HGB Ep. 571 - Old Montana Prison

Moment in Oddity - Justin Bishop Blind Skateboarder

Sometimes you'll see a Grom going goofy-foot as they anchor-grind, maybe they are doing a pop-shove-it, hand plant or an alley-oop, but rarely do you see anyone skating as a blind person. These descriptive words are all skating terminology, as in skateboarding. When I was young, I used to skate on my penny board eventually graduating to a real deck. As a kid I even taught a couple of tricks to my neighbors. I recently came across the story of Justin Bishop. At just 8 years old, Justin was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. This is a rare eye disease which typically causes the afflicted to go blind by middle age. Justin lost the majority of his eyesight at 25 and stopped skating while he concentrated on learning how to navigate life which would be his new normal. But Justin Bishop is anything but normal. His passion drove him to get back on his deck just four years after that! Justin skates with a cane. This additional sensory assist helps him feel the curve of a bowl or the width of a wall that he is grinding on. During an interview, Justin shared this about another item that assists him while he skates. "Zappos kind of saw one of my videos using it (the it being a beeping box that helps him "see" an area with his ears) and they do a program with Not Impossible Labs, and they actually made something called a phased array speaker system. It’s pretty much a beeper box on steroids. So I can actually change the direction of the sound. I can make a wall of sound. I can manipulate sound in all these crazy ways. So I’ve been using that a lot more to skate." Previously Justin was skating by muscle memory. Today he is a professionally sponsored skateboarder and is learning new tricks and gaining speed with confidence. This type of triumph that Justin Bishop has obtained takes perseverance and passion and I don't know that it makes him odd, but he certainly is awesome!

This Month in History - Aberdeen Snowman (Suggested by: Michael Rogers)

In the month of January, on the 2nd, in 1963 an incredibly large snowman was built in Aberdeen, Scotland. It all started during Britain's Big Freeze which began on Boxing Day in 1962 and continued on for the following three months. Due to the amount of snowfall, school kids were enjoying a snow day. Siblings Roddy Stuart, age 16, brother Michael, 21 and sister Leslie 18 decided to create something unexpected during their time away from school. Leslie's boyfriend David, now husband, assisted the siblings as well. A snowman is not unexpected, however, a 17 foot tall snowman is not something one sees every day! It took them less than a day to complete the towering chap and the group topped him off with a straw basket hat, scarf and a pipe. Not only did the frozen creation resemble a snowman, but it had sculpted shoulders, arms, hands and legs! It was quite the endeavor that the young adults accomplished brilliantly! The snowman also caught the attention of the press and articles were run in the local Evening Express and international newspapers. Even a five year old girl in Florida saw the news about the snowman and she wrote a letter which was sent to Aberdeen. It was simply addressed to "Snowman Builder Roddy". Her letter read,  “Dear Roddy, I thought you might be happy to see how far your talents have reached in this wonderful world of ours.” Roddy responded to the young girl by writing her back and sending a copy of the Evening Express article along with 2 photos. The kid's fantastic feat is still noted today. And, not for lack of attempts by others, but there has never been a taller snowman built in Aberdeen to date.

Old Montana Prison (Suggested by: Sara Jimison)

The Old Montana Prison is said to be the most haunted location in Southwest Montana. This was a state prison that was used for over 100 years and was the first Territorial Prison in the western part of the United States. The prison closed in 1979 and has reopened as a venue with multiple museums, the main one being the prison itself. There were deaths here and a violent riot and perhaps that is why spirits walk the corridors and hide in the cells. Join us for the history and hauntings of the Old Montana Prison!

Deer Lodge is the second oldest town in Montana. We generally start these city histories with the Native American groups that lived in the area, but when it comes to Deer Lodge, there were no indigenous groups that lived there. They occasionally gathered for events like horse races. Lewis and Clark were the first documented visitors to pass by the Deer Lodge Valley and by 1846, the valley was part of the Oregon Territory. It moved to the Washington Territory and then the Idaho Territory before it finally was the Montana Territory in 1864. Johnny Grant was the first settler here and he raised cattle and horses. He encouraged others to join him, which wasn't hard to do when gold was found nearby. At the time, Deer Lodge was known as LaBarge City. In 1866, Conrad Kohrs bought Grants holdings and he became a Cattle King in Montana with over 50,000 head of cattle that grazed over 10 million acres. That property is now the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site. A territorial prison would be established at Deer Lodge in 1869.

This is a really cool looking prison. It looks like a red brick castle with lots of windows along the sides with turreted towers and iron gates. The property has several buildings including the Administration Building, the General Population Cell Blocks, the Library, the Death Tower, the Chapel, isolation cells and Maximum Security. This all got started with a Federal bill that put aside $40,000 for a Montana Penitentiary. The local government picked C. S. Ream and William Sturgis "to locate and fix the site for said penitentiary" and they chose a town called Argenta. The Territorial Government decided against the recommendation and ultimately chose Deer Lodge City, as it was called at the time. But as is the case so often with bureaucracy and funding, there wasn't enough money and there were many delays before the cornerstone was finally laid on June 2, 1870. George McBurney and William Lenior were contracted to construct the new prison. Unfortunately, shortly thereafter, Lenior died suddenly. McBurney continued without him. Convict labor was used to build the prison and they laid 1.2 million bricks. Those bricks were quarried from a nearby area.

There was nothing fancy about this jail. The first wing to be finished was described as "nothing but bare stone walls, roof, floor, fourteen brick cells, six by eight feet, in the clear--with nothing between them and the roof, and only gratings for the lower windows." The outer sandstone walls stood 24-feet high with an additional four feet below the ground to prevent escape. The prison officially opened and took in its first nine convicts on July 2, 1871. William F. Wheeler was the U.S. Marshall for the Montana Territory and he was placed in charge of the Montana Prison. The first prisoner was Samuel E. Hughes who committed an armed assault and was sentenced to a year in prison. In these first couple of years, the prison was under Federal ownership even though only one person was a Federal prisoner. The rest were territorial prisoners. This seemed to be the case at many territorial prisons and the U.S. Congress decided to transfer the penitentiaries to their respective territorial governments. The Montana Prison had this happen on May 15, 1873. There were 21 inmates incarcerated at the time.   

A three-member directors' board with a warden was chosen as the best route to manage the prison. Those members were Hugh Duncan, J. H. Robertson, and Granville Stuart. C. B. Adriance became the warden. The board immediately petitioned for more cells to be built. Congress awarded the money and the new cell block was described as, "The building is of stone and its length is eighty and its width by forty feet on the outside. The walls are two feet thick and twenty-two feet high. The mansard roof makes a story and gives room for a third tier of cells. When the building was accepted it had but one tier of fourteen cells built in the center of the ground floor...Since then we have constructed a second tier of cells, above the others at a cost of $6,000.00." Despite the new cells, the prison was still inadequate for the needs of the community. The central administration building was constructed in 1884. This was made from stone and 50 feet long and housed the guards sleeping quarters, warden's office and a visitor's reception room.

In 1890, Frank Conley became the warden. As a teenager, he helped create Yellowstone National Park and then later he joined the Central Montana Vigilance Committee. He became a Deputy Sheriff and was assigned the duty to transport criminals to the Montana State Prison. He liked it there and joined as a guard and worked his way up. Conley would be responsible for building the bulk of the structures here. He was the one who constructed the outer walls that still stand today. He built separate housing for female prisoners. Several cell blocks were added. Several hundred inmates could be housed after this. And he built the first ever prison theater. This would be the WA Clark Theatre, which was named for Copper King William A. Clark who donated $10,000 for the theater. The theater had leather seats and could seat 1,000 people. There were plays, concerts, prize fights, movies and more. A fire broke out in the theater in 1975 and completely destroyed it. It was ruled arson. Conley became mayor of Deer Lodge eventually. he also became a corrupt man through the years and got very powerful. He was stripped of his role as warden, but stayed mayor. He died in Deer Lodge in 1939.
  
Life in the prison was very regimented. Inmates did all the work when it came to construction and they also made their own clothes, cooked, cut lumber, and performed 'all that is done for the prison and themselves.' If an inmate wanted to grow a mustache, he had to get permission from state authorities and there were written guidelines they had to follow. Potential escapees were issued shoes with concrete soles that weighed twenty pounds each. The interior was painted a drab gray and there was a broad yellow stripe along the floor to define the prisoner's walkway. Solitary confinement cells had heavy metal doors that blocked out all light and sound. Two of the worst areas in the prison were nicknamed "Siberia" and "The Hole." Siberia was an area that was freezing cold in the winter. Maximum Security was known as the Black Box and as many inmates died there as those who were executed. 

Let's talk about some of the inmates. Charles Panzram served time here from 1913 to 1915. He was an American serial killer, spree killer, mass murderer, rapist, child molester, arsonist, robber, thief and burglar who confessed to having murdered twenty-one boys and men, only five of which could be corroborated. It is thought he may have killed upwards of 100 boys and men.

Paul “Turkey Pete” Eitner resided in Cell No 1. Eitner had been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in 1918. He got his nickname because he was placed in charge of the prison's turkey flock. Turkey Pete was a model prisoner who eventually lost his mind. The prison's website describes what happened with Turkey Pete next, "Losing touch with reality, at one point he 'sold' the entire flock for the sum of 25 cents per bird, beginning a new career as the prison entrepreneur. Humoring his mental condition, inmates were allowed to print Eitner checks in the prison print shop and he was permitted to 'purchase' the prison and run it from his cell. He 'paid' all prison expenses and 'paid' the guards salaries. At age 89, Turkey Pete died in 1967 after 49 years behind bars. At his death, Cell No 1 was retired from use. His was the only funeral ever held within the walls of the prison."

One of the female inmates here was Muriel Murphy who was one of the youngest persons ever sentenced to life in prison. She was fifteen at the time. Murphy was an accomplice to her boyfriend William Newman who robbed a man named Gust Anderson outside of a bar. Murphy lured him outside and her boyfriend hit him over the head. Anderson was taken to a hospital where he developed pneumonia and died a couple days later. Murphy and Newman were charged with first degree murder. They were found guilty and would've been given the death penalty had the teens not claimed that Anderson had grabbed Muriel and Newman was defending her when he hit Anderson over the head. The judge gave them life in prison instead. The judge really felt bad about giving the teens this sentence and before they were led away he said, "This sentence does not really mean what it says. You may apply to the executive department and when the time comes, I will do all I can.” Muriel and William only served three years before they were released on conditional paroles. They married and started a family.

Lucy Cornforth was another female inmate. She ended up here after very tragic circumstances. First, Lucy was deficient intellectually. A local sheepherder took advantage of her by asking her to deliver a note to the young daughter of her neighbors. The little girl's parents got the note from their daughter and when they read it, they discovered it contained improper intentions. The parents came to Lucy and threatened to  ruin the lives of her and her daughter, Mary. Lucy's response to this was that she decided to kill herself and her daughter Mary. She went and bought some strychnine and poured it into a cup. Then she thought about it and decided that wasn't a good idea and put the cup aside. Mary had heard her mother talking about the poison and what she was going to do, so she grabbed the cup and drank the poison. Nobody knows why she made that decision. Lucy was arrested and she plead not guilty and then later plead guilty and a judge was going to giver her the death penalty until he realized that Lucy had mental in-capacities. Twenty-five years later, in 1954, a retired teacher wrote the parole board asking that Lucy be considered for parole. It was decided she couldn't cope with the outside world. She was sent to the Warm Springs Mental Facility for several years after that, but she eventually was released and she moved to Florida where she died in 1966. 

By the way, that psychiatric hospital is known as the Montana State Hospital and is still open today. It opened in 1877, so has been open for nearly 150 years and was the first hospital of its kind in the state. This was one of those hospitals that embraced eugenics and at least 256 people were forcibly sterilized from 1923 to 1954. Reports of abuse of patients have happened as recently as 2023. There are two cemeteries on the property and its thought that up to 5,000 people may be buried here. There are those that claim some restless spirits wander the cemeteries and the grounds. A ghost nurse haunts the main hospital.

Orlando Camillo Hanks was known as Charley Jones or Deaf Charley. He was an outlaw who was part of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch. Many claim he was the toughest of the outlaws. He robbed trains and was finally caught in 1892 robbing the Northern Pacific train at Big Timber, Montana. He served 8 years in the Montana State Prison and was released on April 30, 1901. Then he joined Butch Cassidy. He would come to his end in a saloon in San Antonio, Texas when Pink Taylor, who was the local law, recognized him and pulled a gun. Shots were fired and Deaf Charley fell dead.

Inmate Jerry Myles was the instigator of a riot at the prison in 1959. The Montana Prison was one of the worst in the country and was run with a "con boss" system. A con boss system is like a dictatorship among the inmates. One rises to the top and runs everything and that "everything" is stuff like protection, goods and illicit activities. The boss gets to the top  with manipulation and sometimes physical strength and he is usually part of a gang that he already runs, so he has the back-up of his gang members. At the Montana State Prison, Jerry Myles was one of the con bosses. He had been in prison longer than he had been free and he liked the hierarchy of the prison. He was a psychopath whom everyone called "Little Hitler." Myles was ruthless in his domination and he stalked young men for sexual favors. Another inmate named Lee Smart joined Myles in starting the riot.

The governor of Montana had appointed all the wardens up until 1958. It was after the resignation of Warden Burrell in 1958 that the Montana Council on Corrections decided that they themselves would conduct a nationwide search. They believed it was time for change. Floyd Powell was a man of reform who was from Wisconsin and the council chose him as the next warden. Powell had eighteen years of experience and he brought along his friend Ted Rothe to be his deputy warden. The two men committed themselves to abolishing the con boss system. They worked on getting rid of the black market in the prison and also getting rid of the drugs. Many guards were involved in the black market and they cracked down on them, either firing them or retraining them. Food quality was improved, but a rule was implemented that inmates had to eat all that they took. Both guards and inmates were resistant to the changes and con bosses weren't about to give up their power.

Into this steps Jerry Myles who already had experience with starting big trouble in prisons. He organized a mutiny in a federal penitentiary in Georgia in 1944, which ended up with him being shipped off to Alcatraz. While there, he learned all about rioting from the Battle of Alcatraz. He had arrived at the Montana prison in June of 1958. In April 1959, Myles instigated the riot with Lee Smart. Smart brought on his buddy George Alton. The men had figured out that the inmate to guard ratio was at its lowest during the dinnertime turnover. Alton had access to gasoline in the prison garage, so when the turnover started he grabbed some and gave it to Smart. Myles made a torch out of a mop. They loitered near a guard named Gus Byars who was on a catwalk in Cellblock 1 and surprised him by throwing gasoline on him and then lighting the torch with a match. Byars realized he was going to die if he didn't cooperate and he gave up his keys and rifle. Smart and Myles then locked him up in the hole.

Other inmates ambushed the other two guards in Cellblock 1. Several of the inmates then went to Cellblock 2 where the ammunition was stored. They easily overtook that block as well. Within 30 minutes, the inmates had control of the whole facility except for the upper floor of the Administration Building and the minimum security housing. Deputy Warden Rothe was oblivious to what was happening until Myles rushed into his office with a meat cleaver. Rothe managed to fight him off, but then Smart came in with a rifle and hit Rothe in the chest with a blast from it, killing the deputy warden instantly. The inmates forced another guard to call Warden Powell and tell him that there was a slight disturbance. The minute Poweel entered the Administration Building, he was taken hostage. The warden was forced to call the Governor, who was out of town, but he left a message that was a code the Governor would understand and know that the Warden had been compromised.

The Warden was left with a prisoner whom he promised amnesty if he helped and the inmate agreed and spread the word to the rest of the inmates. Several of them helped the Warden escape. Myles and his crew of inmates were angry to find out the Warden was gone and they began building an escape tunnel, which was doomed from the bigging because the jail was specifically designed to prevent tunneling. Warden Powell came back into the prison and negotiated with Myles who said he wanted reporters to be brought in so they could see the conditions the prisoners lived under. The Warden agreed, but he said nothing could be printed until all the hostages were freed. By the next day, the riot was international news. Three reporters came in and interview inmates and they left without incident. But Myles was angry, He wanted lots of reporters, so he wouldn't agree to release hostages. Myles said he wouldn't release anyone until the story ran and the Warden refused to run it. This started a 24-hour standoff.

Myles kept shouting to reporters outside the jail, but the rest of the inmates were giving up because they knew escape was impossible. The Montana National Guard finally came in and broke up the riot. It had lasted thirty-six hours, with only Deputy Warden Rothe dying on the police side, but several other guards were injured. Myles and Smart died via a murder-suicide. The Warden went through the entire prison with the National Guard and had all 438 inmates strip searched and their cells were emptied. Nearly 400 knives were confiscated and several truck loads of contraband were hauled off to the dump.

The prison eventually became outdated and the guards were horribly underpaid. The facility finally shut down in 1979. Today, the Old Montana Prison hosts five unique museums that include the Old Montana Prison, Powell County Museum, Frontier Montana Museum, Yesterday's Playthings and the Montana Auto Museum. It's closed during the Winter. Visitors can do guided tours of self-guided tours and there are also overnight ghost hunts. And there are ghost hunts because this is one of the most haunted locations in Montana. People claim to have been scratched. Disembodied footsteps are heard. Paranormal investigators have found that they get some of the best responses when it comes to responsive knocking. Investigators will knock out a pattern and ask for it to be replicated. Or they might ask for knocks as replies to questions. The general public usually doesn't have access to the Death Tower (which is technically the Northwest Tower), but ghost hunts do get to go to this area. Guided ghost hunts also get to investigate the Administration Building, Maximum Security, General Population and the Auditorium.

Ghost Adventures investigated during Season 11. They caught an interesting orb coming down directly from the noose in the gallows and also the sounds of a loud trap door noise and disembodied footsteps. The Ovilus came up with the words: "TOM", "WOODS", "SHOOT", "SELF" and "WEAPON." They had equipment issues and the batteries in one of the cameras even started fizzling acid. They felt cold spots and captured a figure on the SLS Camera going up and down the stairs in the gallows and moving its arm on command. They also caught a figure using the digital still camera outside in the yard.

Ghost Files with Ryan and Shane visited the prison in October 2023. They set up cameras and recorders in various areas, one of which was the 1912 Cellblock where apparently, a cannibalistic Satan worshiper was housed. The show claims this was Stanley Dean Baker who murdered, dismembered and partially ate James Schlosser in Montana. He and an accomplice were apprehended in California and brought back to Montana. Everything I looked up said Baker was sent to Park County Jail and then a mental hospital called Warm Springs. So I'm not sure he was at this prison. He was arrested in 1970 and this prison closed in 1979. So anyway, when Ryan and Shane asked how long someone had worked there or lived there, the Ovilus responded "eight." They also managed to get a spirit to respond with two solid claps. They stomped and got more clapping.

Ghost Lab investigated during its second season and Barry Klinge said this was his favorite episode from that season. An investigator told The Blaze rock station in 2021, " I experienced tables and chairs moving inside cells as well as disembodied whistles in the main cell block." A group investigating in 2017 asked the Spirit Box for a name and got "Jerry." They also captured three unexplained knocks. Then a flashlight started flickering and an investigator asked if someone was messing with the light and they caught a voice saying "That was me." There were also disembodied footsteps recorded. They also captured a whispered "no" and a male voice mumbling. And a maximum security cell opened and an investigator yelled "That was me!" This was followed by a cell slamming shut and the investigator yelled "That was not me!"

The Spokane Paranormal Society investigated in October of 2018. The Montana Right Now website wrote the story about the visit. A woman named Heather Gregory is a docent at the jail and she gave the group a guided tour before they investigated. She said, "At nighttime you'll feel like you're being watched, and turn around and get that glimmer." During the tour, the group heard unexplained sounds and one member was scratched on his shoulder by something as he descended the stairs from one of the towers at the prison. He said, "It hit me as I was going down the last part of the stairs." The group detected the smell of sulfur and a couple members felt nauseous. One of them was their medium Sarah James. She said, "I pick up on the negativity of this place. But, it's a prison. Anyone would think it would be negative. I do believe there's good here as well." During the investigation, they captured a couple of shadow figures on GoPros and noises on recorder.

An article on the Visit Southwest Montana website shares about a ghost hunting experience at the jail, "It wasn’t until we were exploring the prison alone that I truly felt an unexplainable presence. The first such experience took place in the prison yard in the Canteen. We entered the area, placed a simple cat toy on the ground between us and turned on a highly sensitive microphone. While I could hear nothing, someone mentioned hearing footsteps entering the room – we were of course alone and no one joined us. While the cat toy had remained unmoved up to this point (even with a couple strong gusts of wind) we asked the spirits to make the toy light up if they were there and promptly without question the ball lit up. As the flickering stopped, we proceeded saying that if they wanted to communicate to again move the toy and make it light up. Again, the toy flashed on. 'We are going to ask you some questions, light up the toy if you understand' – instant lights. 'If the answer to the question is yes, please light up the ball. Does that make sense?' – again the ball lit up. We carried on a conversation and eventually asked 'do you like visitors at the prison' – yes – 'do you want us to stay' – nothing – 'would you prefer if we left?' – yes. We quietly thanked the spirit for their time and exited back to the prison yard. Having been on edge all night, a sense of calm washed over me following this experience as if reassured that the spirits themselves enjoyed our company."

The Old Montana Prison has a long history. Like so many other historic jails, this one has its share of ghost stories. Is the Old Montana Prison haunted? That is for you to decide!