The handprint in Cell 17, Carbon County Jail

The story of the handprint in Cell 17 begins in the Carbon County Jail, which to this day is known as the Old Jail Museum and is located in the town of Jim Thorpe in Pennsylvania. Being one of the most haunted places in Pennsylvania, this article is about a small cell that seems to have a very long and painful memory.

Speaking of haunted places in Pennsylvania, cell number 17 in the Carbon County Jail is evidence of a man’s innocence, and all that remains is a single handprint on the cell wall that remains there no matter what. what makes Carbon County Jail one of the most haunted places in PA.

On June 21, 1877, Rope Day, 10 men were hanged for daring to fight against the authorities demanding better treatment and better working conditions for their people and co-workers.

One of those 10 men convicted was Alexander Campbell, a bold and outspoken ringleader. He was the man who had put his hand on the wall and swore that he would remain there as testimony to his innocence.

And guess what, he has had, has had and probably will for who knows how many more years. His presence has made the jail one of the most haunted places in Pennsylvania.

Once a group of hungry and tired Irish immigrants came to the state of Pennsylvania in search of a better life away from political hardship and potato famine back home.

They had misjudged the Americans and were soon caught up in the ferocious monotony of working in the Pennsylvania coal mines. Soon numerous boys and young men began to be killed as a result of untold misery and hardship.

To this day, Pennsylvania’s coalfields bear the scars of those desperate days, and the buzzing whispers of ghostly memories continue to haunt the scenes in ways far more than physical burns.

These men were forced to live in tiny houses and lived knowing that everything they earned was owed to the company store. They tried to make their case with the Workers’ Benevolent Association, which made little progress and was shut down by the influential railway industrialists and coal companies who hit the community with high fuel costs.

Soon, the self-respecting Irish organized themselves and formed “Molly Maguires”, deciding to act according to “The ancient order of the Hibernians”. They tried to do everything within their limits to bring about change.

But soon, Franklin B. Gowen, on behalf of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, cracked down and sent a Pinkerton detective to gain the Mollies’ trust and stab them in the back. Pinkerton or James McPharlan was more than successful.

He became friends with the Mollies and in just 3 years he gathered enough evidence to bring down the biggest men in the area. One of these men stabbed in the back was Alexander Campbell.

On the day he was hanged in the Carbon County Jail, one of the most haunted places in Pennsylvania, Campbell tried to establish his innocence and placed a hand on the wall of cell number 17 and swore that he would remain there as a sign of his innocence. . Always.

But obviously nobody heeded his plea, and he was hung on the special gallows made to hang 10 Mollies. But the handprint was really there and is still there on the wall to this day!

Subsequent bailiffs attempted several times to remove the handprint from the wall by cleaning it, painting over it, tearing the wall down, and even rebuilding in its place. No matter what, the handprint keeps coming back as if seen from eternity. And that’s what makes Carbon County Jail Cell 17 one of the most haunted places in Pennsylvania.

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