Greg Steffe, co-director of the Old Jail Museum in Warsaw, shows off the bullpen area of the old jail. He is standing next to a cell, where visitors have reported being scratched by paranormal entities.
The museum is one of the most haunted sites in Kosciusko County and has been the subject of many paranormal investigations.

By Lauren Zeugner
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Are you a history buff? Someone interested in the paranormal? A skeptic? If you answered yes to any of these questions then the Kosciusko County Historical Society’s Haunted Jail Tour may be for you.

The tours, which will be offered from 6-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday Sept. 27-28 and Friday and Saturday Oct. 4-5, will offer attendees some history about one of the county’s most haunted places.

The tours will be lead by experienced paranormal investigators, who are familiar with the museum. Tours will be about 30 minutes. Admission for the haunted jail tour is $10 and due to the sensitive nature of the event, no one under 16 will be admitted.

Greg Steffe, co-director of the museum, said it has been hosting ghost hunts for several years and several paranormal investigators, including members of the Tennessee Wraith Chasers, paranormal investigators whose investigations have been featured on The Travel Channel, have investigated the old jail.

The old jail was built in 1870. By law, the sheriff had to reside at the jail, so there is a residence attached to the jail. David Andrews was the last county sheriff to live at the jail, residing there from 1967 to 1974.

The building was still used as the county lockup until 1983, when the new justice building opened. Since then, the historical society has been responsible for the building.

Steffe said the building has a rich and violent history. There are seven deaths attributed to the property, the first occurring during construction of the building when a large block of limestone broke loose and crushed James Holister, a worker on the building.

In 1880, Annie Chapman was jailed for forging a check for $300 on her father’s account. Her father was an affluent business owner and farmer in the area as well as a bank officer. Not only did her father have her arrested, he refused to bail her out of jail. After being incarcerated for three days, Chapman gave up the name of her “co-conspirator” in the forged check scheme, a man named Gwen Smith.

Smith was married with children. He worked as a salesman for the Singer Sewing Machine.

After bailing himself out, Smith swore to Chapman he would have his revenge for her naming him in the forgery attempt.

Days later, Smith snuck up behind Chapman as she left the outhouse, shot her in the back, then in the head before killing himself.

Today, Chapman and Smith are the two most encountered ghosts in the jail museum. Chapman’s ghost is thought to be shy and demure, while Smith is angry and hostile.

The next death was a mental patient in 1942. An inmate committed suicide in 1958. There was another suicide in 1966 and the last person to die in the jail was an inmate, who was in solitary confinement in 1978.

Steffe, a certified paranormal investigator, has had several encounters while in the museum, the last being three weeks ago. He left the door to the basement wide open after grabbing a tape measure to measure something in the bullpen area of the museum.

“Something slammed the door hard,” he said.

Steffe, who said he doesn’t like to be in the building alone at night, said staff have seen the apparition of a woman, while a little boy claimed to see and have a conversation with the apparition of a former sheriff.

Steffe warned those coming to the tours, the paranormal is very subtle. Those hoping to see full-body apparitions may want to check their expectations. According to Steffe, a full-body apparition is considered “the holy grail” of paranormal investigation and many experienced investigators have never seen one.

Steffe received his paranormal investigation training at Purdue University. He said the class is no longer offered as the instructor moved to Indianapolis. He works with a Christian group of paranormal investigators and will not have anything to do with anything dark or considered demonic.