March 19, 2025 • 32 mins
Brushy Mountain Penitentiary was a maximum-security prison that operated from 1896 to 2009, housing some of the most dangerous criminals, including James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. Surrounded by rugged mountains, it was notorious for its harsh conditions and violent history - now, it's notorious for its ghosts.
Special Guest: Jaime Brock
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Many years ago, I was investigating one of America's most
notorious haunted prisons, Eastern State Penitentiary. I was using a
laser grid down one of the corridors, and as I
sat and waited, a shadow figure moved into the laser grid.
If a live person walks into the path of a laser,
you see them, You see the pinpoint of the laser
(00:36):
on their person. But for some reason, when a shadow
figure walks into the laser grid, the laser points disappear,
leaving a perfect outline. I have no idea why this happens,
but it's why I enjoy using this piece of equipment
so much so. In this case, I watched for quite
some time as this shadow person walked in and out
(00:58):
of my laser. I tried talking to them, tried calling out,
but they never seemed to even notice I was there.
It made me wonder who haunts prisons? Why on earth
would anyone decide to stay here, assuming they have some
sort of free will.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, let's discuss that.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
And many other things as we visit another of America's
very haunted prisons, the Brushy Mountain Penitentiary. I'm Amy Brunei,
and this is haunted road. Picture a historic prison, one
with dingy hallways lined with barred cells, a courtyard surrounded
(01:40):
by a stone wall, and a constant, pervasive threat of
violence that hangs over the facility. It's likely that the
place you're imagining bears a striking resemblance to the Brushy
Mountain State Penitentiary. It's a Gothic Revival style abandoned prison
in Petros, Tennessee. That's a small town of a five
hundred people, which sits roughly an hour outside of Knoxville
(02:04):
by car. The four story building is topped with battlements
and laid out in the shape of a Celtic cross
man hunt in the mountains. James Earl Ray and the
Brushy Mountain Prison Breakout of nineteen seventy seven described it
as quote looking like a castle from the dark ages.
The walls are scarred with graffiti, including tally marks left
(02:26):
by inmates who had nothing to do but count the days. Today,
visitors can wander through the former cell blocks, gymnasium, cafeteria,
and gym, which remain largely unchanged since the penitentiary was
first built. Guests can also see the hole or the
solitary confinement area in the basement's laundry room. Five cells
(02:47):
sit in darkness with no window to let in the
faintest hint of sunlight. There are also no toilets in
the hole, just a bucket. On the exterior, Visitors may
be surprised to see that the prison yard only has
man made walls on three sides. According to Judah Chefs,
who wrote Coal Cage's Crisis, The Arise of the Prison
(03:08):
Economy in Central Appalachia, the unscalable Frozen Head Mountain itself
ensures that no one can leave on the fourth side.
The penitentiary was built in eighteen ninety six. At the time,
it was only the second state prison in all of Tennessee,
and there was a large demand for a new facility.
This was particularly true because of the so called Black Codes.
(03:31):
According to Tim Murphy of Discover America, at that time,
there were a large number of racially motivated arrests, all
part of an effort to intimidate and disenfranchise black Americans.
Police would charge countless black people with minor offenses, just
so they'd have an excuse to throw them behind bars.
Sure enough, by eighteen ninety eight, eighty four percent of
(03:54):
the inmates at Brushy Mountain Penitentiary were black. But there
was another reason that Tennis needed a new facility, because
incarcerated people could be put to work for low wages,
and so the detention center was built very near a
state run coal mine. This allowed officials to exploit the laborers,
paying them very little for the dangerous, difficult work that
(04:17):
they did. Every year, the inmates successfully extracted about three
hundred and fifty thousand pounds of coal, and Tennessee profited
handsomely from their work. The arrangement also helped the state
deal with overcrowding. At one point, officials roughly doubled the
prison's capacity. They achieved this by forcing some of the
(04:38):
inmates to work twelve hour shifts during the day while
others worked twelve hours at night. That way, they could
assign two men to each bed. Now mining work was dangerous.
In his book, Tim Schef noted that the shafts near
Brushy Mountain had especially high concentrations of methane. It was
almost routine for the work sites to explode code, killing inmates,
(05:02):
and if an incarcerated person refused to perform the life
threatening tasks, they were often punished with beatings. The prisoners
worked in the mines until nineteen sixty six, when the
coal extraction program was shut down. An article with the
Clarksville Leaf Chronicles cited several factors that played into this decision. First,
(05:22):
state officials had finally concluded that the work was dangerous
and detrimental to their goals of rehabilitating convicted people. But
perhaps just as importantly, the mountain's coal reserves were running
low and there was no more profit in the work program.
So from that point onward, Rushy Mountain State Penitentiary operated
like a more traditional prison. Researchers have identified some of
(05:47):
the spirits within Brushy Mountain, including one that may be
James Earl Ray. When researchers went to his former cell
and played a clip of Martin Luther King Junior's I
have a dream speech, they heard a disc embodied voice
respond it said hush. And Jack Jett, who was stabbed
to death outside the gym, is also said to still
(06:08):
linger near the place where he died. When people stop by,
they often feel a sudden sensation of dread, as reported
on fright find. It's also quite common for the temperature
there to drop with no warning. Fright Find also reports
that some people have seen the receiver on the nearby
payphone lift off the hook on its own than hang.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Itself back up.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
There are also reports of a ghost known as Waterhead.
Lucas Lawson wrote in A Haunted Place that Waterhead may
have been a former incarcerated kitchen worker. He's often spotted
in the cafeteria. That book also described another pair of spirits,
James and Leroy. James tends to stay in the Sea block,
(06:51):
but apparently if someone offers the specter a cigarette he'll
smoke it. Leroy sticks more to the D block and
is said to be more attention seeking. Researchers have heard
a voice saying Leroy and often catch him following them
through the facility. There's also a female spirit who roams
through the courtyard, Bonnie. No one is entirely sure who
(07:14):
she is or how she came to haunt the building.
Dale Kasmarek of the Ghost Research Facility noted that the
penitentiary never housed women, however she came to be there.
Kelly Ryankey of WATE claims that Bonnie seems to especially
love music. If anyone plays a tune, she'll dance along
with it. Like many haunted locations, the Brushy Mountain State
(07:37):
Penitentiary is also a hot spot for shadow figures, disembodied growls,
voices and footsteps, and incidents where visitors feel someone pushing
or scratching them. In some cases, these encounters draw blood.
The prison's chapel and the whole are especially spiritually active.
The chapel is often full of cold spots, and researchers
(08:00):
have captured EVPs of religiously charged language that talk about
hell and pain. Freightfeind also notes that objects often move
on their own there. As for the whole, guests report
the sound of pigs in its confines. Ryan Willis of
Knox News speculated that these noises have a religious significance.
(08:21):
One Bible story describes Jesus sending a legion of demons
into a group of pigs. It's unclear how that connects
to the solitary confinement cells, but the eerie sounds are
hard to explain any other way. In order to better
understand the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary's secrets. I am talking
with Jamie Brock coming up next. Now, Jamie's family goes
(08:44):
back to the land before the penitentiary was ever even built,
and she's been there for quite some time. She's got
some really great stories to share with us, So stick around.
We'll get to that right after the break, all right.
(09:09):
So I am now joined by Jamie Brock, who the
entire world told me she was the person I needed
to talk to when it came to Brushy Mountain. So
I'm so excited to have you on the program. This
has been kind of a trend this season is that
I seem to be covering a lot of locations I
haven't been to. It's just been very exciting for me
(09:31):
because I've been to so many places, but this season
we just kind of really went outside the box. So
I feel like I've been there at this point, but
I think I really need to go. There is sore,
I know, So tell me please.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
How did you become affiliated with the property.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
So my family was original owners of the property, so
we signed this over in eighteen ninety four and they
built the prison in eighteen ninety five, and so it
was written in the least agreement that the family could
always work here, questions ask, and the state of Tennessee
(10:08):
honored that, and so we've always been here linked somehow.
And so these guys that's doing this now with the
distillery and everything that they're doing now has just kept
us involved. Oversee the prison for them, and my son
is their master distiller, so they still have the family
here and have us involved.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I love when there's like a family connection to a
location because it just means that I think that your
heart is probably in it, you know, one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yes, I'm a little I'm a little partial to this place.
I try to stay in my lane as much as possible,
but it's my baby. I've got a special place for it.
And that's kind of how I got linked in.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I was going to other locations and doing my little
ghost hunts and stuff there. But once this shut down,
we immediately came in. We had family with keys, so
of course we came in and done our little thing.
And so we've been here since oh nine doing it.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I think that's great. You know, some people inherit castles
or keys to keys to mansions. You've got keys to
a really cool penitentiary. Which I'm pretty jealous of, to
be honest. So along those lines, like, obviously you knew
about you know, you've known about the location and what's
gone on there, like historically speaking, when you went in
(11:37):
there in two thousand and nine and you were like,
I want to do the paranormal tours, how did you
know it was haunted? Like had you heard stories coming
out of it when it was in operation?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah, we were always told crazy just off the wall
horror stories. Was always we always heard those stories growing up,
but you know it was the of course, we always thought,
you know, they're making that up. That's a little you know,
they're trying to scare us, you know. But once I
(12:09):
got in here, though, and I started going through ledgers
and finding everything, Yeah, they probably sugarcoated that a little bit.
It was. It was every bit as bad as they
said it was. And then some.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It sounds like it like I've gone into the history
a bit and it sounds like it, which would which
would explain I think why there's activity there when it
was in operation. Did employees or inmates did they report
paranormal happenings?
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Now the inmates especially that come back and do our
day tours or you know, sometimes they'll just come back
for a visit and do a walk through and they'll
report things that they witnessed well while they're you know,
like they've reported a period dressed inmate on a bloc
(13:00):
side that looks like he was a coal miner, you
know that, but he's in his stripes, but he's dirty.
They described him that like that walking in D Block.
They you know, they've come back. Those cells are really
small and D blocking, and we've only got one bunk
(13:21):
in him. Now originally there would have been two bunks
in each cell, but these, you know, like one story
that sticks out. We had an inmate that came back
and he's a preacher today and he you know, he
just come back and asked me what all we caught there,
and he just broke down and started crying. You know,
he was like, my religion tells me I'm not supposed
(13:45):
to believe in this and or this isn't supposed to
be this way, but I know what I witnessed. I
know what I've seen every day. And he talked about
like shadow figures coming and going through his cell where
D Block sets though it set where the original wooden
structure set, So I think a lot of that may
(14:07):
be residual in there, although we do tend to get
some intelligent stuff that comes through from time to time,
but you know, but for the most part, it's like,
you know, they're just passing, passing through.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, you know, It's funny whenever I investigate, obviously, I
find myself investigating a lot of prisons and penitentiaries, and
one of the things I do going in is I never,
you know, pass judgment on whoever I'm encountering. Like, you know,
I'm speaking to people I can't see, and I never
assume why they're there or what their history was. And
you know, I think sometimes people go in with preconceived
(14:42):
notions of who they're talking to. They assume every inmate
is like a terrible person, which is so far from
the truth exactly. And so I can't imagine, you know,
being in that situation as an inmate and experiencing, you know,
things that are paranormal in nature and you know, potentially
terrifying and things that you can't understand, and probably not
(15:04):
really having anyone to turn to to talk about it.
So I feel like that's why that man probably got
so emotional yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah, and with that, you know, when we first started
coming in here, we were a little probably a lot
out of line when he come to that, Like we
would try to provoke to get you know, some activity,
but it always seemed to us like when we were
doing that, we were we would just shut it down.
(15:32):
You know. It was like, yeah, you know, you're not
going to disrespect me, and you know or whatnot. But
one night we were we were just sitting there and
we were like, you know, we know you're here. You know,
we know you're here. We know you have a story
to tell if you'll just you know, give us a something.
(15:52):
They were interacting, but it was just like we could
only get so much. And then once we did that,
it was like the gates opened up. It was like,
you know, we started getting we'd catch numbers on our
EVPs and stuff, and we'd get to looking at that
and a lot of times it would be like an
inmate number, or it could be a date or whatever.
(16:16):
But you know, as time went on, we noticed that
with these men here, we did have the worst of
the worst that came through here. So we had some
really nasty individuals that came through this prison. But in
the very beginning that really wasn't the case. What we're
finding is a lot of them were put in here
(16:38):
for things like cussing and drinking and dancing, you know,
and they've lost their life while here, you know. So
you know, and so I tell everyone respect, respect these men.
And not only that, but the prison itself is built
in the shape of an upside down cross, which they
(16:59):
did on purpose to send a message these men were unworthy.
And in our cemetery, We've got over two thousand graves
here in our cemetery. But they buried them like which
in today's world maybe it wouldn't be such a huge deal,
but you know, back in the day, it would have
been a really big deal. But these men Christians bury
(17:23):
their dead face in the east and they buried or
dead to the west, so they even judged them, you know.
So there's a lot of reasons for unrest here. You know.
It's a lot went on.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I mean, and if you think about it too, like
in life, and I think we all make that mistake
sometimes when we like I've definitely done that where I've
been in a place where I just kind of assumed
I knew who I was talking to and I've definitely
said things and like, but then you come to that realization,
you know, was the saying you get more bees or
flies with honey, whatever it is, you know. But I
(17:57):
also find so many times, just in my investigations that
the way people are handled after death like it when
it comes. I can't tell you how many spirits I
have investigated because because they were upset with the way
they were treated after death, like either they weren't buried
when they wanted to be, or they weren't cremated when
they wanted to be, or their headstone is incorrect, or
(18:20):
they're you know, buried in the wrong place or and like,
so it's surprising how important that is to people, and
then to have that happen in the cemetery, like you're
not worthy.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
We're not even going to bury you.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
You know, anyone who was religious, they would they're buried
the wrong direction. They've already probably had so much you know, reflection,
they've been in jail for however long. I can just
see why that would cause issues. That's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, you know, we tell everyone that comes through, don't
just focus on the prison itself, because this was Native
American land before my family had it, and so we
get a huge amount of that that comes through, so,
you know, and I think a lot. Sometimes there's a
lot that's coming through, you know that people are getting
(19:07):
with that. So there's just been a lot that's happened
here on this property.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
It's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
When I was digging into the history, I was like, man,
I can't believe I've never been to this place. But
also it has closed, you know, fairly recently two thousand
and nine, and the grand scheme of things is pretty recent.
And I do love that it's kind of surviving in
the functions that it is, just because I think it's
really important these buildings kind of stay around for historic sense,
(19:35):
whether you believe in ghosts or not. So when you
get in there, it's two thousand and nine or whenever
you get in there, like, what was the first thing
that happened there that you went, oh my gosh, this
place is haunted.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Oh my goodness, what was the first there.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Was so much or the most memorable.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Probably the most memorable.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Really, we we get one here we call Bonnie at
the female We didn't house women here, but we have
found a Bonnie in our family tree.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So we think that's who it is. She's young, but
she's one of the most vocal. We capture her a
whole lot here. She you know, you may get her
crying or giggling, and she likes to touch, loves music.
But we kept getting her, and we really there was
no story for her. But as time went on and
(20:33):
we started bumping into old guards that worked here and
things that they got to ask, they were like, have
you caught the woman yet? You know, there's a woman
in the courtyard and so, but we had captured her
a numerous times. But she's playful, young, and so that
(20:54):
was probably the one that stands out the most to me.
But then and probably it would be D Block, we
started getting something really nasty out of D Block, until
to this day we get that. We actually shut d
Block down for about two years. It got really nasty.
(21:15):
People were getting scratched and different things, and then it
became really nasty in our auditorium and so it's still
there to this day. But we're getting some signs. Now
I don't get to go and investigate like I used
to because we've rented out, but we're getting told about
some stuff that we do. I'm going to go in
(21:37):
and try to figure it out one night. But I
think it's gone back and forth between D Block and
the auditorium. It's but it's nasty. It's a really nasty
I don't like to call it demonic, but I if
I've ever encountered something that, yeah, I don't know, it's nasty.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Well, what I always tell people, and I guess this
would be the place that would fit that this description
the most is you know, people always ask me, you know,
if you ever encountered anything demonic, And I remind people
that there are folks in life who are as bad
as bad can be, and that doesn't go away when
they die and come back like you the worst of
(22:26):
the worst murders rapistly, you know, and and yeah, and
so it would make sense that either that could be
one person or it could be just like an amalgamation
of like a bunch of different entities kind of coming together,
you know, with these kind of bad intentions. So but
(22:46):
I do think you're right and that it will move,
because you know, I think that we sometimes people make
this mistake thinking that like, oh, it's just going to stay,
that's it's in that area, But it's like, no, I
think a lot of these have free oh and they
can go wherever. And if they start kind of feel
like oh people get scared of me or oh, like
(23:07):
they could move throughout that whole building.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
So I'm really interested to see what you find out.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Well, you know, I mean with that when we close
down D Block and people wasn't going in there, it moved,
you know, and so now it's like people, it can
be so nasty that people won't even go in there.
They're like, no, I'm not I'm not even going there,
you know. And so when it gets quiet, you know,
then they start they're coming back and like reporting it
(23:34):
in DE Block again. It's like, you know, it's almost
like it's on the hunt, you know, it's it's looking
for somebody, and I don't know, it's what gets me
is the foul odor and that I don't know, it's
just I mean, we do have some nasty ones. There's
(23:55):
several nasty ones here, but not that nasty. That one
that one gets me.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah, No, I think I find that really interesting. So
now that's that leads me to like, so you know,
you have people coming in and investigating pretty regularly, Like
how often are people just like nope, I'm out, I'm
done and just leaving.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Well, usually when they come in and they're talking like
oh yeah, I'm not worried or you know, it's it's
almost like they're they're just like, okay, i'll show you.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
It's like I don't know, probably at least once a month, yeah,
at least once a month, they'll they'll somebody will come
in talking like you know, most people respect it. Occasionally
you'll get somebody wanting to provoke or you know, demanding
(24:55):
it to say its name or you know, and it
proves it self. It usually proves itself. And I'll tell
you something else. We've noticed, like, so I won't go
in the auditorium if I've had like a really stressful day,
or if I've had an argument with my husband, or
if I'm sick or feel like I may be getting sick,
(25:17):
I won't go in there. It's almost like it's waiting
for a week length to come in there, you know,
it's and so I always make sure I'm in a
good frame of mind before I go in there. We
have noticed that a lot of people that are feeling
bad or yeah, drinking or just different things can like
(25:41):
that that just kind of weakens their frame of mind.
They're the first that'll come out and report something.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I tell people that a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I'm like, before you go in and investigate, just be
in like a positive space, you know, yes, And it's
not even just like that, you know, a spirit could
kind of upset you. It's also just like you have
to be in the right frame of mind, like make
clear decisions and like, you know, it's just like if
you're walking if you're meeting someone who's a bad person
in real life, you know, like someone who's just really
(26:12):
mean and wants to pick on you and bully you.
If you walk in smiling and you're like, hey, how's
it going, Like they are instantly powerless, you know, as
opposed to you walking in and being like I'm so scared,
oh my gosh, or or you would going for them
and being like.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
You want to fight. You know, it's just totally different.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
But the second you're like, happiness is like you know,
a bully's worst nightmare alive or dead. And so I'm
like the most cheerful ghost hunter, which producers on TV
shows hate because I'm always smiling and like I'm like, well,
this is my defense man.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
I mean and that. You know, we have a lot
of clowns here. We have a lot that like to
prank and joke and you know, and they're happy, go lucky.
There's got a story to tell. And that's why I
tell everyone, you know, just go in open minded and
you know, introduce yourself and ask him about you know,
(27:08):
ask him about themselves, and give them the opportunity. But
and usually they have a really good outcome with that.
But you know, but like I said, now there is
some here that you know, they they're like, we've got
one in the hole. He's a I call him Pappo.
I call him Papo because anytime we catch him on audio,
(27:29):
he scuffed this rough, rough, old voice, and he's always complaining.
He's like turn the light out. You know. It's like
if you flip the light on him, it makes him mad.
You know. It's like he just wants to be left alone.
So and I just picture him as a little old
man that just wants to be left alone.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
So we can say that, Yeah, you know, sometimes they'll
retreat to the most you know, the darkest and most
far away corners, even if they were the worst places
there in operation. Yeah, but kind of like a lot,
uh like kind of getting more positive. One of my
favorite stories when I was digging through the history was
about Geronimo the deer and and I was like, please
(28:09):
tell me there's a deer ghost there.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yes, good, because we have we've caught the sound of hoods.
But he had his own sale and he liked to
eat cigarettes. So but yeah, now we've caught Geronimo. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I love that. I just I thought that story was
so endearing.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
And I liked that even when they had to move briefly,
he went with them and like he was, you know,
he was their body.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
So I thought that was so sweet.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Now I'm fascinated by the history, uh and and the
ghosts there, And I'm really glad that you were able
to chat with me for a little bit and tell me,
like what actually goes on there. Now I know that
Brushy Mountain is open to the public, So how can
people visit the penitentiary like either like a from touring
perspective or ghost tour or investigation? How does all that work?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
So we do daytime tours from April. In April, we'll
start out at four days a week and then we'll
go into all week. But then in the fall, we'll
start back in our days down again. But you can
do daytime tours from April to November, and we do
(29:28):
our paranormal tours. We do those year round and you
can book those through our website tour brusheet dot com.
And we do private overnights. We do four hour tours,
and we do public so if you don't have a
group and you don't have the money to rent it
(29:51):
by yourself as a private we do sell individual tickets
for public hunts.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Also, yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
People always ask me like, how do I meet people
who to investigate. I'm like, just got to go on
these public tours, these public investigations and meet your future friends.
Like that's the way to do it.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
So I think that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
We're talking, we're tossing it around. I don't know, it
depends on but we're tossing around maybe when we shut
down our daytime tours this come and fall, maybe offering
daytime paranormal tours, because we did just as much in
the day, you know, at night, but we do we
(30:30):
capture more apparitions during the day here.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
So yes, I love a good daytime investigation. I can't
stay up for these late nights anymore, those days are
over for me.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
I yeah, it's hard and it gets.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Cold, and oh no, thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
I mean, I do it when I have to, but
I like to start a nice afternoon into the early
evening investigation. So I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I really appreciate you doing this, And yeah, I'm excited
to learn more and I really am going to try
to get out there.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I'm trying.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
My goal this year is to start like heading to
some places that I just haven't been and just checking
it out. So maybe you'll hear from me and we
can arrange to you.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
You're always welcome. Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Countless men serve time in the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.
Some of them had committed violent crimes, others were guilty
of petty offenses like loitering or vagrancy. All of them
lost their freedom and brutal confinement. We can wonder why
their ghosts remain behind bars even to this day. Perhaps
they're staying willingly, still trying to pay their debt to society,
(31:45):
or they've forgotten how to be free, or they may
be cursed to live out the worst days of their lives.
Their presence goes to show. Although it's officially no longer operational,
the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary will never be anything but
a prison. I'm Amy Bruney and this was Haunted Road.
(32:13):
Haunted Road is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and
Mild from Aaron Minky. Haunted Road is hosted and written
by me Amy Bruney, with additional research by Cassandra de Alba.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
This show is.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Edited and produced by supervising producer Rima el Kali, with
executive producers Aaron Menke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. Learn
more about this show over at Grimandmild dot com, and
for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm
and Mild from Aaron Manky listener Discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Many years ago, I was investigating one of America's most
notorious haunted prisons, Eastern State Penitentiary. I was using a
laser grid down one of the corridors, and as I
sat and waited, a shadow figure moved into the laser grid.
If a live person walks into the path of a laser,
you see them, You see the pinpoint of the laser
(00:36):
on their person. But for some reason, when a shadow
figure walks into the laser grid, the laser points disappear,
leaving a perfect outline. I have no idea why this happens,
but it's why I enjoy using this piece of equipment
so much so. In this case, I watched for quite
some time as this shadow person walked in and out
(00:58):
of my laser. I tried talking to them, tried calling out,
but they never seemed to even notice I was there.
It made me wonder who haunts prisons? Why on earth
would anyone decide to stay here, assuming they have some
sort of free will.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well, let's discuss that.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
And many other things as we visit another of America's
very haunted prisons, the Brushy Mountain Penitentiary. I'm Amy Brunei,
and this is haunted road. Picture a historic prison, one
with dingy hallways lined with barred cells, a courtyard surrounded
(01:40):
by a stone wall, and a constant, pervasive threat of
violence that hangs over the facility. It's likely that the
place you're imagining bears a striking resemblance to the Brushy
Mountain State Penitentiary. It's a Gothic Revival style abandoned prison
in Petros, Tennessee. That's a small town of a five
hundred people, which sits roughly an hour outside of Knoxville
(02:04):
by car. The four story building is topped with battlements
and laid out in the shape of a Celtic cross
man hunt in the mountains. James Earl Ray and the
Brushy Mountain Prison Breakout of nineteen seventy seven described it
as quote looking like a castle from the dark ages.
The walls are scarred with graffiti, including tally marks left
(02:26):
by inmates who had nothing to do but count the days. Today,
visitors can wander through the former cell blocks, gymnasium, cafeteria,
and gym, which remain largely unchanged since the penitentiary was
first built. Guests can also see the hole or the
solitary confinement area in the basement's laundry room. Five cells
(02:47):
sit in darkness with no window to let in the
faintest hint of sunlight. There are also no toilets in
the hole, just a bucket. On the exterior, Visitors may
be surprised to see that the prison yard only has
man made walls on three sides. According to Judah Chefs,
who wrote Coal Cage's Crisis, The Arise of the Prison
(03:08):
Economy in Central Appalachia, the unscalable Frozen Head Mountain itself
ensures that no one can leave on the fourth side.
The penitentiary was built in eighteen ninety six. At the time,
it was only the second state prison in all of Tennessee,
and there was a large demand for a new facility.
This was particularly true because of the so called Black Codes.
(03:31):
According to Tim Murphy of Discover America, at that time,
there were a large number of racially motivated arrests, all
part of an effort to intimidate and disenfranchise black Americans.
Police would charge countless black people with minor offenses, just
so they'd have an excuse to throw them behind bars.
Sure enough, by eighteen ninety eight, eighty four percent of
(03:54):
the inmates at Brushy Mountain Penitentiary were black. But there
was another reason that Tennis needed a new facility, because
incarcerated people could be put to work for low wages,
and so the detention center was built very near a
state run coal mine. This allowed officials to exploit the laborers,
paying them very little for the dangerous, difficult work that
(04:17):
they did. Every year, the inmates successfully extracted about three
hundred and fifty thousand pounds of coal, and Tennessee profited
handsomely from their work. The arrangement also helped the state
deal with overcrowding. At one point, officials roughly doubled the
prison's capacity. They achieved this by forcing some of the
(04:38):
inmates to work twelve hour shifts during the day while
others worked twelve hours at night. That way, they could
assign two men to each bed. Now mining work was dangerous.
In his book, Tim Schef noted that the shafts near
Brushy Mountain had especially high concentrations of methane. It was
almost routine for the work sites to explode code, killing inmates,
(05:02):
and if an incarcerated person refused to perform the life
threatening tasks, they were often punished with beatings. The prisoners
worked in the mines until nineteen sixty six, when the
coal extraction program was shut down. An article with the
Clarksville Leaf Chronicles cited several factors that played into this decision. First,
(05:22):
state officials had finally concluded that the work was dangerous
and detrimental to their goals of rehabilitating convicted people. But
perhaps just as importantly, the mountain's coal reserves were running
low and there was no more profit in the work program.
So from that point onward, Rushy Mountain State Penitentiary operated
like a more traditional prison. Researchers have identified some of
(05:47):
the spirits within Brushy Mountain, including one that may be
James Earl Ray. When researchers went to his former cell
and played a clip of Martin Luther King Junior's I
have a dream speech, they heard a disc embodied voice
respond it said hush. And Jack Jett, who was stabbed
to death outside the gym, is also said to still
(06:08):
linger near the place where he died. When people stop by,
they often feel a sudden sensation of dread, as reported
on fright find. It's also quite common for the temperature
there to drop with no warning. Fright Find also reports
that some people have seen the receiver on the nearby
payphone lift off the hook on its own than hang.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Itself back up.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
There are also reports of a ghost known as Waterhead.
Lucas Lawson wrote in A Haunted Place that Waterhead may
have been a former incarcerated kitchen worker. He's often spotted
in the cafeteria. That book also described another pair of spirits,
James and Leroy. James tends to stay in the Sea block,
(06:51):
but apparently if someone offers the specter a cigarette he'll
smoke it. Leroy sticks more to the D block and
is said to be more attention seeking. Researchers have heard
a voice saying Leroy and often catch him following them
through the facility. There's also a female spirit who roams
through the courtyard, Bonnie. No one is entirely sure who
(07:14):
she is or how she came to haunt the building.
Dale Kasmarek of the Ghost Research Facility noted that the
penitentiary never housed women, however she came to be there.
Kelly Ryankey of WATE claims that Bonnie seems to especially
love music. If anyone plays a tune, she'll dance along
with it. Like many haunted locations, the Brushy Mountain State
(07:37):
Penitentiary is also a hot spot for shadow figures, disembodied growls,
voices and footsteps, and incidents where visitors feel someone pushing
or scratching them. In some cases, these encounters draw blood.
The prison's chapel and the whole are especially spiritually active.
The chapel is often full of cold spots, and researchers
(08:00):
have captured EVPs of religiously charged language that talk about
hell and pain. Freightfeind also notes that objects often move
on their own there. As for the whole, guests report
the sound of pigs in its confines. Ryan Willis of
Knox News speculated that these noises have a religious significance.
(08:21):
One Bible story describes Jesus sending a legion of demons
into a group of pigs. It's unclear how that connects
to the solitary confinement cells, but the eerie sounds are
hard to explain any other way. In order to better
understand the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary's secrets. I am talking
with Jamie Brock coming up next. Now, Jamie's family goes
(08:44):
back to the land before the penitentiary was ever even built,
and she's been there for quite some time. She's got
some really great stories to share with us, So stick around.
We'll get to that right after the break, all right.
(09:09):
So I am now joined by Jamie Brock, who the
entire world told me she was the person I needed
to talk to when it came to Brushy Mountain. So
I'm so excited to have you on the program. This
has been kind of a trend this season is that
I seem to be covering a lot of locations I
haven't been to. It's just been very exciting for me
(09:31):
because I've been to so many places, but this season
we just kind of really went outside the box. So
I feel like I've been there at this point, but
I think I really need to go. There is sore,
I know, So tell me please.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
How did you become affiliated with the property.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
So my family was original owners of the property, so
we signed this over in eighteen ninety four and they
built the prison in eighteen ninety five, and so it
was written in the least agreement that the family could
always work here, questions ask, and the state of Tennessee
(10:08):
honored that, and so we've always been here linked somehow.
And so these guys that's doing this now with the
distillery and everything that they're doing now has just kept
us involved. Oversee the prison for them, and my son
is their master distiller, so they still have the family
here and have us involved.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
I love when there's like a family connection to a
location because it just means that I think that your
heart is probably in it, you know, one hundred percent.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yes, I'm a little I'm a little partial to this place.
I try to stay in my lane as much as possible,
but it's my baby. I've got a special place for it.
And that's kind of how I got linked in.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
I was going to other locations and doing my little
ghost hunts and stuff there. But once this shut down,
we immediately came in. We had family with keys, so
of course we came in and done our little thing.
And so we've been here since oh nine doing it.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
I think that's great. You know, some people inherit castles
or keys to keys to mansions. You've got keys to
a really cool penitentiary. Which I'm pretty jealous of, to
be honest. So along those lines, like, obviously you knew
about you know, you've known about the location and what's
gone on there, like historically speaking, when you went in
(11:37):
there in two thousand and nine and you were like,
I want to do the paranormal tours, how did you
know it was haunted? Like had you heard stories coming
out of it when it was in operation?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
Yeah, we were always told crazy just off the wall
horror stories. Was always we always heard those stories growing up,
but you know it was the of course, we always thought,
you know, they're making that up. That's a little you know,
they're trying to scare us, you know. But once I
(12:09):
got in here, though, and I started going through ledgers
and finding everything, Yeah, they probably sugarcoated that a little bit.
It was. It was every bit as bad as they
said it was. And then some.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
It sounds like it like I've gone into the history
a bit and it sounds like it, which would which
would explain I think why there's activity there when it
was in operation. Did employees or inmates did they report
paranormal happenings?
Speaker 4 (12:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Now the inmates especially that come back and do our
day tours or you know, sometimes they'll just come back
for a visit and do a walk through and they'll
report things that they witnessed well while they're you know,
like they've reported a period dressed inmate on a bloc
(13:00):
side that looks like he was a coal miner, you
know that, but he's in his stripes, but he's dirty.
They described him that like that walking in D Block.
They you know, they've come back. Those cells are really
small and D blocking, and we've only got one bunk
(13:21):
in him. Now originally there would have been two bunks
in each cell, but these, you know, like one story
that sticks out. We had an inmate that came back
and he's a preacher today and he you know, he
just come back and asked me what all we caught there,
and he just broke down and started crying. You know,
he was like, my religion tells me I'm not supposed
(13:45):
to believe in this and or this isn't supposed to
be this way, but I know what I witnessed. I
know what I've seen every day. And he talked about
like shadow figures coming and going through his cell where
D Block sets though it set where the original wooden
structure set, So I think a lot of that may
(14:07):
be residual in there, although we do tend to get
some intelligent stuff that comes through from time to time,
but you know, but for the most part, it's like,
you know, they're just passing, passing through.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Yeah, you know, It's funny whenever I investigate, obviously, I
find myself investigating a lot of prisons and penitentiaries, and
one of the things I do going in is I never,
you know, pass judgment on whoever I'm encountering. Like, you know,
I'm speaking to people I can't see, and I never
assume why they're there or what their history was. And
you know, I think sometimes people go in with preconceived
(14:42):
notions of who they're talking to. They assume every inmate
is like a terrible person, which is so far from
the truth exactly. And so I can't imagine, you know,
being in that situation as an inmate and experiencing, you know,
things that are paranormal in nature and you know, potentially
terrifying and things that you can't understand, and probably not
(15:04):
really having anyone to turn to to talk about it.
So I feel like that's why that man probably got
so emotional yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Yeah, and with that, you know, when we first started
coming in here, we were a little probably a lot
out of line when he come to that, Like we
would try to provoke to get you know, some activity,
but it always seemed to us like when we were
doing that, we were we would just shut it down.
(15:32):
You know. It was like, yeah, you know, you're not
going to disrespect me, and you know or whatnot. But
one night we were we were just sitting there and
we were like, you know, we know you're here. You know,
we know you're here. We know you have a story
to tell if you'll just you know, give us a something.
(15:52):
They were interacting, but it was just like we could
only get so much. And then once we did that,
it was like the gates opened up. It was like,
you know, we started getting we'd catch numbers on our
EVPs and stuff, and we'd get to looking at that
and a lot of times it would be like an
inmate number, or it could be a date or whatever.
(16:16):
But you know, as time went on, we noticed that
with these men here, we did have the worst of
the worst that came through here. So we had some
really nasty individuals that came through this prison. But in
the very beginning that really wasn't the case. What we're
finding is a lot of them were put in here
(16:38):
for things like cussing and drinking and dancing, you know,
and they've lost their life while here, you know. So
you know, and so I tell everyone respect, respect these men.
And not only that, but the prison itself is built
in the shape of an upside down cross, which they
(16:59):
did on purpose to send a message these men were unworthy.
And in our cemetery, We've got over two thousand graves
here in our cemetery. But they buried them like which
in today's world maybe it wouldn't be such a huge deal,
but you know, back in the day, it would have
been a really big deal. But these men Christians bury
(17:23):
their dead face in the east and they buried or
dead to the west, so they even judged them, you know.
So there's a lot of reasons for unrest here. You know.
It's a lot went on.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I mean, and if you think about it too, like
in life, and I think we all make that mistake
sometimes when we like I've definitely done that where I've
been in a place where I just kind of assumed
I knew who I was talking to and I've definitely
said things and like, but then you come to that realization,
you know, was the saying you get more bees or
flies with honey, whatever it is, you know. But I
(17:57):
also find so many times, just in my investigations that
the way people are handled after death like it when
it comes. I can't tell you how many spirits I
have investigated because because they were upset with the way
they were treated after death, like either they weren't buried
when they wanted to be, or they weren't cremated when
they wanted to be, or their headstone is incorrect, or
(18:20):
they're you know, buried in the wrong place or and like,
so it's surprising how important that is to people, and
then to have that happen in the cemetery, like you're
not worthy.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
We're not even going to bury you.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
You know, anyone who was religious, they would they're buried
the wrong direction. They've already probably had so much you know, reflection,
they've been in jail for however long. I can just
see why that would cause issues. That's fascinating.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, you know, we tell everyone that comes through, don't
just focus on the prison itself, because this was Native
American land before my family had it, and so we
get a huge amount of that that comes through, so,
you know, and I think a lot. Sometimes there's a
lot that's coming through, you know that people are getting
(19:07):
with that. So there's just been a lot that's happened
here on this property.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
It's very interesting.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
When I was digging into the history, I was like, man,
I can't believe I've never been to this place. But
also it has closed, you know, fairly recently two thousand
and nine, and the grand scheme of things is pretty recent.
And I do love that it's kind of surviving in
the functions that it is, just because I think it's
really important these buildings kind of stay around for historic sense,
(19:35):
whether you believe in ghosts or not. So when you
get in there, it's two thousand and nine or whenever
you get in there, like, what was the first thing
that happened there that you went, oh my gosh, this
place is haunted.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
Oh my goodness, what was the first there.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
Was so much or the most memorable.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Probably the most memorable.
Speaker 4 (19:58):
Really, we we get one here we call Bonnie at
the female We didn't house women here, but we have
found a Bonnie in our family tree.
Speaker 3 (20:11):
So we think that's who it is. She's young, but
she's one of the most vocal. We capture her a
whole lot here. She you know, you may get her
crying or giggling, and she likes to touch, loves music.
But we kept getting her, and we really there was
no story for her. But as time went on and
(20:33):
we started bumping into old guards that worked here and
things that they got to ask, they were like, have
you caught the woman yet? You know, there's a woman
in the courtyard and so, but we had captured her
a numerous times. But she's playful, young, and so that
(20:54):
was probably the one that stands out the most to me.
But then and probably it would be D Block, we
started getting something really nasty out of D Block, until
to this day we get that. We actually shut d
Block down for about two years. It got really nasty.
(21:15):
People were getting scratched and different things, and then it
became really nasty in our auditorium and so it's still
there to this day. But we're getting some signs. Now
I don't get to go and investigate like I used
to because we've rented out, but we're getting told about
some stuff that we do. I'm going to go in
(21:37):
and try to figure it out one night. But I
think it's gone back and forth between D Block and
the auditorium. It's but it's nasty. It's a really nasty
I don't like to call it demonic, but I if
I've ever encountered something that, yeah, I don't know, it's nasty.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Well, what I always tell people, and I guess this
would be the place that would fit that this description
the most is you know, people always ask me, you know,
if you ever encountered anything demonic, And I remind people
that there are folks in life who are as bad
as bad can be, and that doesn't go away when
they die and come back like you the worst of
(22:26):
the worst murders rapistly, you know, and and yeah, and
so it would make sense that either that could be
one person or it could be just like an amalgamation
of like a bunch of different entities kind of coming together,
you know, with these kind of bad intentions. So but
(22:46):
I do think you're right and that it will move,
because you know, I think that we sometimes people make
this mistake thinking that like, oh, it's just going to stay,
that's it's in that area, But it's like, no, I
think a lot of these have free oh and they
can go wherever. And if they start kind of feel
like oh people get scared of me or oh, like
(23:07):
they could move throughout that whole building.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
So I'm really interested to see what you find out.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Well, you know, I mean with that when we close
down D Block and people wasn't going in there, it moved,
you know, and so now it's like people, it can
be so nasty that people won't even go in there.
They're like, no, I'm not I'm not even going there,
you know. And so when it gets quiet, you know,
then they start they're coming back and like reporting it
(23:34):
in DE Block again. It's like, you know, it's almost
like it's on the hunt, you know, it's it's looking
for somebody, and I don't know, it's what gets me
is the foul odor and that I don't know, it's
just I mean, we do have some nasty ones. There's
(23:55):
several nasty ones here, but not that nasty. That one
that one gets me.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah, No, I think I find that really interesting. So
now that's that leads me to like, so you know,
you have people coming in and investigating pretty regularly, Like
how often are people just like nope, I'm out, I'm
done and just leaving.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
Well, usually when they come in and they're talking like
oh yeah, I'm not worried or you know, it's it's
almost like they're they're just like, okay, i'll show you.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
You know.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
It's like I don't know, probably at least once a month, yeah,
at least once a month, they'll they'll somebody will come
in talking like you know, most people respect it. Occasionally
you'll get somebody wanting to provoke or you know, demanding
(24:55):
it to say its name or you know, and it
proves it self. It usually proves itself. And I'll tell
you something else. We've noticed, like, so I won't go
in the auditorium if I've had like a really stressful day,
or if I've had an argument with my husband, or
if I'm sick or feel like I may be getting sick,
(25:17):
I won't go in there. It's almost like it's waiting
for a week length to come in there, you know,
it's and so I always make sure I'm in a
good frame of mind before I go in there. We
have noticed that a lot of people that are feeling
bad or yeah, drinking or just different things can like
(25:41):
that that just kind of weakens their frame of mind.
They're the first that'll come out and report something.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
I tell people that a lot.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I'm like, before you go in and investigate, just be
in like a positive space, you know, yes, And it's
not even just like that, you know, a spirit could
kind of upset you. It's also just like you have
to be in the right frame of mind, like make
clear decisions and like, you know, it's just like if
you're walking if you're meeting someone who's a bad person
in real life, you know, like someone who's just really
(26:12):
mean and wants to pick on you and bully you.
If you walk in smiling and you're like, hey, how's
it going, Like they are instantly powerless, you know, as
opposed to you walking in and being like I'm so scared,
oh my gosh, or or you would going for them
and being like.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
You want to fight. You know, it's just totally different.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
But the second you're like, happiness is like you know,
a bully's worst nightmare alive or dead. And so I'm
like the most cheerful ghost hunter, which producers on TV
shows hate because I'm always smiling and like I'm like, well,
this is my defense man.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
I mean and that. You know, we have a lot
of clowns here. We have a lot that like to
prank and joke and you know, and they're happy, go lucky.
There's got a story to tell. And that's why I
tell everyone, you know, just go in open minded and
you know, introduce yourself and ask him about you know,
(27:08):
ask him about themselves, and give them the opportunity. But
and usually they have a really good outcome with that.
But you know, but like I said, now there is
some here that you know, they they're like, we've got
one in the hole. He's a I call him Pappo.
I call him Papo because anytime we catch him on audio,
(27:29):
he scuffed this rough, rough, old voice, and he's always complaining.
He's like turn the light out. You know. It's like
if you flip the light on him, it makes him mad.
You know. It's like he just wants to be left alone.
So and I just picture him as a little old
man that just wants to be left alone.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
So we can say that, Yeah, you know, sometimes they'll
retreat to the most you know, the darkest and most
far away corners, even if they were the worst places
there in operation. Yeah, but kind of like a lot,
uh like kind of getting more positive. One of my
favorite stories when I was digging through the history was
about Geronimo the deer and and I was like, please
(28:09):
tell me there's a deer ghost there.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Yes, good, because we have we've caught the sound of hoods.
But he had his own sale and he liked to
eat cigarettes. So but yeah, now we've caught Geronimo. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I love that. I just I thought that story was
so endearing.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
And I liked that even when they had to move briefly,
he went with them and like he was, you know,
he was their body.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
So I thought that was so sweet.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Now I'm fascinated by the history, uh and and the
ghosts there, And I'm really glad that you were able
to chat with me for a little bit and tell me,
like what actually goes on there. Now I know that
Brushy Mountain is open to the public, So how can
people visit the penitentiary like either like a from touring
perspective or ghost tour or investigation? How does all that work?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
So we do daytime tours from April. In April, we'll
start out at four days a week and then we'll
go into all week. But then in the fall, we'll
start back in our days down again. But you can
do daytime tours from April to November, and we do
(29:28):
our paranormal tours. We do those year round and you
can book those through our website tour brusheet dot com.
And we do private overnights. We do four hour tours,
and we do public so if you don't have a
group and you don't have the money to rent it
(29:51):
by yourself as a private we do sell individual tickets
for public hunts.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Also, yeah, I like that.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
People always ask me like, how do I meet people
who to investigate. I'm like, just got to go on
these public tours, these public investigations and meet your future friends.
Like that's the way to do it.
Speaker 1 (30:08):
So I think that's awesome.
Speaker 3 (30:09):
We're talking, we're tossing it around. I don't know, it
depends on but we're tossing around maybe when we shut
down our daytime tours this come and fall, maybe offering
daytime paranormal tours, because we did just as much in
the day, you know, at night, but we do we
(30:30):
capture more apparitions during the day here.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
So yes, I love a good daytime investigation. I can't
stay up for these late nights anymore, those days are
over for me.
Speaker 3 (30:41):
I yeah, it's hard and it gets.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Cold, and oh no, thank you.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
I mean, I do it when I have to, but
I like to start a nice afternoon into the early
evening investigation. So I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Well, thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
I really appreciate you doing this, And yeah, I'm excited
to learn more and I really am going to try
to get out there.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I'm trying.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
My goal this year is to start like heading to
some places that I just haven't been and just checking
it out. So maybe you'll hear from me and we
can arrange to you.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
You're always welcome. Well, thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Countless men serve time in the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary.
Some of them had committed violent crimes, others were guilty
of petty offenses like loitering or vagrancy. All of them
lost their freedom and brutal confinement. We can wonder why
their ghosts remain behind bars even to this day. Perhaps
they're staying willingly, still trying to pay their debt to society,
(31:45):
or they've forgotten how to be free, or they may
be cursed to live out the worst days of their lives.
Their presence goes to show. Although it's officially no longer operational,
the Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary will never be anything but
a prison. I'm Amy Bruney and this was Haunted Road.
(32:13):
Haunted Road is a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and
Mild from Aaron Minky. Haunted Road is hosted and written
by me Amy Bruney, with additional research by Cassandra de Alba.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
This show is.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Edited and produced by supervising producer Rima el Kali, with
executive producers Aaron Menke, Trevor Young, and Matt Frederick. Learn
more about this show over at Grimandmild dot com, and
for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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