Old Idaho State Penitentiary
Another great find on our haunted travels. While we were in Idaho visiting family we came across this gem, the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. Built in 1870 and fully operational for 101 years these grounds have a lot of history.
Back Story
The Old Idaho State Penitentiary was built in 1870 and was fully operational for 101 years. What started out as a single cell house and grew to a complex of several distinctive buildings surrounded by a 17-foot-high sandstone wall.
The prison became fully functional in 1872 until 1973 in Boise, Idaho. During operation the penitentiary housed more than 13,000 inmates, with a maximum population of a little over 600, and 216 of those inmates were women. Including Idaho’s very own lady serial killer Lady Bluebeard, who was known for killing several of her husbands to collect upon their life insurance.
A series of riots occurred throughout the history of the prison due to the living conditions. On hot summer days in Idaho the temperatures can reach 100° or above and on the third floor of the buildings the cells would reach temps as high as 118°. During these riots several inmates and guards were killed and buildings were set on fire.
In 1973 the last riot took place, fires destroyed buildings including the chapel, kitchen-dining hall, tailor shop, laundry and an administrative office. This all leading to the end for the penitentiary and the closing of the facility. The inmates were transported to other facilities to finish serving their time, and the grounds now remain under the care of the Idaho State Historical Society.
The Gallows
The Idaho state penitentiary also used the Gallows as a form of execution. In the building that housed prisoners on death row also housed the Gallows. There was viewing room upstairs where the prisoners were prepared, and then below the building they called the “drop room” where you could watch the prisoners as they dropped to their death
Current
Today you can take a self-guided tour of the grounds and many of the buildings along with one of the Nations largest collections of Military weapons and memorabilia museum on site. The museum was donated by a man named J. Curtis Earl.
They do offer guided tours as well, but we enjoyed the self-guided one as we were able to spend as much time as we wanted in each building.
We were there right at opening and spent roughly 2 hours just touring the grounds and each building. We took lots of pictures but did not seem to catch any orbs however we were able to catch a few unexplained noises on camera.
Definitely another to put on our list to go back and visit every year.
Pictures
Videos
This video was taken in Juvenile Hall. We were the only two in the building and within 5mins of filming we were getting all sorts of noises. It was pretty exciting!
In this video below we were in one of the Cell block buildings, again we were lucky enough for the first 5-10mins that we were in this building that we were by ourselves. And of course, I had paused the video as I was walking around the corner and I so regret doing so.
I entered the hallway between the two lower cell blocks and there was a noise that sounded like a metal door was opening. As you can see by Steven‘s face and of course my reaction on the video, I wasn’t the only one who heard it.
Steven went looking around the corners to see if maybe we weren’t the only ones. I did try to see if whoever it was would make that noise again, but we had no luck.
Of course shortly after that, you can hear voices of children as more guests had entered the building and at that point we finally stopped recording as they were very loud.
But we thought it would still be fun to share this video just because of our reactions. Hope you enjoy.
PS- the popping noises you may hear are actually from my water bottle in my pocket. It was hot in those buildings and I can see why the prisoners would riot.
Have you visited this historic site? Do you have stories or pictures you’d like to share with us?
Feel free to drop us a line and share your experiences at The Old Idaho State Penitentiary.
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Spirits-Food and Booze
Spirits-Food and Booze was created with love, and ideas from each one of us. We love to share our ideas, crafts, recipes, fun times, and experiences. We are amateur ghost hunters, foodies, crafters, and all around enjoy having a good time. We hope you enjoy our site and come back for more!