Gloucester Prison certainly boasts a dark and abhorrent past, with countless executions and deaths occurring on the site over the last 200 years.
Previous investigations of this old prison have given us both terrifying and inexpiable experiences and we cannot wait to return.
This is ghost hunting at its most extreme – Will you handle the night behind bars?

Location History:

HMP Gloucester was a Category B men’s prison which closed in 2013, after being built in 1791.
It replaced the former old county prison, which was located in Gloucester’s ancient castle, which was demolished to make way for the new prison.
The site covered three acres, and consisted of a main building, which housed the gaol on one side and the penitentiary on the other, and a separate house of correction.
The gaol held prisoners waiting to be tried at the County Quarter Sessions or Assizes, debtors, and “fines” (people who were being held in default of paying sureties or a fine). It also held the condemned cells, for prisoners who had been tried and condemned to death.
Over the prisons 220 year history, it is believed that around 12o inmates have been executed for their crimes.
Prior to 1791, executions had taken place at the nearby village of Over and the condemned were conveyed to the gallows in carts, sitting on their own coffins.After this date hangings, were carried out using a “New Drop” style gallows, erected on the roof of the prison gatehouse and continued on the new gatehouse roof when it was built in 1826.
Between 1792 and 1864, 102 prisoners were hanged in public, comprising 94 men and eight women. The next and last public execution at Gloucester was carried out on the 27th of August 1864 when 55 year old Lewis Gough was to die for the murder of Mary Curtis.
A further 17 people (16 men and one woman) were hanged within the prison between 1872 and 1939.
The first private hanging took place on the 8th of January 1872 when 20 year old Frederick Jones was put to death by William Calcraft for the murder of his girlfriend, Emily Gardner, on a raised scaffold in the prison yard. There were steps the prisoner had to climb to reach the four foot high platform.
For the triple hanging of Edward Butt, Mary Ann Barry and Edwin Bailey in 1874, Robert Anderson, the hangman, asked for a pit to be dug to allow the gallows platform to be level with the yard, as shown below. It is thought that this arrangement, pictured below, persisted until 1912.
It is claimed that there are 122 former inmates still buried in unmarked graves beneath Gloucester Prison.

Reported Paranormal Activity:

HMP Gloucester is said to be haunted by many restless souls, and when you look at the prisons extensive history and records of countless deaths, it’s not hard to see why.
Both inmates and guards have reported witnessing the apparition of a lady, who was reportedly murdered on the site, long before the prison had even been built.
There is a story about a group of prisoners in Cell 25, who held a séance with the intention of making communication with the prisons spirits. It is said to of ended with books and flowerpots being thrown around the room by an unseen force.
During a previous investigation at the prison, two of Ghostly Goings On own team both witnessed a black mass peer around a cell door and look directly at them. This is apparently quite a common occurrence.
Footsteps have also been heard by former prison guards, walking the landings whilst all of the inmates have been locked in their cells.

This event may be unsuitable for people with mobility impairments due to the nature of the property being visited. Please call to check anything you might be unsure about before booking your tickets.