by James Coulter
For more than a decade, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) has been hosting its Haunted Jail Tour at the old county jail. Now, the PSCO is hosting the Haunted Jail Tour for one final year.
Located at 455 North Broadway in Bartow, the facility that is now the Lawrence W. Crow, Jr. building served as the original county jail, from its construction in 1962 up until it closed in 2000.
However, despite the old jail closing more than two decades ago, many of its residents–or rather, their resident haunts–have never left. Officers who work in the building have reported strange unexplained phenomena, from apparitions, strange sounds, and sudden chills.
Sgt. Justin Carr claims that many officers have seen or heard jail doors closing. “[That] is particularly frightening,’ he explains, “because some of these doors are on the track-gear assembly where an individual cannot close [them], and yet for some reason, there have been individual cases where a door has closed as if something paranormal drove it.”
One of the jail’s most famous haunts is Calvin, the ghost of a prisoner who allegedly died in the jail during the 1960s. Many officers have reported seeing this apparition either with their own eyes or on security footage. Both the basement and the second floor especially have been locations where the most paranormal happenings have allegedly occurred.
“The second floor, in particular, there is something about it,” he said. “Its [the] lighting being as poor as it is, just strange drafts, strange feelings that come across your skin, seeing something in the corner in your eyes, moving and making noise and there is no explanation for it, just strange cold chills come across you and a few times where you hear voices and no one is in the building anymore.”
“I was there after dark at times and…watched a hallway appear to get longer,” he said. “I could see [it] stretch in front of me. [At] the same time, you get goosebumps, [and] chills over you. It is a frightening experience but it is a real thing. Some things going on up there. No other way to describe it in my opinion.”
Sgt. Justin Carr recently appeared on the Chattin on the Ridge podcast to discuss this year’s Haunted Jail Tour and the many actual haunts that have haunted the old building. Listen to the full episode on Acast: https://shows.acast.com/chattin-on-the-ridge/episodes/ep-45-haunted-jails-barrel-racing
The Haunted Jail Tour will be hosted in Bartow will be hosted on Fri. and Sat. Oct. 18 and 19 and Oct. 25 and 25 from 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm. For more information, visit the PCSO Facebook page.
