How did Slapout, Ala., get its odd name? Did someone really burn corn in Burnt Corn? Just who was Phil Campbell?

We looked up the backstories to how some of the state’s most unusual town names came to be. In some cases, unusual events led to the naming of a town, such as a postal typo. Some were named after humorous incidents that occurred in pioneer days. Still others seem to have fairly simple explanations.

Here are the stories – some fact and some fiction – behind 15 town names.

Arab

People are often surprised to learn the name of this Marshall County town is pronounced Ay-rab rather than Air-ub. It all started with a tiny misunderstanding at the post office.

When city officials submitted the name to the U.S. Postal Service in 1882, they submitted “Arad” after Arad Thompson, son of early settler and first postmaster Stephen Tuttle Thompson. Arad is used in the Bible as the name of a man and a town and is pronounced Ay-rad. So when the postal service accidentally listed the town as “Arab,” it was from then on pronounced Ay-rab.

Bacon Level

Bacon Level, located in Randolph County, was named in pioneer days, according to retired Lt. Paul Swisher of Roanoke. He said: “Local story has it that some pioneer travelers, circa 1800, had their camp robbed and provisions were taken. They were told there were some outlaws up the way, where the trail leveled out. Sure enough they found their missing bacon at the level spot, hence the name Bacon Level.”

Burnt Corn

Burnt Corn is an unincorporated community in Monroe County, located at a crossroads near the source of Burnt Corn Creek and the intersection of two historic Native American trading paths. The town and the creek may have been named for an incident in which passersby found a pile of parched corn, a food used by Creek Indians. However, others believe the name derives from either Indians who burned settlers’ crops, or vice versa.

Eclectic

Eclectic in Elmore County, Ala., has been mentioned on numerous lists of strange place names. Although many people assume it is named for the word eclectic, the town was actually named for the field of eclectic medicine, an outdated branch of alternative medicine that made use of herbal treatments and physical therapy. It was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Dr. M.L. Fielder, a practitioner of eclectic medicine, founded the community in the late 1800s.

Flomaton

This Escambia County town of about 1,400 people is located on the Alabama-Florida border and gets its name by combining “Florida,” “Alabama” and “town.” It was initially settled in 1869 as a railway town and was incorporated in 1908.

Frisco City

Frisco City in Monroe County was initially incorporated in 1909 under Jones Mill, named for the owner of the local grist mill. In 1928, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad brought a rail line to the town and the happy townspeople named the little town as an homage to San Francisco.

Lick Skillet

Sometimes written Lickskillet, this community near Hazel Green in Madison County is at the intersection of Butter and Egg Road and Charity Lane. According to a 2010 story on AL.com, the community got its name from a brawl.

Bill Malone of Fayetteville, Tenn., said his uncle, Hut Malone, got into a fight inside the general store at the crossroads. Suddenly, he grabbed a skillet that was in the store and struck his opponent on the head, ending the fight. The community was from then on known as Lick Skillet because Malone “licked” his opponent “with a skillet.”

Phil Campbell

This Franklin County town was settled as a work camp in the 1880s by a railroad engineer named Phillip Campbell. Local lore says a wealthy businessman promised Campbell he would name the budding town for him if he would build a depot. It was once the only town in Alabama named using a person’s first and surname, until the town of Susan Moore was incorporated in 1982.

In June 1995, Phil Campbell hosted its first convention for people with the same name: 22 Phil Campbells and one Phyllis Campbell attended.

Pine Apple

This Wilcox County town was settled in 1825 as Friendship. In 1852, it was renamed in honor of the area’s pine and apple groves.

Pike Road

Pike Road was an unincorporated community from 1815 until 1997, when it was incorporated. The town’s website says, “by the early twentieth century, a booming small town had grown up at the intersection of Pike Road and Meriwether Road. (Pike Road, of course, was so-called because one had to pay a toll, or pike, to travel on it.) The crossroads community was referred to as the Pike Road community because of its location on the heavily traveled highway.”

Businesses located at the intersection included cotton gins, a hardware store, a livestock auction house, post office and a general store, the website says.

Rainbow City

This Etowah County city is named for a highway. U.S. Highway 411 is also called Rainbow Drive, and it runs through the middle of the city. However, some locals say the town was named after the 42nd Infantry Division, which is known as the “Rainbow Division.”

Slapout

According to lore, this Elmore County community got its name from the 1920s-era general store, which was typically “slap out” of many staples. When quizzed about his stock, the owner would respond simply, “I’m slap out.”

Smut Eye

This community in Bullock County got its name from a blacksmith’s shop, according to a 1999 article in The Montgomery Advertiser. The blacksmith served a “homemade ale that the local women called the devil’s brew.” The men of the town would stand around the fire to talk and drink moonshine, leaving with their faces smudged with the exception of their eyes. The wives would know what their men had been up to and soon began calling the shop, and later the community, “Smuteye.”

Susan Moore

This Blount County town was called Clarence when it was settled by the Robert M. Moore family in about 1865. In 1923, a new high school was built and named Susan Moore after the mother of the men who donated money to build it. Over time, people referred to the entire town as Susan Moore. However, it wasn’t officially renamed until 1982, when the town was incorporated.

Zip City

The Lauderdale County town of Zip City was settled in 1817. According to one legend, it was renamed in the 1920s, all because of liquor runs. Florence was a dry town so residents would drive to the Alabama-Tennessee line, where it was legal. Legend says the name comes from the fact that cars “zipped” along the road.