What Did People Hear During the Alcatraz Listening Experiment vs. What Was Really Said?

No one commented on the Alcatraz Listening Experiment post here on the blog, but people weighed in on social media. All of the comments reflected what I thought I initially heard, or that I heard others around me on the tour say they thought it sounded like. Curiously, no one heard the actual answer, though.

The Guesses

On the Instagram post, here’s what people thought they heard:

1. Right now
2. Lights out
3. Break down
4. Ringo

Here’s what people guessed when I shared it on Facebook:

1. Wake up
2. Right now
3. Break down

There were no comments on the YouTube posting and just one on Twitter, which was a vote for “Wake up,” but that same person also said it sounded like it could’ve been “Wacko.”

The Answer

“Rack ’em!”

The volunteer explained some guards would shout that phrase to let prisoners know when the cells were about to be opened or closed. It has to do with the way the way opening and closing the cells are operated. They’re “racked” using a lever system.

I was blown away. I thought he was either saying “Right now!” or “Break down!”

The Silence

The “Sounds of the Slammer” demonstration was very interesting and something they hadn’t done the first time I jaunted to Alcatraz. Or maybe they had but we’d missed it. We got there later in the day the first trip. I went earlier this time.

The thing that really struck me was how silent touring the prison is –because I had to take off my audio tour head phones to listen to the demonstration. Even when others took off their headphones to listen, the silence persisted. That was something I hadn’t noticed before. How the prison is almost library quiet even with a bunch of tourists walking around.

The Demonstration

And until I saw the doors being opened and closed, I never noticed they didn’t have locks on the individual cell doors. I never wondered, “How do they open these things anyway?”

This trip I did notice boxes along each row of cells, though. I didn’t know what they were for –until I attended the “Sounds of the Slammer” demonstration.

I also never wondered, “What do the doors sound like when they’re opened and closed?” (Well, I probably never would’ve thought about them having a sound being opened as much as being closed. Which turns out to be a scarier sound anyway. Or at least louder.)

Until that moment, even with the various jails I’ve toured, I don’t think I’ve ever heard “the slammer” slam in real life. Only on TV shows or in the movies. It was louder than I expected and reverberated off the walls. I can imagine with cells full of men, Alcatraz was not the silent, peaceful place it is to tour.

Watch “The Sounds of the Slammer”

You can watch some of the demonstration and hear for yourself when the volunteer explains what he’s saying, why he’s saying it and when the most dangerous time was for the guards. And of course see the doors opening and closing, of course!

The Experiment

What was the “experiment” all about? That’s to come in another post, which for now I’m titling, “What Can We Learn about EVPs from the Alcatraz Listening Experiment?”

Stay tuned…

Check-In

Have you ever heard prison doors shut in real life? Either from touring a former prison and seeing a similar demonstration, or from personal experience behind bars? (No judgment here. #ShitHappens)