April 2015 | Issue 6.2 | OutBoise.com
Once you are through that area, you can then
be given a audio tour. This you can do by yourself. The staff will gave you headsets and you can
choose to listen to four ex-inmates share their
tales from within the walls or listen to four ex-prison
guards share their own unique perspective. I
chose to listen to a former inmate share his experiences of what it was like. Bare in mind these are
older recordings of their voices so it will be a bit
scratchy. Not saying they were possibly ‘altered’
but it does make you wonder. The recording walks
you to certain marks and cues you when you get
to a location. You are prompted to press play or
stop depending on where you are. When you hear
the stories and experienced you can tell they are
very much just skimming the surface of what may
have really happened. At one point, you are told
to go to a small outside section of the building. It
was hear where I heard the description of how on
a very calm day or night, the sounds of the city
could be heard with acute detail. It was true; I
could hear the busy city and some conversations
taking place only one mile away from land. What
a mind trip it must have been for any human being
to experience that particular moment, for years.
NEWS | OutBoise Magazine | 13
There are plenty of other examples that the past
wardens set up to play cruel mind tricks on the
inmates. The history of the place is eerie enough,
but when you see where some of this stuff actually
happened sends chills to your bones. Especially
when you see what solitary confinement looked
like back then. If you’re wondering, yes you can
go inside the solitary confinement cells. You get to
hear and see a side of Robert Franklin Stroud, also
known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz.”
After seeing what it was like for the prisoners, you
can then enter an inner visitor’s area where there
is an awesome gift shop. Odd random fact that
I learned while visiting the island, Verizon doesn’t
get coverage on Alcatraz. While everyone else
was making a call from prison, I was not. That was
a very interesting call to make to customer service.
I could really go on about what makes San Francisco so great. I only mentioned some of the sites
to see and believe me there is so much more. But
I have to leave some room for the other articles.
Take care until next time.