The historic Squirrel Cage Jail in US’s Iowa has recently captured headlines for housing Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
The 26-year-old was put behind bars a few days ago for entering that country with illegal documents and having a dozen high-profile criminal cases lodged against him in India, including the murder of the late Punjabi singer Siddhu Moosewala, NCP leader Baba Siddique and the firing incident outside actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai home in June 2024.
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Who is Lawrence Bishnoi’s brother Anmol Bishnoi detained in the US? Why is he wanted in India?
Apart from being a wanted criminal in around 18-20 cases in various Indian states, Bishnoi is also under the Enforcement Directorate’s radar for his illegal activities. He is being probed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
But the US facility in which Bishnoi is lodged is far from an ordinary prison. This 19th-century jail carries a dark and eerie past, known not only for its unique architecture but also for the paranormal stories that linger within its walls.
Here’s a deeper dive into the chilling history of Squirrel Cage Jail.
A 19th-century marvel built on a church morgue
The Pottawattamie Jailhouse, famously known as the “Squirrel Cage Jail,” was built in 1885 on the site of an old church morgue.
An architectural wonder, the jail stands out for its unnerving and bizarre design as it is one of only three remaining revolving prisons in the United States.
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The standout feature was its innovative rotating cells. These cells spun within a circular structure, aligning with a single door to allow access to jailers who reach a specific prisoner by rotating the cells. The feature earned it the title of a “19th-century marvel.”
While most rotary jails of that era had just one level, this jail was constructed with three stacked levels of holding cells. This vertical arrangement gave it the appearance of a cage meant for a small creature, hence its nickname, the “Squirrel Cage.”
However, the ingenious design soon revealed its flaws. The complex mechanics became a problem, and the jail was deemed a failure only a few years after it opened. It was notorious for producing a dreadful noise during rotation, and its gears frequently jammed, leaving prisoners at risk of starvation.
According to a local us website that deals with ghost adventures, the rotating design also made it difficult to segregate prisoners, leading to all inmates being housed in close quarters. This proximity resulted in frequent injuries as inmates would sometimes extend their limbs through the bars while the cells rotated, causing severe injuries and breaks.
By the 1960s, the machinery’s unreliability reached a grim peak. A mechanical failure left a deceased inmate trapped in his cell for two days before his body could be recovered.
The facility was used as a jail until 1969.
Spooky stories
In 1971, the Council Bluffs Park Board acquired the jailhouse for preservation and it was later converted into a museum by the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County (HSPS).
Since its transformation, the jail has become well-known for its eerie reputation, drawing plenty of attention for its ghostly associations.
One unsettling story involves a jailer from the 1950s who refused to live in the fourth-floor apartment after he repeatedly heard footsteps on the empty floor. He then chose to sleep on the second floor instead, avoiding the unexplainable sounds.
Today, the museum staff and volunteers have reported similarly strange experiences in the building.
“Many of the jail staff and volunteers have heard footsteps, voices, whispers and doors moving. Some have even seen dark shadows moving across the stairs or past doorways,” stated Kat Slaughter, the museum’s manager, in an article on the Council Bluffs website.
Slaughter believes the rumours of the jail being haunted are partly rooted in the four documented deaths that occurred within its walls. A prisoner died of a heart attack, another fell three stories while attempting to carve his name into the ceiling, one hung himself and died by suicide, and an officer lost his life when a training gun accidentally misfired.
Paranormal investigators have conducted numerous studies at the site, recording several unexplained incidents. These include Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVPs) and sightings of shadowy figures. Slaughter mentions that investigators have detected electromagnetic field (EMF) irregularities in areas where none should exist.
According to the HSPS, many prisoners left their signatures and dates scratched into the jail’s walls, etching their stories into the structure’s grim past. These markings serve as a stark reminder of an era that a modern facility would never replicate, the HSPS noted on its website.
With input from agencies
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