PRISM 2005Built on the former site of a morgue for the Episcopalian Church, the Old Pottawattamie County Jail located in Council Bluffs, Iowa, was constructed in 1885 and closed its doors as a prison in 1969.


The jail was purchased by the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County in 1979 and became what is now a museum. The jail is known as the "Squirrel Cage Jail" because of its unique three-story rotating jail cells.

 
The jail is part of the National Register of Historic Places, and is one of only three remaining Lazy Susan jails. Prisoners were housed in pie-shaped cells, which were accessed by turning a hand crank until the cells lined up with a single door on each floor. Unfortunately, the jail does not rotate any more, and some of the pie-shaped cells have not seen the light of day for almost forty years.
 
PRISM Squirrel Cage JailThe building is believed to be haunted by the ghost of one of the former jailers that worked and lived at the jail. While employed at the Squirrel Cage Jail, the jailers and their families lived in an apartment located on the fourth floor of the jail.
 
Four deaths are known to have occurred at the jail. One prisoner died of a heart attack, another prisoner was found hanged in his cell. The third death was of a prisoner who tried to climb up the jail cage to try and write his name on the ceiling. He fell from the third level and died. The fourth death was during the Farmer's Holiday Association strike of 1932, eighty-four protestors were arrested and taken to the jail. Out of fear that the angry farmers would storm the jail and set the prisoners free, the police department used machine guns to turn the grounds of the jail and courthouse into a "no-man's land". One officer died during the confusion after he shot himself inside the jail.
 

Audio Evidence #1

PRISM - Squirrel Cage JailThis EVP was captured on an Olympus W-10 digital audio recorder by PRISM founder David P. Rodriguez on June 8, 2005, while taping a short interview with jail manager Ryan Roenfeld (photographed on the right) regarding the deaths that have occurred in the jail over the years.

At the end of the interview, jail manager Ryan Roenfeld says, "That's really about all the prisoner deaths we know about ...not very many of them." After saying that, a click is heard followed by a male voice saying something unintelligible. Immediately after that, the interview comes to an end, both David and Ryan can be heard laughing and talking.

Both David or Ryan did not hear the click or the voice. It was only later heard back on the digital recording. Listeners have identified the language as Slavic.

>> Listen to the original audio
>> Listen to the EVP (looped x3)

Audio Evidence #2

PRISM Squirrel Cage Jail top

This EVP was captured at 12:34am on July 2, 2005 on four different sources. It occurred when the PRISM team was sitting on the floor of the main room on the 4th floor of the jail.  An armoire door swung open and hit PRISM's founder David P. Rodriguez on the arm. The EVP was recorded at the same exact time.

Two of the recorders used were different model Olympus digital audio recorders and the other two were video cameras, one was a Sony Handycam, and the other was a video camera used by the KPTM Fox News crew.

The EVP heard is a Darth-Vader-like sounding male voice. What is being said is unknown, though it does sound like "??? to the backside of the church". Note that PRISM investigator Renee C. can be heard speaking over the EVP saying, "I saw it open." 

One interesting fact that we found out after recording this EVP is that the building directly behind the jail, what is now the Pottawattamie County Annex, used to be an Episcopal Church until the 1970's. Could the Squirrel Cage jail be the "backside of the church" that the voice is talking about?

(Source #1: Sony Handycam)
>> Listen to the original audio
>> Listen to the EVP (looped x3)

(Source #2: Olympus W-10)
>> Listen to the original audio
>> Listen to the EVP (looped x3)

(Source #3: Olympus Digital Audio Recorder #2)
>> Listen to the original audio
>> Listen to the EVP (looped x3)
 

Photographic Evidence

PRISM Squirrel Cage Jail apparition 2005The photo on the left was taken by PRISM founder David P. Rodriguez on March 19, 2005 shows what appears to be a male apparition on the 4th floor office located on the North side of the jail.

PRISM Squirrel Cage Jail apparition 2005Several photos were taken on the same day, from the same location, and of the same set of windows, but this outline of a man only showed up in this one single photograph.

On the right is a photograph of Otto Gudath. He was a jailer at the Old Pottawattamie County Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa from 1949 to 1958. Could the apparition seen in the 2005 PRISM photo be the ghost of the late Otto Gudath?

Investigation Notes

October 19th, 2012

PRISM along with members of the UNO Paranormal Society investigated at the Historic Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs, IA.

PRISM investigators present – Carl Norgard, Kelley Keneddy, Bo Kennedy, Brian Heath, Kevin Potter, Jeremy Anderson and Lisa Krasso.

UNO Paranormal Society investigators present – John, Dave and Carrie.

Q98.5 contest winners present – Jen, Ryan & Brent Udron, Tinna Asp, and Kim & Dennis Moy.

The investigation started at 8PM and went until 1AM.
The weather was clear and dry.

Several interesting anomalies were videotaped during the investigation.

>> Watch the video of the blue orb here
>> Watch the video of the white orb here
>> Watch the video of the light anomaly

Press

Q98 Five FM Modern Hit MusicOctober 3, 2012 - Radio
PRISM director Carl Norgard and PRISM investigator Kelley Kennedy were interviewed on Q98.5 FM (Omaha, NE) on the Pat & JT in the Morning radio show. They spoke about the Squirrel Cage Jail investigations and several of our EVP recordings were played.
>> Listen to the audio clip here

PRISM Daily Nonpareil newspaper Southwestern IowaOctober 10, 2007 - Newspaper
Staff writer Courtney Brummer with The Daily Nonpareil teamed up with investigators from the Paranormal Research and Investigative Studies of the Midwest (PRISM) for a four-part series on haunted places in southwest Iowa. This report focused on investigations conducted at the Historic Pottawattamie County Squirrel Cage Jail and the Villisca Ax Murder House.
>> Read the article here

October/November 2005 - Film
Film producer and director Paul von Stoetzel recorded interviews with PRISM founder and lead investigator David Rodriguez and PRISM investigator Dan Christianson for his new documentary film with the working title, Roadside Attractions. Locations included both the Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the Villisca Axe Murder House in Villisca, Iowa.

PRISM Daily Nonpareil newspaper Southwestern IowaJuly 19, 2005 - Newspaper
PRISM was featured in Southwestern Iowa's The Daily Nonpareil newspaper on July 19, 2005. The article entitled Fox 42 To Air Ghost Hunt spoke about PRISM's televised paranormal investigation of the historic Old Pottawattamie Squirrel Cage Jail.
>> Read the article here


PRISM Coast to Coast AM George Noory Art BellJuly 10, 2005 - Radio
A story on PRISM founder David P. Rodriguez and PRISM's paranormal investigation of the the Squirrel Cage Jail was featured on the Coast To Coast AM web site in their Hot Stories section. Coast To Coast is a national late-night radio show hosted by Art Bell and George Noory. The radio show is is listened to by millions of listeners each night and all kinds of paranormal topics are discussed.


PRISM Daily Nonpareil newspaper Southwestern IowaJuly 4, 2005 - Newspaper
PRISM was featured on the front page of the Independence Day edition of Southwestern Iowa's The Daily Nonpareil newspaper. The article, written by Tom McMahon, and entitled Paranormal Researcher Investigates Jail spoke about PRISM's paranormal investigation of the Old Pottawattamie Squirrel Cage Jail.
>> Read the article here

KPTM Fox News Omaha NebraskaJuly 1, 2005 - Television
Reporter Dave DeJohn and photographer Jason Pressler joined PRISM on an overnight investigation of the Squirrel Cage Jail. The footage was later presented by news anchors Taylor Wilson and Tracy Jacim on KPTM Fox news "Prime Assignment" in Omaha, Nebraska.
>> Watch the video clip here

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