Haunted Prisons
32 haunted locations across America
Penitentiaries where inmates remain locked in the afterlife
All Haunted Prisons
1859 Jail and Marshal's Home
Henry Bugler's four-year-old son John was sleeping upstairs at the 1859 Jail in Independence when a stray bullet hit…
Alcatraz Island
Cell 14-D is the one everyone asks about. It's a solitary confinement cell in D-Block where Alcatraz sent its worst…
Allegheny County Jail
In 1902, Kate Soffel helped the Biddle brothers break out of the Old Allegheny County Jail. She was the warden's wife.
Andersonville Prison
Nearly 13,000 Union soldiers died at Camp Sumter in fourteen months.
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary
Leave a lit cigarette balanced on the bars of one specific cell at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary and the burn line…
Burlington County Prison Museum
Joel Clough was hanged in the yard of the Burlington County Prison in 1833 for stabbing his girlfriend to death after…
Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility
Stand outside Cell 19 at the Museum of Colorado Prisons and wait.
Crown Point Old Sheriff's House and Jail
John Dillinger walked out of what authorities called Indiana's escape-proof jail on March 3, 1934…
Eastern State Penitentiary
When a locksmith removed a 140-year-old lock in Cell Block 4, he stopped being able to move. Gary Johnson told that…
Fort Smith National Historic Site
Judge Isaac Parker sentenced 160 people to death during his 21 years on the federal bench at Fort Smith.
Fort Warren
Fort Warren rises from Georges Island in Boston Harbor, a massive pentagonal fortress of granite and stone constructed…
Historic Albemarle County Jail
The trap sprung at 7:34 a.m. on February 10, 1905. Life was extinct at 7:53. The body came down at 8:00.
Historic Licking County Jail
Fifty-eight people were indicted for the murder of Carl Etherington.
Jailer's Inn Bed and Breakfast
Guests at Jailer's Inn sleep in actual cells. The Jail Room still has the original iron bars…
Missouri State Penitentiary
On December 18, 1953, Bonnie Brown Heady and Carl Austin Hall were strapped into the Missouri State Penitentiary's gas…
Museum of Colorado Prisons
Cell 18 coughs. The tiny cell, which sits in a row of otherwise silent cells in what was Colorado's women's prison from…
Ohio State Reformatory
Merrill Chandler waited on top of a clothing cabinet with a two-foot iron bar.
Old Bexar County Jail
The Old Bexar County Jail, built in 1879, now operates as a Holiday Inn Express--but the spirits of those who were…
Old Charleston Jail
The Sugar House next door to the Old Charleston Jail had treadmills.
Old Denton Jail
Paint, plaster, cement. Three different sheriffs tried three different materials to cover the handprint Wish Sheppard…
Old Jail
The Old Jail in St. Augustine operated from 1891 to 1953, housing some of the era's most dangerous criminals within its…
Old Joliet Prison
In the summer of 1932, up to 5,000 people showed up at Old Joliet Prison every night to hear a ghost sing hymns. The…
Old Princess Anne Jail
They used fifteen-foot timbers as battering rams. Over 2,000 people showed up on October 18, 1933…
Old Whitley Jail
It took Charles Butler eight minutes to die. The trap sprung at 12:08 in the afternoon on October 15, 1884…
Oregon State Penitentiary
The North guard tower at the Oregon State Penitentiary, known to staff as Tower 4, sits on top of a cemetery.
Outlaws and Lawmen Jail Museum
There's a bloodstain on the floor of the old Teller County Jail that doesn't come out. Volunteers have scrubbed it.
Preston Castle
Anna Corbin was found in a storeroom in the basement, wrapped in a rug, beaten so badly her face was unrecognizable…
Sandusky County Historic Jail
George Thompson spent about a year underground on bread and water, waiting to hang.
Tennessee State Prison
The electric chair at the Tennessee State Prison killed 125 men between 1916 and 1960. Inmates called it Old Sparky.
The Old Jail
William Reed was hanged in the courtyard of the Old Jail in Chambersburg in April 1912 for killing Sarah C.
Washington State Penitentiary
When the execution chamber at Washington State Penitentiary was officially retired on September 18, 2024…
West Virginia Penitentiary
In 1931, an inmate named Frank Hyer was hanged at the West Virginia Penitentiary. The rope decapitated him.