JIM THORPE, Pa. — Working at the Old Jail Museum in Jim Thorpe, Blaine Dart is often the only employee in the building, but he says he's never really alone
"The most common thing I oftentimes feel is just like I'm being watched. There's been two or three occurrences where I've had to get out of here because I've been a little too freaked out."
It takes a lot to spook someone who's been giving ghost tours here since he was 9 years old.
Blaine's grandparents bought the jail after it shut down in the 1990s, and they soon learned that some of the inmates, long dead, were still serving time inside.
"Right over my left shoulder here, the staircase, my grandfather actually saw what he thought was a woman come right down the staircase. He came down chasing her because we were closed at the time. When he got down here, there was nobody here."
Though this place is now steeped in family lore among the current owners, the supernatural happenings date back to the 1870s with the hangings of the Molly Maguires.
"They are our most well-known prisoners. There were seven of them hanged at the gallows right behind me. They were pretty much the first union, back in the 1800s, down in the coal mines. They were fighting for their better rights."
Convicted of murder, the Molly Maguires claimed they were falsely accused. One man's declaration of innocence remains in the prison to this day.
"He put his hand right on the wall before he was hanged. And he said that it will remain there for eternity to shame the county who hung an innocent man."
Attempts to remove it by washing, painting, or plastering over the handprint have all proved unsuccessful.
It's common for visitors to see these nooses move seemingly on their own.
We saw, on three separate occasions this morning, one noose shake violently back and forth only while we were discussing the story of the hangings.
These ghosts must be camera-shy, though. whenever we were rolling, all was perfectly still.
"It's happened where people's phones have just died, cameras have died on full battery, pictures have disappeared. There's some weird stuff that happens here," Blaine said.
Including some unexplained noises that we found in our raw footage, noises we did not hear while we were there.
Luckily for us, Blaine says these spirits are sympathetic but only after a stern warning back in 1995.
"In the library, people used to be able to go in, but as they were going in, sometimes they were getting violently pushed out, almost over the railing. And my grandfather came into the jail and said, 'Look, guys, if you don't knock it off, I'm going to call the priest."
Now, the friendly phantoms welcome you to pay them a visit here at the Old Jail Museum every Saturday night in October.
The ghost tours run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The last ghost tour of the month on October 29 will benefit the Jim Thorpe Police Department.
Tickets are only sold at the door.
If you miss out, the spirits who enjoy the daylight might still make an appearance during the daytime historical tours, which are open year-round.
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