Burlington County Prison Museum
Photo taken from wikimedia.org
The Burlington County Prison Museum is located in Mount Holly, New Jersey. It was built in 1811 and designed by renowned architect Robert Mills. Mills is probably most notable for designing the Washington Monument. The prison looks more like a castle, with its rectangular shape and stone material. It was used as a jail until 1966, then the ghosts started to inhabit the building.
One of the ghosts in the building is believed to be that of Joel Clough, who was a convicted murderer that killed his wife with a leg from a table. While being held captive, he spent his days in the death row cell. This contained an eye hook on the floor that he was chained to along with a minuscule window. He was hung in the 1850s, and ever since then the prison guards have heard his moaning and chains banging from the cell. Guards and inmates also reported seeing someone inside the cell, as well as levitating objects.
In 1999, the county began a restoration project of the dilapidated building back to its old form as a museum. As construction began, workers reported hearing loud noises, voices, and screams from various parts of the jail. They also reported some of their tools going missing when they turned their backs. Later on in the day, they would find the missing tools in another room or part of the building. Things got so bad that workers made it a point to not be the last ones to leave the building for the day.
The South Jersey Ghost Research team was sent to the jail to do an investigation of these strange events. A motion detector was set up in the death row cell and it was triggered by an unseen force. Also, pictures that were taken revealed orbs. An EVP recording captured a man saying “Go out here.” Objects moved on their own, as well as a ghostly apparition that was spotted with the footprint of the ghost in the dust on the floor in the showers.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
