The Creepers of Kent County Jail - A New England Legends Podcast

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Oh, it's a chilly day here in East Greenwich Jeff.

Yeah, it is.

And we're just a stone throw from the waters of Greenwich Bay in Rhode Island.

The docs just down the hill are mostly empty right now.

But when the weather warms up in the spring, there'll be dozens of boats filling those slips.

Now we're walking along Water Street, which is well named because the road hugs the shore.

There's some great old historic buildings here too.

Yeah, and the yellow one right here on our left, that is our destination.

Well, that is a handsome building.

Looks like a two story house.

There are two chimneys on either side of the roof, five windows across the second floor,

four windows across the first floor, and the sign over the door reads East Greenwich Preservation Society.

And this is our destination, right?

Yeah, it's home to the preservation society, but it used to be a jail.

Oh, yeah, I see a small sign to the right of the door.

It says, second Kent County jail, 1795.

This is an old building.

Ray, we've come to East Greenwich, Rhode Island to see the old Kent County jail because they say this building is haunted.

Hello, I'm Jeff Belanger and I'm Ray Osier.

Welcome to episode 429 of the New England Legends podcast.

Thanks for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England one story to time.

From ghosts, monsters, UFOs, roadside oddities, and all the other wicked strangeness that makes New England great.

Please hit that subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts so that you don't miss a thing.

We'll go hunting for the ghosts of the old Kent County jail in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.

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Okay, so this building pretty much looks like a nice old colonial house.

It does, from the front, sure.

In fairness, it hasn't been a jail since 1957.

But let's head around here to the side of the building, a little closer to the water.

The first part looks like a continuation of the house, but as we get a little further back.

Oh yeah, I get it.

There are metal bars on all the windows in the stone section in the back.

All right, that looks like a jail.

Yeah.

The back of the building is really close to the water, too.

So close that the story goes on days with a really high tide or a storm surge.

That the tide used to flood the cove and spill into the floor some of the lower jail cells.

Imagine that.

You're locked up and there's water coming in.

Yeah, that would be scary.

The land has changed a bit over the past two centuries thanks to natural erosion,

silt, things like that.

The water doesn't come up this high anymore.

And they say this place is haunted?

They do.

What is it about old jails and prisons?

Well, when you walk inside an old prison or jail, you see these cages.

You can't help but imagine how people feel being brought in here.

I mean, most of them made a stupid mistake, some error of judgment that landed them here for punishment.

Others, though, are cold blooded and need to be locked away or they're going to hurt people.

Yeah, I get that.

A dark vibe for sure.

Now to be clear, this was a jail, the kind of place where they would hold you until your trial, temporarily.

So you wouldn't have served years of your life here, but it was the place you were brought after you were caught and arrested.

Still, yeah, a dark vibe, which is maybe why they say this place is haunted.

They say those lower level cells in the back are the most active with shadowy figures lurking around, strange sounds,

groaning doors, things like that.

You know, echoes from the past.

Yeah, that is creepy.

So here's a little more background on the old jail.

We don't know exactly when it was built, but town records reference the building in April of 1796

when East Greenwich transferred some land over to the state of Rhode Island that says,

quote, where the new jail now stands, end quote.

Got it.

So there was a new jail building here, at least in April of 1796.

Right.

So probably 1795.

Got it.

Now when it was built, it looked a lot like it does now, a house in the front with living quarters for the jailers and an attached brick building with the cells.

The more cooperative prisoners were house upstairs, the more dangerous were house below.

Over the years, various jailers and their families called this place home as they took care of the town's prisoners.

Squire wall was an early jailkeeper, then several generations of the place family ran the facility while they lived here.

Eventually, John places daughter Evelyn married a man named Jotham Smith.

Jotham and Evelyn lived here and took care of the jail, but Jotham died young and Evelyn soon took over,

making her the first woman jailer in the United States.

That's really cool.

Way to go Rhode Island.

Evelyn was respected by everyone in town, but more importantly, she was respected by the prisoners.

She treated them kindly, they obeyed her orders, and were given privileges like access to the quarters until bedtime.

In 1957, the Kent County jail was replaced by larger institutions in Cranston.

The building then became a youth center, and as you can imagine, a bunch of young people running around took a toll on the building.

By 1976, it was in rough shape and was turned over to the East Greenwich Preservation Society who restored the building we see here today.

The haunted building we see here today.

There have been many events that transpired inside this building.

People brought in for petty crimes who spent a day or two here, drunks who had to sleep it off, but also a darker element.

Each event, each person left some kind of impression behind.

We're going to focus on just one of those events.

So let's head back to 1891 and visit this jail.

It's October 31st, 1891.

Halloween here in the town of Arctic Rhode Island, a neighborhood within West Warwick.

We're in the gilded age, the millionaires and new porters throwing lavish parties, industries expanding, the richer getting richer,

but many in the middle and working class are struggling.

One of those in the struggle is a local man named Rhodes Cornell, a 50-year-old carpenter. He's also a well-known drunk.

It's just afternoon when Rhodes stumbles home.

He's drunk again.

Rhodes is arguing with his wife and being abusive, also in the house as Mrs. Cornell's sister Elizabeth Reynolds.

When Elizabeth steps in to defend her sister, Rhodes strikes Elizabeth.

The two sisters are rattled. This is not new behavior for Rhodes.

Rhodes just stormed out of the house. He's heading back into town to find more liquor.

Meanwhile, the two sisters are consoling each other. This is no way to live.

It's just after 2pm when Rhodes returns from his bender.

The two sisters are grateful that the drunken man headed directly to the bedroom where he falls on the bed and sleeps.

Just after Rhodes falls asleep, a local man named John Gattis comes calling at the door.

Gattis also lives in the Arctic neighborhood. He's good-natured, debonair, and is liked by many of his friends and neighbors.

Gattis is led into the kitchen where the drunken Rhodes soon appears.

Almost immediately, Rhodes begins yelling at his sister-in-law once again.

Rhodes just hit Elizabeth again.

Gattis grabs Rhodes and has him pinned to the floor. He's trying to protect the two women from the drunken Rhodes.

Okay, Gattis is getting up now. This whole situation is awful.

Gattis is heading for the door. He just wants no part of this.

Oh, man, look at that!

Rhodes just shot Gattis. The visitor is just slumped there on the floor. He's bleeding everywhere.

Mrs. Cornell is running for the doctor.

Meanwhile, Rhodes is standing there, just staring. Still holding his pistol at his side.

He's got a blank look on his face, just staring into space.

Dr. Windsor soon arrives and checks the bullet wound on Gattis.

It's bad. He sends for doctors Smith and Washington. They come as quickly as possible,

but it's clear the bullet has shredded some internal organs and he's not going to survive.

Soon, Gattis's brother and mother arrived to say they're goodbyes.

As does Gattis's priest, the Reverend Father Kelly, who administers last rights.

Rhodes is arrested without a fuss and brought to the Kent County Jail and nearby East Greenwich.

Go ahead and read the corners report, Ray.

Okay, it says after hearing the testimony and reviewing the same on the death of John Gattis,

on the 31st day of October, 1891 at Rhode Island, came to his death by a gunshot wound in the right side of his abdomen.

I further find and certify that the gunshot was found and the said death caused by the said Rhodes Cornell,

who did then in there, feloniously slay and wounded said John Gattis.

Seems pretty open and shut.

The following morning, here at the Kent County Jail,

Rhodes spent his first night in jail and now he's sitting in his cell just staring.

He's disheveled, scratches on his face.

A reporter came in this morning to get the story.

What did Rhodes say?

Not much.

He said he doesn't have anything to add and that he doesn't have a lawyer yet,

but he would like to see Ben Williams of Crompton.

Well, that's awkward.

Ben Williams is friendly with both Rhodes Cornell and the victim, John Gattis.

Ben Williams offered a little more information.

He explained how Rhodes was one of the best carpenters around.

Before he took to drinking, he was also a very good man.

He was married three times, but his third marriage was not a happy one.

I still don't understand why John Gattis stopped by the house yesterday,

and what reason did he have to knock on the Cornell's door?

Yeah, that is the big question.

Williams explains how the 38-year-old Gattis had never married,

who's close with his mother.

In fact, his final wishes were that she'd be cared for.

But when asked why Gattis may have been calling at the Cornell home,

Williams replied, I'd rather not say.

So, yeah, I'm guessing there's more to the story.

And I'm thinking there were only four people who know the whole story.

One of them is dead.

One of them is sitting here in the Kent County jail,

and the other two sisters aren't talking.

Meanwhile, Rhodes Cornell is just sitting in his jail cell staring.

His freedom is gone.

He'll sit behind these bars for a while,

then no doubt get moved to a prison behind more bars,

likely for the rest of his life.

He'll sit behind these bars for a while,

then no doubt get moved to a prison behind more bars,

likely for the rest of his life.

There are eight cells here on the first floor.

Upstairs, there are a few more for women and deaders.

Each cell has a story to tell.

Each person who spent time here went through the mental torment

of asking themselves, how did I get here?

What will happen to my life now?

All of that anguish seeps into these bars and bricks.

It can never be washed away.

And that brings us back to today.

As we mentioned, this building served a number of functions

over its lifespan,

but it's been the East Greenwich Preservation Society's haunted home

since the 1970s.

We told only one story of one prisoner inside the jail.

There were countless others over the years.

Another event that left a permanent mark on the building occurred on

July 28, 1880.

It was Everland Smith's first year as jail matron

when Isaiah Carr was brought in for murdering his nephew.

On the morning of July 28,

Everland found Carr hanging from his cell by his anchorchief.

Her prisoner took his own life.

So many people, so many tragic stories.

Buildings absorb all of these feelings and emotions and events.

And the past still echoes here.

It's no surprise folks sometimes see a darting shadow

or hear an unusual sound that they can't identify.

With so much history, much of it dark,

it's clear the former Kent County jail is haunted.

Haunted and haunting.

And that takes us to After the Legend,

where we dig a little deeper into this week's story

and sometimes veer off course.

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of course, thank you patrons.

Thank you for financially helping with our hosting costs,

production, marketing,

and all the other expenses it takes to bring you two stories each week.

It's just three bucks per month.

For that you'll get early ad free access to new episodes

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No one else gets to hear.

If you can help us out, please head over to patreon.com slash New England Legends.

To see some pictures of the old Kent County jail,

click on the link in our episode description.

Go to our website, click on episode 429.

Much like the Frenalt School, which we talked about recently,

in a vault episode,

a lot of the times these people weren't treated as normal people

or people that could be fixed.

Right.

And also grouping people together.

I know there was upstairs, the lesser criminals

and the more murderous ones downstairs.

But sometimes they were mixed together.

And it didn't seem like there was a lot of thought

putting to you committed a crime,

get in general population.

Right, right. Well, it's jail, right?

So you're supposed to sort it out while you wait here.

I suppose.

Right.

But they're still mingling along each other

and they've got privileges that can walk the hallways.

One guy that's evaded taxes, whatever,

it could get stabbed by a serial killer.

Right. That's absolutely right.

Yeah, because the thought is like,

you stay here, we're going to get you a date and court.

And then from there, you'll either be set free

or you'll be moved into a proper prison

where you'll do your time.

And also, I imagine in a community that small,

there are probably times where it was completely empty.

Yeah, maybe.

Totally possible where the jailer was just,

yep, nothing going on.

Maybe a drunk comes in,

sleeps it off and in the morning,

they're like, just when he sobers up,

just let him out.

Well, how many police station?

How many jail cells do you see in a standard police station?

Not many.

Couple three.

Just a couple.

Right.

Because they're not held very long,

maybe the drunk tank overnight.

Exactly.

Yeah.

They're just there to hold you until you're released

on your own reconnaissance.

You get bailed out or.

Have you ever spent time in a jail cell?

Many, however.

No.

Mine's only once.

Oh, wait.

Okay.

I'll just finish my story real quick.

They were all closed and haunted

and we were doing it through a paranormal investigation.

I have been in many, many, many, many, many cells.

Yeah.

But never by force.

I was always free to walk out.

Please, though, please.

I can't say anything exciting.

Well, it's nothing exciting.

I just, I didn't renew the tags on my car or something like that.

I forget exactly what it was.

You told this before.

And they put it in cuffs and checked my hat and then put it

on sideways when they slapped it back on.

And I'm like, could you give me a little dignity?

Put it back on correctly.

Yeah.

And then they took my shoe laces.

And this is all because my car wasn't registered.

I'm like, can I just drive it to a garage, get an inspected

or whatever you need?

So it's the inspection.

You can follow me.

It wasn't the inspection.

But I just wanted to get to like a downtown area

where I can park in a parking lot and call it for a ride.

But they towed it.

So that was another cost.

And we're out in the middle of rural.

I think it was Oxbridge.

Yeah.

I'm like, are you kidding me?

Slow it.

Oh, my.

Slow it for police work.

Yeah.

One cop just, I mean, it was treated me like a killer.

And the other one was like, I'm sorry that this is happening to you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then it was a whole day because the judge went to lunch

for like three hours or something or whatever they do.

And so I had to wait for that.

And then I had to get my shoe laces back

because you're no longer a suicide risk.

Did they choose day after noon in Oxbridge?

I'm going to hang myself.

Did they feed you?

I did not get any food.

No.

No.

And there was one other guy in the cell with me.

What are you in for?

Nothing like the movies.

You don't want to talk to anybody.

Yeah.

But that was interesting.

But I have, I went to the same town, Oxbridge.

I went to their old town hall which has an old jail in the basement.

Yeah, sure.

So we did a little bit down there.

And we swear we heard a police scanner.

Oh.

So that was kind of cool.

We didn't catch that on audio, on tape.

But we did swear we all heard that.

Some kind of squelching and voices.

So as I mentioned, I've been to a lot of jails and prisons.

The prisons, to me, are more frightening.

Because like, if you're going to prison, it's, the die is cast.

Yeah.

Right?

It's been settled.

You're going to spend time here.

It could be six months, a year, could be the rest of your life, right?

It could be death row.

Yeah.

Where they're like, no, you're going to, you're leaving here in a body bag.

Right.

So to me, whenever I would visit a haunt, I sort of try to put myself into the shoes,

the shoelaceless shoes of the people that would be brought there for whatever reason

and be like, oh my God, what did I do that I'm here?

And usually what we're talking about is that really poor decision made in the span of seconds.

Oh, sure.

Just a horrible choice, maybe even an accident, but you're going to have to pay for that.

Yeah.

And you're just like, man, if I had just walked away from that fight,

if I had just taken a breath, turned around and walked away,

I would be on my couch right now watching football, right?

I was a good person before this.

Yeah.

And you're still a good person.

Yeah.

They're good people that made a horrible choice or mistake,

and they're going to pay their debt to society.

However, you know, talking to enough corrections officers and stuff like that,

there is a small percentage of people who are just out to hurt.

Sure.

And then they get out of jail.

They hurt someone else.

They go back in.

They're just like, no, they have to be kept in a cage because there's no hope.

They're just, they are just an agent of chaos.

And they are going to hurt people.

And this is where we have to keep them.

That phrase is exactly what happens.

But it's such a scary phrase that people get locked in cages.

Yes.

You know, because we think of animals in cages.

I've stood in many a cell.

Yeah.

And again, I was free to walk out, right?

Like the door was open.

I could just, but, but standing there, I mean, it's a closet.

They're small.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And I get it.

It's jail.

It's not supposed to be like, hey, where's the sushi chef in here, right?

Like, uh, where's the, where's the sauna?

Yeah.

Um, no, it's, it's meant to be...

Unless you go to country club jail.

Right.

If you're a politician or something, yeah.

Right.

Wealthy or a politician.

Yeah.

There's tennis and golf and stuff like that.

And if you have time, just get back to your room, you know, at some point.

Um, but yeah, no, it's, it's, um, yeah, it's, it's a frightening thing.

I've been in enough jails to know.

I don't want to go to jail.

Right.

Like, that's, uh, not, not a good idea.

Oh, yeah, I don't think I'd survive in jail.

You're pretty cute.

I don't know.

I don't, you know, they say you can go punch the biggest guy.

I don't, I don't even know if I can really do that.

I wouldn't do that.

I don't think that's great advice.

Unless, unless you yourself are probably the biggest guy.

That's not going to be me.

Yeah.

And then, and that, and that, if you're built like a mountain and you can bench press, you

know, 400 pounds, then yeah, maybe go ahead, take a few swings.

Yeah.

Um, and for the most part, I just keep my head down.

Yeah.

And, um, I think people mostly leave you alone, find a boyfriend right away.

Right away.

Like a big guy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You don't want to be the last one picked at the dance, right?

Yeah.

Don't punch the biggest guy.

Become his boyfriend.

Just be like, hey, that's, yeah.

I could be your type.

Yeah.

Uh, yeah, horrible, horrible stuff.

But yeah, no, this, uh, but this place, yeah, beautiful building too, so cute and, um,

historic.

And then, yeah, you look at it from the front, you're like, that's a house.

It's just a really cool, well maintained, old colonial house.

And then you just walk around the little side and the street goes around the side.

You can easily do it.

And you see these, these bars on the windows and you're like, oh, yeah, clearly that's

the jail.

Um, yeah, cool building, cool, cool little museum that you can still visit today.

Did you know that most of our story leads come from you?

We love when you contact us through our website with the story ideas.

That's where you're most of our ideas.

Also please tell a few friends about our show.

That's how we grow.

Also, on our website, you can see dates for Jeff's story tour plus dates to see my band

The Pup Kings.

We'd like to thank our sponsors.

Thank you to our Patreon patrons and our theme music by John Judd.

Until next time, remember, stay legendary.

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