JUAB COUNTY, Utah — The Old Juab County Jail stands as a monument to a rough and tumble past, with legends of outlaws like Butch Cassidy echoing in its halls. But are they echoes? Or are some prisoners still serving a beyond-a-life sentence?
For the third night of FOX13's 5 Nights of Frights, we ventured inside the Old Juab County Jail to discover whether it's just history or if spirits are still locked inside.
The building, originally constructed for the containment of men now in its retirement, it serves as a library of knowledge about its former prisoners.
Shanna Memmott, the Juab County Tourism Director, explained, "It was built in 1892" and the jail held prisoners until 1974.
The original Juab County Jail is a testament to every desperate plea, every bitter curse, and every final confession—all absorbed into the stone and steel.
It is now a tourist spot showcasing what life was like behind bars. But are there still things locked in here waiting for an escape?
To find out, we enlisted the help of Memmott and her best friend, Radawna Day. The pair has shown many an investigator around and has many stories to tell. Memmott admitted, "I've heard sounds in here. I've, I've seen things." She continued, "I heard something that sounded like one of the cell doors shut."
She provided context about the jail.
"They said most of the people were drunk and so you can imagine there was no holding cell. Everything just happened here. There's no place to prepare food.”
There are real tales of a band of misfits that may have taken up residence here.
Memmott said, "There's some handcuffs that supposedly brought Butch Cassidy in." Butch Cassidy, one of the most notorious outlaws, may have spent time right here.
Sheriffs of the past might haunt these walls too, as Memmott pointed to a display, saying, "In this case was a list of all the previous sheriffs."
As a part of another investigation, Shanna said their names, and when she got to one, something strange happened. She recalled, "and it got to Parley P. Christenson. I said, 'Did you know Parley P. Christenson?' And all the alarms upstairs went off."
Was it Christenson who stayed behind? Or was it someone he locked up?
Speaking of being locked up something else may have locked us in as we were trying to leave the jail, Memmott was surprised when a door unexpectedly stuck shut saying “Seriously we’re shut in.” Adding “That's never done that before.”
Whether it was a ghost holding us in or not, on our way down, Shanna found a very real ghost of her past.
She said, pointing at an engraving on the wall, "I just barely noticed it. That would be my Grandpa Ross, Ross Newton. That's weird."
Right next door, the pair took us into the former courthouse to show that wasn’t the only family connection to the jail.
Radawna Day revealed, "We actually had great-grandfathers that were in this jail together. They were arrested together.”
But aside from meticulous records, this building has stories of its own.
Memmott noted, "They claim there's an old lady that wanders the hall down here,” adding “There’s nothing’s creepier than these old pictures staring at you.”
Down in the basement, the air felt heavier and Memmott was uneasy, saying, "I hate to come down here. I don't come down here unless I have someone with me. This is where I always start to feel anxious, and I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, I feel the hair on the back of my legs standing up.’"
She also shared audio evidence saying, "We have audio down here that there's a man in here that tells people to go home.”
Upstairs, one of the strangest stories comes from a phone call.
Police in Nephi frequently get a call from a phone behind a locked door, where someone on the other side asks for help.
While these stories and artifacts are endless, maybe it's less about the fright and more about the folklore.
As Memmott concluded, "Whether it's haunted or not, there's just history here." Whether in the jail or the courthouse, the stories left behind are everywhere.
She added on in closing "I do believe there are spirits here, but I like to think of them as not as ghosts, but as guardians of history… Because in Juab County, history never really leaves."
So, listen and you might hear a tale of your own, just don’t get locked up in the process.
