Shepton Mallet Prison

Shepton Mallet Prison began its remarkably dark history as a House of Correction in 1624. It housed criminals in the most squalid of conditions, including men, women and children. Disease was rife among inmates leading to many souls perishing within it's grisly walls. Rather than enforce long prison sentences, it was decided by the late 1700s that criminals would be punished in other ways, including fines, transportation and the death penalty. At this time, over 200 crimes were punishable by death. Many of those imprisoned at Shepton, never left, no matter how small their crimes were. Executions were common place but were not recorded before 1889, meaning the total number of deaths at Shepton Mallet is unknown. Those that escaped the death penalty faced hard labour within the prison walls. Shepton Mallet is home to one of the country's largest Treadwheels. This machine was worked arduously by prisoners to power a mill just outside the prison walls. Between 1889 and 1926, seven judicial executions took place at the prison. All seven were found guilty of murder and were hanged and buried within the prison walls. They still remain there today. Shepton Mallet Prison was repurposed as a military prison during World War II. In 1942, the American military took ownership of Shepton Mallet and records show that over 700 US servicemen were imprisoned here. Of those men, 16 were hanged and 2 were executed by firing squad. 1952 saw the incarceration of Shepton Mallet's most infamous prisoners, the Kray twins. Ronnie and Reggie served a sentence of 9 months each for evading their duties during National Service. The prison was decommissioned in 2013 and is now open to tourists and for ghost tours. Shepton Mallet Prison claims to be the most haunted prison in the world, and with a history as horrifying as theirs, it's easy to understand why. A multitude of paranormal phenomena have been reported here from both staff and guests alike, and include whispering voices, heavy footsteps, cold spots touching guests, shadow figures looming in the darkness of the cells and eerie, unexplained noises.