While most college students head to the beach for spring break, I went to Canada ... and visited my first prison. While some people actually pay money to sleep at the Ottawa Jail, I preferred touring the location and learning about its haunting history.
My guided tour of the Old Jail Museum in Jim Thorpe was filled with lots of interesting stories and lots of usual sights.
Did you know, female inmates had televisions in their cells?
Did you know, a prisoner once tried to escape by stripping naked and buttering himself up to squeeze out one of the jail's very narrow windows, only to get caught midway out when a neighbor woman informed the warden that a naked man was hanging out a window?
Did you know, several of the infamous Molly Maguires hung to their deaths from the gallows in the main cell block (and their ghosts are occasionally seen hanging from the gallows to this day)?
Did you know, in Cell 17, there's a handprint on the wall that never disappears, despite efforts to clean, repaint and rebuild the wall? (The photo above is from Cell 17, but the Old Jail Museum no longer allows photographs of their chief attraction.)
Unfortunately, some of the older folks in my group missed out on parts of the tour - like going down into the dungeon to experience what it was like in one of the solitary confinement cells in the pitch dark! - because of all the stairs. No elevators here, folks - the Old Jail Museum has been kept as historically accurate as possible.
Any suggestions on the next jail I should visit?
a few years ago i went to Canada for spring break, too! and i visited a convent. it was very, very quiet.
Posted by: Katie Bee | June 03, 2009 at 09:04 AM
Katie Bee - Thank you (I feel better knowing I'm not the only one who heads to 20 degree weather in lieu of 80 degree weather)
Posted by: Jenny | June 03, 2009 at 09:07 AM
I want to go to Eastern State Penitentiary and someday, Alcatraz.
Posted by: Nancy | June 03, 2009 at 10:48 AM
Nancy - ESP is rumored to be VERY haunted. Alcatraz would be cool, but if you've seen the movie The Rock, tourists always seem to get held hostage while they're there, so I'll have to pass.
Posted by: Jenny | June 03, 2009 at 12:27 PM
The WV State Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia is very interesting and is also very, very haunted. MTV did a TV show there several years ago. My Uncle was a Prison guard there when it was still open and he has some stories about some of the more interesting residents that would give you nightmares! They turn it into a haunted house around Halloween, but they have tons of different tours that you can take all year long!
Posted by: kate | June 16, 2009 at 03:18 PM
Kate - I noticed Moundsville is near Wheeling in WV (thanks, Google) which is at least a 5-hr drive from where I live. Guess I'll need to take some vacation days?! Thanks for the suggestion :)
Posted by: Jenny | June 16, 2009 at 03:53 PM
You will never guess what I just found! Bridal photos taken at Eastern State Penitentary! http://sharideangelo.net/?p=435
Posted by: Jenny | June 16, 2009 at 04:59 PM
How scary I can not even believe that the handprint is still there
Posted by: Alexa | March 18, 2010 at 09:11 AM
Alexa - it's amazing isn't it? I bet if I let myself think about it, it would probably freak me out, so I try to think of it as just a story.
Posted by: Jenny | March 18, 2010 at 09:28 AM
That sounds so, so creepy. I don't know if I would have the guts to visit a place like that. I have heard similar things about places in the area where I grew up.
Posted by: I love Haunted Houses .... | April 29, 2011 at 01:02 PM