Old Idaho State Penitentiary have plenty of spooky stories to tell

One of the first sights a visitor takes in while touring the Old Idaho State Penitentiary is the massive sandstone walls surrounding the entire grounds. Seventeen feet high and at least a couple of feet wide.

“That is imposing,” I observed.

“I thought you’d like it,” Kelly smiled in response.

Kelly resides in Meridian, Idaho, and thought a trip to the ‘pen’ would be an excellent moment for her dad. Clearly, she knows me well.

I like visiting unique places. This prison, which opened in 1872 and operated until 1973, fit the bill exactly.

Situated just 2 miles southeast of downtown is what was once the Territorial Prison before Idaho gained statehood, and it housed some pretty bad people during those Wild West days.

Three prisoners easily exemplify the dangerous sorts who found their home behind those tall but strangely attractive walls:

Harry Orchard was convicted of blowing up Idaho Gov. Frank Steunenberg in 1905. He murdered the governor and at least 17 others during his career as a mining union terrorist. He did not like non-union miners or those who owned mines who hired such. He once stated that there would have been many more, but those non-explosions resulted from faulty TNT fuses.

Lyda Southard was convicted in 1921 of second-degree murder for feeding her family members enough arsenic to kill them. Four husbands, a brother-in-law, her daughter, and possibly others close to her. It's probably a little bit too close in the end. Her motive for the husbands? Life insurance. The motive for the other murders? Simply being evil would be my guess.

The last person executed at the prison was Raymond Snowden on October 18, 1957. His crime? After arguing with his girlfriend, Cora Dean, he stabbed her over 30 times with a pocketknife and left her lifeless body on the roadside. Records indicate that when he was hung at the penitentiary, it took 15 minutes for him to die.

The prison lasted just over 100 years and served 13,000 inmates but never had a population of over 600 at any given time.

Kelly described the place as creepy, and as we strolled through the grounds and the different cell blocks, a feeling of heaviness and darkness was hanging in the air like a deep fog.

Well, at least for Laureen. Not being in tune with paranormal feelings such as she is, I did not feel much except my legs were getting tired from all the stone and metal steps we had to climb during our visit.

“Those prisoners must have been in good shape,” I said.

My companions just stopped and looked at me. We were in front of a block cell house built for male juvenile convicts.

Oh, yes, the Old Idaho State Penitentiary is supposed to be haunted—another reason for our visit.

According to the Idaho State Historical Society: ‘The Old Idaho Penitentiary is considered one of the most haunted destinations in Idaho, and has been featured on television shows such as Ghost Adventures, The Lowe Files, Haunted Towns and Destination Fear.’

I do understand the feeling of a destination of fear, though. That is when I visit Lowe’s for a home improvement project and realize my debit card is about to be overtaken by a force I cannot stop: rising prices. It is almost supernatural how costs keep going up and up daily.

Perhaps I can get Cody Dare and Shawn Warren from New Reality 11 to investigate that paranormal financial activity.

As we entered the multi-tiered paint-peeling walls of the wing, which housed the youngest of the penitentiary’s convicts, a feeling of dread overcame Laureen.

“There was a lot of sadness here,” she said. “I can sense it.”

Research indicates this building held the youngest male ever sentenced for murder in Idaho in 1885. The ten-year-old, James Oscar-Baker, had been convicted of manslaughter for shooting and killing a man threatening his father. Luckily for the youth, the governor pardoned him in less than a year.

Walking through the tiny cells with metal cots, walls, ceilings, and thick barred sliding gates even gave me a feeling of foreboding.

After ten minutes, both Laureen and Kelly advised me they were leaving.

I did not try to stop them. It was creepy even for me. Again, I have always been skeptical about Casper and the like floating through the air, but as we were leaving the cell block, I thought I heard footsteps at the end of the long corridor. I stopped, heard it again, and realized we were the only ones there. It might have been the wind whistling through the high barred exterior windows.

Maybe if there had been any wind during our visit.

Laureen moved quickly, leading our little trio out into the fresh air.

Cell House #5 is where the worst of the worst were kept - maximum security. The block also held the death chamber. Ten inmates were executed at the prison, and six were hung in Cell House #5.

Visitors have told the docents that as they walked through the death house, they could hear noises as if someone were kicking the side walls or the whoosh of air as if something suddenly fell from a height.

We wandered from the chapel, where the original Territorial Prison was located in 1870, to the huge shirt factory/laundry building, the barber shop, and the women’s dormitory, which was fenced off from the rest of the penitentiary. And finally, a museum that indicated many names and biographies of those who once lived and possibly died within the tall walls.

Over 129 prisoners died at the Old Idaho State Penitentiary over the decades. Industrial accidents, suicides, murders, and disease were the main culprits taking these inmates' lives.

If any place could be haunted, the penitentiary certainly could be - if one believed such things.

One docent I spoke with, who did want her identity put in print, told us that it is not uncommon while doing rounds to see or hear things that should not be heard or seen.

“I remember walking through the women’s house one late afternoon,” she said. “All visitors were gone, and as I was getting ready to lock the doors, I suddenly heard a woman scream.”

“Scream, like in pain?” I asked.

“No, more like a pitiful yell as if she was doomed.”

“And you are sure there was no one there?” I asked.

“All alone,” she replied. “The other staff were waiting for me at the admin building.”

She then told us a story of a male staff member walking through the housing unit for juveniles when he suddenly heard a couple of boys laughing in one of the cells. Upon further investigation, the penitentiary was not open yet for visitors, and he found the block empty except for himself.

Other stories included hearing running, seeing shadows walking out of cells, doors slamming shut, and other activities that could not be explained.

According to an article written in 2022 by the Boise State Public Radio News, a group known as the Big River Paranormal routinely gives tours of the penitentiary for those interested in ghostly or paranormal activities.

But one thing that this group points out is that nearly 95 percent of what is experienced by people can be explained with logic. The other 5 percent is why it is referred to as being in the paranormal realm.

We finished our self-guided tour where we started it, outside the towering walls.

Once outside, I stared up at one of the guard towers. I knew I did not see someone staring down at me. The docent I had been speaking with earlier explained no one was allowed up in the towers.

“Liability issues.”

And yet…

For further information: https://history.idaho.gov/oldpen/

John can be contacted at beyersbyways@gmail.com

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: The stories from inside Old Idaho State Penitentiary are spooky