HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Site of the last public executions in Newport — 1897 hangings that reportedly still haunt the bell tower
330 York Street, Newport, KY 41071
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Courthouse grounds public; ghost tours that include this stop charge separately
Access
Wheelchair OK
Public grounds around courthouse; exterior viewable from sidewalk
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1884 · Site of last public executions in Newport (1897) · Pearl Bryan murder case — one of the most documented 1890s Kentucky true crime cases · Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling executed here March 20, 1897
Pearl Bryan, 22, of Greencastle, Indiana, was found headless in a field near Fort Thomas, Kentucky, on February 1, 1896. Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling, dental students at the Ohio Dental College in Cincinnati who had a personal relationship with Bryan, were charged with her murder. Both were convicted; Bryan's head was never found, and neither man disclosed its location despite pressure from prosecutors and religious advisors.
On March 20, 1897, Jackson and Walling were hanged behind the Campbell County Courthouse in Newport. The executions drew a large crowd — public hangings still being legal and practiced in Kentucky at the time — and the event was reported in newspapers across the region. Both men survived the initial drop and were slowly strangled to death, a result of an improperly calibrated or executed hanging.
Walling reportedly made a statement from the gallows that he would return to haunt the area — a vow documented in regional accounts including genealogical research compiled from contemporary sources. The case remained notorious throughout the 20th century and is among the more thoroughly documented true crime cases from late-19th-century Kentucky.
Sources
Alonzo Walling's gallows statement — that he would return to haunt the area — is documented in accounts compiled from contemporary records and preserved in regional genealogical research. Whether the statement was actually made or has grown in the retelling is impossible to verify, but it has been part of the oral tradition surrounding the case since the 19th century.
The bell tower of the Campbell County Courthouse is the focus of modern paranormal accounts. Tour guides and visitors have reported a 'smiling apparition' that witnesses identify — based on contemporary photographs of the convicted men — as Scott Jackson. Jackson was known for maintaining a calm, even cheerful demeanor throughout his trial and in the period leading up to his execution, which made his composure a subject of journalistic commentary at the time.
The combination of a well-documented historical event, a contemporaneous paranormal vow, and a specific physical description of the apparition makes the courthouse one of the more-evidenced haunted sites in northern Kentucky's tour circuit. Tour operators in Newport's after-dark tourism scene consistently include it as a primary stop.
Notable Entities
The courthouse grounds are publicly accessible. Visitors interested in the Pearl Bryan case can view the exterior of the building and the area behind the courthouse where the 1897 executions took place.
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