- Prisons are inherently disturbing places.
The entire freedom of an individual
is placed behind metal bars
where they sometimes spend the rest of their lives,
wasting away, decaying like an old fence,
and upon death, these prisoners' spirits
sometimes remain restless,
eager to carry out revenge on the living.
(shrieking)
Here are the 10 creepiest, haunted prisons on Earth.
Number 10 is the Bodmin Jail.
Considered to be one of the most haunted locations
in all of Britain, Bodmin Jail in Cornwall, England,
has a dark past,
one that clearly left a mark on the institution
in the form of angry spirits.
Built in 1779, the prison operated for 150 years
before closing.
But while the living prisoners were transferred
to other places, the dead seemed to stick around.
Shadows moving, whispers without a source,
and even physical contact have all been documented
by those who visit.
One of the most famous ghosts within Bodmin's walls
is Selina Wadge, a mother who drowned her own child
and died while incarcerated.
She's been said to torment expecting mothers
and children who walk by, tugging at their hair,
or grabbing them in an attempt to get their attention
so that they can forgive her
for the horrific crime that she committed.
Number nine is Cripple Creek Jail.
In the late 1800s, a gold rush increased the population
of Cripple Creek Colorado, from just 15 people
to over 50,000.
This caused a big rise in crime,
and those who broke the law usually found themselves
in Cripple Creek Jail.
Of course, with only a few guards,
and even fewer cells, the prison was ill-equipped
to handle the number of prisoners it took in,
and many inmates died.
It's been said that angry ghosts have stayed behind
to torment others.
One spirit, a female guard,
has appeared before multiple visitors,
revealing that she and the ghosts of other jailers
are still on the job,
keeping the ghosts of several inmates contained.
Oddly, one of the most frequently seen apparitions
is that of a young girl,
who will walk into the jail's front door
and disappear right before the eyes of witnesses.
Number eight is the Ararat County Jail.
Renamed J Ward in 1886, the Ararat County Jail
is rightfully located in Ararat County
in Victoria, Australia.
Opened on October 10th, 1961, the prison became home
to the country's criminally insane,
but today is the home of the ghosts of those criminals.
During its time, J Ward say its inmates
put through horrific treatment,
any of them completely undeserving
of the ordeals that they were put through.
The screams of those put through therapies,
such as lobotomies without anesthetic,
can still be heard, and a number of visitors have reported
being touched or grabbed by unseen entities.
One particular spirit, an evil nurse called Nurse Kerry,
still protects her ward, forcing anyone who visits to leave
so that they won't see how she and her fellow staff
treat the patients.
Number seven is Moundsville Penitentiary.
Located in Moundsville, West Virginia,
this gothic-style prison
is well known for being a paranormal hotspot.
In the 1930s, guards at Moundsville Penitentiary
would frequently notice an inmate out of his cell
and walking the outer grounds,
but when they sounded the alarm and the cells were checked,
they realized that nobody had escaped,
and the figure out in the yard had disappeared.
This gave the prison a reputation for housing ghosts,
one which would only grow
as more and more terrifying instances occurred.
But perhaps the most unsettling apparition
stays within the penitentiary's walls,
and has been nicknamed the Shadow Man.
This dark spirit remains in the shadows
and reportedly has no face,
making it even more horrifying to encounter,
and has scared the wits out of a number of visitors.
Number six is the Tower of London.
Founded in 1066, the Tower of London
is actually made up of several buildings
that stand inside two rings of walls and a wide moat
that surrounds everything.
The entire castle was a symbol of oppression
inflicted by William the Conqueror,
and later, in the year 1100, became a prison.
The ghosts haunting the Tower of London include
some pretty famous faces, including that of Anna Boleyn,
who's actually been spotted walking around
the fortress grounds, holding her own severed head.
Another tortured soul who was held at the tower
was Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury,
who denied being a traitor
and wouldn't lay down to be executed.
A number of visitors to the castle have witnessed
the bloody scene played out by Pole's ghost,
who was butchered to death on the green.
Number five is Ohio State Reformatory.
Known as the Mansfield Reformatory,
the Ohio State Reformatory was built between 1886 and 1910,
in Mansfield, Ohio, and was made famous for its use
in the production of the Shawshank Redemption.
The prison was ordered closed in 1990,
after the brutal conditions inmates endured came to light.
But in 1995, the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society
opened the building to ghost tours.
Today, it's widely considered among ghost hunters
to be one of the most active haunted locations
within the United States.
If you ever find yourself on one of the tours,
expect to encounter cold spots in random places,
and to have any electronic devices experience interference
or otherwise malfunction.
Photographs have captured a number of orbs,
and more disturbingly, there have been several
physical hostile encounters that have been reported.
Number four is the Karosta Naval Port Prison.
When it opened in the year 1900,
the Karosta Naval Port Prison in Latvia,
was a Soviet military detention center,
housing soldiers who committed serious offenses
or attempted to desert.
According to recorded history,
since the prison's doors first opened,
nobody incarcerated there managed to escape.
Inside, the walls still contain grim messages
carved into them by prisoners, many which died while there.
Karosta was designed to break the spirits
of those within it, and those spirits still roam the halls,
creating loud footsteps,
opening cell doors that were locked,
unscrewing and smashing light bulbs,
and even appearing suddenly before terrified visitors.
Since 2013, its hosted Extreme Night,
where visitors can actually spend the night
locked up in their own cells at the spirits' mercy.
Number three is Alcatraz.
Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary
sits on the appropriately named, Alcatraz Island,
in the San Francisco Bay,
and is considered one of the most haunted places in the US.
But even before it was a prison,
there were tales of evil spirits inhabiting the island,
told by the Native Americans.
It was even described by Mark Twain as being
"as cold as winter, even in the summer months."
Everyone, from former guards to inmates,
to modern-day tourists, have claimed to experience
paranormal occurrences inside the walls of Alcatraz,
with some simply hearing whispers and cries
from empty cells,
while others witness the appearance of actual apparitions
moving along the dark corridors.
There are even reports of sudden temperature drops,
and cell doors closing, as well as locking, on their own.
Number two is the Shepton Mallet Prison.
Shepton Mallet Prison, also referred to as Cornhill,
is located in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England,
and, just prior to closing in 2013,
was the oldest operating prison in the UK.
Being a functioning institution since 1625,
and also a category C prison,
which meant it had the most notorious and dangerous inmates,
the facility saw a number of grisly murders over the years.
The grounds around Shepton Mallet Prison
are littered with the unmarked graves of the many
who were either executed by hanging or firing squad,
or had died from various conditions,
such as small pox, and malnutrition.
Many ghosts haunt the complex, including a woman in white,
and several executed inmates who cry out and laugh.
In one terrifying instance,
a guard was even attacked by an invisible assailant,
who burned him.
And number one is Eastern State Penitentiary.
Opened in 1829, and closed in 1971,
Eastern State Penitentiary was a prison
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
that was, at the time of its completion,
the largest and most expensive public structure built
in the US.
But what makes the massive complex so famous today,
is the number of ghostly encounters
people seem to experience while inside of it.
Eastern State has a long and unsettling history
of torture, illness, suicides, and, of course, murder,
which has allegedly resulted in the facility housing
a number of terrifying apparitions.
Cell blocks contain spirits of prisoners that laugh evilly,
whisper, cry out, or dart from cell to cell,
while the silhouette of a guard has been seen
watching visitors on tour.
And in one of the most terrifying documented encounters,
one inmate even spoke of being physically restrained
by unseen forces.
And that's it.
If you enjoyed this video
and you'd like to see more like it in the future,
subscribe to my channel
and turn on notifications for my new uploads.
Thank you for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.