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| 975 Snowy Range Rd, Laramie, WY 82070, USA (Laramie, Wyoming)
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| Information |
Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site
Guests that visit this state park can take a trip back in time to the Old West and might even catch a glimpse of its resident ghost. The Wyoming Territorial Prison was built in 1872 and opened its doors in early 1873 and was originally used to house inmates who committed federal offenses. When Wyoming became a state in 1890, it was switched over to a state prison, which it remained until it closed its doors in 1903 due to overcrowding and poor facilities. It was purchased by the University of Wyoming shortly thereafter and converted for use by the College of Agriculture for several decades. In 1989, a group of Laramie citizens banded together to save the old prison and began restorations. It was officially reopened as a State Historic Site in July 1991 and now features over 190-acres and several exhibits.
Butch Cassidy
One of the Prison's claims to fame is that it was the only facility to incarcerate Robert Leroy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy. Cassidy was sent to Wyoming Territorial Prison in 1894 for stealing horses, but served only 18 months of his two-year sentence after being released on good behavior. After his stay at the Prison, Cassidy went on to form the notorious gang, The Wild Bunch (taken its name from the notorious Doolin/Dalton Gang), alongside friend Elzy Lay, Harry Alonzo Longabaugh (AKA The Sundance Kid), Harvey "Kid Curry" Logan, Ben "Tall Texan" Kilpatrick, Will "News" Carver, Laura Bullion, Henry "Bub" Meeks, and others. Together, they would go on to become well known for their infamous crime streak of train and bank robberies.
Julius Greenwald
Though the prison reportedly played host to a total of 1,068 men and women prisoners over its history, amazingly enough there were only two deaths reported during that time. One of those deaths came in the form of inmate Julius Greenwald, who succumbed to heart failure in 1901. Greenwald had been a cigar maker from Poland who was incarcerated over the murder of his wife, Jennie in Evanston, Wyoming in 1897. During his stay in the Wyoming Territorial Prison, Greenwald was allowed to continue making cigars, which he sold to his fellow inmates. Greenwald is notable because it is commonly believed today that he is responsible for the strange encounters that still occur in the prison's walls to this day.
The Ghost of Greenwald
Staff members and guests alike have reported odd encounters and experiences. Gates inside the prison have been known to fly open despite them being locked and cold spots or icy sensations have become a common occurrence. People have also reported seeing a face of someone standing behind them in the window's reflections, only to find no one there when they turn around to look. The smell of cigar smoke wafting up from nowhere is also commonplace. The most famous case of paranormal activity in the facility came in 1991 when two people on a tour happened to notice someone wearing prison clothes standing in a doorway, arm outstretched with his palm facing up. The two men looked away, only to find the person had vanished when they again turned to look back to the figure. When they later looked through the photographs of previous inmates, both men pointed to the photograph of Julius Greenwald as the person they had seen.
Ghost Tours of Laramie City
Every Halloween season in October, the Wyoming Territorial Park State Historic Site hosts the Ghost Tours of Laramie City. The tour features a hayride through historic old Laramie, complete with stories about its infamous characters and past, and is followed by a candlelight tour of the Wyoming Territorial Prison, with a possible visit by Julius Greenwald himself. For more information, please visit their site below. |
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| Related Sites |
Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site
The official Web site of the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie, Wyoming. The Prison is believed to be haunted by the ghost of a former inmate and plays host to ghost tours every October. |
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| See Also on TheCabinet.com |
| There are no other pages on this site associated with this location. |
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| Available from Amazon.com |
Ghostly Tales from America's Jails |
Looking West (Contemporary Ethnography) |
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