The group contacted the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau to inquire about investigating the historic Missouri State Penitentiary site in January. This month, in cooperation with the State of Missouri, Office of Administration, the Bureau was able to make plans for them
Other independent paranormal investigation groups are currently booking their overnight investigations of the Missouri State Penitentiary. This year is the first year that the Bureau has offered these types of tours at MSP; ghost tours, twilight tours, history tours and themed tours are available as well.
The Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau began offering tours of the decommissioned Missouri State Penitentiary in May of 2009. Before it closed, MSP was the oldest continually operating penitentiary west of the Mississippi. The prison was nearly 100 years old when Alcatraz began taking inmates. When MSP opened in 1836, the Battle of the Alamo was going on in Texas and Andrew Jackson was in his second term. The Missouri State Pen housed infamous inmates such as heavyweight champion Sonny Liston, who learned to box during his time in the big house, notorious gangster 'Pretty Boy' Floyd and James Earl Ray. Tours also include the gas chamber where 40 men and women were executed, the dungeon cells, several housing units and the upper yard. In 1967 the Missouri State Penitentiary was infamously named the "bloodiest 47 acres in America" by Time magazine because of the incredibly high number of serious assaults on the grounds between 1963-1964.
Join the Convention and Visitors Bureau for a special Mystery Party at 5 p.m. on Sunday, June 12, 2011, at G2 Gallery to find out more about this paranormal group. Tickets will be available by calling the Bureau at (573) 632-2820.
For more information about the Missouri State Penitentiary tours or to schedule your tour, go to www.MissouriPenTours.com or call Megan Wadley at (866) 998-6998.