The sun goes down on the historic Nevada State Prison on Oct. 9, 2023.
Photo by Scott Neuffer.
A ghost story can depend on atmospherics. A story of haunting might not raise goosebumps if relayed in broad daylight. If, conversely, one is led deep into a historic building after nightfall with one handheld light between two people weeks before Halloween — the air sharp with cold, leaves skittering over streets outside — the effects of a ghost story can be dramatically different.
“It’s the most haunted place in Nevada,” said Susan Bernard, a paranormal investigator and tour guide at the Nevada State Prison in east Carson City.
Bernard is a key player in the Nevada State Prison Preservation Society, the nonprofit working to preserve the prison that opened in 1862. On Oct. 9, Bernard took the Appeal through pitch-black corridors and dusty corners of the historic facility in search of ghosts. While local and state leaders have seen the prison as a boon for tourism, Bernard sees it as meeting place of the earth-bound and the otherworldly. She is matter-of-fact about the afterlife, nonchalant about potential spirits among us.
Bernard said she first got into the paranormal when her mother died; she was just 23 at the time.
“When my mom died, I was kind of curious about the afterlife,” she said.
Bernard and her husband Jim grew up in Carson Valley. They became interested in the prison’s history because Jim’s great-grandfather, Matt Penrose, was a warden there in the first half of the 20th century. Having gotten into paranormal investigation years earlier, Bernard found the prison an epicenter of sorts after it closed.
“Hundreds with an ‘s,’ and they come and go,” she said of ghosts at the site.
Paranormal investigator Susan Bernard with a motion-activated music box at Nevada State Prison on Oct. 9. (Scott Neuffer photograph)
Bernard, now 61, is like a historian, listing past wardens, infamous inmates, executions, sometimes linking historical fact to nebulous phenomenon in the present day.
“So far, we have counted 54 (executions), and there could be more,” she said.
Established in 1862, the Nevada State Prison has seen escapes, riots, murders and executions over 150 years of operation. In 1924, it saw the first execution by gas in the country. In 1985, it saw the first execution by lethal injection in the state. According to NSPPS, this first lethal injection was administered to serial killer Carroll Cole.
Years after the prison closed in 2012, paranormal investigators started capturing strange images. Photographs are taped around the facility for tour participants to see. Bernard shared recordings of voices picked up in certain hallways. In the prison’s execution chamber, portraits of those executed line one side of the room, so visitors can know the history of the space. All these details enhance the atmospherics and make any ghost story relayed in the Nevada State Prison memorable.
Maybe “story” is the wrong word. The excursion with Bernard was an experience more than anything. This reporter heard eerie sounds, knocks and moans, but did not see an apparition. Disbelief and belief were in constant interplay, muddling the line between imagination and objective reality. One thing was certain: I stayed as close to Bernard as possible as she led us through the darkness and talked about ghosts.
“We don’t know. Are they stuck here? Are they in a realm where they can’t leave, or are they still living those times?” Bernard asked. “That’s what we as investigators try to figure out, right?”
After the Appeal’s tour, a crowd was waiting at the entrance of the prison, preparing for a ghost walk that night. It was a relief to see so many human beings. If the crowd were any indication, the paranormal aspects of the prison are garnering visitors, not to mention state and national media attention. The prison was featured on the Travel Channel’s “Destination Fear.”
The paranormal experience isn’t for everyone, though.
“Some people, it freaks them out,” Bernard said. “People come here wanting to be scared, to see what’s going on … It’s kind of odd because they get so scared that they run out and they don’t stay.”
Bernard pointed out she is a volunteer. The tours run in the spring and fall, and money raised during the tours goes toward the nonprofit organization and preservation of the facility. Community leaders like Carson City Supervisor Maurice White, who helms the nonprofit’s board, believe the prison is an asset to the community — an educational resource and a tourist attraction. In the last legislative session, Nevada lawmakers provided the nonprofit with $1 million to help replace roofing.
As such repairs take place, one wonders how many people the prison will draw in the future, and if ghost-hunting will become the main attraction.
“We’re doing ghosts walks,” Bernard said. “We do have people that are involved in investigations … They can get a group together and get on my calendar because I book up like crazy.”
For information about paranormal investigations at the prison, visit https://www.facebook.com/nspparanormal/.
For information about NSPPS, visit https://nevadastateprison.org/.