Haunted places guide · Mount Holly, New Jersey

The Haunted Burlington County Prison, Mount Holly: Joel Clough and the Death Cell

For 154 years this stone jail on High Street held Burlington County’s prisoners, and in 1833 it held Joel Clough in its windowless Death Cell before he was hanged. The museum it became is one of the few in New Jersey that tells its own ghost story.

By The Haunted Rooms Team · Updated November 2026 · How we rate places

4.8/5Haunted Rooms Score

1811First inmates

1833Joel Clough hanged

Our nearest ghost hunt: Fort Mifflin Meet the ghosts

The Burlington County Prison stands at the corner of High and Grant Streets in Mount Holly, the county seat, a plain three-story block of rough stone with a heavy front door and a carved motto over it. Robert Mills, the architect who later designed the Washington Monument, drew it up as a model of prison reform, and it took its first inmates in 1811. It kept taking them until November 1965, when it was the oldest jail in continuous use in the United States.

Today it is a National Historic Landmark and a county museum, open four days a week for a few dollars. You can wander its cells at your own pace, climb to the Death Cell on the top floor and stand in the yard where Joel Clough is said to be buried. And unusually for a public museum, it is open about its reputation: its own website describes the moaning and rattling chains reported after Clough’s execution and the workers who found their tools locked in empty cells during the 1990s restoration. Here is what is history, what is legend and how to see it for yourself.

Burlington County Prison at a glance

4.8/5
Haunted Rooms Score

Haunted reputation5

History5

Ghost hunter access4

Open to the publicParanormal investigations allowed

Address 128 High Street, Mount Holly, NJ 08060, at the corner of High and Grant Streets
Built 1810 to 1811, designed by Robert Mills; a jail until November 1965; a museum since 1966
Most haunted spots The Death Cell on the third floor, the basement and lowest level, and the yard
Best-known ghosts Joel Clough, hanged in 1833; a tall uniformed figure in the basement
Ghost hunting Yes: Burlington County rents the building to paranormal groups for evening investigations
Good to know Self-guided, no time limit, with an optional audio tour; closed Monday to Wednesday

Our nearest ghost hunt: Fort Mifflin Visit / tours

History of the Burlington County Prison

Burlington County moved its seat from Burlington City to Mount Holly in 1795, but for years its prisoners were still kept at the old jail in Burlington. In 1806 the Board of Chosen Freeholders resolved to build a new county jail in Mount Holly. The driving force was Freeholder John Bispham, a Mount Holly Quaker, and the board chose a young architect, Robert Mills, a protege of Benjamin Latrobe, who sent in his plans with an essay on prison reform.

Mills designed a building meant to reform as well as punish. It had individual cells rather than crowded common rooms, good ventilation and fireproof construction, with poured-concrete vaulted ceilings, and over the door he set the motto “Justice which, while it punishes, would endeavor to reform the offender.” The massive front door, the vaulted ceilings and many of the cell doors are still the originals. It was finished in 1811 and the first inmates arrived that year.

It was built for about 40 prisoners and ended up holding more than 100. Over its long life it saw escapes almost every decade, from Samuel Leaming in 1819 and Joel Clough in 1833 to repeat escaper Lorenzo Atkinson in the 1870s to 1890s. Weird NJ, drawing on the museum’s volunteers, records that in the 1920s escaping inmates killed a trustee near the kitchen on the lowest level, and that a guard was later killed in the same corridor. Its most famous short-term guest was Albert DeSalvo, later known as the Boston Strangler, held here on a minor charge.

Burlington County carried out 45 executions in its history. The first 32 took place in or near Burlington City, two in a meadow in Hainesport, seven in the exercise yard of this prison and four, after the state took over, in the electric chair at Trenton. The last hangings here followed a 1906 murder in Moorestown solved by the county’s famous detective, Ellis Parker.

In the 1950s the freeholders proposed tearing the jail down for offices and a modern jail. The Burlington County Historical Society and a preservation group led by Jay Tomlinson fought back, and a petition signed by 7,000 taxpayers changed the board’s mind. The prison closed on November 23, 1965, when the inmates were marched to an armory on Grant Street, and it opened as a museum in 1966. It closed again in 1993 for repairs, reopened with new exhibits by 2001 and is now looked after by the Burlington County Parks Department. It was named a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

The ghosts of the Burlington County Prison

Joel Clough and the Death Cell

Joel Clough is the prison’s ghost. He stabbed a woman in Bordentown who had rejected him, escaped from this jail in 1833, was recaptured and was confined in the Death Cell before he was hanged that year. Accounts differ on the details: Weird NJ says his body was buried in a corner of the prison yard, where a large tree now grows, while other retellings say he was hanged publicly at a nearby crossroads and brought back here to be buried.

The Death Cell sits in the middle of the top floor. It was the only cell without a fireplace, with one tiny, high window and an iron ring in the floor where condemned men were chained. Prisoner graffiti is still on the walls. According to the museum, the first reports of spirits came after Clough’s execution, when guards and prisoners described moaning, rattling chains and cigarette smoke drifting from the “dungeon.” Visitors still say they have heard moaning in the cell, and ghost hunters report spikes on their meters there.

The restoration workers

The stories took off again during the 1990s renovation. The museum says workers heard sounds and saw figures, and that their tools went missing and turned up later inside locked cells. Burlington County asked a paranormal team to investigate, and that is how the prison came to be called one of the most haunted buildings in New Jersey. A 2022 Townsquare Media retelling places Clough’s first appearance in 1999, during the museum remodeling, moving and hiding tools.

The tape recorder in the yard

Kate Philbrick, a former museum volunteer, wrote for Weird NJ that on July 26, the anniversary of Clough’s execution, she left a tape recorder under the big tree in the yard and it switched itself off every two to four minutes. Used elsewhere, she says, it worked perfectly. She is careful to leave the question open, and so are we: a temperamental machine on a damp evening is the obvious explanation.

The uniformed man in the basement

Wikipedia’s summary of the prison’s reputation mentions a tall man in uniform seen in the basement and a flurry of activity on the third floor. AAA’s South Jersey magazine adds floating objects and apparitions reported by guards and inmates in Clough’s cell. Visiting ghost hunting groups, including teams from Ohio and Long Island, say they have recorded voices, orbs and meter spikes. None of it is proof, but it is a consistent set of stories told by the building’s own keepers for decades.

Where to look

The Death Cell: the windowless cell in the middle of the top floor, with its iron floor ring and prisoner graffiti; the center of the Clough story.
The yard: where Clough is said to be buried in a corner under a big tree, and where seven men were hanged.
The lowest level: the kitchen corridor where Weird NJ says a trustee and later a guard were killed in escape attempts; the uniformed figure is placed in the basement.
The cell blocks: the original vaulted cells on each floor, where volunteers describe feeling watched when alone on a floor.

Visiting the Burlington County Prison Museum

The museum is open Thursday to Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM and on Sunday from noon to 4 PM, and closed on legal holidays, Good Friday, Easter and the day after Thanksgiving. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for over-55s and military and $2 for students. Visits are self-guided with no time limit, and an audio tour (about an hour, also in Spanish) costs $3 more. Guided tours can be arranged by email with at least 48 hours’ notice.

In October the museum runs a Halloween event, The Haunting on High Street, on weekend evenings from 7 to 10 PM, with tickets sold online only. There is also an escape game set in 1933. Paranormal groups can rent the building for evening investigations through the Burlington County Parks Department; groups usually work from 8 PM to midnight.

Mount Holly is about 30 minutes from Philadelphia and an hour from the shore. The museum is on High Street, the same street as the county courthouse of 1795, and the rest of Mount Holly’s historic district is within a short walk.

Visiting A county-run museum, self-guided at your own pace, with an audio tour
Tours Self-guided or audio tour; guided tours by email request; a Halloween event on October weekends
Hours and season Thursday to Saturday 10 AM to 4 PM, Sunday noon to 4 PM (closed on legal holidays)
Tickets Adults $5, seniors and military $3, students $2
Ghost hunting Burlington County rents the building to paranormal groups for evening investigations through its parks department

Tips for your visit

Go on a quiet weekday afternoon, Thursday or Friday, when you are most likely to have a floor to yourself.
Climb straight to the Death Cell first, then work your way down to the lowest level.
Pay the extra $3 for the audio tour: it explains the cells and the escapes as you go.
Look for the motto over the front door and the original door itself before you go in.
For an after-dark visit, book a group investigation with the county parks department or watch for the October Haunting on High Street dates.

Go ghost hunting nearby

Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.

Fort Mifflin Ghost Hunt, Philadelphia: investigate the casemates and Officers’ Quarters of the 1771 fort on Mud Island, from 8 PM to 2 AM.
Mid Orange Correctional Facility Ghost Hunt, Warwick, NY: investigate an abandoned state prison campus in the Hudson Valley.
1810 Gettysburg Academy Ghost Hunt and Overnight VIP: investigate a school that became a field hospital in July 1863, then sleep in one of its historic bedrooms.

See all New Jersey ghost hunts

More haunted places nearby

Battleship New Jersey: our own ghost hunts aboard the battleship in Camden, about 30 minutes away
Fort Mifflin ghost hunt: investigate the 1771 fort across the Delaware in Philadelphia with Haunted Rooms
The Pine Barrens: the Jersey Devil’s forest begins just to the southeast
Haunted places in New Jersey
Haunted places in South Jersey

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Frequently asked questions

Is the Burlington County Prison haunted?

It has one of the strongest reputations in New Jersey, and the museum itself describes reports going back to Joel Clough’s execution in 1833 and the 1990s restoration, when workers found tools locked in empty cells. Nothing is proven, but the hard history behind the stories is real.

Who was Joel Clough?

A man who stabbed a woman in Bordentown who had rejected him. He escaped from the prison in 1833, was recaptured, was held in the Death Cell and was hanged that year. He is said to be buried in the prison yard and is the museum’s best-known ghost.

Can you do a paranormal investigation at the Burlington County Prison?

Yes. Burlington County rents the building to paranormal groups for evening investigations; book through the county’s online recreation catalog or by calling the parks department.

How much does it cost to visit the Burlington County Prison Museum?

Adults pay $5, over-55s and military $3 and students $2, with $3 extra for the audio tour. It is open Thursday to Sunday.

When did the Burlington County Prison close?

On November 23, 1965, after 154 years, when it was the oldest jail in continuous use in the country. It opened as a museum in 1966.

Who designed the Burlington County Prison?

Robert Mills, a protege of Benjamin Latrobe who later designed the Washington Monument. He submitted his plans with an essay on prison reform.

Sources

Facts on this page are checked against the official website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and investigators tell them, and we say where records contradict a story.

About the authors

The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.