The Benton County jail dates back to 1876 and closed in 1997. In its earlier years, the jail had a high-profile inmate named Jacob Nelling. Jacob, a Civil War vet thought to have PTSD, stood accused of murdering a young 15 year old girl. The townspeople were rightfully enraged by the murder but, instead of waiting for the justice system to deal with Nelling, they stormed the jail and lynched him. He was hung from a tree in town. Jacob’s ghost is thought to still hang around the jail, though its highly doubtful he’s the only spirit in the building.
Though not a large jail in size, there are a fair amount of spirits still hanging around the Benton County Jail. Both the male and female cell blocks are active as well as the house attached to the front. You see, back in the day, it was required that the sheriff of each Indiana county live in the home attached to the jail. This was to deter criminals from acting up, though I am not sure how well that worked. In the house portion of the jail, there are reports of a child laughing and playing. Disembodied footsteps are often heard, as are the sounds of whispering all around.
In the cell block area, the men’s side has had many reports from banging on the cell doors, to disembodied voices, to menacing laughter. The female side has had reports of disembodied conversations, and well as the feeling of being touched.
By far the scariest portion of the jail is the basement. This is where dispatch was located as well as administrative offices. It also happens to be where the solitary confinement cells were located. I have investigated here before and I can tell you that the basement has more activity than the rest of the jail put together. Disembodied voices, odd shadows, loud banging, strange readings on emf meters, and some very bizarre evp (electronic voice phenomena) were picked up here. If you want to read more about my investigation from back in March, you can click here.
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