Deadly Silence
When the Quakers thought up a unique way of rehabilitating inmates, they certainly did not imagine that their tactics would drive the prisoners insane. A peaceful people, they believed that their methods would send criminals along the right path. Put a man in an isolated cell, they figured, and he would have plenty of time to contemplate his wrongdoing.
To accomplish complete isolation, they built the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia in the early nineteenth century with a modern feature that even the White House did not yet enjoy—private flushing toilets. There would be no camaraderie in a common restroom, no “good morning” or, “Please pass the toilet paper.”
Each cell had its own toilet, so there was no need to venture out.
Meals were delivered by unseen attendants who slid the trays beneath the cold doors with never a word spoken. The isolation was indeed complete.
A few lucky prisoners captured mice to tame for pets. Everyone else was all alone.
The suffering began on October 25, 1829, when the first inmate entered the castle-like structure. In addition to the loneliness, prisoners endured cruel punishment at the direction of Warden Samuel Wood. Inmates who were caught making noise were led outside in freezing temperatures, stripped naked, and doused with ice water.
Lonely prisoners lived long, sad lives in total isolation at Eastern State Pen. (Leslie Rule)
Every nook and cranny of the Eastern State Penitentiary hides secrets. (Leslie Rule)
The tiny padlock on this old door could not have stopped the tough men once housed at Eastern State Penitentiary. (Leslie Rule)
top: Tour guides of Eastern State Penitentiary shiver at the sound of evil cackling here. (Leslie Rule) above: Eastern State Penitentiary, once known as Cherry Hill, was a formidable prison that drove the toughest men to tears. (Leslie Rule)
In 1833, prisoner Matthias Maccumsey was punished with the iron gag. The horrible contraption of iron and chains was inserted into his mouth and fastened so tightly that if he moved just slightly, he would suffer unbearable pain. Though the device was not designed to be fatal, it killed Matthias.
Inmates, desperate to escape, dug tunnels, scaled walls, and swam through rat-infested sewers. In 1925, prisoner James Gordon escaped by hiding in a truck full of hot ashes. He was free for a year before being apprehended in Los Angeles.
When infamous gangster Al Capone was jailed at Eastern, he claimed that the specter of James Clark haunted him. Shot and killed during Chicago’s black Valentine’s Day Massacre, the angry ghost apparently blamed Al, who could be heard shrieking, “Leave me alone!”
When I visited the prison-turned-museum, employees told me that they’ve seen shadowy figures darting in and out of the cells. The most haunted area, they said, are the cells where the meanest criminals were housed. When witnesses hear evil cackling emanating from the dense stone walls, they don’t stick around to see who is laughing.
Statues of the white cats that once roamed the old prison grounds of Eastern State Penitentiary are placed throughout the popular tourist attraction. (Leslie Rule)
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EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY
2124 Fairmount Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19130
(215) 236-3300
www.easternstate.org
The Rock
Alcatraz is widely acclaimed as a haunted island. “The Rock” is today a tourist destination for those visiting San Francisco and is most famous for its past as a prison for hard-core criminals.
Paranormal investigator Mollie Stewart discovered a range of ghostly activity there. Unseen hands open and shut the doors to cells, and the eerie sound of a harmonica floats from nowhere. “It is an extremely haunted site,” she said.
While many witnesses believe the earthbound spirits belong to the killers once imprisoned there, they are not aware of a tragic episode that occurred on the island long before it caged the worst of the worst.
At one time, the island was a military base, and it was during this era when a sad human drama played out. While scrutinizing newspaper archives, I unearthed a skeleton that was buried so long ago that it has been forgotten.
Surgeon William Dietz was a captain in the military who lived on the island with his wife, Ella, and their child. On January 28, 1891, Captain Deitz did something terrible. He shot and killed his wife and then turned the rifle on himself, leaving his eight-year-old an orphan. The horrific murder-suicide certainly accounts for some of the paranormal activity at Alcatraz.
Alcatraz is an island in the San Francisco Bay
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Ferries leave from Pier 41
FISHERMAN’S WHARF
San Francisco, CA
Tickets: (415) 705-5555
www.nps.gov/alcatraz/
Deadly Redemption
Recognizable to movie fans as the set for The Shawshank Redemption and many other films, the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield was filled with drama long before actors such as Tim Robbins ever set foot on the gloomy grounds.