Post by auntym on Aug 25, 2011 11:29:51 GMT -6
paranormaloldpueblo.com/2011/08/24/haunted-attractions-and-moral-obligations/
Haunted Attractions and Moral Obligations
By Elsa Cook
– August 24, 2011
Posted in: Ghosts and Hauntings, Opinion, Paranormal
Last night, I watched a few episodes of Paranormal State on Netflix. A 5th season episode featured a ghost tour of the Charleston, South Carolina Old City Jail. This episode really grabbed my attention and gave me pause.
Here is a basic history of the Old City Jail:
The first structures were erected on the site in 1738, as the property was used as a workhouse for slaves and makeshift hospital for “paupers, vagrants, and beggars.” Criminals were kept separate from non-offenders, and were punished with shackles, whippings, and deprivation of food and water. As the operation expanded over the years, and numerous structures were built then demolished, or burned, tortures and executions at the site increased. These included being burned at the stake, branded, drawn and quartered, or having one’s ear nailed to a post (until the ear was finally sliced off; often used for horse thieves).
The present structure was built in 1790 as a jail and asylum. Though it was intended to hold around 128 prisoners, over 300 were frequently kept there. In some rooms, prisoners were locked in cages, barely the size of a person’s body, packed in like sardines. Disease was rampant, and tortures continued. Rapes of both men and women were common. During its operation until 1939, over 10,000 people died on the property.
Notable inmates included numerous pirates, Civil War soldiers (including survivors of the 54th Mass., as seen in the movie GLORY.) and serial killers John and Lavinia Fisher. The Fishers ran a boarding house and murdered many patrons, motivated by robbery. Lavinia Fisher is widely considered the first known female serial killer in America. She served poisonous tea brewed from oleander leaves to her boarders. The Fishers were kept at the jail until their hanging on February 18, 1820.
CONTINUE READING: paranormaloldpueblo.com/2011/08/24/haunted-attractions-and-moral-obligations/
Haunted Attractions and Moral Obligations
By Elsa Cook
– August 24, 2011
Posted in: Ghosts and Hauntings, Opinion, Paranormal
Last night, I watched a few episodes of Paranormal State on Netflix. A 5th season episode featured a ghost tour of the Charleston, South Carolina Old City Jail. This episode really grabbed my attention and gave me pause.
Here is a basic history of the Old City Jail:
The first structures were erected on the site in 1738, as the property was used as a workhouse for slaves and makeshift hospital for “paupers, vagrants, and beggars.” Criminals were kept separate from non-offenders, and were punished with shackles, whippings, and deprivation of food and water. As the operation expanded over the years, and numerous structures were built then demolished, or burned, tortures and executions at the site increased. These included being burned at the stake, branded, drawn and quartered, or having one’s ear nailed to a post (until the ear was finally sliced off; often used for horse thieves).
The present structure was built in 1790 as a jail and asylum. Though it was intended to hold around 128 prisoners, over 300 were frequently kept there. In some rooms, prisoners were locked in cages, barely the size of a person’s body, packed in like sardines. Disease was rampant, and tortures continued. Rapes of both men and women were common. During its operation until 1939, over 10,000 people died on the property.
Notable inmates included numerous pirates, Civil War soldiers (including survivors of the 54th Mass., as seen in the movie GLORY.) and serial killers John and Lavinia Fisher. The Fishers ran a boarding house and murdered many patrons, motivated by robbery. Lavinia Fisher is widely considered the first known female serial killer in America. She served poisonous tea brewed from oleander leaves to her boarders. The Fishers were kept at the jail until their hanging on February 18, 1820.
CONTINUE READING: paranormaloldpueblo.com/2011/08/24/haunted-attractions-and-moral-obligations/