HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
The century-old county poor farm and mental care facility near Sioux City where sheriff's deputies report unexplained figures at third-floor windows and an elevator that calls itself.
Woodbury County Road (Prairie Hills Facility), Sioux City, IA 51104
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
County-owned property; public access is not standard. Drive-by only.
Access
Limited Access
Institutional grounds on county property.
Equipment
No Photos
Woodbury County's historic poor farm and later mental care institution · County Board formally approved paranormal investigation in September 2021 · One of Iowa's surviving examples of the county institution era
The Woodbury County Home, later known as Prairie Hills Facility, is one of Iowa's surviving examples of the county institution era — a class of public buildings constructed across the Midwest in the late 1800s to house residents deemed dependent on public support. In Woodbury County, that meant individuals living in poverty, the elderly without family support, and, as county responsibilities shifted through the twentieth century, people with mental illness.
The institution predates modern social services by decades. Poor farms were a common rural solution to indigence before federal welfare programs: the county provided housing, food, and basic care in exchange for farm labor from residents who were able. As the agricultural character faded and mental health care became a greater county function, the Woodbury County Home took on that population as well.
By September 2021, the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors voted to allow the paranormal investigation group Para911 to inspect the facility. According to coverage in the Sioux City Journal and KSCJ radio, county sheriff's deputies who worked the building had reported unexplained events over the years, including figures appearing in third-floor windows and an elevator that operated on its own without anyone pressing the call button.
The county board's approval of the investigation was unusual — institutional facilities rarely grant formal access for paranormal research — and it drew local media attention. The facility remained county-owned as of 2021.
Sources
The paranormal claims at Prairie Hills do not come from ghost-tour operators or online legend collectors — they originate with county sheriff's deputies who were assigned to the facility. According to reporting by the Sioux City Journal and corroborated by KSCJ radio, deputies described two recurring phenomena: figures appearing at third-floor windows when no one should have been in that section, and an elevator that would call itself to floors unprompted.
Those accounts carried enough weight that the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors entertained a formal request in September 2021. The board voted to allow the paranormal investigation group Para911 — a regional team with experience at institutional sites — to conduct an inspection. Local radio news noted that the board's approval was required because the facility is county property.
Kiwa Radio also covered the investigation, confirming the Para911 access and the specific claims from deputies. No results of the investigation were reported in the sources available for this listing.
Observe the exterior of the century-old Woodbury County institutional building from the public roadway. The facility is county-owned and not open to the public without formal approval.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Faribault, MN
The Faribault State Hospital, founded in 1879 as the Minnesota Experimental School for Imbeciles, acquired 507 acres in Walcott Township in 1909 to establish a colony farm for its highest-functioning residents. The institution became the center of Minnesota's eugenics sterilization program.
Newtown, CT
Fairfield Hills Hospital opened in 1931 in Newtown as Connecticut's second state psychiatric hospital, built in a Georgian Colonial style across 16 interconnected brick buildings. At its peak, the campus held approximately 4,000 patients. The facility was known for its use of psychosurgery — over 100 lobotomies performed in the first year after lobotomy was introduced — as well as electroconvulsive therapy and insulin shock therapy. The hospital closed in 1995; the campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in September 2024.
Scotch Grove, IA
Edinburgh Manor in Scotch Grove, Iowa, was constructed in 1910–1911 on land originally granted in 1840 for a Jones County courthouse. The 12,000-square-foot building replaced an 1850 poor farm and operated as a county home for the elderly, disabled, and mentally ill until November 2010, when residents were transferred to a new facility.