A few months ago, Jim and I toured the historic sites of LeCompton, a Kansas town best known for being an early territorial capital of Kansas and proslavery (or, at least, not opposed to slavery, as nearby Lawrence was). Behind Constitution Hall is the city jail, which was built in 1893 and is currently in the backyard of a private residence (though it is open to the public).
The jail is a very small building with almost no light. We shot many photos. One in particular gave us pause.
“It has to be dust,” Jim said.
“Do you see any dust in other pictures?” I flipped through the other photos we shot of the doorway to jail small enough to make some people claustrophobic.
“Huh,” he said.
“Exactly,” I said.
So, in honor of Halloween and my personal fascination for the paranormal, I present my pause-inducing photograph of the entrance to the historic Lecompton city jail. I’m also including other photographs of the jail, all shot within less than ten minutes of each other. All of the photographs were shot using the digital camera in my smartphone, which was set on the daylight setting. They have not been altered in any way. The photos were shot in August in the middle of a hot, dry afternoon.
What do you think is going on in this picture? Let’s discuss.
Other photographs:
- The jail can be seen from Constitution Hall. As you can see, it sits in what is currently someone’s backyard, though we were told by the museum workers that the plan is to move the jail before it decays further.
- Jim stands just inside the opening of the little jail.
- The old door opens directly into the single jail cell.
- The only source of light in the jail was this little window on the south wall.
- The photo that made me look twice. What is that mist in the door?
The construction of the door is really interesting.
Did you feel anything strange when you walked through the door, like a chill, or hairs standing up on the back of your neck?
We noticed nothing (and we are the type who might notice). It was a hot day and it felt as inconsequential as stepping in and out of a garden shed.
Wonderful for Halloween week!
Thanks, Laurie!
Hmmm……could be the Fog……
If only. But it was the middle of a sunny and warm afternoon, so probably not fog.
True….but I was making reference to the old John Carpenter scary movie, The Fog…..and that particular Fog wouldn’t care if it was sunny and warm.
Oh, I had forgotten about that. Touche.
On a different note: I’ve tagged you for the blog-a-thon award. You can pick it up and see the rules here:
http://ackans.com/2012/10/29/tag-youre-it/
😀
Creepy! I don’t believe in ghosts, but I have fun pretending. And I have no explanation for you, it might have been a trick of the light but it is one of the most ghost-like photos I’ve seen. I once went on a ghost tour of Topeka during October and had fun trying to catch “ghosts” one camera (encouraged by the tour guides when we were at the cemetery) but really what they called ghosts were the white dots you get when it’s dark outside and you use the flash on your cheap point and shoot. lol My sister got one cool shot where some staining on some stones looked like a woman’s face.
You might get a kick out of the books by Beth Cooper. She runs ghost tours all over the state of Kansas. She spoke in Ottawa recently and we picked up a copy of her book on ghosts in Wichita (I already had the general book on ghosts in Kansas): http://www.paranormaladventuresusa.com/book.html
I spend a lot of time photographing in cemeteries, but fortunately, I never see anything that shouldn’t be there. If I did, I would excuse myself and make a run for it.
I used to watch a lot of scary movies, and it always amused me how so many characters would stand there and scream while whenever something spooky happened, or some creature made its appearance. Very rarely would anyone do what I considered to be the most realistic response, and that’s turn and run like hell. Fast.
Too true!
dust! LOL, who knows!
We have been trying to convince ourselves it’s dust. 🙂
you never know! 🙂
The historic Lecompton Jail has apparently been moved in the past few weeks. Some of the stones weighed over 600 lbs. http://cjonline.com/news/2012-09-23/historical-lecompton-jail-being-relocated
A more recent story: http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/Crews-Move-Reassemble-Historic-Lecompton-Jail-175490221.html