This week on Dearly Departed, Alyssa takes us inside the Missouri State Penitentiary, one of the oldest and most violent prisons in American history. From brutal inmate murders and executions to overcrowding, corruption, and cruelty, this prison earned a reputation as a place few survived unchanged.

But the violence didn’t end when the prison closed. Visitors and former staff report footsteps in empty cellblocks, voices echoing through the halls, shadow figures, and a feeling that something is still watching.

We explore the penitentiary’s dark past, the lives lost within its walls, and the paranormal activity that refuses to fade. Was this place ever truly empty, or did the prison keep its prisoners forever?