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Event
Old Fauquier Jail Ghost Hunt
Your investigation includes the following:
Ghost Hunt with experienced Ghost Hunting Team to show you all the hot spots and different ways to investigate
We will show you how the equipment works and how to use it . This will include trigger objects, EMF Meters, and recorders , just to name a few.
Private time to explore this location and to undertake your very own investigations.
Unlimited refreshments available throughout the night including: Coffee, Coca Cola, Diet Coke, and
Bottled Water and a selection of snacks.
Paranormal:
The reported paranormal that has been experienced and witnessed here will send a shiver down your spine.
Built in 1808, the Old Jail Museum hosted a dungeon which is one of the most haunted areas to investigate this Jail. The executions, murders and suicides that took place in the jail and on the grounds have left a lasting impression that suggests many of the prisoners are still hanging around and eager to communicate with those brave enough to visit.
Full-bodied apparitions, cell doors slamming, lights flickering, shadow figures, ghostly hands grabbing shoulders, chest pressure, disembodied voices and footsteps, bone chilling EVPs (electronic voice phenomena)the Old Jail Museum has provided evidence and experiences for all those that are brave enough to undertake a ghost hunting vigil here.
The dead who still reside at the jail have many untold stories. Many of the people who will walk around the building during the daylight hours are quick to leave if they enter alone at night. An eerie silence that settles over the old jail slowly becomes a haven of knocking, banging, crying out and clear disembodied voices speaking.
The only question that remainswill you be brave enough to stick it out or will you turn tail and run?!?!
History:
The Fauquier History Museum at the Old Jail (formally known as The Old Jail Museum) is located in the old Fauquier County prison complex. It was erected in 1808 as the 6th jail in Warrenton. The jail was made from brick, a departure from its wood predecessors and contained four rooms, three of which were used for confining prisoners.
The first-floor room to the right was called the dungeon and was reserved for criminals while the two upstairs rooms were generally considered debtors cells, though also used for mentally ill prisoners, and gentlemen of respectability.
After 15 years of operation poor conditions forced the county to build a new jail, directly behind it. In 1823 the new jail was opened, but not before they added an addition to the 1808 building and upgraded it into the jailers home.
From that point until the Civil War, the upstairs room in the front building remained debtors cells while the four cells in the back building were reserved for criminals.
Conditions varied over the years with some reports from county inspectors claiming offensive and dirty cells with little bedding and lack of heat while other reports stated the prisoners were well fed, kept warm, given bedding and adequate clothing.
The back building remained the jail in Fauquier County until 1966, after more than 140 years of continuous operation.
One of the consistent themes of the entire history of the jail was the insecurity of the building. There were actually three different points in the jails history when county officials advised that the jail be destroyed and a new one erected: 1867, 1890, and 1965 when the jail was ultimately saved and turned into a museum by the Fauquier Historical Society.
An 1867 report stated that as an evidence of the fact of its insecurity.during the past thirty years, scarcely a prisoner of importance has attempted to escape from it, without succeeding in effort. The high number of escapes continued into the 20th century, with stories of prisoners picking through the soft-sanded stone of the inner wall and using blankets to scale the outer wall.
Some jailers took drastic steps to increase the security of the building. In one 1850 document, a county inspector claimed that because of the easy ability of prisoners to get to and scale the outer wall, prisoners were being chained to the wall and floor regardless of crime which, in his view, was unbecoming of this era or any other.
For a short roughly 30 year period the jail was also the location where private executions took place. Only a few cases are known to have been executed in the Old Jail exercise yard, but we know they were killed by hanging.
At the turn of the 20th century the jail underwent a large renovation. Steel doors, dry wall, plumbing and a maximum security cage were added over a ten year period.
While the number of prisoners during the 19th century rarely went above 10 or 15 by the 1960s the jailor reported they were averaging 20 prisoners at any given time and would often get as high as 40, leaving about 10 prisoners per small room.
In 1966, the complex was closed and taken over by the Fauquier Historical Society to be preserved as a history museum.
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LocationFauquier Old Jail (View)
10 Ashby Street
Warrenton, VA 20186
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 16 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
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