Copyright © 1998 G-HOST Publishing, ITF: By Robert Wlodarski and Anne Wlodarski

There were other unexplainable incidents blamed on ghosts. For instance, a fire broke out one time in the laundry room when I was on duty. Several other guards and myself smelled smoke and saw flames leaping out of the roof. We could also hear the sounds of breaking glass as the windows exploded from the intense heat. A hundred-or-so blankets had caught fire. Our on-site fire team was able to put out the blaze, but no one ever determined the cause. No incendiary devices were found; no faulty electrical wiring was responsible, and no prisoners had been in the room at the time of the occurrence. Several of the fire team members spoke in jest that the Alcatraz ghosts were responsible. We all had ourselves a uneasy laugh because, in the back of our minds, we were unable to shake the feeling that something other than a human being started the blaze.

Even Warden Johnston balked at the possibility of ghosts until he toured the facility just before his retirement. I was told that several guards were escorting the Warden around, along with the newly appointed warden. While touring the dungeons, they all stopped halfway down the stairs when the lights went out. Just then, everyone in the group began hearing the unmistakable sounds of sobbing (as if it were coming from a woman) which seemed to emanate from inside the walls. Someone flicked on a lighter, yet no one was there. The group stood there asking one another if they had heard the sobbing. They all heard it, and, to their amazement, the sounds continued, growing louder and louder by the minute. Then, an icy, cold gust of wind blew through the group, chilling them to the bone. As the cold breeze subsided, so did the sobbing. The new warden looked as puzzled as the rest of the group and just laughed it off by commenting on the many reports that had circulated about the "ghosts of Alcatraz."

One evening, I followed several other guards to the Warden’s House where a Christmas party was in full swing. We all danced the night away and ate fine food. Several of us went into the back of the house and started playing poker when we witnessed another chilling apparition. Around midnight, as we sat around the table playing our last round of cards, a man wearing a gray suit, double-breasted, I think; and a hat with a brim-the kind a poker dealer wears, materialized in front of us out of thin air. He had mutton chop side burns, and a cigar hung out of the right corner of his mouth. One of the guards who was blowing smoke out of his cigar saw the apparition and almost fell out of his chair.

When the ghost appeared, we all began noticing a drop in the temperature and a sudden chill in the room. Within seconds, the fire in the Ben Franklin stove was extinguished. When the lights flickered off and on several times, we all knew it was time to go, so we quickly got up while the apparition was still watching us and hastily left the Warden’s House. After a good night’s sleep, the talk of the entire island was about the ghostly presence in the warden’s residence. The warden and his family were either unaware of the specter, or they simply accepted it as part of the household.

We had all heard the stories relating to the 200 Civil War soldiers who were stationed on Alcatraz. This heavily armed group was prepared for battle. The soldiers grew restless and bored from having nothing to do each day, and began fighting among themselves. Whether it was due to murder, disease, forced labor, or natural causes, over 45 of these men died on Alcatraz. Apparently, their spirits remained behind. On several occasions, guards would take roll after exercise allowance was finished, and they noticed that there were extra men in line. These were not the current convicts but men dressed in strange uniforms from another era. As they recounted, the extra men simply vanished.

During one of the roll calls, I was stationed at the end of the inmates’ lineup. My job was to follow the prisoners into the cell block while the other guard took a body count. The other guard seemed a bit uneasy and confused because he saw a few "extra men" in the line. As he halted the prisoners, we both noted a number of "see through" soldiers standing in line next to the "real" convicts-they had forlorn looks on their faces. Considering that there was not much more we could do, the prisoners were ordered to begin marching back to their cells alongside the ghostly soldiers. I noticed that, at a certain point, each of the inmates started rubbing his bare arms as if a cold chill had swept up from the bay-within seconds, all of the ghost soldiers disappeared.