A recent visit to the Parkville Nature Sanctuary north of the downtown area in Parkville, Missouri revealed a tiny jail near the north edge of the parking lot. The structure is cube-shaped, measuring approximately six feet square, with a lattice of inch-wide iron strips. Along with an early-day cellar in the Nature Sanctuary that once stored food for students at Park College, the jail structure offers a look at Parkville history.

What makes the artifact strange is the “information placard” posted on one of its four sides. The heading, “A Tale of Two Spooky Witches,” describes the history of the tiny jail, including a macabre ghost story.

Under the heading, the placard describes the structure as Parkville’s first jail, abandoned in the woods when a new, larger jail was built, sometime in the early 1900s. According to the placard, Parkville was visited by two witches — sisters that lived in the woods and occasionally came into town to terrorize the children. One of Parkville’s early mayors decided to trap the sisters in the jail, and leave them there so they would never be able to scare the children again. Then, apparently, the abandoned jail was forgotten – at least according the placard.