Squirrel Cage Jail Ghost Hunt & Sleepover, Council Bluffs, Iowa
Join us as we explore this unique and extremely haunted jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Believed to be the home of Jake Byrd – the infamous ax murderer who brutally killed over 40 people during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
Deposit option available – Pay $30 now then the rest of the balance 1 month before the event date.
Limited Spaces Available!
Book Now!
AS SEEN ON TRAVEL CHANNEL’S GHOST ADVENTURES
Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa
Investigate one of the most unique and haunted jails in the country, then sleep in the very areas you’ve been investigating! It also includes breakfast and tour.
As notorious, murderer-housing and unique local jails go, the Squirrel Cage Jail is just about everything you might be looking for in a ghost hunt and sleepover. In fact, you might want to have alternative accommodation ready. Squirrel Cage Jail is not for the faint-hearted. Many visitors have been so spooked in the first few minutes, they’ve turned around and simply walked back out.
Are you brave enough to stay the night and see what criminals still haunt its empty cells?
About the Jail
The Squirrel Cage Jail is a rotary jail, one of eighteen made as technological advances of their day in the 1880s. Squirrel Cage is the largest and weighs around 45 tons empty. It’s been called a “19th-century marvel.”
The idea was that the giant, circular, three-floor, metal drum sat inside a building with steel-lined walls rotated on its base via a crank which the jailor used to move the cell he needed to a set position in order access to the only door. It was designed so that only a single jailor was required to watch a whole jail full of prisoners, with just one door that couldn’t be accessed unless the drum and cell were in the right position. Only one prisoner could ever exist at one time, the rest were simply trapped.
Council Bluffs, Iowa was a lawless place in the 1880s, and Pottawattamie County taxpayers went for the cheaper option of technology in the form of its “human rotary,” rather than expensive manpower to guard and imprison local criminals.
Squirrel Cage Jail was deemed a failure just a few years after it opened, it made a horrible noise as it moved, torturing all around it and its gears kept jamming, risking starving inmates when jailors just couldn’t get to them. And, all prisoners were kept in close confines in adjacent cells and not segregated, prostitutes were imprisoned next to ax murderers and petty fraudsters next to rapists.
Even worse, crazed residents would put their arms and legs out of the bars as the jail rotated, causing gruesome breaks and injuries.
The building was frequently condemned but taxpayers refused to pay for another and Squirrel Cage was kept going, year after year, until a Fire Marshall permanently disabled it in the 1960s when it took TWO DAYS to reach the body of a prisoner who died in his cell.
Infamous Residents
During its tenure, the Squirrel Cage Jail housed mass murderer Jake Byrd, a transient who may have killed up to 46 people using either an ax or a hatchet and who spent 31 years in jail in Michigan, Iowa, and Utah. At his trial he put the “Jake Byrd Hex” on those he saw as involved in punishing him, saying they would die before he did. As the story goes, allegedly six did including the judge who died within a month, the court’s chief clerk, two police officers who took confessions and the killer’s lawyer who died on the first anniversary of his sentencing. Byrd was hanged in 1949.
Squirrel Cage also imprisoned Charles Noel Brown who went on a three-day drunken murder spree and was eventually the last man hanged in Iowa in 1962. His noose is on display at the Squirrel Cage Jail.
Ghosts of the Squirrel Cage Jail
The jail’s paranormal history dates back to the 1900s and even jailors in the 1950s refused to sleep in certain parts of the prison. Kat Slaughter the Historical and Preservation Society of Pottawattamie County (HSPS) museum manager says staff and volunteers at the jail have heard footsteps, voices, whispers, and experienced doors moving and shadows moving across stairs and doorways.
She believes the Squirrel Cage Jail ghosts could have originated rom the four known deaths in the building. One prisoner fell three-stories to his death whilst trying to carve his name on the ceiling, another hung himself, one died of a heart attack, and a jail officer was shot and killed it
The Jail has appeared on the Travel Channel’s Most Terrifying Places and Ghost Adventures Serial Killer Spirits. Paranormal investigators have recorded voices and sounds that weren’t there and caught shadows in photos and video of the site.
This is just a little of the Squirrel Cage Jail’s story.
Do you dare discover the rest and spend a night in the jail investigating it for yourself?
Be sure to book now, as tickets are extremely limited for this event, and they are sure to be gone soon!
Event Details
What’s Included?
- Exclusive tour of the location,
- Paranormal investigation class for beginners (separate workshop for returning guests),
- A full night of ghost hunting with the Haunted Rooms America team,
- Use of our state of the art paranormal equipment,
- Free time to investigate at the end of the night,
- Sleepover in the haunted jail and cells (you’ll need to bring your own sleeping bag and rollaway beds),
- Snacks and refreshments provided all night.
Event Location: The Squirrel Cage Jail, 226 Pearl St, Council Bluffs, IA 51503
Event Time: 8:00 PM – 10:00 AM
Meet up at the location at the earliest 7:30 PM. There is ample parking available at the venue itself.
What to Bring?
- Please bring with you a form of photo ID, and a printed off booking confirmation email (or show this on your phone).
- Sleeping bags and rollaway beds.
- We will be providing you with paranormal equipment to use, however, we will need something of value per group to hold onto as collateral (phone, car keys, watch, etc.)
- We will be providing snacks and drinks at intervals throughout the night.
- And of course, bring your phone/camera with you, the more pictures we have the better chance we have of capturing something!
Other than that, just yourself and an open mind!
More History
The Squirrel Cage Jail was built in 1885 and was in use until 1969. When in 1969 the jail was declared “unfit for human habitation” its prisoners were moved to other locations. Despite the jail’s dark and morbid history, members of the Historical Society stood reportedly stood in front of bulldozers to prevent it from being demolished.
The “human rotary,” or “lazy Susan,” design was the invention of William H. Brown and Benjamin F. Haugh, from Indianapolis, Indiana. They received a patent for their “maximum security with minimum jailer attention,” jail in 1881. The Squirrel Cage Jail was built for the equivalent of around $30,000. It was taken over by the Council Bluffs Park Board in 1971 for preservation. In 1972 it was added to the National Register of History Places by the US government. The Historical Society campaigned to save the jail in 1977 and it now owns and manages the building.
The jail’s cells still keep the signatures and dates of its prisoners, some of them quite infamous, which are scratched on the walls.
The Squirrel Cage Jail now hosts tours, ghost hunts, paranormal investigations and overnight fundraisers. It is one of only three rotary jails that remain, all of which have been preserved as museums.
Ryan Roenfeld, the past president of the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County which now owns the jail says the jail is just as “grungy and horrible,” as during its last days of operation. Where other rotary jails have been cleaned and sanitized before being opened to the public, the Squirrel Cage Jail is more “interesting,” retaining its horrid environment, and possibly some of the spirits of its last inmates, to the end.
FAQS
What Should I Expect on a Ghost Hunt?
Become a paranormal investigator for the night like the TV stars of Most haunted, ghost adventures or TAPS Ghost hunters.
Use some of the specialized equipment and be guided by experienced paranormal investigators who will share their knowledge, techniques and experiences of hunting for ghosts or spirits.
Feel free to bring along any of your own equipment including but not limited to EVP recorders, flashlights, cameras or video cameras.
Bring extra clothing as in some parts old buildings may get cold but please refrain from wearing clothing that can cause distracting sounds. Many old buildings have a story to tell and we will supply them to you along with of course the ghost stories.
There will be breaks and light refreshments are provided.
We are not out to try and convince the world of the existence of an afterlife. That’s for you to decide.
We can be Sceptical and logical yet open to other beliefs and prayers of protection will be carried out.
We do not perform tricks and will not be running around with sheets on our heads!
You will be with like-minded people looking for the answer “is there really an afterlife”?
However much we try unfortunately we can’t guarantee that members of the spirit world will make their presence known but we can at least guarantee that you will experience a fun and interesting night.
Do I receive an actual ticket?
The event is ticketless. Your proof of booking is your booking confirmation email. You will also receive an email with important information prior to your event, usually the week of.
Is there any age limit of who can attend these events?
The age limit is 18 years and over.
Will there be a Medium at the event?
All events listed on Haunted Rooms are hosted by experienced Hosts and Professional Psychic/Clairvoyant Mediums. However sometimes a Medium(s) may not always be present – but as usual, you will be in very safe hands with our experienced Hosts who have a wealth of knowledge and are fully trained in all aspects of professional public ghost hunting events and experience nights.
Can I sleep at an event?
Unless it is otherwise stated, events don’t include sleepover.
Will I see a Ghost?
Unfortunately, the activity will not just happen on command, however using the various experiments and experienced hosts on the events, everything will be done to offer the best chance of spiritual activity.
Testimonials
It was an amazing experience!
This was my first time doing something like this! It was an amazing experience! Hosts were friendly full of information and very helpful! I can’t wait to attend another event in the future! Thank you!
Amanda Garcia
The Team Was Awesome!
The Team was awesome, and it was great to get to actually get to use some equipment that I had only seen on television in the past, such as the Kinect mapping camera and the portal box. Great results, and as a bonus, the mediums picked up on the spirit of my late wife, as well as her name coming through the equipment.
Saw a silhouette of a man walking past inner door of a cell, to find that there was no one in it, and no way in or out except the door I went in! One of my companions was touched. All in all, an excellent evening, and myself and two people I met that evening from my town are planning our next Haunted Excursion!
Thank you all so much for providing all these great locations!
Sincerely, David P. McMillen
It was definitely a fun experience!
It was definitely a fun experience! This was my little sister and my first time doing anything like this!! I can’t wait to go to another event! Hopefully in the near future!
Dolly Rojas
I had an amazing experience.
I had an amazing experience. I have been to two events with this team. This was night and day from the OG Pyle house early this month. It was well organized and explained. The lead investigators were very knowledgeable and knew where to direct the participants. I enjoyed and will be booking again
Jennifer Cain
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