Museum of Colorado Prisons

Housed in the old Women's Correctional Facility next door to Colorado's still-active 1871 prison. The last hangman's noose and gas chamber used in Colorado are both here, along with original cells and exhibits.

The Museum of Colorado Prisons is housed in the former women's prison building in Canon City, constructed in 1935 on the grounds of the Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility, the oldest prison in the state. The women's prison operated from 1935 to 1968, and when the female inmates were relocated to a new facility, the building was converted into a museum that opened to the public in 1988. The museum preserves the cells, the exercise yard, the kitchen, and the administrative spaces of the women's prison, along with artifacts, photographs, and exhibits tracing the entire history of incarceration in Colorado from the territorial era to the present.

The museum is one of the most active paranormal sites in the state, with ghost stories on the prison grounds documented since at least 1897. Cell 19 is the most haunted location in the building -- a female prisoner died in this cell during the women's prison era, and her ghost has been seen standing inside, staring out through the bars. Visitors who enter Cell 19 report the temperature dropping sharply and an overwhelming sense of dread that lifts only when they leave. In the old laundry room, the smell of fresh tobacco smoke drifts through the air despite a strict no-smoking policy, and pockets of icy air form without any draft or ventilation to explain them.

The former women's prison kitchen is another active area, where the figure of a woman is frequently seen standing in the same spot, frozen in the act of working as if she doesn't know she's dead. On the upper floor, chairs slide across the floor on their own, moving from one position to another while staff watch in disbelief. Throughout the museum, visitors have reported hearing coughing and screaming with no source, seeing floating orbs of light, and feeling hands grab at their arms and clothing. The spirits here are described as not only vocal but physical -- hair pulling, pushing, and grabbing are among the most commonly reported phenomena, making this one of the more aggressive hauntings in Colorado.

The museum offers paranormal investigation experiences including multi-hour evening investigations and overnight ghost hunts in partnership with Ghost Hunts USA. These events allow participants to patrol the cellblocks with electromagnetic field detectors, thermal cameras, and audio recording equipment in one of the most confined and claustrophobic haunted environments in the state.