AMERICAN HAUNTINGS GHOST HUNTS

NIGHT AT THE SQUIRREL CAGE JAIL
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA
NEXT AVAILABLE DATE:
8:00 PM - 2:00 AM
$62 PER PERSON

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Join American Hauntings for a night that you won't soon forget -- a search for the spirits of the Old Squirrel Cage Jail! Spend the entire night looking for the ghosts of this historic -- and very haunted -- old jail with a limited number of ghost hunters during a private ghost hunt. Find out if the place is really as haunted as so many people claim and perhaps come face to face with one of the former occupants of the place! The evening will include a historic tour of the jail, followed by a ghost hunt at a place that has been called one of the most haunted places in Iowa!

Built in 1885, the old Pottawattamie County Jail is one of the most unusual houses of incarceration in America -- and according to many, one of the most actively haunted! The jail has a three-tier cell block with 10 cells on each tier. It was originally designed to rotate continuously throughout the night by means of a water wheel in the basement, earning it the nickname of the "squirrel cage jail." In this way, all the prisoners could be watched from a central location. Unfortunately, the 45-ton cell block was simply too heavy to work correctly, and it became stuck frequently. Eventually, the jailers gave up on the plan and a night guard had to be hired. The cylinder continued to be used until 1960, when a prisoner died in his cell and the cell block jammed, trapping the body in the cell for several days. After that, cell doors were cut into every cell.

The jail was closed in 1969 and during its history, four deaths occurred within its walls. One man died of a heart attack, another in a fall when he tried to write his name on the ceiling, another hanged himself in his cell, and the last after an accident when an officer accidentally shot himself in the confusion of protecting the jail from an angry mob during the Farmer's Holiday Strike of 1932. It's no surprise that these unlucky individuals -- along with others -- are believed to still linger at the old jail.

There have been many reports of ghosts and strange happenings at the jail, dating back to the days when it was still in operation. Bill Foster, who worked at the jail in the 1950s, was allowed to use the fourth-floor apartment as his residence but chose not to "because of the strange goings-on up there." He claimed to hear people walking around on a floor that had no one on it and chose to reside on the second floor instead.

Strange noises, lights turning on and off and ghostly footsteps are common, as are sightings of apparitions believed to be former jailers, workers and prisoners. Feelings of being watched and being followed often plague those who are brave enough to spend the night here.... Are you one of them? If so, join us at our next event!