Missouri State Penitentiary — Attraction in Jefferson City

So first of all, if a place you willingly sign up to tour tells you to be there 20-30 minutes early, 5 minutes late isn't acceptable. You have one job. Buy a watch. People pay good money for these tours, so if you can't be on time, aren't interested, or are just along for the ride, at least be respectful of those who are, or stay home.

Personally, I would lock the door at the stated starting time, and let the folks who couldn't be bothered with being on time look in the windows and knock on the door, while we smiled and waved at them. Some people need a little life lesson in punctuality. If it stings a little financially, that's a bonus.

Ok, got that off my chest. Now to the review. We took the 3 hour 11pm-2am tour. They tell you to be early so that they can check you in and give you some time to browse the gift shop. Despite most of us being on time, the pre-tour spiel didn't start until at least 15-20 minutes after it should have, so there were 45 people crammed into the entrance area with seating for maybe 25 while we waited.

The first 15 minutes or so are spent going over the rules and some of the history. They do a good job of reminding you where you are, that thousands of people died there, and it's not a joke. After that they give you a relatively quick walk-through of the entire facility, which takes a good half hour.

Here comes the good part. After the walk-through, they give you free reign to go wherever you want in the areas that are open to the tour. It gives you the opportunity to spread out and find a quiet place if you want to do some paranormal investigating. You can bring your own equipment, and they have K-2 meters to loan out free of charge. They also sell cat balls and other things in the gift shop.

A half hour before the tour ends you meet back at the main entrance and everyone drives around to the other end of the facility to the gas chamber where 39 people were executed. The original chairs are still there, and yes, you can sit in them. This isn't ideal, because dozens of people are trying to squeeze into a small building at the same time. I understand why they do it, but maybe they could split the group up and take half at the beginning just to thin the crowd a little. Whatever. It wasn't the end of the world. We were among the first ones in, so we were actually back at our hotel by 2am, the official end of the tour.

Overall, the tour was great. A few minor hiccups. To weed out some of the casual folks who do their best to ruin it for everyone else I would consider doing an overnight tour. Between the late start and the early end I feel like we got cheated out of at least half an hour of time, but it is what it is. Still...

I’ve done both the ghost tour (2 hrs) & ghost hunt (3 hrs from 11pm-2am). Ghost tour has about 15-20 people & walks you through sections of the different areas, and provides history & education.

The ghost hunt (last night) had 48 people. You can borrow an energy reader by leaving your drivers license behind. A staff member will give you rules, instructions, & a briefing of the 3 areas you can ghost hunt. They show you where you are allowed to go, then people can go on their own.

Ghost hunting requires a lot of patience. It gets annoying since people are walking around with flashlights (because some lights are turned off while other areas are dim). Best thing to do is find a quiet area with no traffic & adjust your eyes to the dark. If you’re lucky, you’ll experience orbs, footsteps of “The Runner”, shadow figures, voices, or maybe even see full or partial apparitions.

We were hot & tired (it’s humid on a June night), and couldn’t find any paranormal activity on our own…. so the next best thing was to follow a guide around. (They have the better & more expensive equipment that guests don’t have access to). And the staff is wonderful! Most are retired cops & very experienced staff who are happy to help creep you out 😄

The guide that we tagged along with, had a meter that could say words out loud from (supposedly) the spirits. In the 20-min conversation & asking questions, we heard responses of: “I’m here”… “On your right”… “Disgusting”… “Disrespectful”… “Aaron”… “Ashley”…”Tired”… “No energy”…

I also downloaded a ghost hunting app that’s supposed to show apparitions as stick figures on your phone screen. (*There’s a figure in the death row shower who’s there a lot!) We also saw shadow figures poking out their heads from cells to look at us 😬

The last part of the ghost hunt takes you to the gas chambers by the parking lot. The original stone path was the last thing inmates saw before their execution. There is a lot of history here to be further explored but people usually leave after taking pictures before concluding their visit. Staff is there to answer any questions guests may have.

Overall, the 3-hour drive from IL to MO State Penitentiary was worth it for us! We came to experience the paranormal & got what we were looking for (whether you believe it’s real or not). The best part is, our party had a great time in celebrating my sweetheart’s birthday….in prison! Some staff have pictures they caught on their phones & we’re happy to share with us! And others have stories of their experiences working here. If you come with an open mind & no expectations, you’ll...

2 hour history tour - $20 per person

Very informative and impressive activity. Besides learning a ton about MSP we got to walk to different locations and walk around with a loose eye. The tour guide I had worked there the last 20 years the penitentiary was open and had many interesting stories and new the ins and outs of everything and how the prison worked, who really ran it, and what went on behind the scenes. Its not a happy place and it's rough to be there but with so much rich history you're drawn in. Overall this is a great thing to do if you love history and don't mind hearing gruesome and horrific things that went on. You will learn about the famous people that stayed here and see their cells and even see weapons and the gas chambers as well as learn those deadly stories.

I love paranormal stuff but with the history tour nothing paranormal is mentioned so if I go another time I will be doing a haunted ghost tour. Because of previous stories I've read and videos I've watched I know about some haunted places and activity in the areas we went but like I mentioned earlier, there was no talk of paranormal activity where we were. (Probably so it wouldn't scare people off. After all it was a history toutlr not a paranormal tour.)

I reccomend going in a cooler month or in the morning when it is not so hot out unless you like the sweltering heat because there is no air conditioning in any of the buildings and not a lot of shade outside.

There's not a lot in the gift shop unless you like shirts and it's a reasonable price. I think $20? I didn't get one since my souvenir was an embroidery patch and the pictures I took as we walked...