Scattered across America are dozens of empty and forlorn buildings, filled with the memories
of their occupants' misery and despair and a lingering history of violence, torture and
even murder.
These are America’s abandoned prisons, and the stories of the most haunted prisons in
the country would shock and horrify the most hardened paranormal enthusiast.
Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary is one of the oldest prisons in the U.S. Founded
by Quakers in 1829, the prison remained open for nearly 150 years before it closed in the
1970s.
It should come as no surprise that the prison is also rumoured to be one of the most haunted
places in America - with its grand and impressive architecture, complete with vaulted stone
ceilings and imposing guard towers topped with medieval-style battlements, it certainly
looks haunted.
And there’s plenty of real darkness in the prison’s century and a half long history
to lend credence to the idea that the tortured souls of former inmates still haunt the prison’s
abandoned cells and corridors.
Ghost stories have haunted Eastern State Penn since the 1940s, with visitors, staff, guards
and even former inmates reporting eerie encounters and unexplained phenomena.
Numerous witnesses have heard ghostly footsteps and disembodied voices echoing through the
supposedly empty corridors.
Others have reported seeing shadowy figures and ghostly faces in the now abandoned cell
blocks, or glimpsing the outline of a guard in one of the unused towers.
Gary Johnson was a locksmith who worked at the prison in the 1990s.
One day, while he was working to unjam the old fashioned lock on one of the cells, he
suddenly felt overcome with a sense of fear and dread.
He felt an unseen force grip him, and he was unable to move.
Then, as he stood there frozen and terrified, the cell wall became covered with tormented
ghostly faces, one of which seemed to be beckoning him toward it.
Some of the darker parts of the prison’s history may have also left a permanent impression
on the building.
The prison’s earliest inmates were apparently subjected to horrific punishments in supposed
efforts to reform them, and more than a few inmates met a brutal death within the prison’s
walls.
Unfortunate prisoners were subjected to the iron gag, a horrific torture device that involved
an iron collar placed in the inmate’s mouth and attached to their hands, which were tied
behind their back - the slightest inevitable movement of the arms would cause the collar
to gouge and tear into the inmate’s tongue.
Others were doused in cold water and hung naked outside on the wall in frigid temperatures
until their skin froze.
Some experienced the horrors of the Mad Chair, a torture device that inmates were strapped
into straight coat-style, often so tightly that all circulation to their limbs would
be completely cut off, sometimes to the point that the limb had to be amputated afterwards.
But the most disturbing horror stories - and most of the paranormal activity - comes from
the prison’s dungeon-like basement.
Deep underground inside the stone fortress’ foundations, particularly troublesome inmates
were subjected to the most inhumane form solitary confinement imaginable in The Hole.
The Hole was dark and dank, with no bed, no toilet, hardly any food or water or even air.
Completely isolated with no human contact whatsoever, many prisoners went insane inside
The Hole.
With this kind of darkness in its history, it’s no wonder that countless witnesses
have reported hearing tortured wails, piercing screams and desperate moans from within the
supposedly empty and abandoned building.
But don’t take their word for it - the facility is open to the public as a historic site,
so brave tourists can visit and see for themselves if there's any truth to the ghost stories...if
they dare.
While a history of torture is sure to leave its mark on a building, a long tradition of
executions is sure to create the perfect environment for the tormented spirits of those who were
killed, only to return.
Built in 1876 on the outskirts of the tiny town of Moundsville, the imposing stone facade
of West Virginia State Penitentiary resembles a gothic fortress.
The prison housed thousands of the country’s most violent criminals in its 100-plus year
history, often under abysmal conditions.
The prison was extremely overcrowded, often forcing 3 violent grown men to share a single
5 foot by 7 foot cell.
The inmates of Virginia State Penitentiary were the worst of the worst - and many of
them lost their lives behind the chilling stone walls of the prison.
94 men were executed on the site - 85 of them were hanged, and a further 9 of them were
executed by the electric chair.
The 1931 execution of Frank Hyer was particularly gruesome, and resulted in the executions of
prisoners no longer being a public spectacle.
Hyer was set to be hanged, which, at the time, involved carefully calculating the prisoner’s
weight and drop distance to ensure a quick and relatively painless death for the inmate.
But in Hyer’s case, the calculations were off, and when the floor dropped out from under
him, he fell with such force that he was instantly decapitated in front of a crowd of stunned
and horrified onlookers.
Aside from the many deaths by execution, many more inmates lost their lives at the hands
of fellow prisoners, and possibly even a guard or 2.
Countless inmates were stabbed with improvised blades, ruthlessly beaten to death, or hung
to die in their cells.
Since its closing in 1995, Virginia State Penitentiary has become known as one of most
haunted sites in the entire country.
Most of the activity reported by staff and visitors comes from the North Hall, where
the most dangerous inmates were kept.
Witnesses report seeing shadowy figures and hearing disembodied footsteps when visiting
the area, even when they are the only people in the building.
Other reports come from The Hole and the Sugar Shack, an underground recreation room used
by the inmates when the weather was too bad for them to go outside.
Some of the prison’s most brutal and violent incidents happened here, where it was difficult
for guards to keep watch and intervene, and impossible for a victim to escape.
In these dank subterranean spaces, witnesses not only report seeing and hearing unexplainable
things, but also experience an overwhelming sense of panic and a paranoid feeling of being
watched.
One reporter got more than he bargained for when he visited the prison in an effort to
debunk the rumours of paranormal activity.
The reporter was given a thorough tour of the prison, and a detailed account of its
gruesome history, before he was left alone in the building at night.
As he explored the empty corridors and abandoned cells he encountered nothing but a stray cat,
and was starting to feel more confident as he set off downstairs to explore the Hole
and the Sugar Shack.
Again, he didn’t see or hear anything, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched
and a sense of intense paranoia.
He decided to head out into the yard to regroup and get some fresh air before continuing his
explorations.
While outside, he turned back to look at the wall of the prison’s notorious North Hall,
and just as he looked up, he saw a shadowy figure walk across one of the hall’s highest
windows.
After that experience, the reporter was unable to stomach the idea of going back inside,
and he left hours before his midnight deadline.
Some prisons have always been a sad and horrifying place, but others started out on a much more
positive note before descending into chaos, violence, and, of course, paranormal activity.
The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, is famous for being the setting of the movie
The Shawshank Redemption, but it’s infamous for its supposed hauntings and paranormal
activities.
Opened in 1896, the Ohio State Reformatory was meant to be a middle-ground facility for
criminals who were too old for the juvenile system, but not hardened enough to warrant
a sentence at the notorious Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus.
When it first opened, the prison was praised for its revolutionary and humane methods for
reforming first-time offenders.
But, before long, the prison would descend into neglect and disrepair, and it would become
known for rampant abuse, torture and even murder.
By the 1930s, Ohio State Reformatory had become overcrowded, filthy and nearly uninhabitable.
Despite a lawsuit filed by former inmates alleging that the facility was unfit for occupation,
the prison remained open until 1986.
Since then, rumours of paranormal activity have flourished, and many believe that the
prison is haunted by the tormented spirits of former inmates, guards and even prison
officials.
Witnesses have reported paranormal activity emanating from the prison’s basement, the
home of their “local control” cell - AKA solitary confinement.
Here, difficult inmates were locked away in total darkness and isolation, often for weeks
on end.
Visitors report hearing tortured screams and moans coming from the basement, as well as
hearing disembodied footsteps and seeing unexplainable apparitions.
Others claim to have overheard a whispered conversation between a man and a woman - too
indistinct to make out, but too insistent to ignore - only to find that they were indeed
alone in the building.
It’s not just the prison’s inmates that faced tragedy - in 1948, the reformatory’s
farm boss and his wife and daughter were kidnapped by former inmates looking for revenge for
their mistreatment within the prison’s walls.
The boss and his family were shot to death, and one of the perpetrators was caught and
executed in the prison.
And this was not the only tragic death of a prison administrator and their family to
have occurred in the prison’s history.
One of the most frequently witnessed apparitions is that of the prison’s resident ghost,
Helen.
Helen was the wife of one of the prison’s former wardens, Arthur Glattke.
As was common at the time, the Warden and his family lived on-site at the prison in
an apartment in the prison’s administration wing.
Helen met a tragic end in that very apartment, when a loaded handgun fell off of a shelf
in a closet, hit the floor and went off, fatally wounding her.
According to numerous witnesses, Helen’s ghost still haunts the apartment to this day,
and visitors can often catch a whiff of her perfume when touring the administration wing.
Helen’s death wasn’t the only tragedy to strike in the Warden’s apartment - 10
years after her death, another warden had a heart attack and died at his desk.
With all of this tragedy and misery in one place, it’s no wonder that the Ohio State
Reformatory is considered one of the most haunted sites in America.
Prisons may be notorious for the kinds of stories of violence and despair that make
perfect fodder for paranormal activities, but some of the country’s most notorious
police stations have their own dark history that makes them the perfect setting for a
haunting.
Maxwell Street Police Station in Chicago Illinois was one of the most violent and brutal police
stations in the entire country.
The station was built in 1889 in the neighborhood known as Bloody Maxwell, a rough and violent
neighborhood that was home to a large population of Italian immigrants.
It was also the turf of some of the city’s most notorious mobsters, including the Genne
Brothers, close associates of the legendary gangster Al Capone.
The station was well known for extreme corruption - officers were known to take bribes to either
look the other way, or, in some cases, to help the mobsters accomplish their crimes.
But it’s the station’s basement dungeon that is the source of most of the rumours
of paranormal activity that continue to this day.
The dungeon was a place of brutality and torture, and many criminals who found themselves in
the dark, dank holding cells would not leave the station alive.
For decades, witnesses have reported hearing the screams and moans of tortured prisoners
and the ominous rattling of handcuffs and cell bars emanating from the basement.
The station closed in 1997, and is now used to film the TV show Chicago PD.
Prisons in general are certainly not pleasant places under the best of circumstances, but
with their histories of misery and despair, torture and murder, it’s no wonder that
many of the country’s prisons are some of the most haunted places on earth.
If you thought this video was fascinating, be sure and check out our other videos, like
this one called “Scary Urban Legends That Will Keep You Up At Night”, or maybe you’ll
like this other video, instead.