The bars of this old prison first shut on a prisoner on July 2nd, 1871. The prison was used until the last prisoners were taken to the new prison in the late 1970s. The number of hardened criminals in this old prison means that many paid the ultimate price for their crimes. As a result, the gallows room has many a strange sound and a cold presence. The hole, a small sub-chambered room with intense cold and four or five small cells, held the worst inmates. One cell in the hole, the first one to the left, apparently still holds the ghost of one inmate. That cell is very cold and has a foul odor, with a very evil threatening presence. Some people have been pushed up the stairs trying to leave the room as if to get them out faster.
Cell number 1 was occupied by Paul "Turkey Pete" Eitner, who was sentenced to life in 1918 for murder. Turkey Pete became a model prisoner and was in charge of the prison's turkey flock. As the old man started to lose touch with reality, he was allowed to believe he ran the prison. They used the prison print shop to print checks which Turkey Pete used to pay all the expenses of the prison, including the salary of the guards who watched over him. When Eitner passed away in 1967, cell number 1 was retired. His funeral was held inside the walls of the prison, and some believe he may still reside there watching over his cell and making sure the money he spent on the place wasn't wasted.
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