HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Romanesque granite jail built in 1897 for 60 inmates, overcrowded to 260 by 1964, and host to apparitions first reported in 1906 — including Mary, said to have hanged herself on the upper floor.
113 Court Street, Hanford, CA 93230
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
No regular public tours currently offered. The building is city-owned. Contact City of Hanford for access information.
Access
Limited Access
Multi-story historic building; no active public accommodation
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1897 · Kings County's primary jail 1897–1964 · Romanesque granite construction by Exeter Granite Works · Housed 4x design capacity by final years of operation · City-owned since 2014
Kings County authorized construction of a new jail in the mid-1890s, and the Exeter Granite Works won the contract. The finished building opened in 1897 at what is now Civic Park in downtown Hanford. Construction ran over budget — final cost was approximately $14,000 against an original $10,000 appropriation — but the result was among the more imposing jails in the San Joaquin Valley: a Romanesque structure with granite walls, a crenellated octagonal tower, and iron bars set directly into solid stone in the solitary-confinement cells.
The ground floor held the general population. The upper cells were reserved for inmates classified as 'sick or insane,' and later for female and juvenile offenders. In its early years the jail averaged around ten prisoners at a time; by 1907 a local news report noted that no criminal had ever escaped the facility. The building's security record held for its entire operational history.
Capacity became increasingly strained after World War II. By the time Kings County moved to a new facility in 1964, the Bastille was holding more than 260 prisoners — more than four times its design capacity. The ceiling had deteriorated to the point of structural concern, prompting the closure.
The building changed hands and uses several times after 1964: file storage, an art center, and a succession of restaurants and bars, the last of which vacated around 2009. The City of Hanford purchased the Bastille in 2014 as part of a $1 acquisition of the old courthouse complex from Kings County. As of 2026 the building remains city-owned and largely vacant, with periodic community events but no standing public access program.
Sources
The Bastille's ghost reputation is among the older in California's San Joaquin Valley. Kings River Life Magazine's two-part 'Bloody Mary's Lair' series documents how reports of a female apparition on the upper floor began appearing in local accounts shortly after the jail opened, with the earliest cited accounts dating to 1906. The figure became known in local tradition as Mary and was said to have died by hanging while held in the upstairs section of the jail.
The Kings River Life series and subsequent coverage note that Mary's account parallels a pattern common in county-jail folklore — a woman on an upper floor associated with a suicide death — without supplying a corroborating primary record such as a death certificate or contemporaneous newspaper report. The Hanford Sentinel's coverage of the building describes the Mary legend as the building's most enduring ghost story without independently sourcing the underlying death.
Beyond the Mary account, building occupants and occasional visitors have reported sounds described as screams from the basement and shadow figures moving through the granite corridors. These accounts are consistent across multiple decades of occupancy by different tenants.
In April 2023, the Travel Channel's Ghost Hunters (Season 16) opened its new run with an episode titled 'Dead Man Walking,' investigating the Bastille with the TAPS team and actor Chandler Riggs. The City of Hanford hosted a free community screening of the premiere, and the episode drew enough regional attention that the building's haunted reputation reached a national audience for the first time. The TAPS team reported finding evidence of paranormal activity consistent with prior accounts.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
The Bastille stands in Hanford's Civic Park, its crenellated octagonal tower and Romanesque granite facade visible from the street. The building is not currently open for regular public entry, but the exterior — including the dark stone construction that earned it the nickname — is viewable from the surrounding Courthouse Square.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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