The jail was a result of the ground-breaking Prison Reform during the reign of King George III, with more than 20,000 tonnes of local granite used in its construction. More than 35,000 prisoners were held at the jail, including 341 children. Fifty-five people, eight of them women, were hanged within the walls, some for heinous crimes such as murder (one woman, Sarah Polgrean, poisoned her husband, Henry, with arsenic hidden in a pat of butter), others for what through modern eyes seemed much more minor, such as sheep rustling or setting fire to a neighbour’s crop. The last execution took place in 1909. The jail closed in 1927. Since that date, there has been no prison within the county of Cornwall. [2] Bodmin Gaol was designed by Sir John Call and built in 1779 by prisoners of war, and was operational for 150 years, in which it saw over 50 public hangings. It was the first British prison to hold prisoners in individual cells. The Debtors Act of 1869 abolished imprisonment for debt so the prison had spare space that was taken over by the Admiralty for naval prisoners. Eventually, the naval prison occupied an entire wing of the building, before it was closed in 1922.

Bodmin Jail has inspired many ghost stories, attracted paranormal researchers, and ghost walk events are held for tourists there.From the moment you catch your first glimpse of its sinister, grey bulk looming over the town of Bodmin, a feeling of utter desolation takes hold, its intensity increasing as the gloom laden walls draw nearer. When the prison opened conditions were particularly brutal. Men, women and children were kept in communal cells and one in four died of typhoid. He had quite a fascinating life, nothing less than pure evil. He is said to have murdered his wife, children and he even sold his soul to the devil. He later had to beg and pay his way to an exorcism as the demons were troubling him too much and this led him to a somewhat early, yet deserved grave.

C aptain Edmund Norway, Neville Norway’s brother was the master of the merchant ship Orient en route from Manilla to Cadiz at the time of his death. Beneath you, the satanic darkness of Bodmin's great dungeon's lifeless heart creeps all about your like a choking mirror of misery.The paranormal tours include a ghost-hunting experience, where guests can use tools such as ouija boards to attempt to communicate with spirits. [6] Ghosts [ edit ]

After being located, Weeks pleaded not guilty to the murder but the jury returned a guilty verdict, with a sentence of hanging. On August 12, 1844, Weeks was hung in front of a crowd of several thousand outside the Jail and buried in the prison’s coal yard. D. L. Prior, ‘Call, Sir John, first baronet (1732–1801)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 18 Sept 2008

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Phantoms and ghostly spirits still seem to inhabit the decaying cells here in Bodmin Jail, adding to a desperate & almost threatening silence. A silence that still exudes every ounce of pain and forlorn hope of its long forgotten inmates. Now, here is a senior magistrate who had heard a lengthy and detailed case implicating Selina Wadge in the wilful murder of her two year old son by throwing him down a well and drowning him. Her fate wasn’t just sealed after the execution - for the judge also sentenced her to dissection in aid of the medical profession. The Lightfoot Brothers