History & local legend
A 1907 newspaper story described an unusual disturbance on murderers’ row at the old Allegheny County Jail in Pittsburgh. Prisoners said that between midnight and one they repeatedly saw a man acting out the killing of his brother. The report identified the figure as William Culp, who had taken his own life in a cell while awaiting trial for that murder.
A deputy warden initially dismissed the first frightened prisoner’s experience as a dream. Then other inmates reported the same scene, and guards also claimed sightings. According to the story, Warden Edward Lewis eventually moved all fourteen men from that section of the jail.
