Pittsburgh's National Aviary, opened 1952 on the grounds of the original Western State Penitentiary (1826-1880) — where more than 100 Confederate POWs from Morgan's Raid were held in 1863, at least eight of whom died on site.
700 Arch Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Adult general admission approximately $20; children $14; under 2 free. Check aviary.org for current pricing.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Fully accessible indoor zoo with paved pathways
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1952 · Wartime Civilian Trauma · Prison Trauma · Morgan's Raid Confederate POW imprisonment · Western State Penitentiary site (1826-1880) · Congressionally designated National Aviary
The Western State Penitentiary opened in 1826 on what was then the outskirts of Allegheny (a separate city until its 1907 annexation by Pittsburgh). Built on the Pennsylvania System model of solitary confinement, the prison occupied a stone fortress in what is now Pittsburgh's North Side / West Park. It was the sister institution to Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.
In the summer of 1863, Confederate cavalry brigadier general John Hunt Morgan led a 1,000-mile raid from Tennessee across Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. Morgan was captured in northeast Ohio in late July; he and his officers were sent to the Ohio Penitentiary, while more than 100 of his enlisted men were transferred to Western State Penitentiary in Pittsburgh. Overcrowding, malnutrition, and the brutal Pittsburgh winter took a toll: at least eight of 'Morgan's Men' are documented to have died in the prison during the 1863-64 winter, and one officer perished during an escape attempt in the frigid conditions.
The original Western Penitentiary was decommissioned in 1880 and demolished; a new Western Penitentiary was built upriver in Woods Run, where it operated until 2017. The North Side site became part of West Park.
The National Aviary opened on the former prison grounds in 1952 as the Pittsburgh Aviary-Conservatory. In 1993 Congress designated it the official National Aviary, the only indoor zoo dedicated entirely to birds and the only one to hold that congressional designation. The Aviary's building is a post-1950 structure; the paranormal claims center on the pre-1950 prison stratum of the site.
Sources
According to the Pittsburgh City Paper feature, Shawn Kelly — founder of the Pittsburgh Paranormal Society in 2006 — has called the National Aviary 'extremely haunted,' attributing most reported activity to the spirits of Confederate POWs who died on the underlying penitentiary site in 1863-64. Visit Pittsburgh's haunted-Pittsburgh tourism page corroborates the claim and identifies the Civil War POW history as the anchor.
Reported phenomena fall into three buckets: (1) sightings of figures in Civil War-era clothing by both staff and visitors, particularly in less-trafficked corridors; (2) shadowy darting figures and phantom footsteps from upper or basement areas, mostly reported by after-hours staff; and (3) a single account of a radio in the operations area turning itself on and off, also reported in the Pittsburgh City Paper feature.
The editorial framing here matters. The Aviary building itself dates only to 1952 and post-dates HauntBound's pre-1950 era cutoff. However, the paranormal claims center on a documented pre-1950 stratum — the original Western Penitentiary and its 1863 Confederate POW imprisonments — and the venue is included on the strength of that pre-1950 historical anchor, with the post-1950 building treated as the modern access point. Eight documented Confederate deaths at the underlying site are well-attested in local Civil War scholarship.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Self-guided exploration of the indoor aviary's tropical, wetlands, and condor exhibits during regular operating hours. The Aviary does not market itself as a haunted attraction, but interpretive signage at West Park acknowledges the Western Penitentiary history of the site.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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