It’s not uncommon for the Ghost Adventures crew to visit places not necessarily known to the public. The location’s haunted history may be more subdued or, at least until Zak Bagans and company arrive, kept under wraps. That’s far from the case for their latest haunted journey, which takes them into the Old Gila County Jail and Courthouse of Globe, AZ. The 20th-century jail is known not just to locals in Gila County but also to well-versed paranormal investigators. In fact, it’s such a popular hot spot for the supernatural that the old building is used during the Halloween season as an attraction.
During the Ghost Adventures investigation, though, all showmanship is set aside to let the jail’s real history shine. Jails, especially those of an earlier era, aren’t known for their bright and happy nature. Beyond the trauma experienced by some of the inmates fearing for their lives, jails, like the Old Gila County Jail, are often riddled with stories of murder and death. When it comes to the Old Gila jail, plenty in its past would warrant the possible presence of spirits.
According to The Haunted Jail at Globe attraction website, one of the building’s more infamous eternal residents is Kingsley Olds, a former prisoner. In 1911, Olds was accused of drowning two girls and sent to the jail’s isolation cell to await his trial. One night, an unknown figure accessed the nearby courthouse, climbed to the third floor that peered over Olds’ cell, and shot the prisoner. Before passing from his gunshot wound, Olds claimed he was visited by spirits, including the two girls he was thought to have murdered.
Ten years before Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Billy Tolley, and Jay Wasley set their sights on the old jailhouse and courthouse, the Arizona Paranormal Research Society (T.AZ.P.R.S.) conducted a thorough investigation in which they determined that both buildings “indeed [had] paranormal activity.” A report on the investigation (which has since been removed) alleged that T.AZ.P.R.S. experienced “audible disembodied voices, responses to questions asked, temperature dropping when asked to do so, unexplained footsteps, cold spots, hot spots and extremely wild EMF occurrences…” The report continues by clarifying that spikes in EMF, or the electromagnetic field, seemed unlikely as the areas they were investigating were without power.
The 108-year-old history of the jail and courthouse may come to life for the Ghost Adventures team, which means they may be subject to the antics of the adult and child spirits thought to roam their halls. If The Haunted Jail at Globe website is to be trusted, they may even be subject to witnessing the holy grail of ghosts - full-bodied apparitions.
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