Alcatraz, home of murderers, gangsters, thieves…and perhaps ghosts.

 If you believe in ghosts, there are some places you just expect to be haunted. Alcatraz is one such place. The construction of Alcatraz began in 1854 and housed its first prisoners in 1859. These 11 anonymous soldiers of Company H. slept side-by-side, lying on the stone floors. There was no running water or heat in the cells. Sanitary facilities were almost non-existent, and disease was rampant. The army used this prison until 1933. At that time, the Federal Government opened a maximum-security prison to deal with what society considered the most vile criminals. Some of which included infamous mobsters such as, Al Capone, George "Machine-Gun" Kelly, Alvin Karpis and Arthur "Doc" Barker.

Alcatraz was known for its poor treatment of prisioners. If a prisoner didn’t follow the rules, he could be confined to the “Strip Cell.” This was a dark steel cell, where inmates would be stripped naked and given water and bread once a day and “occasionally” a meal. At night they were provided with a mattress, which was taken away during the day. The toilet consisted of a hole in the cell floor. When a prisoner was sent to the Strip Cell, their time was spent in pitch-dark solitude.

Due to the number of deaths suffered at Alcatraz and the claims of unspeakable torture, many say that some prisoners are still there serving out their sentences.

Come back next week to learn about the alleged haunts at Alcatraz.