Ghosts and Legends of Alcatraz

Haunted America

by Bob Davis, Brian Clune, Janice Oberding (Foreword)

Alcatraz is one of the most infamous prisons in the world. Evil spirits, unknown beasts, vicious murderers and an untold number of ghosts all are said to reside on this tiny island in San Francisco Bay. Rufus McCain, who died a brutal death at the hands of a fellow inmate, is said to roam the grounds, and the basement cells used for solitary confinement were rumored to be so frightening that inmates who endured one stint never wanted to go back. Multiple escape attempts were thwarted, including two attempts by Sam Shockley, who was later executed with fellow inmate Miran Thomson. Join Bob Davis and Brian Clune as they explore chilling tales of death, murder and savagery from America's Devil's Island.

Genres: History, Ghost Stories

146 pages, Hardcover

Published September 30, 2019

Reviews

[Terry Cornell · Rating 3 out of 5]

More history than horror. Several years ago my wife and I went on the Alcatraz Island tour. Definitely a creepy place, but we didn't have any supernatural experiences. This is mostly a short history of the island and of the most infamous incarcerated residents. The book includes a few ghostly legends accompanied by the authors' ghost hunting experiences on Alcatraz. A timely reading for Halloween, and a quick read.

[Jeffrey Shopoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

awesome

This book is really good and I love the ghost💵💵💵🤑💵💵💵🤑💵💵🤑🤑🤑💰🤑💵💰💰💵💵💰💰💵🤑💰💵🤑💰🤑💰🤑💵i’m the son of amazons boss and my dad is the richest person alive

[Julio Bonilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being on Alcatraz, let alone at night, is enough to make any paranormal investigator as excited as a kid at Disneyland, but to actually spend an entire night free to wander the prison and the island at will is a dream come true.

[Star Merrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, my gosh. This book gave me the heebie-jeebies. If anyone doesn't believe in spirits, this book will make him or her, a believer. There were some passages that made my hair stand on end. A very haunting expose.

[Jessica Sinn (Books and Trouble) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the very few books you’ll find about ghosts and legends in San Francisco. I’m not sure why, but there really isn’t much out there for paranormal enthusiasts looking for creepy historical accounts bout the Golden City. So, naturally, I had to book myself a ghost tour so I could hear some stories that would leave me up at night in my hotel room, which by the way was located across the street from the very haunted China Town! But I digress, this book doesn’t cover any of that, but it does hit on some spooky legends and lore tied to Alcatraz Island, some involving a benevolent bigfoot-type monster, others pertaining to ghosts of prisoners who died suddenly or perished after years of isolation and torture.

Sadly, the National Park Service doesn’t indulge in ghost stories, so my self-guided tour was lackluster to say the least. But I did feel the heebie jeebies walking around that place that seemed weighted down with despair. Should I chock this feeling up to the power of suggestion? Maybe, but I do believe in bad energy, the intangible weight in the atmosphere that gets under your skin and raises those little hairs on your arm. Someone once told me, “When you get that hair-raising feeling, so matter how subtle, trust it and get out as soon as you can.”

Either way, this short book is worth your while if you’d like to get a little bit more than that watered-down tour at The Rock. Some of the stories seem a little far-fetched, but a few did give me the creeps, especially the one about the dungeon—jeepers!