Shepton Mallet prison in Somerset is the world’s oldest correctional facility. It is also reportedly one of the most haunted. Between its opening in 1625 and its closure in 2013, it saw hundreds of inmates, from Victorian street urchins to wayward American GIs to the Kray twins. Now a tourist attraction, it occasionally opens to paying guests who want to spend a night behind bars. Some are paranormal investigators, some are brave tourists, and others are video game journalists with a silly idea: how scary would it be to play five recent horror games all night, locked in a haunted prison?
Carrying just a torch, an electromagnetic field (EMF) detector, and a laptop, we wandered the prison finding spine-chilling locations in which to play these immersive supernatural masterpieces. Here is what happened …
The Exit 8
Location. B wing level 3. The largest of Shepton’s Victorian prison wings, designed to hold 94 prisoners in tiny cells which didn’t have toilets until 1998. Cell 30 is said to be haunted by an inmate who has been known to tap unwary guests on the shoulder.
The game: A cult psychological thriller from indie developer Kotake Create, which has you walking through the seemingly endless tunnels of a Japanese metro station, trying to find the exit by spotting anomalies in your surroundings. The visual realism makes it incredibly unnerving especially when the lights flicker and other lost passengers start to pass silently by.
Scare factor: Unnerving rather than terrifying, but playing in a prison wing, which has a similarly stark, soulless and municipal feel, definitely increased the sense of liminal anxiety.
In My Head
Location: execution shed. This was where condemned prisoners would spend their last days before facing the noose, under the supervision – if you were lucky – of celebrity hangman, Albert Pierrepoint.
The game: Designed to look like an old VHS horror film, this dread-filled adventure requires you to explore a dark, dingy building in the woods where you’ve been told an ancient relic is waiting to be discovered. The ruined gothic interiors and constant sounds of radio static and children crying are familiar horrors, but this game conjures an incredible atmosphere thanks to its detailed locations and soundscapes. Not for the squeamish.
Scare factor: In My Head would have been scary enough at home, but this location had such a heavy, doom-laden atmosphere we could honestly only play for a few minutes. Just before we escaped, we bumped into ghost hunters Darren and Jay from DS Hampshire Haunts. They told us that on their last visit, Darren saw two disembodied legs walking past. We made our excuses and left.
Panicore
Location: exercise yard. Reportedly built over a mass burial pit and haunted by Captain Philip William Ryal, who was imprisoned at Shepton during the first world war. He threw himself off the roof overlooking the yard, and people have seen a ghostly figure lurking up there.
The game: You’re a paranormal investigator exploring a series of derelict buildings and solving puzzles while being pursued by AI-infused monsters that respond to any sound you make. Yes, it’s Blair Witch Project meets Alien Isolation, and just as terrifying as that sounds. We played solo, but you can opt for co-op, a la Phasmophobia, which would have been preferable under the circumstances.
Scare factor: The fact that the game’s ruined institutional buildings looked just like Shepton Mallet prison, with peeling paint on the walls, rubble everywhere and doorways leading into total darkness, made this a truly horrifying experience.
The Complex: Expedition
Location: the gatehouse. Built in the 17th century this is one of the oldest surviving parts of the prison, and nearby you can crawl into two remaining cells from the period. Unsurprisingly, it’s a hotbed of paranormal activity. There is a ghost named Bob the gatekeeper who apparently runs his fingers through the hair of female visitors. Not OK, Bob.
The game: The Complex is another in the current indie trend of horror games set in “backrooms” – endless tunnels and passageways. You’re part of a research party sent into the titular facility to investigate a strange occurrence. For much of the time you’re wandering through a maze of vast empty rooms and hallways, viewed through the lens of a VHS camcorder, which gives the game a strange and unsettling sort of hyperrealism.
Scare factor: The stark modern architectural setting meant this one felt bizarrely reassuring while playing it in a haunted 17th-century dungeon. We didn’t want to leave.
Chuxie
Location: C wing. The women’s wing of the prison is famous for one particular figure – the white lady who was convicted of murdering her fiance and asked to wear her wedding dress on the night before her execution. She has been seen on the stairs of the wing and visitors have also smelled her perfume wafting past.
The game: A viral hit on TikTok and Twitch, Chuxie is effectively a J-horror jump-scare machine. You’re a paranormal investigator exploring an abandoned hospital filled with ghosts, including a terrifying woman in a white dress – Ringu anyone? Spooky figures pop up behind you, or appear for a few seconds in darkened passageways, and the visuals are detailed enough to make your grim surroundings feel very real.
Scare factor: Off the scale, quite frankly – not helped by the fact this wing is in almost complete darkness and has a mannequin of the white lady suspended above the ground floor. When passing one particular cell our EMF reader went crazy registering a maximum reading for several seconds. We couldn’t wait to get the heck out of there.
Conclusion: Walking around the silent Victorian wings at 3am was the closest we ever want to get to actually being in a survival horror game. Did we see any ghosts during our night behind bars? No. Did we manage to completely freak ourselves out playing horror games in darkened cells and echoing corridors? Absolutely yes. Furthermore, when I returned home, I tried to get a maximum reading on the EMF meter again. I wafted it at my smartphone, I held it next to my microwave oven on full blast … It never even came close.