Take a tour-Squirrel cage jail house Council Bluffs, Iowa 2018
This jail was built in 1885 and was in shut down in 1969. Filmed in August, 2018. More information can be found here
Squirrel Cage jail preview
From the outside it looks like a stately home. Inside it's quite different. Just 18 rotary cell jails were ever built. Most were promptly condemned as unsafe and cruel, but the biggest one lasted the longest, its three story 90,000 pound rotating cell block serving as the Pottawattamie County jail in Council Bluffs, Iowa from 1885 until 1969. It's a museum today, and a favorite of paranormal investigators. The graphic sketches in the video are of the rotary cell jail in Waxahachie, Texas and were drawn by author Mark Pannill.
Mysterious jail room unsealed in Council Bluffs
The historic Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs opened a mysteriously sealed room Monday and invited some paranormal investigators to tag along.
Ghost Adventures | The Squirrel Cage Jail SNEAK PEEK | October 19, 2019
The Squirrel Cage Jail housed the infamous killer Jake Bird. After attacking a Carter Lake couple with an ax in 1925, Bird spent some time in the jail before being shipped to the state penitentiary in Fort Madison. In the late 1940s, Bird, a drifter from Indiana, would confess to killing 44 people around the country.
“He was one of the first registered serial killers in this country,” Ed Ritchie, a tour guide for the jail, said in 2009 in a Nonpareil article.
The “Squirrel Cage” jail served as the Pottawattamie County Jail from September 1885 until December 1969. Its unique characteristic was the three floors of rotating cells that a jail would turn with a hand lever.
The “Ghost Adventures” crew, which includes: Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin, Jay Wasley and Billy Tolley, visited the jail earlier this year. Residents of the area speculated a number of different possible locations online after Bagans was spotted in downtown Omaha in June.
Do not forget to watch the exciting investigation tonight! Saturday, October 19, 2019.
Squirrel Cage Jail
This video highlights our investigation of the Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs, IA in 2015.
Top 13. Tourist Attractions & Things to Do in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Top 13. Tourist Attractions & Things to Do in Council Bluffs, Iowa: Union Pacific Railroad Museum, Harrah's Casino, Lewis and Clark Monument and Scenic Overlook, Ameristar Casino Hotel, Pottawattamie County Squirrel Cage Jail and Museum, Historic General Dodge House, Hitchcock Nature Center, Western Historic Trails Center, Ditmars Orchard, Kanesville Tabernacle, Bayliss Park, RailsWest Railroad Museum & HO Model Display, Lincoln Memorial
Squirrel Cage Reveal - Sept 22 2017
Old School Paranormal's investigation of the history 130 year-old Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs, IA.
Haunted History of Squirrel Cage Jail
Preview of paranormal investigators tour of historic building.
Where in Iowa is Jeff?
Finally, after 5,000 miles on the road and 157 dance clips, the video of my tour of Iowa is complete. Filmed between May and November of 2007, it is my spoof of Matt Harding of wherethehellismatt.com. This video was shot entirely on my Canon PowerShot A540 and started as a goofy way to highlight the places I finally took the opportunity to see in my home state, places I have wanted to see since I was a kid. Trust me, there's a lot to see in the Hawkeye State besides corn and pigs and beans and cows and tractors and barns and silos. Don't believe it? Watch the video. Better yet, visit Iowa and see for yourself.
Here's the scoop on the clips in the video:
1. Adair's infamous smiley face water tower
2. Young cornfield near New Vienna (there really is corn in Iowa!)
3. The Bridges of Madison County
4. Iowa's largest frying pan in Brandon
5. The amusement park at Arnolds Park
6. Old Fort Madison in Fort Madison
7. Ledges State Park near Luther
8. Burlington's Snake Alley (Ripley's Crookedest Street in the World)
9. The Squirrel Cage Jail in Council Bluffs (awesome - big surprise #1)
10. The pink elephant outside the Isle of Capri Casino in Marquette
11. Maquoketa Caves State Park near Maquoketa (best state park in Iowa)
12. The highest point in Iowa, Ocheyedan Mound near Ocheyedan (oops, SECOND highest, I guess)
13. Our state capitol in Des Moines
14. Fertile, Iowa, population 353 (and growing, I would presume)
15. Spook Cave near McGregor
16. The Wells Blue Bunny visitor's center in LeMars
17. One of the limestone quarries at Stone City
18. The Underground Railroad's Hitchcock House near Lewis
19. The Mahaney Bell Tower in Jefferson
20. Gull Point State Park near Wahpeton
21. John Wayne's birthplace in Winterset
22. The University of Northern Iowa's UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls
23. The Indian maiden statue in Pocahontas
24. The Little Brown Church in Nashua
25. Jester State Park near Granger
26. The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake
27. The Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, or RAGBRAI
28. The American Gothic house in Eldon
29. The banks of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids
30. Dayton's Rodeo Grounds (my Grandpa Vern Danielson's legacy)
31. Ackley's town bandshell
32. Zwingle, Iowa, population 99
33. Heery Woods State Park near Clarksville (yes, Heery, not Henry)
34. Shenandoah's Iowa Walk of Fame (I'm dancing on the Everly Brothers)
35. The Mont Rest bed and breakfast in Bellevue
36. Camp Dodge near Johnston
37. The USS Riverside in Riverside - the future birthplace of James T. Kirk!
38. Boone County's Kate Shelley Bridge
39. Waterloo Creek near Dorchester (my favorite trout stream)
40. Dutch windmill in Orange City
41. The Buffalo Ridge Wind Farm near Alta
42. The 1912 Ax Murder House in Villisca
43. The state penitentiary in Anamosa
44. A cool round barn near Milo
45. Mallard's Welcome sign
46. The Sergeant Floyd Memorial in Sioux City
47. The mighty Woodward-Granger Hawks in my hometown of Woodward
48. The Lewis and Clark Monument in Pottawattamie County
49. The Field of Dreams in Dyersville
50. The Saylorville Lake spillway
51. The world's smallest church in Festina
52. Albert the Bull in Audubon
53. Iowa State University in Ames - my alma mater!
54. Pikes Peak State Park, looking at Wisconsin
55. The Millstream Brewing Company in Amana
56. The Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend
57. Eagle Point City Park in Dubuque
58. The Kate Shelley Railroad Museum and Park in Boone
59. Dunning's Spring Falls in Decorah (big surprise #2)
60. The tree in the middle of the road, near Brayton
61. The Iowa State Fair in Des Moines
62. Bellevue State Park near Bellevue, of course
63. Waubonsie State Park, in the SW corner of Iowa, looking at Nebraska
64. Prairie Meadows in Altoona
65. Lighthouse Point in West Okoboji
66. The historic Sutliff Bridge in Sutliff
67. The Port of Burlington in Burlington (yep, I liked Burlington)
68. Home in Anamosa
Yes, that really is Matt Harding dancing with me in the Inspiration by... clip. This summer, I was fortunate enough to dance with Matt with a group in Chicago for Matt's next around-the-world video. It's due out in June 2008. In the meantime:
Lastly, my apologies to Iowa City, Pella, Davenport, Marion, Waterloo, Mason City, Fairfield, Brooklyn, Forest City, Van Wert, and the other hundreds of cities, towns, parks, golf courses, and cool places that I did not have time to visit or shot crappy clips that didn't make the final cut. There is WAY too much in Iowa to see in one summer, but I made a good run at it.
Iowans, get away from your TV's and computers and go see your state!!! You really don't know what you're missing.