Hauntings of The Old Monroe County Jail
Posted: 09.03.2024 | Updated: 09.03.2024
The energy in Key West is generally one of positivity and delight, the white, cozy beaches soaking up the joy and carefree happiness exuded by all who sink their feet into the silky sands. Unfortunately, even the most untroubled are marked by dark clouds and sparks of negative energy. In 1892, the Florida Keys introduced the Key West Jail, a small building designed to house criminals who threatened the local joie de vivre. The nefarious figures who’ve graced the barred cells took advantage of the island paradise and brought with them an aura that’s since marred the historic building. Despite several additions and renovations, the old jail has retained the stink of malefactors and the heavy air beget by tragedy. As part of a restoration project launched in 2020, the 1892 Old Monroe County Jail underwent repairs and upgrades designed to make the building safer and more palatable as an exhibit to honor the local law enforcement. Despite the work done, a lingering presence still speaks to the real history behind the 19th-century building.Why is the Old Monroe County Jail haunted?
In areas touched by tragedy, it’s not uncommon for spirits to manifest and residual hauntings to be trapped within their eternal loop. The Old Monroe County facility has seen its colorful figures, but one of its most infamous hauntings was born of misfortune and a forbidden love. Manuel Isleno Cabeza didn’t deserve the fate he received, his greatest crime being vengeance in the name of love, but he remains a fixture of the jail, caught in a perpetual search for his freedom. As one of Florida’s oldest settled regions, Key West is brimming with haunted tales. You can catch many of them, and possibly even some secrets about the Old Monroe County Jail, by booking a Key West ghost tour.Bringing Justice to Key West
By the decade leading up to the turn of the 20th century, Key West was Florida’s most populated city. Its population of around 18,000 people required the typical facilities expected of a budding society, so in 1892, a new jail was constructed in Jackson Square. What would become known as the Old Monroe County Jail was designed in the image of the existing courthouse, its frame a neat stack of red bricks ferried in from the mainland. The new jail wasn’t just built strong enough to house Key West’s more troubled actors. It was also built to withstand a fire. Years prior, Key West’s commercial center almost burned entirely to the ground as a fire swept through the hub of the beachy island. Fire resistance was a must for the new facility, though it wouldn’t be a raging inferno that would wind up marring the new finishings of the freshly constructed jail. In 1888, four years before the jail was constructed, Charles Fletcher Dupont, the child of slaves, was appointed sheriff of Key West. Though his efforts did help keep the streets clean and the jail cells full, in 1921, a series of events unfolded that called into question the effectiveness of the Key West police force.The Murder of Manuel Isleno Cabeza
On April 1, 1919, Private Manuel Isleno Cabeza departed France, leaving behind the ruins of the First World War to return to Key West. Once settled back into life in the Keys, Cabeza opened a coffee house and went about life as normal. While engaged in his day to day, he eventually met a darker-skinned Afro-Cuban named Angela. The early-20th century was still a time of racial persecution, and when Cabeza’s relationship went public, it drew the attention of local members of the Ku Klux Klan. The former soldier was targeted by these members, who confronted him one day, beating him to within an inch of his life. Cabeza could have recovered and tried to return to life as normal, his beloved Angela on his arm, but instead, he sought revenge against the Klan members. Clouded by anger and hatred, he shot and killed one of the members involved in his beating, sparking a violent outrage from both Klan supporters and people coming to the young man’s defense. Knowing his only safety was locked away behind bars, Cabeza agreed to a deal with the police, which saw him jailed but also under the protection of local law enforcement. Unfortunately, the Klan had infiltrated Key West’s police force, and a head officer who worked the jail sought to finish the job his fellow Klansman hadn’t. On Christmas morning, 1921, Cabeza was pulled from his cell and beaten. The Klan then tied a rope around his neck and to a vehicle and dragged him down Flagler Avenue. There, he was strung up and shot multiple times. After his murder, Cabeza was never properly buried, and it wasn’t until 2019 that a funeral was held in his honor.A Curse Upon Key West
Though the Klan killed Cabeza without hesitation, none of his murderers pursued Angela. It wasn’t long after Cabeza’s death that they wished they had. According to local lore, Angela practiced Voodoo and performed a ritual to curse each of her lover’s killers. One by one, tragedy struck the responsible Klansmen, all of them killed in mysterious and freakish accidents. Most curious, though, is the tree that Cabeza was hung from. It’s believed to have been the first tree to show signs of yellowing due to an infection that threatened to spread across foliage.Haunted Key West
Is it the curse that also inadvertently ties Cabeza to the jail where he spent his final night? Whatever the cause, the young soldier still meanders the restored halls of the Old Monroe County Jail. The ghost of Private Cabeza is a popular legend in the Keys, much like any of the tales of apparitions and restless specters heard on a Key West ghost tour. Book yours today, and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok and read even more haunting stories of Key West’s most active haunts. Sources: https://www.kwahs.org/old-monroe-county-jail-added-to-key-west-art-historical-societys-key-west-historic-marker-tours/https://keysweekly.com/42/the-past-lives-on-the-old-key-west-jail-will-be-a-museum/https://vacationkw.com/blog-posts/haunted-history-key-westhttps://issuu.com/keysweekly/docs/19-0328_kw/12Book A Southern Most Ghosts Tour And See For Yourself
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