Alcatraz’s Hole Ghost

Alcatraz is widely believed to be one of the most haunted spots in the United States, but no part of the notorious island prison has been linked with more terrifying tales of ghosts than the cells in D-Block.

A portion of D-Block is known as the Hole. The Hole is the coldest part of the prison, and its cells were used for solitary confinement. The cells featured only a sink, a toilet, and a dim light bulb controlled by the guards. Inmates slept on mattresses that were taken away during the day. No reading materials were allowed, leaving inmates with nothing other than crushing boredom. The final cell in the Hole was called the Oriental and was essentially a steel sensory deprivation chamber with only a hole at the bottom for waste.

During the 1940s, there were many reports of a ghostly man wearing late-19th-century prison clothing patrolling the Hole. However, the apparition may have been responsible for a suspicious death of a prisoner. Shortly after being locked in a Hole cell, the inmate began screaming that there was somebody with glowing eyes trapped in with him. The guards ignored him as he screamed long into the night before an eerie silence fell.

The next day, the guards discovered that the convict had been strangled to death, the handprints on his throat livid and fresh. While some say that one of the guards finally snapped and took the ultimate step to stop the man’s screaming, a thorough investigation into the matter turned up no evidence. Did a 19th-century prisoner who wandered the jail’s corridors commit the crime from beyond the grave? We will probably never know.

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