If you want to do something scary this Halloween, the Yuma Territorial Prison Historic Park is a great choice. USA Today’s Readers’ Choice recently named it the second-best place to visit if you want to see ghosts. Yanna Kruse, who is in charge of the parks, said that around this time, hundreds of people come to look for ghosts.
There were over one hundred deaths at the jail between 1876 and 1909. “There were no mourners, no music, and no flowers,” Kruse said. Only a few inmates were claimed by family members, she said. The rest were buried at the prison site.
A lot of people, especially ghost hunters, are interested in the scary stories about inmates and the lives they lived behind iron cell doors. “A number of groups that look into the supernatural come to the prison.” They’ve said that they’ve heard ghosts among us, she said. She said that she had seen some strange things herself, but that other people should see for themselves.
Out of all the stories that have been told inside jail walls, she said there is one that will live on near the Colorado River. As a child, she played with a doll by the river many years ago. The doll was dressed in a red dress. She drowned while looking for her doll that fell in the river. Her words made it sound like people who wear red to the jail often feel a pinch. “That’s the little girl trying to get your attention to ask you to help her find her lost doll,” Kruse said.
The nomination will almost certainly bring people to jail. Kruse said, “It brings this important historic site to life in a wonderful way.” A party for Dia de los Muertos will be held at the jail on October 21 from 5 pm to 10 pm. It will let people see the jail at night, which she said a lot of people are excited about.
