Historic Fremont County Jail
July 2026
In July we traveled to a brand new location in Iowa. Owned by Josh Heard (Malvern Manor) and Tory Westoff (Sleeper Mortuary) this small town jail in Sidney Iowa really captured our hearts a bit. (It also made us sweat off a few pounds and Renay got a secret admirer)
The Jail sits in Fremont County - mostly known for its Rodeo that happens every year at the end of August. Sidney has a population of roughly 1200 people, the county around 6500. So pretty small. Which means a fairly small jail.
Built in 1889 and used up till 2015 - the jail had 2 cells, a processing area, dispatch, kitchen and residence quarters (back in the day the Sheriff and his family lived at the Jail. His wife would usually cook the meals for the inmates) The “Big Cell” held 8 and the smaller cell only held 2. A door from the Big Cell led down to an ‘exercise area’ which is still there and still wrapped in a ton of fence and razor wire. Two staircases - one in the front of the building and one on the side/back that starts at processing lead to the separated areas of the upstairs. Cells on one side, living quarters on the other. There is a small heavy steel door in the ‘living area’ of the Sheriff’s Quarters that opens into the Big Cell so the Sheriff had quick access. There are no ‘recorded’ deaths INSIDE the jail from what we could find. Several of the Sheriffs and Deputies were involved in fights, etc - but outside of a lynching that happened to two very ‘un-local’ boys who messed with the wrong town….nothing sinister/dramatic happened that we could find.
Outside the Jail - Stairs from the Cells to the Exercise Area
When we arrived is was hot. And by hot we mean Midwestern Iowa Holy Shit Hot. Phil & Renay had been in town for the day and enjoyed the County Fair and Car Show. Unfortunately for us, every place to eat and shop in town closed around 2pm to be out at the fair…so….Casey’s pizza for the win for dinner! We were also visited by a sweet little black kitty that REALLY REALLY wanted to be the new Head of Mousekeeping in the Jail.
The Big Cell - door to the hall is to the right and door to outside to the left. Small steel barred door leads to the Sheriff’s quarters and double locks on the other side.
We started in the Big Cell - it was still light out, but believe us it’s DARK up in there. Once we partially closed the inner bar door it got dark quick. The cell has 4 steel bunks on each side of the room with 2 toilets and 1 shower. A small table and a large table (both bolted to the floor of course) The door to the outside exercise area is also in this room.
Main Big Cell showing the shower/toilet area and the bunks. Another set of bunks are on the opposite side.
The first thing that immediately happened was the Dead Bell. Apparently EVERYONE in the jail liked that little guy. The XLS caught several strange black anomalies but no figures decided to show themselves. Renay got the attention of ‘John’ pretty quickly, and those interactions lasted through the night no matter where we were in the building. The K2 meter was active, not as much responding to questions or statements but in a general way. Several times we did mention items that caused the meter to go up into the orange. But nothing specific.
Here’s the link on YouTube to the first investigation area:
Jail map showing the Cells, Dispatch area and processing/booking (1st floor)
Next up was the Basement.
If you watch the video, there are what we thought were ‘evidence lockers’ in one room. We’re not sure if they were that or maybe something for employees like a gun locker. Those were really interesting, and there were names that we tried to catch on some of them. Renay also found an entire box of call logs dating back in the 60s-80s with each dispatcher’s name and different calls that came into the Station.
Evidence Lockers in the Basement Level - to the left were shelves that we found the Logs on
When we started to talk about those logs, the REM Pod just started going crazy - it would NOT shut off it stayed on a steady red and yelling at us the whole time. Phil even reset the device repeatedly and it would go right back to red and screaming. We did finally get it to show yellow then blue, and then mysteriously it just went silent. Phil checked and it was DEAD. But once we got it upstairs it magically started working again. Paranormal? Maybe, maybe not - but it was definitely interesting. Outside of Charity whacking her head on a huge ass old rusty plumbing pipe, not a ton of excitement except it’s a creepy basement and gave us some nausea and headaches.
Looking into the upstairs landing from the Big Main Cell (Stairs are to the right, small cell to the left)
Up Next - An Experiment…..in the Processing/Dispatch Area
A great thing about having an avid photographer along is some of the fun experiments you can do with video and photography. Phil has a myriad of older cameras, and found out that one of them would have been very similar to the type of camera used by the Jail in the 50-60 era for taking mugshots.
So - an experiment evolved.
Let’s use that camera with infrared film and see what happens. We set up the camera facing from the processing area into dispatch, where inmates coming in would need to have their pictures taken for records. We also set the Dead Bell up in the same area.
Infrared Camera Mugshot Photo Experiment in the Processing Area - stairs to the Cells to the right. Open door leads to the Dispatch area.
Phil set up and we asked each Inmate to come and line up to get their picture taken. We did 8 pictures total. During the time we were doing the experiment the Dead Bell went off ONLY when we asked if the Deputy’s could come forward and get a picture.
We did have the Necrophonic running and someone came through doing Phil’s Photo Countdown with him. It’s a great moment we caught on video. The video is a little shaky and weird - although we were right next to the router for some reason the wifi was a little sketchy. So we apologize for giving you some dizzy moments.
Staircase leading up to the Cell Side of the 2nd Floor from Booking/Processing
One last trip upstairs…..First stop was the Residence Quarters. We decided it was time for some Estes experiments, so Phil went under.
We did crack open the door that leads to the Cells, and multiple times you’ll see Phil in the video react as if something is touching him or he feels something on his right hand side. We had someone (possibly the Sheriff or his Wife) telling us to SHUT THE DOOR multiple times. I’m sure having that open was not something that happened a whole lot especially if his family was there. And yes - Phil is wearing a Bunny Mask. (Thanks to Steph and Melissa)
Phil sitting with his back to the double lock steel door that leads from the Sheriff’s Quarters to the Main Cell.
Last stop for the night….back upstairs to the Main Cell area. (Just for giggles - the temp upstairs in the cells was sitting around 88-89 degrees)
This is where things got….ummm….censor worthy. Apparently once it gets dark out the boys come out to play, especially when there are 3 women in their cell. Phil was at a bit of a loss through most of the Estes session as we were live both on FB and TT - and he couldn’t repeat MUCH of what was being said due to possibly violating community standards online. SOOO that being said, we’ll just say that they were very interested in Michelle’s red hair and she tried to get someone to play checkers with her.
Fun thing was they DID. Multiple times Phil heard someone saying which way to move the checkers on the board. We were getting random names here and there, and a couple checked out to names that were either on the lockers in the basement OR in the etchings that are behind the ‘caged area’ in the Main Big Cell (behind the shower area)Here’s the last video we took for the evening:
Parking side of the Jail - the glass door leads into Processing and Dispatch
All in all - we had a SUPER fun night. Lots of laughs, lots of sweating. We had 3 audio recorders going in different areas of the building and will be reviewing those and hopefully posting anything we get soon. The photo experiment in the Processing/Booking area will take a little time to get results but watch on Twin Flames Paranormal’s page for those! We did NOT sleep at the Jail, we rented an amazing AirBnb right off the Sidney town square that was originally a bank. Absolutely cool place to stay in - if you’re looking for a stay - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1328929067117252203?guests=1&adults=1&s=67&unique_share_id=0c0e347b-6298-4233-bcbf-9fca3eee76bb
Sidney was a town that made all 4 of us think back to a simpler time, when you could walk around the town square without worrying about someone running you over while being on their cell phone. The Museum that is close to the Jail was a wonderful source of information and if we would have done a 2 night stay we would have taken the ladies there up on their offer to peruse all the records they could dig up for the Jail. So definitely if you come to town, mark out some time to go there.
For some reason that part of Iowa just has some mojo going on - and of course Malvern is only 20-30 minutes away. We’re headed back to the Jail in late August and pulling a Friday night there and then a Saturday night at the Manor. The big question - are the spirits of these places traveling between them? We all know the special relationship that Josh has with Malvern, and since buying the Jail he has said he has seen more shadow figures. So….another experiment incoming maybe?? Between the 2 properties??
To Book The Historic Fremont County Jail: https://historicfremontcountyjail.weebly.com/calendar.html
