Louisiana's only woman executed by electric chair died in this basement in 1942 — staff still report burning hair and disembodied screams.
1000 Ryan Street, Lake Charles, LA 70601
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public courthouse; free to visit exterior. Ghost tours of downtown Lake Charles may include the site.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved downtown courthouse grounds
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1912 · Site of the only female electrocution in Louisiana history (1942) · Toni Jo Henry execution · Travel Channel top-ten haunted designation
Annie Beatrice McQuiston Henry, who went by Toni Jo, was a Lake Charles native with a turbulent history in prostitution and a deep attachment to her husband, Claude 'Cowboy' Henry, who was on death row in Texas. In February 1940, she hitchhiked from Shreveport with a friend and killed a traveling salesman named Joseph P. Calloway near Jennings, Louisiana, reportedly in a failed attempt to obtain a vehicle to help free her husband.
Toni Jo was tried three times before the courts arrived at a final conviction. After years of legal battles and public fascination — she was considered something of a celebrity figure in the local press — the courts exhausted her appeals. On November 28, 1942, she was executed by electric chair in the basement of the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse, making her the only woman in Louisiana history to be put to death by electrocution. She was 26 years old.
The courthouse has stood as a functioning judicial center for Calcasieu Parish ever since. The Travel Channel later named it one of the top ten most haunted places in America, citing the unusual circumstances of the execution — the only one of its kind held in this building — and the persistent reports from staff and visitors that followed.
Sources
The paranormal reports at the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse center almost entirely on the basement where the electric chair was used on November 28, 1942. Court employees have described flickering lights on upper floors with no electrical explanation and doors that lock and unlock without anyone touching them. The most specific and frequently cited phenomenon is the smell of burning hair — a direct sensory callback to the execution method — drifting through the building when no source is present.
Some witnesses have reported hearing screams from lower levels of the building, particularly near the basement area, during off-hours. The Travel Channel's designation of the courthouse as one of the ten most haunted places in America brought wider attention to the site. Downtown Lake Charles ghost tour operators consistently include it as a primary stop, with guides noting that the relatively contained and well-documented history of the building makes the Toni Jo Henry connection unusually traceable compared to more diffuse haunted sites.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Visit the historic courthouse at 1000 Ryan Street where Toni Jo Henry was executed in the basement on November 28, 1942. The building and grounds are accessible during normal business hours. The Travel Channel named this one of the ten most haunted places in America.
Local ghost tour operators include the Calcasieu Parish Courthouse as a featured stop on walking tours of downtown Lake Charles, covering Toni Jo Henry's crime, trial, and execution.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Newport, KY
On March 20, 1897, Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling were hanged behind the Newport courthouse for the 1896 murder of Pearl Bryan, a 22-year-old woman from Greencastle, Indiana. Both men were convicted of decapitating Bryan; her head was never recovered. The executions were the last public hangings in Newport.
Harlan, KY
Constructed 1918–1922 in Beaux-Arts limestone, the Harlan County Courthouse served as the legal center of 'Bloody Harlan'—the coal-mining county that saw decades of labor violence and union suppression. The courthouse jail housed prisoners on the top floor while trials ran in the floors below; at least one defendant, Manzo Shepherd, was shot and killed in the courtroom during his own murder trial.
LaGrange, GA
On December 24, 1896, Claude Dunson was shot and killed by Douglas Cooper at this corner in downtown LaGrange, Georgia. The dispute began over a bent dime — a trivial sum that escalated to fatal violence in the public square. The incident was documented in contemporary local accounts and is now a named stop on the Strange LaGrange ghost walking tour.