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Reported phenomena — as catalogued
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An 1872 Gothic Revival stone jail in Ebensburg, closed in 1997 and reopened in 2024 for historic and paranormal tours.
201 North Center St., Ebensburg, PA 15931
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Historic tour: $20 adult, $15 senior, $10 student (8-17), free ages 7 and under. Public paranormal investigations run $80-$90 per person; private investigations start at $450 for up to 5 people.
Access
Limited Access
Multi-level 1870s stone jail with narrow stairwells and uneven floors; roughly 70% of the building is currently open while repairs continue.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1872 · Gothic Revival county jail designed by architect Edward Haviland · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, June 30, 1980 · Operated as Cambria County's jail from 1872 to 1997 · Site of eleven historic executions by hanging
Contractor William Callan built the jail in 1872 from Edward Haviland's Gothic Revival plans: light sandstone walls, a castle-like profile, and a 22-foot perimeter wall enclosing the yard. It was built for 27 cells, each about 15 by 8 feet, but Cambria County's inmate population routinely exceeded that capacity — at times housing as many as 123 people. In 1910 and 1911, the county added a 52-cell brick block to relieve the crowding.
Over its 125 years as a working jail, the county's own history of the site counts eleven men executed by hanging on the property. The best-known individual case is Michael "Mickey" Smith, convicted of murder and scheduled for execution in 1884; according to jail lore he left a farewell note and vanished from his locked cell the night before, and was never found or recaptured.
The jail was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 30, 1980. It closed in the spring of 1997 when the county opened a new correctional facility, and the building was converted into a records center in a roughly $400,000 project before falling mostly vacant. Production crews for Paranormal Lockdown filmed there in 2018 and Destination Fear in 2020, ahead of a 2024 sale to David Davis, who has since opened the jail for public historic and paranormal tours.
Sources
The jail's reputation rests on more than a century of documented executions and overcrowding, and paranormal investigators treat that history as the likely source of what they report inside. Whispering Souls Paranormal Investigations and other regional groups describe cold spots concentrated near the former gallows area, disembodied voices recorded in the cell blocks, and shadow figures moving through corridors on infrared cameras. Destination Fear's 2020 episode centered on a dungeon-level cell block, with the crew describing total isolation and disorientation as they pushed their investigation to its limits; Paranormal Lockdown filmed an episode there in 2018.
The Mickey Smith story is the jail's signature legend: convicted of murder and due to hang in 1884, Smith reportedly left a note for jailers and disappeared from a locked cell the night before his execution, with no confirmed trace of him afterward. The jail has never verified the story beyond local tradition, but tour guides and investigators alike point to it as the likeliest origin for reports of a lingering presence near the old cell block.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
A one-hour guided walk through the National Register-listed jail with staff covering its 1872 construction, decades of overcrowding, and its 1997 closure. Groups are capped at 20 people.
A 6-7 hour overnight investigation of the cell blocks and former gallows area, open to individuals and small groups alongside other participants. Investigators under 14 are discouraged from attending; those 14-17 need a parent or guardian.
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Moundsville, WV
West Virginia State Penitentiary — locally known as the Moundsville Penitentiary — opened in 1876 in Gothic Revival style modeled on Illinois's Joliet Prison. Over 119 years, it witnessed 94 executions, 36 inmate homicides, and a catastrophic 1986 New Year's Day riot. The West Virginia Supreme Court ruled its 5x7-foot cells unconstitutional in 1986; the prison closed in 1995 and reopened as a museum and paranormal attraction.
Petros, TN
Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary opened in 1896 in the aftermath of Tennessee's Coal Creek War, built in part by the convicts who would subsequently mine coal on the same grounds. The prison operated for 113 years before closing in 2009, housing notable inmates including James Earl Ray — the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King Jr. — who made a 1977 escape using a pipe ladder and was recaptured after 54 hours.
Jasper, FL
Built in 1893, the Old Hamilton County Jail served as the county's lockup for 91 years — Florida's oldest operating jail when its last inmate was transferred in 1984. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building is now a Hamilton County historical museum.