Haunted Places in San Francisco: Alcatraz
It’s believed that the Miwok Indians may have used the isolated island for thousands of years as a place to gather bird’s eggs for food (alcatraz means pelican in old Spanish) and to banish members of their society. By 1859, the US government seized control of the island and used it to imprison 19 Hopi Indians who refused to give into aggressive government tactics to “Americanize.” In 1912 the US Army built a new prison on the island, and by 1934 the Fed took over and turned it into Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a prison designed to crush the souls of men. Both prisoners and guards suffered deep physical and psychological trauma while there.
Rufe McCain spent three years in a metal box in solitary confinement in cell 14D, also known as the Hole. When finally released, McCain stabbed another inmate to death. He was acquitted because of the irreparable psychological damage his imprisonment had done to him.
The prison closed in 1963 and shortly after reopened as a US National Park. Ever since, night guards have claimed to hear the sounds of items breaking, people running, and men screaming. If you’re given the opportunity to sit in 14D during a visit, in one corner of the cell you may be overcome with emotion as you feel an icy chill wash over your body, even in summer months. Be careful and be gentle, it may be Rufe begging to be set free.
Come learn more about SF's dark past and see its most notorious haunted places with Christian Cagigal and the San Francisco Ghost Hunt Walking Tour! Click Here To Book Now!
Rufe McCain spent three years in a metal box in solitary confinement in cell 14D, also known as the Hole. When finally released, McCain stabbed another inmate to death. He was acquitted because of the irreparable psychological damage his imprisonment had done to him.
The prison closed in 1963 and shortly after reopened as a US National Park. Ever since, night guards have claimed to hear the sounds of items breaking, people running, and men screaming. If you’re given the opportunity to sit in 14D during a visit, in one corner of the cell you may be overcome with emotion as you feel an icy chill wash over your body, even in summer months. Be careful and be gentle, it may be Rufe begging to be set free.
Come learn more about SF's dark past and see its most notorious haunted places with Christian Cagigal and the San Francisco Ghost Hunt Walking Tour! Click Here To Book Now!