A Night With Al Capone's Ghost

I've always been fascinated with Alcatraz. Raised on true crime novels about the likes of Machine Gun Kelly, I was fascinated by The Rock from an early age. When I finally got to visit it a few years ago on one of what were then experimental night tours, I felt like I had been there before. It's a interesting site -- people think of the prison, obviously, but it has a lengthy and complex history going back to the colonial era that is evident in the physical attributes of the place.

It's so close to San Francisco that a quick jaunt will allow you to visit and the prisoners could hear the city's parties on major holidays -- yet the tides were so perilous that no one has decisively been known to escape. It's also a big challenge for the National Park Service. Shut down due to the logistics of keeping it supplied and maintained, Alcatraz is a huge and rotting landmark. It is a hell of a challenge, and when you visit you will see entire buildings more or less abandoned to decay.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see the Night in Alcatraz's D Block a Haunting Experience article in the San Francisco Chronicle. While I'm sure there are pitfalls to allowing civilians to maintain machinery, I feel strongly that a landmark like Alcatraz has no hope of surviving without the investment and involvement of the public.

And why does the public invest? Some clearly are invested in heritage. Some must get a thrill. Some are interested in criminal history. What they all seem to have in common is a desire to experience a unique and genuine connection with the place. And by literally interacting with the physical environment of Alcatraz, both the place and the people are altered.