Idaho Penitentiary
The Idaho Penitentiary is located in Boise, Idaho and contains many spirits of its past inmates. The spirits are unknown, but the educated guesses of some of these ghosts include that of a man named Harry Orchard. He spent 46 years living at the prison trying for parole countless times and was never released. Years down the road, he was finally offered parole but at that point he refused to take it and would go on to die in the prison at the age of 88. George Hamilton is the name of another famous inmate who could have his spirit roaming the old prison.
Hamilton designed the dining hall and was so upset when he was released from prison and said that he had to leave the state of Idaho but committed suicide the same day. Another possibility of a spirit roaming this penitentiary is that of an inmate who hung himself in 1971 with a rope made from his pants while he was on death row. The penitentiary was built in 1870 when the Idaho territory was only ten years old. It originally started as a single-cell block and eventually was built up to the several buildings that are currently standing on the site.
Over the years it was open, the prison held about 13,000 inmates, including 215 women. The prison closed its doors in 1973 because of riots that were caused by inmates due to the poor living conditions. To this day, it is one of only four territorial prisons in the United States. The buildings that are still standing include the bishop’s house built in 1975, the warden’s house built in 1902, the guard house built in 1912, and the women’s ward built in 1906. The rose gardens were tended by the inmates and the ghosts of these inmates can still be seen taking care of the garden. Inside the courtyard, there have been reports of cold spots, feelings of being watched, and an apparition seen going in the front door of the building.
Ten executions took place on the site and only murderers held here received their fate. The executions were all done by hanging. Staff members have reported smells, voices, shadows, cold spots, alarms going on and off, and footsteps heard in the cell blocks.
(Source: Belanger, Jeff. Encyclopedia of Haunted Places. 2005.)
