This podcast details true crime cases. It contains adult themes and may contain descriptions of violence.

It is not intended for children. Listener discretion is advised.

Thank you for joining me for today's episode of Once Upon a Crime.

Stories about haunted places have always been part of our folklore.

The locations most often said to be inhabited by ghosts include murder houses, insane as

asylums, hospitals, and prisons.

If you believe in restless spirits, this makes sense, as these are places where pain, trauma, fear, sadness, and prisons. If you believe in restless spirits, this makes sense, as these are places where

pain, trauma, fear, sadness, and death occur. Over two days in 1980, all of these dark

energies were present when prisoners at a New Mexico penitentiary, angry at the conditions

they experienced inside its walls, rose up against their jailers and wreaked havoc upon officers and inmates alike.

It would be called the bloodiest prison riot in U.S. history.

Over 36 hours, 33 prisoners were killed,

eight guards were brutally assaulted, and hundreds were injured.

The prison would never completely recover

from the unprecedented violence that took place. Inmates and correctional officers suffered

beatings, stabbings, rapes, and beheadings. Men were hung and burned alive in front of

horrified witnesses. In the years since, the penitentiary of New Mexico, known as the Old Main

Prison, has gained a reputation as one of the most haunted places in the state. Visitors and

employees report seeing shadowy figures traveling through cell block hallways, hearing ghostly voices

crying out, and barred doors slamming shut when no one is around.

After hearing the true story I'm about to tell you, you'll understand why these traumatized

spirits may still be lurking. Perhaps they're trying to escape the hell they encountered as

...