Old Joliet Prison
Old Joliet Prison

Author: Amy Kinzer Steidinger

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2020-11-09

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1439671729

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 1857, convicts began breaking rock to build the walls of the Illinois State penitentiary at Joliet, the prison that would later confine them. For a century and a half, thousands of men and women were sentenced to do time in this historic, castle-like fortress on Collins Street. Its bakery fed victims of the Great Chicago Fire, and its locks frustrated pickpockets from the world's fair. Even newspaper-selling sensations like the Lambeth Poisoner, the Haymarket Anarchists, the Marcus Train Robbers and Fainting Bertha became numbers once they passed through the gates. Author Amy Steidinger recovers stories of lunatics and lawmen, counterfeiters and call girls, grave robbers and politicians.

Old Joliet Prison: When Convicts Wore Stripes
Old Joliet Prison: When Convicts Wore Stripes

Author: Amy Kinzer Steidinger

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1467147362

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 1857, convicts began breaking rock to build the walls of the Illinois State penitentiary at Joliet, the prison that would later confine them. For a century and a half, thousands of men and women were sentenced to do time in this historic, castle-like fortress on Collins Street. Its bakery fed victims of the Great Chicago Fire, and its locks frustrated pickpockets from the world's fair. Even newspaper-selling sensations like the Lambeth Poisoner, the Haymarket Anarchists, the Marcus Train Robbers and Fainting Bertha became numbers once they passed through the gates. Author Amy Steidinger recovers stories of lunatics and lawmen, counterfeiters and call girls, grave robbers and politicians.

Joliet Prison Blues: A Century of Stories
Joliet Prison Blues: A Century of Stories

Author: Amy Steidinger

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1467147354

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Named warden of the Illinois State Penitentiary in 1913, Edmund Allen arrived with a glamorous new wife and ambitious plans of reform that did away with years of striped uniforms and humiliating practices. Two years later, his wife was found murdered in her bed, shocking the country and throwing the prison into chaos. Over the past century, life behind bars at Joliet has often been a national spectacle. Infamous inmates like Leopold and Loeb, John Wayne Gacy, Baby Face Nelson and James Earl Ray drew headlines, and iconic scenes in movies like The Blues Brothers ensured that the prison walls themselves were instantly recognizable. From overlooked prisoner profiles to the kind of dramatic incidents that incited riots or inspired Hollywood, Amy Steidinger's stories cover the modern era of Old Joliet Prison.

The Haunting of Joliet Prison
The Haunting of Joliet Prison

Author: Ursula Bielski

Publisher: Magic Lantern Press

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 390

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From Chicago Public Library Foundation award-winner Ursula Bielski comes the first, shocking look at the ghosts of Old Joliet Prison. In the fall of 2018 Ursula gathered together a team of veteran paranormal researchers to host the first ever paranormal investigations and ghost tours at one of the world's most notorious penitentiaries: the Old Joliet Prison. Illinois' second state penitentiary, the prison was constructed in the mid 1850s, and hosted thousands of murderers, rapists, thieves and confidence men during its nearly 150 years of operation. In addition to the crimes these men--and women--perpetrated before their incarcerations, once inside the chaos continued. Countless numbers of stabbings, shootings, rapes and suicides occurred inside the prison walls, along with hundreds of deaths from disease and illness. Now, step inside the abandoned cell blocks and darkened prison yard, the old prison hospital and the lost convict cemetery on the hill. The ghosts of Old Joliet Prison will hold you captive indeed.

Haunted Joliet Prison
Haunted Joliet Prison

Author: Wendy Moxley Roe

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 112

ISBN-13: 1467147168

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The iron bars of Joliet Prison might once have held John Wayne Gacy, Baby Face Nelson and other notorious inmates as unwilling guests, but their stories now desperately cling to the limestone walls. After 160 years spent crammed with victims of misfortune and agents of mayhem, the grim landmark immortalized in movies like The Blues Brothers is now entirely given over to the ghosts of its past. Follow a singing ghost to the convict cemetery where thousands of unclaimed bodies are said to lie. Listen for the tread of Odette Allen, the warden's wife who was brutally murdered in her bedroom on the second floor. Unlock the gates of Joliet Prison's haunted heritage with Wendy Moxley Roe.