Chilling History Of Squirrel Cage Jail, Where Anmol Bishnoi Is Lodged

Anmol Bishnoi, the younger sibling of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, was arrested in the US a few days ago for entering that country with illegal documents, sources told NDTV. The 26-year-old is wanted in several high-profile cases, including the 2022 murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. He is also accused in last month’s killing of ex-Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique and the firing incident outside actor Salman Khan’s Mumbai home in June 2024.

Bishnoi is currently at the Pottawattamie County Jail in Iowa, a facility known as the ‘Squirrel Cage Jail.’

All about the Squirrel Cage Jail

The Squirrel Cage Jail, an architectural marvel with a chilling history, was constructed in 1885 on the grounds of a former church morgue. One of the only three remaining revolving jails in the US, it is renowned for its eerie and unsettling design. The jail is unique for its rotating cells that revolve within a circular structure to align with a single door. This peculiar design allowed jailers to rotate the cells to reach the desired prisoner, an architectural feature that continues to intrigue and unsettle visitors.

The facility was used as a jail until 1969. In 1971, it was acquired by the Council Bluffs Park Board for preservation and transformed into a museum by the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County (HSPS). Since its conversion, the jail has attracted considerable attention, particularly for its paranormal reputation. Reports of strange occurrences, such as unexplained footsteps and whispers, have surfaced for decades, particularly from staff and visitors to the site.

“Many of the jail staff and volunteers have heard footsteps, voices, whispers and doors moving. Some have even seen dark shadows moving across the stairs or past doorways,” an article on the Council Bluffs website quoted Kat Slaughter, the museum’s manager, as saying.

The haunting at the jail has been linked to a series of tragic events over the years. At least four known deaths occurred within the building. A prisoner died of a heart attack, another fell from a great height while attempting to carve his name on the ceiling, a third died by suicide and a guard was fatally shot during a mishap with riot training equipment.

Paranormal experts have conducted multiple investigations at the site, with some capturing unexplained phenomena, including Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVPs) and visual evidence of shadows. Slaughter notes that investigators have recorded electromagnetic field (EMF) anomalies in areas where there should be none, further adding to the jail’s mystique.

According to the HSPS, the walls of this jail bear the scratched signatures and dates of many of its infamous prisoners. These markings stand as proof of the jail’s grim past, which is unlikely to be replicated in a modern facility, stated HSPS on its website.