Researcher Reports Ghostly Experience During Mapping Project at Alcatraz

By Tim Binnall

A member of a team tasked with creating a 3D map of Alcatraz Island told his colleagues that he had an unsettling ghostly experience during their stay at the site's infamous prison. The eerie incident reportedly occurred as researchers were meticulously documenting the location as part of a project aimed at studying the erosion of the island. As part of the endeavor, the group spent three weeks on Alcatraz Island and, at night, actually slept in the prison.

The unorthodox campout took a spooky turn that was brought about by one team member being a particularly loud snorer. At the behest of his colleagues, group leader Pete Kelsey recalled, the man graciously agreed to sleep alone in a separate room where inmate mugshots were taken long ago. However, his unusual accommodations only lasted one terrifying night. According to Kelsey, the following morning, he noticed that the man was sleeping outside of the room and, when he later asked him why, the snorer shared a truly fantastic tale.

The man recounted being roused from his sleep in the middle of the night by the sounds of multiple people seemingly moving furniture in the room above his. Chillingly, the unnerved witness said that he also heard a piano playing. The combination of creepy unexplained sounds understandably unnerved the man, who promptly fled the room and subsequently refused to sleep in there again. Kelsey indicated that the man was serious enough in his convictions that the rest of the team agreed to let him sleep alongside them, despite his snoring.