Historic Licking County Jail

The Historic Licking County Jail in Newark, Ohio held the 1910 lynching of Carl Etherington, saw at least 22 deaths including four sheriffs, and now operates as a museum where Ghost Adventures filmed and visitors report cell doors slamming, chairs moving, and the smell of smoke near Mae Varner's fourth-floor cell.

Fifty-eight people were indicted for the murder of Carl Etherington. Not one served a day.

Etherington was an Anti-Saloon League detective who shot saloon owner William Howard in self-defense in 1910. While Etherington sat in the Licking County Jail awaiting trial, a mob stormed the north side door, dragged him out, beat him, and hanged him from a telephone pole on the southeast corner of the courthouse square. Newark, Ohio watched it happen. The grand jury indicted 58 participants. All charges were eventually dropped.

The jail where Etherington spent his last hours opened in November 1889, designed by architect Joseph Warren Yost in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. The exterior is pink sandstone (known locally as brownstone) quarried near Millersburg, Ohio, and the building cost $120,000 to construct. The front section housed the sheriff and his family. The back held 32 cells, each roughly eight by eight feet, designed for a maximum of 68 inmates. The population regularly exceeded 100.

At least 22 people died within the jail's walls during its years of operation. Four sheriffs died in the building, including Sheriff Ross Embry, who suffered a heart attack in the sheriff's apartment in 1934. Mae Varner set herself on fire in her fourth-floor cell in 1953 after a failed overdose attempt and a stint in detox. Her cell is one of the most active spots in the building.

The jail closed in 1987. Volunteers and the county Records Department began preservation work in 2012, and the building now operates as a museum and event space. It also runs Jail of Terror, a seasonal haunted attraction, alongside real paranormal investigation nights.

Ghost Adventures filmed at the jail in 2014 (the episode introduced the building to a national audience). The show documented EVP recordings, equipment malfunctions, and personal experiences in the cell blocks.

The dungeon, a basement-level isolation area, is consistently described as the most active part of the building. Investigators and visitors report chairs sliding across the floor without contact, the sound of cell doors slamming when all doors are locked open, and the sensation of clothing being tugged by invisible hands. A child's laughter has been recorded on audio equipment in areas where no children were present, which is odd for a building that never housed minors.

Carl Etherington's presence is the one visitors reference most. People in the cell block where he was held report a feeling of urgent panic, as if someone is trying to escape and running out of time. Investigators have captured EVP recordings they interpret as pleas for help. Mae Varner's cell on the fourth floor produces cold spots and, on occasion, the faint smell of smoke.

The building's Romanesque architecture is worth the visit regardless of your interest in ghosts. The sandstone exterior has weathered into a deep rose color, and the ironwork throughout the cell blocks is original. The sheriff's quarters are furnished in period style.

Tours and investigation nights are available through the Licking County Historic Jail at 46 South 3rd Street in Newark. Overnight investigations can be booked for small groups. The building sits directly adjacent to the Licking County Courthouse, on the same square where Etherington was lynched 116 years ago.