This abandoned property in Alabama was a treasure trove of clandestine secrets. Once the home of a millionaire business mogul and a former FBI agent, its walls were steeped in decades of fascinating tales. However, disaster struck in 2021 when a mysterious fire ripped through the storied estate.

Luckily, intrepid photographer Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast captured the home in all its faded glory before it met its tragic end. Click or scroll on to step inside this lost Alabama landmark and unravel the truth about its curious past...

In a remote spot in Mobile County in rural Alabama, a red-roofed house, pictured on the far right, once sat on the shores of the G C Outlaw Dam. It was built by the home's enigmatic former resident, George Cabell Outlaw. According to local legend, George acquired the property in 1925, purportedly winning the house in a poker game. A lawyer and business tycoon, the former homeowner wasn't quite all he seemed...

Photographed here by Leland Kent of Abandoned Southeast, the secretive spot offered a quiet oasis away from the world. However, there may have been another reason why George snapped up this house.

Archive records from the newly formed FBI (then known as the Bureau of Investigation), identify an agent by the name of G C Outlaw based in Mobile in 1918. According to reports, Outlaw investigated a threat made by the Ku Klux Klan against the leader of a multicultural group.

With the white supremacist organisation pervasive in the South, Outlaw would've been on the frontlines of the fight against the KKK. Before the First World War came to a close in 1918, reports also show that Outlaw investigated anti-war sentiments among shipyard workers in Mobile.

George likely bought the house for his family soon after he had left the FBI – the last records of his career date back to 1919 – at which point he began pursuing a completely different profession altogether...

In 1920, George Cabell Outlaw, who still went by the moniker G C, founded Morrison's Cafeteria with his business partner James Arthur Morrison. Their first self-serve restaurant opened its doors in Mobile, but they went on to launch cafeterias in over 150 locations in the South. Together with his new palatial home, it seems Outlaw was living the American Dream.

In 1925, Outlaw moved his wife and two sons into the grand property. Designed by renowned architect George Bigelow Rogers, the Spanish Revival house dated back to 1914. Prior to its demise, nature had reclaimed the rundown structure, but it was still hauntingly beautiful. 

Pictured here before it was decimated by fire, the mansion's front door was surrounded by an ornate glass-paned arch. It's not hard to imagine the enchanting first impression that would've greeted guests back in the home's heyday. Arched patio doors flanked the main entrance, casting light into the once-grand hallway of the forlorn property, while a vaulted beamed ceiling framed the grand space. 

According to censuses from the time, George Cabell Outlaw shared the remote property with his wife Mayme, their sons George Cabell Junior and Arthur, a cook by the name of Hattie Durham, and Hamp Samuels, their house boy. With its spacious wings, the vast home would've had more than enough room for the small household. 

The obvious wealth of the Outlaw family is clear to see from these images taken when the property was still standing, with no expense spared when it came to the finer details of the building. This dazzling arched window featured leaded panes and an elegant panelled surround. Before swathes of undergrowth surrounded the house in its latter years, daylight would've poured in and illuminated the interior.

George used the fruits of his business empire to make some innovative renovations to the new family home. He created a lake on the estate – now known as the G C Outlaw Dam – by diverting the flow of a natural spring. He used the dam to generate power for the house and it became the first in the area to have electricity and a telephone, while an oil furnace in the basement provided heat. 

Over the years, G C Outlaw went on to bring power to other homes in the region too, elevating his profile among Mobile's esteemed residents.

Back in the day, this cutting-edge property would've had a stunning interior to match its innovative features. The spectacular checkerboard flooring that once lay in the hallway would've no doubt shone as guests milled around at social soirées hosted by Mobile County's premier business mogul.

In its latter years, signs of disrepair were all too evident throughout the house. In the sitting room, pictured here, paint crumbled from the ceiling and a broken window pane lay abandoned on the floor. Beneath the dust, however, the exquisite patterned floor was still visible, while the charming red-tiled fireplace was remarkably intact.

In the 1940s, change was in the air for the Outlaws, as George moved his family into the city and away from their rural retreat. At the age of 25, his youngest son, Arthur, began working as an auditor for the family business, before deciding to renovate his childhood home in the 1960s. George Cabell Outlaw passed away in 1964 at the age of 77, perhaps spurring Arthur on to make good the home they had shared together.

Arthur took the property in hand, restoring the home's numerous heritage features and introducing modern touches to the dated interior.

All the while, he was climbing the rungs of the family business, eventually rising to the post of vice-chairman of the board and director of Morrison Restaurants, alongside serving as the Mayor of Mobile from 1967 to 1968. 

While traces of Arthur's renovations were still visible in more recent photos of the lost house, the interior was a sorry sight after years of neglect. Once a regal upstairs bedroom, this space was a shadow of its former self when it was photographed by Leland Kent, with broken floor tiles and peeling walls.

Arthur lived in the house for a number of years, until his second appointment as Mayor of Mobile in 1985 saw him relocate to a property within the city limits.

With Arthur's political career taking him away from his childhood home, it's easy to see how the property fell into decline. But while the house has been consigned to the history books, Arthur Outlaw and his work for the city of Mobile have not. The Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Centre was named in his honour and he was even elected to the Alabama Business Hall of Fame before his death in 2000.

In the home's latter years, the vast 120-acre estate it once stood on, which includes the 17-acre lake that George Outlaw created, grew wild and untamed, yet there was something enchanting about the way Mother Nature had taken back this rural beauty spot.

The Outlaw family is still thought to own the extensive acreage, and relatives reportedly venture out to fish on the G C Outlaw Dam.

While we've unravelled some of the mysteries surrounding this fascinating lost home, plenty more local legends still linger. Befitting of George Cabell Outlaw's former profession, there was even rumoured to be an underground tunnel that once connected the house with the property across the road, though it was purportedly filled in.

While many hoped that this magnificent old home would be rescued and returned to its former glory, sadly there was no fairytale ending. In July 2021, a devastating fire ripped through the Outlaw House, decimating the second floor and damaging the rest of the house beyond repair. The flames are captured here in this coverage from WKRG. At the time, the cause of the fire was under investigation. The conclusion of the probe is unclear. 

According to Leland Kent, what remained of the house, along with a neighbouring property across the street, were razed to the ground in December 2021. After 109 years, this storied landmark home was irrevocably lost, but its fascinating history lives on.

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