During the initial Covid stay-at-home
order, my husband and I started doing a lot of outdoor activities…many new
hikes and trails. We searched for
locations on Cape Cod that we had not explored yet, such as trails found throughout Brewster.
Nine months later, the routine has stuck, and this
weekend we did a hike in Barnstable Village.
While the trails were new, the location had significance…the Old Jail Lane
Preserve plays a significant part in one of my novels, Haunted Souls.
This piece of conservation land is huge, and we
traversed several trails and enjoyed the peaceful scenery. While I shouldn’t go into how this area plays
a part in the novel (spoilers!), I can talk about how I came to learn about the
actual Old Jail that the property refers to.
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| The Old Jail in Barnstable Village |
The initial knowledge of the Old Jail came from a ghost
tour I went on with my sister in Cape Cod’s Barnstable Village. It’s probably somewhat obvious that I am a
fan of ghosts and other spooky subjects, and my sister is the same way. Every time we get together, we have scary
movie marathons since no one else will watch them with us. So when she came for a visit that summer, we
decided to check out a “Haunted Tour” put on by the Cape and Islands Paranormal
Research Society. It offered a guided
walk to haunted places and historical sites, and it started and ended at the
Old Jail.
I’d never even heard of the Old Jail, and it’s truly a
historic gem. It’s the oldest wooden
jail house in the entire country, actually, and is thought to have been built
in 1690, on orders from the Plymouth and MA Bay Colony Courts. It was in use until the 1800s, and was moved
around a bit, eventually attached to a barn.
It was rediscovered in 1968, detached from the barn, and moved next to
the Coast Guard museum on 6A.
The structure itself is quite small, containing three
cells which held large numbers of people sometimes. According to our guide, conditions were rough
and people had to take turns lying down to sleep when cells were crowded. As you can imagine, many people died, and the
site is considered actively haunted.
Goody Hallett, the lover of the infamous pirate Samuel
Bellamy, was imprisoned there in 1716, and is said to be one of the ghosts in
residence. If you’re so inclined, you
can even pay to spend the night at the Jail.
On our tour, we were shown photographs with shadowy figures taken by
volunteers who work in the jail house. A
few of the volunteers shared their stories as well, and one claimed that a
ghost had followed them home and engaged in some poltergeist-like
activities. Well, that got my attention
right way, and my imagination started churning.
My sister had her little daughter with her, and I started to wonder what
would happen if a young child with sensitive abilities took pity on a lost soul,
and actually invited a ghost to come home with them. The initial idea for Haunted Souls was born.
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Also on Audible!
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If you enjoy spooky suspense mixed with steamy
romance, I hope you’ll check out some of my books…and enjoy the photos of the
Old Jail Lane Preserve!
