Given the violence and death which occurred through the years within the walls of this venerable old prison, if ghosts and hauntings truly exist, then they are quite likely to inhabit the prison. In the prison were murders, riots and many other acts of violence and mayhem, a good indication of the makeup of the men and women who found themselves incarcerated within these walls.
The prison was built in stages over many years, mostly by the convicts themselves, a good example of "hard labor". The present cell block was built in 1896, the prison wall was extended north in 1911 and a 400-man cell block built within in 1912, a theatre was built in 1918-1919, the administration building in 1930-1931, and dormitories, a storage building and a visitor centre were built between 1910 and 1930. A maximum security building, also used as a women's ward, was built circa 1918.
The Powell County Museum & Arts Foundation offers
Ghost Tours of the prison,
guided tours of the hot spots where reports have been made about paranormal activity.
Following is an article from
Dread Central which discusses the possibility of hauntings within the prison and the experiences of visitors therein.
Ghosts
Since the day it reopened, there have been numerous encounters, sightings, and phenomena recorded all over the prison. Visitors often ask if the place is haunted, then relate things that happened to them down the hallways. Over the past few years, paranormal investigative groups have come in to have a look to see if all the stories held water. It seems, however, that the investigators and guests have come to the same conclusion: Something still lingers within the walls. From murder to planned executions by hanging to riots to other unspeakable acts, the more than twenty thousand inmates who lived incarcerated in the tiny cells left enough behind to haunt several prisons.
Among the most common phenomena recorded are disembodied footsteps along the cell-block corridor. They sound like heavy boot steps, the type worn by the inmates in the prison’s early years. There are also the disembodied voices to be considered, many of which have been caught on tape by paranormal groups such as Tortured Souls Investigations and WSPIR. The source of one voice has been accredited to a woman named “Nancy.”
There have also been numerous claims that something lurks inside “The Hole,” what was the common name for Solitary Confinement. Although there has, as of yet, been no documented evidence, there have been multiple claims that something in The Hole attacks people, shoving them out of the darkened space and whispering to them in a voice too soft to hear. Almost as many people reputedly died in The Hole as did those who were sent up on the gallows to meet their deaths.
Perhaps the most interesting haunting comes also from the most interesting, and humorous, characters in the prison’s colorful history. Incarcerated in 1918 and sentenced to life in prison, Paul Eitner, also known as “Turkey Pete,” was the first and only person to occupy his cell in the lifetime of the prison. During his stay, he went a little mad and “sold” the entire flock of the prison’s turkeys to an inmate for twenty-five cents per bird. The other inmates liked Pete, as did the officials, so they were allowed to print “money” from the prison’s press to barter with him. After a while, he amassed so much of the bogus dough that he was allowed to “buy” the prison and run it from his cell. Using his version of money and checks, he “paid” all the prison expenses and guards, and was regarded as a loveable old kook by everyone within the walls. When he died in 1967, his was the only funeral ever paid for and held by the prison system. His cell was retired and turned into a barber shop, most who work there claim the cell is still his.
From Dread Central