Bodmin Jail

Bodmin Jail was built in 1779 to the designs of Sir John Call, a military engineer, using 20,000 tonnes of granite from the town's Cuckoo Quarry and, tradition says, the labour of prisoners of war. It was a model prison for its day, with separate accommodation for men and women, individual cells and a measure of healthcare, and an initial capacity of 67. The nineteenth century saw repeated extensions and rebuilding, including a naval prison wing that held Royal Navy offenders until it closed in 1923; the civilian prison followed in 1927.

Fifty-five people were executed here between 1785 and 1909. In the early years the hangings were public spectacles: the brothers William and James Lightfoot, who murdered the merchant Nevell Norway, were hanged together on 13 April before a crowd put at 25,000 or more, and in August 1844 some 20,000 people turned out to watch Matthew Weeks die for the murder of his sweetheart Charlotte Dymond, whose body had been found on Rough Tor that April. After public execution was abolished in 1868, hangings moved inside, and Selina Wadge, in 1878, was the first to die by the "long drop" method within the walls. The last was William Hampton, hanged on 20 July 1909 for strangling his girlfriend Emily Tredrea, the last person executed in Cornwall.

After closure a large range of the buildings fell into ruin. Parts of the prison were later turned into a visitor attraction, and a multi-million-pound restoration went on to create the present immersive experience and, in February 2021, a 70-bedroom hotel within the old cell blocks.

Reports of hauntings at Bodmin Jail go back to the years it stood empty and ruined, when locals avoided the place after dark, and they multiplied once the museum opened and paranormal groups began hiring the building. The pattern is consistent: footsteps in empty corridors, voices, keys rattling, cold spots, the press of an unseen hand, and photographs of "orbs" in the cell blocks. Staff have long claimed that Selina Wadge shows a particular interest in children, and there are stories of small visitors being grabbed at or of pregnant women feeling suddenly unwell in her part of the jail.

Matthew Weeks is the most frequently identified apparition, reportedly seen more than once wandering the jail as if still protesting his innocence, and figures taken to be the Lightfoot brothers have been reported around the ground-floor cells. Paranormal investigators claim names, knocks and responses in the execution shed and on the staircase. Ghost-hunting companies such as Haunted Happenings and Ghostly Nights run regular overnight investigations, and Haunted Happenings pairs the jail with nearby Jamaica Inn in a "Cutthroat Weekend" of back-to-back vigils.

When the redevelopment was announced, paranormal writers such as Higgypop asked whether a multi-million-pound hotel and attraction would mean the end of ghost hunting at Bodmin; in fact the new owners built the ghosts into the offer, with a nightly Ghost Walk through candlelit corridors and an After Dark experience investigating the execution pit, staircase and cells with the jail's own paranormal hosts.

It is only fair to add that a Georgian prison full of dark stone, dripping water and a well-signposted gallows would unsettle almost anyone, and that the attraction is designed to do exactly that. The ghosts, sceptics say, are what a mind does with such a place. The staff who work there after closing will tell you otherwise.

Bodmin Jail is on Berrycoombe Road in Bodmin, Cornwall, a few minutes' walk from the town centre and just off the A30 and A38; sat-navs are advised to use PL31 2PL for the car park. The attraction opens daily, and its centrepiece is the Dark Walk, an immersive, theatrical journey through the jail's corridors, inmates and legends, followed by the historic cell blocks, exhibitions and the execution shed with its surviving long-drop pit. Check the jail's website for current times and prices. The Dark Walk is deliberately unsettling and may be too much for young children, and some historic areas involve stairs and uneven floors, so check the jail\'s accessibility information if you need step-free access.

After hours the jail runs its Ghost Walk, a guided walk of around 90 minutes through candlelit corridors and cell blocks led by paranormal hosts, on several evenings a week, and an After Dark experience in which visitors investigate the execution pit, staircase and cells with equipment. Independent operators offer full overnight ghost hunts on selected dates.

You can also stay. The Bodmin Jail Hotel, opened in February 2021, has around 70 rooms created within the old cell blocks, each formed from two original cells, with exposed granite walls and vaulted ceilings, plus a bar and restaurant. It is a four-star hotel rather than a horror experience, and a memorable base for Bodmin Moor, the Camel Trail and the north Cornwall coast. Bodmin itself, Wadebridge and Padstow offer alternatives nearby.