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Haunted Road

It Was a Nice Looking Jail, But What Was Going on Inside Was Horrific

Haunted Road

iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild

True Crime, Society & Culture

4.73.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 April 2023

⏱️ 43 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The conditions of the St. John County Jail were so inhumane that inmates were referred to as “the product.” So few people survived the harsh imprisonment that any sentence there was considered a death sentence.

Special Guest: Stephen Mitchell

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to Haunted Road, a production of I Heart Radio and Grim and Mild from Erin Manky.

0:05.9

Listener discretion is advised.

0:11.7

Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied city in America.

0:18.8

It's home to the fountain of youth, at least, sort of, and some of the most beautiful Spanish

0:23.6

revival architecture in the country. But there's a dark side to all of that history.

0:29.2

Corruption ran rampant in St. Augustine when some people would be unjustly imprisoned on flimsy

0:35.4

sometimes unwarranted charges. The conditions of the St. John County Jail were so inhumane

0:41.7

that inmates were referred to as the product. So few people survived the harsh imprisonment

0:48.0

that any sentence there was considered a life sentence. Today, the St. Augustine Old City Jail

0:54.1

is one of the city's biggest tourist attractions with tours led by costumed reenactors.

0:59.0

They walk the old Jail's corridors, recreating what life was like there for inmates.

1:04.0

What some people don't realize is that many of the inmates never left.

1:09.4

I'm Amy Bruney and this is Haunted Road.

1:18.0

A beachfront city on Florida's Atlantic coast, St. Augustine brings in millions of tourists annually

1:32.7

to take advantage of the white sand beaches and the unique historic attractions like the St. Augustine

1:37.5

Lighthouse. Regular listeners might remember the shadowy figures and disembodied children's laughter

1:42.4

of that remarkably haunted place. The city is also home to what some claim is the real fountain of

1:48.2

use at the fountain of use archaeological park. It was rumored to have been discovered by

1:52.7

Ponce de Leon and his explorations of Florida's coast in 1513. A hundred and fifty years ago,

1:58.6

while the historic architecture St. Augustine might have looked similar, the city wasn't a widely

2:03.4

known tourist destination like it is today. But one man, Henry Flagler, was about to find the

2:08.7

ancient city as it's nicknamed and changed St. Augustine forever. Flagler co-founded

...

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