Missouri State Penitentiary Part 2 - When the Ghosts Come Out to Play
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Housing some of the country's most dangerous criminals and
boasting to be the bloodiest 47 acres in the United States, this
penitentiary is said to be one of the most haunted places in the
US. I visited here for the second time on my way back home from
Massachusetts and decided to go on a ghost tour...alone. I had
never done anything like that by myself and I can guarantee you that
it was certainly an experience that will remain en"graved"
in my memory for the rest of my life.
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Seeing the penitentiary at night was definitely an eerie experience.
Even before I made it to the building, while I was driving there from
my hotel, I started freaking myself out. “This is crazy! Who goes
on ghost tours alone?! You are going to bring something home!
Don’t let them sense your fear!” Seriously y’all...I don’t know what
was going on, but there was something about taking on this
experience alone that really got to me. #weak. Lol
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I calmed down a little once I joined the tour group….until….well….keep on reading.
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The first stop on this tour was in the women’s section of the prison.
The first female, Amelia Eddy, arrived at the prison in 1842 to serve
a 2 year sentence for grand larceny. However, she was released not
long after her arrival due to inadequate facilities for her. It wasn’t
until 1876 that a separate cellblock was created for the women separated
from the men’s quarters only by a 20 foot concrete wall. There were
about 60 female inmates housed here which was a rather small number.
No paranormal experiences were had by me here.
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Next it was on to housing unit #4 and it was here in this housing
unit that I really started to experience things. Walking around
the cells I kept feeling something hit the back of my legs or my
back, I would hear something hit the ground near me, or I would
see small rocks move across the ground. After talking with the tour
guide she informed me that the ghosties liked to throw rocks at
certain people who walked through here. Guess I was
the lucky winner of the night because
I was the only one this kept happening to over and over again. Freakin’ rude.
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After exploring the upper portion of the housing unit, we went down
into the dungeon and this was where my next experiences happened.
It was so so dark down there.
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Standing in complete darkness inside one of the cells a shuffling
noise, akin to the sound of dragging feet, began near the doorway
of the cell. Mind you the tour guide had asked us to turn off our
flashlights and stand in our cells in complete darkness. I couldn’t
see my own hand in front of my face and yet here are these footsteps
that made their way from the doorway of the cell and continued
until they brought whatever was making these footsteps right
next to me. I legit think I stopped breathing. The shuffling was so
loud that even the tour guide, who was standing on the other side
of the hallway in a different cell, was like “Oh my god….it’s
never been that loud before.” And of course my experience didn't
stop there. Not long after the footsteps a small light appeared in the
doorway of the cell. Just a random light near the top of the doorway
that was there one minute and then gone the next. After all that
I was ready to get the heck out of there. (People in some of the other cells
said they felt someone touch them!)
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After housing unit 4 we moved on to housing unit 3 and y’all
it was here that I am pretty sure I started physically shaking.
We walked down to death row and the tour guide separated us
out into groups. One group was sent to go stand in the hallway
underneath the windows and the other group….my group...was
sent to go stand in front of the cells. I didn’t think anything of it
until she told each of us on the side of the cells to choose one to
stand in front of... alone. She wanted us to stand in front of one
of the open cell doors that once housed a death row inmate. Cool cool cool.
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I stood with my back to the dark cell listening as our tour guide
then proceeded to tell us stories about the things people would
experience here including, for the people standing in front of the
cells, a creepy Golum looking entity that likes to CRAWL ACROSS THE
FLOOR AND THEN SIT AT YOUR FEET (and then usually follow you
around the rest of the tour)! After all of the other experiences I had
had that night this was about my breaking point and I legit squeezed
my eyes shut so tightly it hurt. I was NOT about to witness anything
staring up at me. Hell to the no. Thankfully, I never saw Golum and
I also didn’t have any experiences while standing in front of my cell
so I guess all those Hail Marys I was saying in my head worked. Lol
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Our last stop on the tour was the gas chamber. As I mentioned
in my part 1 on MSP (link here) there were a total of 40 inmates
that were put to death here. I didn’t experience so much as a
weird feeling here let alone anything physical which kind of
surprised me considering how many deaths occurred here.
I guess all had made peace with their fate.
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So that was my mostly ghostly experience at Missouri State Penitentiary.
While I was there I bought a shirt in the gift shop that says “I Did Time
at Missouri State Penitentiary” and I can guarantee you that after
I walked out of there I definitely felt like I had served some type of a
sentence. Lol Out of all the haunted places I have visited in my life
this is only the second place where I have had an actual paranormal
experience and while they all freaked me the hell out I would return
for a ghost tour again in a heartbeat. Hopefully next time I can keep
my cool a little better and really put my ghost hunting skills to the test.
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Would you go on a ghost tour alone? What is your favorite haunted
location that you have been to?
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