Missouri State Penitentiary

Bonnie Heady and Carl Hall were executed side by side in the gas chamber in 1953 for kidnapping and killing a six-year-old boy, and EVP recordings in their death row cell have captured the words 'stay,' 'love,' and 'kill.' The 168-year-old prison held James Earl Ray, Sonny Liston, and Pretty Boy Floyd before closing in 2004, and over 100 paranormal investigations have documented activity in the Dungeon, Cell 48, and the gas chamber.

On December 18, 1953, Bonnie Brown Heady and Carl Austin Hall were strapped into the Missouri State Penitentiary's gas chamber side by side. They'd kidnapped six-year-old Bobby Greenlease, collected $600,000 in ransom, and killed him anyway. The cyanide pellets dropped at the same time. Visitors to Cell 14 on death row now report cold patches, a low growling sound, and the sensation of unseen hands touching the back of their heads before shoving them forward. EVP recordings captured in the cell have picked up three words: "stay," "love," and "kill."

The prison opened in March 1836 on the banks of the Missouri River. It ran for 168 years, making it the oldest continually operating prison west of the Mississippi when it finally closed on October 14, 2004. Time Magazine called it "the bloodiest 47 acres in America" in 1967, and the body count backs that up. Forty people were executed in the gas chamber between 1938 and 1989. The first, on March 4, 1938, was a double execution of William Wright and John Brown. The last, George "Tiny" Mercer on January 6, 1989, used lethal gas in the same converted chamber.

The prison's most famous inmates read like a true crime highlight reel. James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin, was admitted on March 17, 1960, and escaped on April 23, 1967, hidden inside a bread box being loaded onto a delivery truck. Sonny Liston arrived in 1950 for armed robbery and learned to box behind these walls before being paroled on October 31, 1952. He became heavyweight champion in 1962. Pretty Boy Floyd served time starting December 18, 1925. Emma Goldman did two years for anti-draft conspiracy during World War I. Serial killer Robert Berdella died here in October 1992.

The 1954 riot started at 6:30 PM on September 22 when two inmates faked illness to lure guards, beat them, and stole their keys. Nearly 2,500 prisoners joined. Four buildings burned. Four inmates were killed, 50 were injured, and one prisoner in solitary confinement was tortured and murdered by other inmates. The damage hit $5 million. Machine guns and riot guns forced the last 300 barricaded prisoners to surrender by the next afternoon. Not one inmate escaped.

A-Hall, the oldest section, was completed in 1868 using quarried stone and convict labor. Its basement, known as "the Dungeon" or "the Hole," held isolation cells with no windows and almost no light. This is where the paranormal claims get dense. Investigators describe the smell of body odor flooding the corridor without explanation. Equipment malfunctions are so routine that tour guides warn guests in advance. Visitors hear voices, feel shoves from behind, and see dark shapes shifting along the catwalks overhead. One recurring figure appears as a pale man bleeding from his eye sockets, walking the cell block corridors. That matches John McBroom, an inmate who was stabbed repeatedly in the eyes and skull during breakfast.

Cell 48 is the one that unnerves people the most. An inmate was bludgeoned to death with a sledgehammer by another prisoner inside this cell. Visitors who step inside describe a crushing weight pressing into their bodies and an immediate, irrational dread. Photographs taken in the cell frequently show shadowy forms that weren't visible to the naked eye.

Then there's "Fast Jack." A whitish blur seen gliding through Housing Unit 1's control room, possibly the spirit of a former prison hospital worker based on the suggestion of a white coat. Fast Jack has a specific trick: opening, closing, and locking cell doors. Tour guides have watched doors move with no one near them.

Ghost Hunters (TAPS) filmed "The Bloodiest 47 Acres" here in 2011. Ghost Adventures did a lockdown for Season 8 in 2013, during which host Zak Bagans experienced unexplained stomach pain while walking the dungeon corridors. Over 100 organized paranormal investigations have taken place since the prison became a tour site.

The prison runs history tours and ghost tours from March through November, including eight-hour overnight investigations where visitors bring their own equipment. The gas chamber is still intact. So is the Dungeon. So, if the EVPs are any indication, are Bonnie and Carl.