The Missouri State Penitentiary which opened in 1836 along the banks of the Missouri River is located in Missouri’s capital, Jefferson City. This historic penitentiary was one of the oldest continually operating prisons west of the Mississippi until it was decommissioned in 2004. Today you can still visit and roam the inmates' housing units through different tours such as a historic tour and various types of ghost tours. Amber, Lexi, and I, in mid-August, went on an 8-hour overnight paranormal investigation.
The investigation starts with one of the guides taking you around the many locations you can visit later on during your own investigations such as the housing units, death row, and dungeon cells. The guides also escort you down to the gas chamber.
Our guide first took us to Housing Unit 1 which was for the female inmates. The three of us walked up the stairs to separate ourselves from the larger group to start investigating. As we passed one of the cells, we felt the pressure change and tried to communicate with whatever presence might still be lingering in the cell.
From here we walked to the gas chamber, a location that we won’t be able to visit for the rest of the night. In total 40 inmates were put to death in the gas chamber. The most infamous being Bonnie B. Heady (the only woman executed in the gas chamber) and Carl Austin Hall in December 1953. Heady and Hall had kidnapped Bobby Greenlease of Kansas City, Missouri. They demanded a ransom of $600,000 which at the time was the largest ransom in history. Sadly, Bobby had already been murdered and buried by Heady and Hall. We explored the viewing area of the gas chamber for a short period before heading out and spotting a deer in the bushes.
Our next stop was Housing Unit 4, our guide’s favorite spot in the whole penitentiary. Housing Unit 4 is the oldest still standing housing unit on the property. Back in 2019, a tornado tore off the roof causing some significant damage. The damage limits access to just the main floor and the dungeon cells. Amber, Lexi, and I sat down on the many folding chairs that face the catwalk to catch if any shadowy figures walk by. As we quieted down and acted like we weren’t paying attention, shadows started walking by on the upper levels. Our guide pulled out a spirit box and tried to communicate with any inmates that might have lingered on. We were able to get some intelligent responses to various questions.
Our last stop was Housing Unit 3 and Death Row. The three of us went to one side and set up a Mel Meter, two K2 meters, and motion balls aka cat ball toys. We started asking question on our own spirit box. We managed to get a name, Zachery. We asked questions for a long while until told to “be careful,” a warning we would come to understand later in our investigation.
Now on our own we went back to Housing Unit 4 in hopes of being more alone and seeing if we might spot anything. As we entered the building, Amber and I saw someone sitting on the side close to the “hole” or dungeon cells. We apologized for shining our flashlights at them as the three of us sat down in the dark. We whispered amongst ourselves. Lexi felt as if someone was standing next to her and said, “Please don’t pull my hair.” Amber and I told her that we were waiting for someone to do just that. Then we noticed a shape on the second floor by the catwalk walking towards us, then disappearing. Amber then felt as if someone was touching her shoulder even though I would look behind her and see nothing. A bit later two other investigators came in to sit a few rows ahead of us. That’s when I noticed that the person we thought we saw sitting on the far side was gone. We turned back on our flashlights and noticed that there was no one else besides the two that just joined us. Our group of three had been alone this entire time. Amber and I were like no couldn’t be, but there would have been no way for them to have moved without our noticing such as if they left the unit. They would have to have walked towards us, or, if they went down to the dungeon cells, we would have seen them move to the stairs with the little light that shown through in the night. We would leave this spot after being terrified by the bats flying around and almost landing in Amber’s hair.
From here we moved to the upper yard and Centennial Cells, a location we didn’t go to with our larger group but were told we had access to visit while investigating on our own. We first stopped at the Centennial Cells, these cells were discovered in the mid-1980s and predate the Civil War. These cells were discovered when there was a court order to put in a recreation yard for inmates on Death Row. We didn’t do an investigation of these cells, just admired them for being so old. We then made our way to the upper yard. At random we picked an enclosed yard to stand in to start an investigation. Amber pulled out her spirit box and was instantly called some unsavory names. We questioned who we were speaking to and was told “they like to fight.” After some more rude comments and then harassment we left. We stopped on the sidewalk to what Lexi, and I thought were the sound of swings, but Amber informed us that it couldn’t be. It dawns on us that it was cell doors and movement from a building we and others had no access to.
After a break, we went back to Housing Unit 3 to see if we could talk more to Zachery. We had no luck in establishing a connection again with Zachery. We managed to get some responses but nothing as strong as before. From there we moved down to the Death Row cells. I had my Mel-meter out checking for any spikes. As we walked along the cells it suddenly spiked. I called out to Amber and Lexi who got out the spirit box trying to communicate. We got “curious” spoken, and the meter spiked to 20. We stayed for awhile but got no real communication just spikes from the meter. We looked around trying to figure out if we could debunk why it would be going off but found nothing. We made our way down the cells further and stopped; trying again to catch anything. Amber pulled out her grid light trying to catch any movement down the hallways. This is when I started feeling very uncomfortable and asked if we could move on.
After some debate we went back to Housing Unit 1. We walked around, but the sound of the fans in the building really put me on edge. We sat by the entrance since Lexi was uncomfortable with going up higher. Amber would later inform us that she saw a woman watching us from the second floor. We left here since I couldn’t concentrate on the investigation with being so much on edge. Though I do wonder if it was the fans that really put me on edge or the constant feeling of being watched.
We were going to head back to Housing Unit 4, but got detoured to head to the upper yard again. We stood on sidewalk where we had first heard the cell doors. We tried to figure out if it could have been anything else. Lexi started getting pins and needles like someone was standing right on top of her and suddenly felt cold and numb. She said it was like something had walked through her. As we listened a few times and heard movement several times from a building no one could be in, Amber started coughing bad. She was rubbing her throat and trying to breathe. In wheezes she said it felt like something was on her throat. That’s when we remembered the inmate we had encountered in the upper yard, not that far away, it seemed as if he came back to fight. We quickly left the area. As soon as we left, Amber could breathe, though her neck still hurt.
From a bench we watched Housing Unit 3. We watched lights move around and tried to figure out how many investigators were still left from our large group, which was about 50. We estimated that there had to be close to 10 people left. We tried to figure out if the light was made by an investigation group or something more supernatural. We made our way to the area ran into another group of investigators who were wearing headlamps.
At this point we decided to go inside Housing Unit 3 to the other side of the unit than we had previously been on. We walked through feeling uneasy but ready to start another round of investigating. With the spirit box we asked some questions and were told “33 Love.” We were in front of cells 26. So, thinking that cell 33 was on the other side we made our way. I looked up and thought I saw a guard standing in the office towards the side. Amber shined her light into the office then walked on. Lexi, who was behind me, also looked into the office. As she was looking in, I felt sudden dread and danger. Lexi started freaking out screaming that things were flying around the small office room. This caused me to panic as well, leaving a very confused Amber on why both of us were in flight response. As we rushed out, I got disoriented on where the entrance was and asked “why were we going that way” as I tried heading upstairs. Then realizing just as I said it that I was heading in the wrong direction. We stood outside for awhile trying to calm ourselves down. That’s when the three of us realized that we were done with this investigation. Things were telling us to get out, so we were going to listen. As we made our way back to entrance of the penitentiary, another investigation group came up from Death Row. One of the parties was trying to make their way upstairs, but the other in the group was like “where are you going…. we are leaving.” Which made me believe something was trying to lure people in closer.
As we left the Penitentiary, we recounted our experiences and realized early on we were told “be careful.” While we did not spend the whole 8 hours, we had enough evidence and experience.
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