in Alabama you are not allowed to visit, and the reason each one is closed, from the record: the Army, federal security rules, private owners, the animals that live there, the state, and one ceiling that could come down. Every closure is quoted on screen from its own source page. You get the reasons. You do not get directions; please respect the fences. Some of these have an open side: the Key Cave refuge fields (dawn to dusk), the Wetumpka crater's public viewpoints and annual tour, the trail above Three Caves, and the bat-viewing platform at Sauta Cave. Which place should have been on this list? Tell us in the comments. And if you were inside one of these before the gate went up, tell us that too. CHAPTERS 0:00 Three places you can't get into 1:10 #17 The Wetumpka Crater 2:35 #16 Sequoyah Caverns 3:34 #15 Three Caves 4:44 #14 Middle Bay Lighthouse 5:54 #13 Bangor Cave 7:01 #12 Old Mobile 8:07 #11 Shelta Cave 9:26 #10 Searcy Hospital 10:42 #9 Gaillard Island 11:45 #8 The Emelle Landfill 12:55 #7 Fern Cave 14:10 #6 Fort McClellan 15:28 #5 The COBRA Facility 16:39 #4 Anniston Army Depot 17:55 #3 Browns Ferry 19:13 #2 Redstone Arsenal 20:42 #1 Key Cave 22:19 Why they are closed SOURCES U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Key Cave, Fern Cave, Sauta Cave and Mountain Longleaf refuge pages; Alabama cavefish species page and 1990 recovery plan); U.S. Army (Anniston Army Depot, Army.mil 2011 and 2018 articles, Redstone Arsenal visitor and history pages); Center for Domestic Preparedness (FEMA/DHS); FEMA blog (2012); U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (Browns Ferry fire backgrounder, plant pages, 10 CFR 73.55); Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR 264.14); Alabama Department of Environmental Management (2011 release, 2023 permit fact sheet); Alabama Historical Commission; Encyclopedia of Alabama (Wetumpka Impact Crater, Bangor Cave, Sequoyah Caverns, Emelle, National Speleological Society, Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville); City of Wetumpka; Associated Press (2012, 2013); FOX10 News (April 2026); WKRG News 5 (2016); Historic Blakeley State Park; Huntsville/Madison County CVB (Three Caves); National Speleological Society (Shelta Cave preserve pages and management plan); University of South Alabama (Old Mobile); Mobile County Commission; Alabama Birdlife (2008); Abandoned Southeast (Searcy Hospital); Lighthousefriends; Wikipedia (Chemical Waste Management v. Hunt; Mount Vernon Arsenal; Redstone Arsenal workforce). CREDITS Photographs (Wikimedia Commons, NASA, USFWS, FEMA, U.S. Army, HABS/HAER; licence: photographers): CC BY 2.0: NatalieMaynor from Jackson, Mississippi, USA; Nuclear Regulatory Commission from US; PEO ACWA CC BY 4.0: Brian Stansberry; Katherine E. Dooley, K. Denise Kendall Niemiller, Nathaniel Sturm, Mat CC BY-SA 2.0: formulanone from Huntsville, United States; Ken Lund; Shannon McGee; Shannon McGee from Huntsville, USA CC BY-SA 3.0: A.J. Camerio; Chris Pruitt; dofftoubab; DwayneP; Larisa Bishop-Boros; Nhlarry; Rudi Weikard CC BY-SA 4.0: Alabamadem; Chris Pruitt; Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD; Maria Brindle; Michael Rivera; Mthunter58; NealVickers CC0: AlabamaSouthern; Niemiller ML, Inebnit T, Hinkle A, Jones BD, Jones M, Lamb J, Mann N, Public domain: Altairisfar; Carol M. Highsmith; CDC/ Cleopatra Adedeji, RRT, BSRT; Charles Bird King; Charlotte Brooks; Department of Homeland Security. Federal Emergency Management Agency. ; Department of the Interior. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. National C; ENERGY.GOV; Goodwin, Jas M.; Haire, C.; Tiller, Robert; Guillaume de L'Isle; Henri Joutel; Henry Inman; Jeremy Guthrie, US Army Photographer; Jeremy Guthrie, US Army photographer; Kathy Wood; Lowe, Jet Related names: Erie Concrete and Supply Company US Coast Gua; Lowe, Jet, creator; Mike Cline; National Park Service; National Photo Company Collection; National Trails Office (US National Park Service); Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Nuclear Regulatory Commission from US; Related names: Dulin; Scharff, Maurice; New South Associates, contract; Related names: U.S. Coast Guard; Romans, Bernard; Sayer, Robert; Scan by NYPL; Shannon Arledge; Staff Sgt. Brent C. Powell; Tennessee Valley Authority; U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region; United Kingdom Hydrographic Office; USEPA Environmental-Protection-Agency; USFWS Headquarters; USFWS/Southeast; USGS Public domain: NASA Thumbnails: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photographs at Mountain Longleaf National Wildlife Refuge, Fort McClellan (public domain). Pages shown on screen: the saved copies of the sources listed above. Maps: U.S. Census Bureau state outlines (schematic). Narration: AI voice. No picture in this film is AI-generated.