Ghosts of the Old Jail St Augustine Florida

The Old Jail in St Augustine Florida was constructed in 1891. It is on the national and international registry of THE MOST HAUNTED PLACES IN THE WORLD!! I stepped beyond its doors with Old Jail After Dark paranormal investigation and it undoubtedly met up to its reputation. While exploring, the ghosts of the old jail used all types of equipment to communicate and make themselves known. Captured evidence of the paranormal included EVPs, spirit box and portal responses, and even a disembodied voice!! An entity known as the Crawler even made an appearance on SLS. The haunted vibes were repeatedly present throughout the entire jail. 

Our tour guides did a wonderful job of providing us with the history of this jail, its prisoners, and its ghosts. Some of the notable history is included below, and a more thorough history is recorded within my investigation video. 

The Old Jail’s construction was revolutionary in that it was the first jail to feature an automatic locking system that allowed for all cells to be locked at one time. Before this genius invention, guards would have to walk the line and individually lock the cells one by one. This left them vulnerable to prisoner attacks and many guards were seriously injured or even lost their lives due to that. This mechanism was so revered that it went on to be used in a much more famous prison- Alcatraz. 

From the outside, it doesn’t even look like a jail and one might even venture to say it appears quaint. Its outer appearance was a drastic contrast to what was unfolding behind its locked doors, however. The jail cells were small and only intended to fit 2-4 people at a time. Due to overpopulation they would commonly pack around a dozen inmates to a cell. There was no plumbing or running water in the building, so the toilet was a bucket. And each cell got only one.

The jail had an added component of having a convict leasing program. This meant that prisoners were rented out for the day, used for hard labor, and returned at night. The monetary gain from this is perhaps one of the leading causes of its overcrowding. The life expectancy of those who entered the prison was much lower than in other prisons throughout its time. Disease and violence ran rampant in such cramped quarters. The general population inmates typically only had sentences of 3-5 years but most died within 2 years of entering. If a prisoner didn’t die due to disease contracted through filth and overpopulation, other inmates typically killed them. In fact, it was common for inmates to off each other for nothing more than to have more room in their cell or one less person to battle over the bucket with.

Another method of death at this facility was execution by hanging. There are 8 recorded hangings at the jail. However, there is speculation that many more happened here but just aren’t recorded. The records from the jail were “conveniently” incinerated. Therefore, the history that is known was largely through media releases or passed down through eyewitness accounts. Before execution by hanging, the prisoner would be ordered to build their own gallows. They would then be locked into a death row holding cell that had a window facing the gallows, being forced to stare at their death device until the day came to carry out their execution.

The hangings were commonly carried out publicly and crowds would gather to witness. A door on the guard tower of the jail lists the 8 documented hangings. One hanging was likely inflicted upon an innocent man, Robert Lee. A long-time employee, Sheriff Joe Perry, even died in the building. At a hulking 7 feet tall and nearly 350 lbs, he ruled over the jail for nearly 26 years and may have never left. He died of a heart attack in his office and is still believed to be watching over the place as part of the ghosts of the old jail. 

The Old Jail was abruptly closed in 1953 due to its deploraple conditions when an inspection deemed it “a crime against humanity and ordered to be shut down immediately”.

Reports of ghostly activity in this building include shadow figures, disembodied voices, electronic voice phenomena (EVPs), and physical contact including people being grabbed and scratched. Encounters with a malevolent entity also are commonly reported. The entity occasionally takes form and appears as a black mass slinking or crawling across the floors, walls, and ceiling. It has been given the name “The Crawler”. Staff at the jail encourage that it be ignored if encountered to not feed into its power. Perhaps one of the most terrifying accounts of potential paranormal encounters that I’ve heard of also happened in this jail. A jail employee was unexplainably shut and locked into the solitary confinement cell several years ago while on the job. Even his co-workers could not free him. The fire department had to come to get him out. He was said to have been deeply traumatized by the experience. Since then, they have bolted the outer door to that cell open to avoid another horrifying incident such as that one. 

During my paranormal investigation at the old Jail, I encountered some spirits who were not welcoming. One EVP said a pretty clear “fight me” and a disembodied voice wanted me out of the bed. I was overcome by a very strong, uneasy, creepy feeling just prior to the Crawler showing up on my tour guide’s SLS camera. But I also encountered spirits that seemed to want to talk or make themselves known. There was at least one that was singing and humming. I even came across some more playful and light-hearted energies, believe it or not. The upstairs of the jail served as the living quarters of the Sheriff, his wife Lulu, and their many young children. Lulu and the children seem to enjoy interacting with the living, playing games, and sometimes pulling some mischievous tricks. These are just some of many ghosts of the old jail.

For more fascinating history about the Old Jail and for my full paranormal investigation, check out my video below. Thank you to my tour guides and Old Jail After Dark for a great experience!!

Interested in this? Check out my other investigation videos!!

• Haunted Hotel Room Alone!! My First Solo Investigation! Ghosts of Casa De Solana Bed and Breakfast in St Augustine, Florida.
• Cussed at by a ghost and more. Moon River Brewing 3rd Floor Paranormal Investigation. Savannah, Georgia.
• Let’s Play a Game!!- Guess that EVP!! (Listen with headphones for best results)
• Ghostly figure caught on video on the 4th floor of Moon River Brewing Company in Savannah, Georgia!
• Ben- Child Ghost Interactions Savannah Theatre

Equipment used during this Investigation:

REM pod: Device with an antenna (comes in various shapes, sizes and designs). It beeps and lights up with changes in temperature and/or electromagnetic field or touch. Walkie-talkies have been shown to make them go off. It is important not to be active on those while conducting a session. The idea is, if you ask a question, and it goes off, then something is using it to communicate. With most of our questions, we use the machine going off as a “yes” answer and a failure to go off as a “no” answer.

Spirit Box: Small radio looking device that makes audible white noise sounds through the rapid shuffling of radio frequencies. It’s believed that spirits are able to change or influence these bursts of audio to form their own words or sentences. Occasionally you may get noise from a radio station come through. Due to the rapid shuffling rate it should not produce anything coherent from radio, especially over multiple sweeps of frequencies at a time. There are various models available and they are also available through some respected phone apps.

My version is the Sbox from GhostStop. I like my version because it is compact and has a recording function that allows recording while headphones are attached. This comes in handy for use during an estes session where the sound can’t be recorded by an external device. I like to have it on the AM suffle to prevent as much radio interference as possible. The shuffle rate can also be adjusted to slower or faster depending on what is or isn’t coming through.

Portal/Geoport/Geobox: Speaker looking device (in the solitary confinement cell in this video) that spirits can manipulate to speak through. It’s believed that spirits are able to change or influence bursts of audio in order to form their own words or even sentences. It’s similar to a spirit box in the fact that it quickly scans AM/FM radio frequencies at a rapid rate. It is different from the spirit box in the feature that it cuts out the “white noise” from the shuffling frequencies. This allows for more definite words or sounds to come through. With the portal- the radio and EMF signals are fed into a reverb device which allows modulation of the noise. That is what gives the boxes their distinct echoey sound.

The original Geoport and Geobox were created by George Brown labs and are custom built. Various other portal devices are available through private sellers on websites such as Etsy as well.

Audio recorder: Often referred to in ghost hunting as an EVP recorder as it is used to capture Electronic Voice Phenomena. EVPs are sounds or voices that can not be heard with the human ear but get recorded onto the electronic recording device and can be heard during playback. I was carrying one of these with me during the investigation. EVPs can be audibly differentiated from words coming from the geoport as the geoport has that distinct echo sound whereas EVPs do not. EVPs are typically best heard with headphones as they can be subtle. There is lots of debate on which recorders are the best and I would love to experiment with more. Up to this point, I am liking my results with this one.

Phasm camera: The video camera I used for this investigation came from GhostStop. It is a small go pro looking video camera that has night vision and full spectrum filming capabilities. This means it can film lighting not visible to the human eye (infrared/IR). A full spectrum video camera is a powerful tool to capture images in both the visible and invisible light spectrum. This means that you are able to see things that are normally not visible to the naked . This includes objects in the infrared and ultraviolet ranges. It is believed that spirits may be able to manifest themselves in these parts of the light spectrum. I also used the full spectrum phasm light from GhostStop to enhance the lighting.

PolterScript: This is a type of word generator that contains a libray of words. It is said that spirits can manipulate the device in a variety of ways to generate words. The words are then spoken out loud by the device but also are “texted” onto the screen. One member of my group was using one during this video. There are similar devices made by various manufacturers. The Ovilus is the word generator that I have (not used in this video).

Dead Bell: Call bell looking device that makes bell noises when activated. It can be activated through physical touch or through electromagnetic field (EMF) energy. It is similar to a REM pod in function but the sound of the bell is enthralling. An added bonus over a REM pod is that you can ask a spirit to ring the bell a certain number of times. For example, ring once for yes or twice for no. This was my first time using this device and I loved it so much that I have since bought one for myself. It can be obtained through GhostStop.

Paranormal Music Box: This device is motion-sensored. It will activate with music and motion only if something crosses its sensor path. There are multiple types of these on the market but I love mine because the music is so creepy, it lights up and the little handle spins when the music gets triggered, and it’s shaped like a coffin. This same music box was used by our guides during this investigation.

SLS (structured light sensor) Camera : The Kinect SLS Camera has an infrared light projector that “sees” people by recognizing a human shape based on joints and movements. It is combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor that shows everything recognized as human form as dots arranged in 3D formation on the screen (commonly referred to as stick figures by people using the device). When there is no human around, and this device maps out a human figure, then it is concluded that it has picked up the figure of a ghost that can not be seen with the naked eye.

My tour guide was using one of these during part of our investigation. I do not have one currently because they are typically large and expensive. I use an SLS app on my phone by GhostTube. One precaution, especially with the app, is that it will sometimes map out objects such as trees and certain furniture, however it is typically easy to determine when that is happening.

Paranormal Flux: Detects temperature changes, motion, and touch. Each trigger activates a different sound from the device. It also has a red and a green light that can be activated. A common use is to ask a spirit to light up the device green for yes and red for no. I’ve seen these used on multiple investigation videos and I’ve always been under the impression that one side lights up green and the other lights up red.

In this investigation, there is a point where it reacts in a way no one in my group, including my tour guide, had experienced before. After making a series of beeps (with no one in the room with it), it was rapidly flashing green on both sides and then it lit up a bright white. If anyone else has experienced this and has an idea of why- please let me know in the comments!!