Essex County Penitentiary Hauntings

Known as either the Essex County Penitentiary or the Newark Street Jail, is the oldest public building in Essex County, New Jersey, and its state of disrepair and neglect stand as testament to that fact. It was built in 1837 on the new Morris Canal to replace an older jail/courthouse that burned to the ground 2 years prior. In a cost-cutting move, it was decided that the new jail would stand separate from the courthouse, and that it would hold offenders from both the county and the city of Newark.

While the original jail was built in a pastoral campus-like setting, with the inmates encouraged to stay active, the Newark Street Jail was a stark box-like structure built for housing, not rehabilitation.

It has seen a few renovations over the years. In the 1890s 112 new cells were added to the complex, and the total of cells just before the building was left to rot stood at 300. It serves as Essex County’s main jail until 1970, when a new jail was constructed. It then became home of the Essex County Narcotics Bureau for a short while. After they relocated, the building was abandoned.

Essex County Penitentiary was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, but no effort has been made to repair or even preserve the property.

So far as paranormal activity is concerned, the Essex County Penitentiary is a hotbed of activity, as can be expected of a facility of such an age and purpose. There are uneasy feelings, cold spots, shadow figures and disembodied footsteps, and such reports are common for those brave enough to explore the derelict structure.

Former security guards tell the story of an “Old Man Brown” who still watches over the cell blocks. It is believed that this is the spirit of a former Warden. There are many places where people get the feeling that they are not alone in small spaces, or that they are being watched, and these instances are usually attributed to the ghost of Old Man Brown.

Perhaps concurrent with this haunting, people can often hear phantom footsteps close to the old Warden’s quarters, which was always patrolled regularly by guards.

Perhaps the most flamboyant story about Essex County Penitentiary is that about the inmate in the Central Hall who managed to commit suicide by lighting himself on fire. How the man managed to pull this off is still a mystery, but fire had consumed 90% of his body. There is still a charred mark on the concrete outside the cell in the shape of a man in the fetal position, which is typical in burning deaths.

The spirit that is said to haunt this section of the jail seems to be angry and violent, as this is where abusive EVP has been captured and pushes and hair-pulling have occurred.

There have also been reports of phantom sounds that resemble heavy machinery that have been heard in the area of the prison that served as the workshop.

The Essex County Penitentiary has grown in esteem since it was featured in a televised investigation on the SyFy series “Ghost Hunters”, but it is still a very dangerous place to visit because of the disrepair and the fact that as an abandoned structure, it has become a gathering place for vagrants and small-time criminals.

Related posts:

1. Burlington County Prison Museum Ghosts
2. Essex County Hospital Hauntings
3. Paranormal Activity at Old Idaho Penitentiary
4. Hauntings at Moundsville State Penitentiary
5. Haunted Places: Monroe County Court House