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| Old town jail in Castleberry, Alabama |
Over the years, a number of people have told me about the old Castleberry jail. As best that I can remember, the first person to tell me about it was the late J.B. Jackson, who served for many years as the town’s mayor and police chief. In the years to follow, several other people told me about this abandoned (and possibly haunted) building, but for whatever reason, I never took the time to see it for myself.
Most recently, as we walked to our vehicles after an Evergreen city council meeting, Mike Lanier of Castleberry suggested that I do a story on the old jail. He said it was an unusual and unique old building that would make for a good story. Not long after that, I reached out to Castleberry Police Chief J.C. Salter, who told me where to find this off-the-beaten-path structure.
Chief Salter not only gave me permission to visit the jail, which is located on a small piece of property still owned by the town, but he also supplied me with an overhead satellite map that marked the jail’s exact location. For those of you unfamiliar with this old jail, it’s a two-story building located in a partially wooded area off Evergreen Street, on the east side of the railroad tracks in Castleberry. I’ve been to Castleberry many times, but had never laid eyes on this old jail until last Thursday.
Around one o’clock last Thursday, I found myself on Evergreen Street and pulled over into an out-of-the-way spot near a line of mailboxes. From my parking spot, I could see the top of the old jail, standing tall behind a mobile home a short distance away. As chance would have it, another car pulled up behind me and dropped off a gentleman who lives in the area.
He eyed me suspiciously at first, but when I told him what I was up to, he happily led me back to the old jail. We navigated our way through a gaggle of excited yard dogs and eventually found ourselves standing in front of the old jail. My good-natured guide said goodbye, saying he had to tend to a broken lawnmower, leaving me to explore the old jail on my own.
The ground floor of this old jail consists of three cells that open to the outside while the top floor is one large open room with only one entrance. The building is obviously pretty old, and Mike Lanier, who owns Evergreen Concrete, says the building is made of “cast in place” concrete, which indicates that it was likely built before World War II. Jim Cox, who owns The Clarke County Democrat, said that there are a few buildings in Grove Hill constructed in this fashion, and they date back to around 1910.
Local history expert Sherry Johnston also supplied me with some information about the old jail. According to her research, there was a private school in Castleberry before the Civil War. This school was located “a little below and south of the Castleberry jail.” Is this antebellum jail the same jail that still stands in Castleberry today or was it an earlier jail that predates the existing structure?
Several people have told me that this old jail is haunted, and I found the second floor of the building to be particularly spooky. There’s a big hole in the floor, and the ceiling and walls are covered in cobwebs and dried-out vines. I personally don’t know if this building is truly haunted, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that some visitors have had an unusual experience or two within the walls of this old jail.
Before leaving, I had a nice chat with the young couple who live right in front of the jail. I explained to them what I was doing, and they told me to take as much time as I needed. Chief Salter had given them a heads up the day before that I would be stopping by to look at the old jail.
In the end, as I eased back towards Evergreen, many questions about the old jail came to mind. When was it constructed? When did the town stop using it to house inmates? Is it really haunted? If anyone in the reading audience has any additional information about the old jail, please let me know.
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