This was one of the sites I wanted to visit on our family vacation this summer, but we never made it. I’d read stories about how visitors would hear maniacal laughter as they walked past Death Row. Much to my disappointment (although not a surprise), Tiffany Stine explains the source of these sounds in her article, ESP, a Real-Life Haunted House.

I was searching for a picture of the penitentiary when I found the complete episode of the Ghost Hunters investigation of this place. After enjoying two unrelated Ghost Hunters episodes, I decided to watch this to see what happened. The highlight of the episode came in Part 2, when the team caught something forming on film in front of cell block 12. It looked like a person running down the walkway with a blanket over his head. I saw what looked like a white pant leg toward the bottom of the anomaly. Jason confirmed what I saw when they watched the film footage.

Was it an apparition or a hoax? In the end, the TAPS team wasn’t quite sure. Neither am I. If this was a hoax, it was a very good one. Watch it for yourself, if you haven’t already.

As for my disappointment in not visiting the penitentiary, I’m glad in some ways we didn’t go, due to the playacting. I wouldn’t want to pay $30 to get a cheap thrill, but rather learn about the history and explore the place on my own.