The Haunted Cells of Yuma Territorial Prison

In use from 1876 until 1909 Yuma Territorial Prison housed over 3,000 prisoners--29 of which were women. The prison was closed down because of overcrowding. 

This facility then was used for Yuma Union High School until 1914. After this, the building lay abandoned until the 1920s, when hobos that road the rails started using its various cells for shelter. 

By the Great Depression, entire homeless families were living within its walls. Located in southwestern Arizona near the California border this old prison still remains atop a rocky hill overlooking the small town of Yuma, Arizona. Today it is a State Historical Park.

Three cells within this prison are notorious for being haunted. 

The first is the cell known as the “dark cell.” This room was used for solitary confinement. Prisoners were placed in this 10-foot by 10-foot space as a punishment. They were stripped down to their underwear, and often their legs were shackled separately to two ringbolts. While housed here, these prisoners were given only one meal a day, which consisted of bread and water.

The only light in this cell came from a small opening in a ventilation shaft in the ceiling. After dark, this space was pitch black. Records indicate that the prisoners placed here complained, “scorpions and snakes’ were in this dark room with them. 

Some accused the guards of purposely putting these critters down the ventilation shaft to torture them more. Two prisoners went insane while they were kept in this cell.

Today this room holds more than bad memories. It is said several ghosts reside in this area. 

One of these spirits is not a prisoner but a little girl. It is speculated that her family was one that stayed in the prison during the 1930s. This young ghost often lets the living know she is around. It seems she is attracted to people who wear red. 

She has been known to pinch, poke and touch people with her icy cold fingers. One psychic that visited the dark cell confirmed that this spirit is a little girl and not a prisoner.

In recent years, a local magazine writer for Arizona Highways announced she intended to stay in Yuma Prison’s dark cell for 48 hours so she could get a feel for what it was like for the prisoners. She had her legs shackled to the ringbolts and only took bread and water in with her. The ventilation shaft was covered thoroughly, blocking out the light. 

This writer left the dark cell after 37 hours. She told others afterward that she felt strongly that she was not the only one in the space. Freaked out, she requested to be released early.

The second haunted cell that is Yuma is #14. This cell is at the end of one corridor. In the early 1900s, a prisoner by the name of John Ryan, was kept in this space. The guards and the other prisoners did not like Ryan. In his record, it indicates that he was convicted of “an act against nature.” What this meant was he was convicted of rape or some other sexually deviant act.

Ryan committed suicide in Cell #14. Park employees, including the assistant manager, have all stated they become very uncomfortable when they are in this area of the prison. They often feel an icy chill when they are near Ryan’s cell.

The third haunted cell has an unseen presence that one female ranger admits has frightened her. This space has actually been walled up. It was once used to house insane prisoners. 

As this ranger did research, she found a photo of a woman, who was a tourist in the 1930s. She had her picture taken in front of the space. After the film was developed, she discovered a “ghostly man” was in the photo standing behind her in the doorway of the cell.

A New Orleans Protective Spirit

When I first started this blog I put a general post on about protective spirits. I also shared several posts about protective spirits that remain in a store where I have done investigations in the past. This kind of haunting happens a lot more often than the “evil” spirits that are glamourized on television. I find this kind of haunting very intriguing.

One early episode on the TV show Ghost Hunters actually was interesting in that this team were able to alleviate a families’ fears by pointing out to them the ghost that was haunting them was actually a protective spirit that helped prevent one of their children from being burned by hot liquid. This completely changed how this family viewed the spirit who shared their home. To my knowledge they haven’t done another show like this, which is too bad.

One of my all time favorite “firsthand experience” ghost stories is about a protective spirit. * It centers on a female ghost who stays with one family who lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. This ghost literally saved the life of the husband in this family. One afternoon this man who was not feeling well fell asleep watching television in the back family room. His wife and daughter left to go shopping. He awoke when he heard his name being called.

Coming out of a deep sleep, it took him awhile to realize there was a female figure in the hall staring down at him. He did not recognize her. Again he heard his name called out this time very loudly. The female then turned and headed down the hall. Now wondering whom this woman was the man rushed to the open door and looked into the hall. He could just see the form of the woman for she appeared to be fading away. He realized that a thick fog of smoke was floating down from the ceiling between them.

He ran through the smoke and headed out the front door. He coughed and gasped the fresh air in as he left the house. Within moments he heard a fire truck's sirens as it headed down his street. Once recovered the father in a panic looked around for his wife and daughter. When he didn’t spot them he rushed back toward the home worried his wife and daughter were inside. As he reached the porch a fireman physically prevented him from entering his home.

He pleaded with the man to let him look for his family. The fireman reassured him that they would save his relatives. This story had a happy ending for the man turned and saw his wife and daughter get out their car--returned from their shopping. He sobbed with relief when he realized they were safe.

Afterwards the man sat down with his wife and told her about the strange woman who had woken him up. He admitted that this woman had saved his life. The wife told him that it was her family’s ghost. It seems this spirit had stayed near various family members for at least five generations. She told her husband that she had seen this ghost herself just before family births and deaths. She stated the ghost would often make her presence known by walking loudly on the wooden floorboards or knocking on walls or doors.

The wife confided that this ghost who was her family’s harbinger was actually used to sooth the younger generations. As a child her grandparents had told her that she was lucky for she should never fear the dark because she had a very special guardian who would protect her always. In this instance this protective spirit had saved her husband’s life. This wife does consider herself very lucky.

* One source for this story is Victor Klein’s book, New Orleans Ghosts.

The Ghosts of Carlisle Barracks

Carlisle Barracks is located in the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania. Today Carlisle Barracks is considered one of the best military schools in the world. 

Three of its most famous graduates are John J. Pershing, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Omar N. Bradley. 

1783-1837
Gateway to Frontier

Initially, this military post was the spot were early traders and settlers stopped to rest before they made their way across the Allegheny Mountains. In 1757 Carlisle became a permanent military post.

When George Washington visited the area during the Revolutionary War, he recommended this site be used for the newly proposed military academy, but Carlisle lost out to West Point, NY. 

In the late 1830s, the post evolved into a school to instruct the U.S. Army’s mounted forces. 

During the Civil War, Union troops occupied both the post and the town of Carlisle. Major General J.E.B. Stuart, a Confederate soldier, demanded the post and town surrender but when they didn’t, he shelled both and set fire to the post-- several buildings burned down.

Cavalry School

In 1879, Carlisle Barracks became the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Its most famous student and the best athlete was Jim Thorpe. * 

At the onset of World War l, the Barracks was returned to the War Department. It became a hospital that specialized in the treatment of mental rehabilitation for those suffering from the newly identified trauma--called “Shell Shock.”

By the 1920s the Medical Field Service took over the Barracks. They remained for 26 years then in 1946, Carlisle was used for a series of six different army schools. 

In 1951, the U.S. Army War College relocated to Carlisle and to this day prepares senior officers for high command.

Entrance to Carlisle Indian
Industrial School

Carlisle’s varied history has left the Barracks haunted by a variety of ghosts. Some of this activity reflects the time when Carlisle was the Indian School. Many confounded witnesses have reported hearing faint band music from the late 19^th and the early 20^th centuries. 

This music is heard near Carlisle’s bandstand. It is often played with gusto but off-key, so it felt that this was probably a young student band, from the school, performing a concert.

The ghost of Jim Thorpe is also seen at Carlisle. People passing the Old Gymnasium at night report hearing the dribbling of a basketball, and the shuffle of sneakers. 

What is unusual is when this is heard, there are no lights on in the gym. Most witnesses feel this must be the Indian School’s basketball team continuing to practice -- Thorpe was its star athlete.

Jim Thorpe’s apparition has also been seen at the Letort View Community Center. 

Other ghosts seen at this center include a well-dressed female student who is considered to be one of Thorpe’s classmates and a man dressed in farm attire. The cellar of this building is so active it has been dubbed, “purgatory.”

Some of the ghostly activity reflects a much earlier time. At Carlisle, there is a building that was initially used as a powder magazine. Today this building is used as a museum that houses a variety of military artifacts. 

Many believe the Hessian soldiers who were forced to construct it in 1777, still haunt it. 

During the Revolutionary War German soldiers called Hessians were captured at the Battle of Trenton. The American rebels hated these soldiers because they were not fighting on principle but as mercenaries that were paid by the English to fight on their side.

Today strange noises are heard coming from the Powder Magazine Museum, including sightings of very tall Hessian soldiers wearing oddly pointed hats. 

A new resident staying at a nearby barracks in the 1990s, tells about one encounter. He heard loud noises from the magazine late at night, so he went to investigate.

Photo: Jerry & Roy Klotz MD
Carlisle Powder Magazine Museum

The doors at this time of night are typically locked, but this man discovered the first door was unlocked--so he went in. The second door was shut tight. As he peered through a window, he literally fell down in shock at what he saw. 

He expected to see a museum full of military artifacts, but instead, he saw several Hessian soldiers standing in a room that was obviously the old 1700 powder magazine.

Yet another ghost spotted at Carlisle is a woman dressed in old-fashioned green-colored clothing. She is always seen entering or exiting various homes along the Barracks’ Flower Road. 

When people have attempted to speak to her, she just vanishes into one of the houses. But people inside these homes never see her enter. 

In Washington Hall Guest House people often report hearing the distressed calls of an infant but when they go in search of this baby, they discover no children are in the house.

One officer while training at Carlisle had a series of unusual events happen in his apartment, that is located in one of the barracks that was rebuilt after it was burned down by Major General J.E.B. Stuart’s men during the Civil War. 

This officer bought a famous print of the major general titled, The Last Crusade. He had it framed and hung it on his apartment wall.

Away from Carlisle for a vacation, he returned to find this picture had fallen off the wall. The nails were still in place, and the frame and wire on the back were intact, but the glass was smashed. How this glass was broken is what he found odd. 

It appeared as if a foot had precisely stomped down over Stuart’s face smashing the glass only in this area.

This officer had the glass replaced and rehung this print. But shortly after returning from another absence, he found the copy once more on the floor with the glass damaged only over the face. 

He had the glass replaced again. The same thing happened for a third time. Not giving up, the officer had the glass replaced yet again and hung the print back in its place.

A few weeks after he and his wife were awakened by the sound of the print being broken. They heard the picture fall from the wall, and then they heard a “popping, crushing sound, like a heavy foot, twisting on the glass.” 

He saw that the glass was smashed over the face of the famous Confederate once more. Stuart ordered the burning of the Barracks in 1863. This decision created a lot of enemies. After this incident, many felt this was a ghost of a Union soldier, who took his chance to take revenge.

*  Jim Thorpe, a Native American, is considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports. He won Olympic Gold medals in the pentathlon and decathlon events in 1912. 

But these metals were taken back when it was discovered he had played two semi-professional seasons of baseball before he won them. 

After the Olympics, he played professional baseball, football, and basketball. He left sports at the age of 41--this was at the start of the Great Depression. For the rest of his life, he struggled to make a living. He became an alcoholic, and in his later years, he was in poor health and lived in poverty. 

After Thorpe's death, his daughter persisted, and she succeeded in convincing the Olympic Committee to reverse their decision, and restore her father's Olympic Gold medals.

The Empire State Building Ghost

Photo: Michael Slonecker

The iconic lights of the Empire State Building first lit up in 1931. Soaring 102 stories toward the sky the building when constructed was the tallest in the world.* 

The 1933 film King Kong made the Empire State Building even more famous. Today when the building is lit up at night, it is still one of the most spectacular sights on New York City’s skyline. 

Unfortunately, along with its beauty, the building also has a very morbid history of suicides. 

Some believe one of these suicides is the reason a female ghost is seen on the buildings’ 86th-floor observation platform.

During the buildings’ history, over thirty people have committed suicide by jumping. 

In 1947 alone, in three weeks, five people committed suicide. One of these jumpers hit a pedestrian walking past on the street below. 

This and so many deaths in a short period resulted in an enclosed fence being built around the perimeter of the Empires State’s observation deck. “Suicide guards” were also hired to patrol the area. 

Evelyn McHale, a 23-year-old woman, was one of these five suicides. One legend states this is why her ghost is seen.

McHale served as a WAC ** during World War ll. Once she mustered out, she burnt her uniform. She moved to New York and became a bookkeeper. 

McHale lived with relatives in Long Island. She became engaged to a college student who was discharged from the Air Force. She spent her 23^rd birthday with her fiancé, Barry Rhodes--staying through the night --the next morning she wrote a suicide note:

I don’t think I would make a good wife for anyone. 'Rhodes' will be better off without me. Tell my father, I have too many of my mother’s tendencies.”

McHale went to the Empire State Building where she placed her tan coat, black bag, and a collection of family photos, against the observation deck rail. She then jumped to her death, landing on a United Nations Cadillac limousine on 33^rd street. 

A photography student, Robert C. Wiley standing across the street, heard the crash and rushed across to take a picture. His photo was published in Life Magazine in 1947, and the body was dubbed, “the most beautiful suicide.” 

Wiley’s photo shows McHale’s body with a serene face, and legs crossed at the ankle. A pretty young woman who wore white gloves and pearls.

One compelling account of her tragic suicide was published in the Miami Daily News:

“Police said today that pretty Evelyn McHale tried to throw her past away piece by piece then threw herself off the Empire State Building because she was afraid of the future.

Somewhere within three hours yesterday, she decided that life was a bigger gamble than death.

Shortly before 10:00 a.m., she bought a ticket to the Empire State observation platform. She removed her tan topcoat and laid it neatly over the four-foot parapet. 

On that she placed a small brown make up kit and a black bag.

At 10:40, she jumped, her expensive rose-colored dress flashed through the mist as she plummeted past office windows. Her white scarf floated down lazily behind her and fell onto the face of a policeman.”

Wiley's photo of the body, it
 punched into the top of the limo--click to enlarge.

McHale took her life on the 16^th anniversary of when the Empire State first opened. 

Most agree this suicide resulted in a haunting. The ghost of a pretty young woman is seen on the Empire’s observation deck. 

Witnesses state that this ghost talked to them, expressing sadness, and then they saw her remove her coat and leap to her death through the barrier fence--as if it wasn’t even there.

This ghost is described as wearing old-fashioned 1940s style clothing. 

Female witnesses have reported that after seeing her jump, they then were even more shocked later to see her again in the woman’s restroom looking in a mirror and touching up her make-up. Some have followed her and seen her jump once more. 

It appears this ghost is doomed to reenact her final moments over and over again.

* The Empire State Building remained New York’s tallest building for forty years. With construction in 1971 of the World Trade Center towers it lost this distinction. But tragically after the September 2011 attacks, it once again was the tallest building in New York, until 2012, when the construction on the One World Trade Center reached over 1,250 feet.

** WAC stands for “Women's Army Corps.” During World War ll this was one-way women could serve in the military.