There are few places more haunted than Alcatraz , the most famous of America’s prisons. Located in San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island has been a place of superstition and fear since long before the penitentiary was built. Today, it is one of the most well-known sites of alleged paranormal activity in the world.
Native Americans believed the island was inhabited by evil spirits, although this did not prevent a few of them from taking refuge there when displaced from their homelands. Later, the island’s value as a potential defensive stronghold was realised, and in 1854 the military decided to build a fortress there to guard the entrance to the harbour. Alcatraz Citadel, also known as Fort Alcatraz, was completed in 1859 and served as an important Union stronghold in the US Civil War. It became a prisoner of war camp in 1861 and a military prison in 1868. Conditions at the military prison were grim, and numerous inmates perished on the island, both during and after the war.
After the original citadel collapsed, a concrete military prison was erected on the site in 1912. In 1933–1934, the building was modernised and became the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary. Between 1934 and 1963 some of America's most dangerous criminals were incarcerated at Alcatraz. In that period, eight people were murdered at the prison by inmates. A guard was murdered in the laundry room in the late 1930s, two prisoners died during an escape attempt in 1946, and five other inmates were killed in violent attacks. Five others committed suicide, and at least a dozen died in total trying to escape.
Given the number
of deaths and the scale of human misery experienced on the site, it is perhaps
not surprising that Alcatraz acquired the reputation of being haunted. Reports
of ghostly activity began while the prison was still operating, both from
prisoners and from staff. These included phantom whispering sounds, spectral
blue lights and figures, phantom gunfire, cannon blasts and fire alarms going
off of their own accord, the clanking of chains and eerie groans, and the
apparitions of Civil War era inmates who had died on the site during its time
as a military prison. One story relates how a prisoner on the notorious D-block
reportedly screamed for hours, claiming that there was an entity with glowing
red eyes in the cell with him. He was supposedly found dead the next morning,
with a purple face, bulging eyes, and unidentified finger marks around his
throat. Some of the guards reportedly experienced ghostly activity too,
including cold spots, unseen fingers on the back of their neck, and crying in
the night. Several guards reported seeing the spectre of a man with mutton-chop
sideburns, dressed in grey, whose appearance turned the room icy cold. The
Warden of Alcatraz, James A. Johnston, did not believe in ghosts, but even he
reported unexplained sobbing coming from the old military dungeons beneath the
prison, followed by an icy wind that swept around him and his group.
Since the prison
closed in 1963, reports of paranormal activity have continued. Alcatraz became
a museum in the 1970s, and since
that time numerous visitors and staff have reported strange experiences. These
have included feelings of being watched, unexplained footsteps, moaning,
screams, crying, unexplained clanging sounds, and locked cell doors opening of
their own accord. The ghost of former inmate Abie Maldowitz is said to haunt
the laundry room on C-Block, where he was murdered. The most haunted part of
the prison is reputed to be D-Block, especially cells 11-14. These were the
solitary confinement cells known as ‘The Hole’, where prisoners were stripped,
beaten, kept in darkness and on starvation rations, and forced to sleep on the
concrete floor. Cell 14-D, the worst cell of all, is considered to be the most
haunted cell in the prison. The cell is always intensely cold, even in summer,
and many visitors have reported intense sensations of a presence there. Some
staff refuse to visit this cell alone.
Another ghostly hotspot in the prison is the shower room, where many visitors have reported experiencing cold chills, as well as icy fingers touching their necks. Phantom banjo sounds have been reported emanating from the room; it is said that Al Capone used to practice banjo there. Other famous inmates who have been claimed to still haunt the prison include Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, who has allegedly been sighted in the prison bakery and kitchen, and George "Machine Gun" Kelly, who is said to haunt the church.
Former inmate Leon “Whitey” Thompson, who
later returned to work as a guide at Alcatraz, believed he had encountered the
ghost of his former cellmate Johnny Haus at the jail in the 1980s. Another
guide who has reported paranormal activity is Lori Brosnan, whose experiences
include unexplained sounds and locked cell doors – to which only she had the
keys – opening in the middle of the night. The utility corridor where three
prisoners were killed in a failed escape attempt is said to be one of the most
haunted spots in the prison. One witness was a night watchman, who reported
inexplicable clanging sounds coming from the corridor in 1976. He did not
believe in ghosts, but he could find no explanation for the noises. It is said
that the recurring disturbances on this corridor caused the access door to be
welded shut for a time.
These are
just some of the ghost stories of Alcatraz. The National Park Service, which
operates the island as a tourist site, officially dismisses the claims of
supernatural activity at the former prison. Many of its own employees, however,
are believers. In light of the history of the site, many people would agree
that if any place were likely to have ghosts, that place would be Alcatraz.
