Gothic Jail — Beauregard Parish's Hanging Jail

In 1914, the newly formed Beauregard Parish Police Jury — carved out of Imperial Calcasieu Parish — commissioned a jail unlike any other in the country. Stevens-Nelson of New Orleans designed it. Falls City Construction Company built it on land Hudson River Lumber Company donated to the city, completing both the jail and adjacent courthouse in 1915 at a cost of $168,000. What emerged was a Gothic Revival jailhouse that architectural historian Johnathan Fricker said holds "the possible distinction of being the only penal institution in the country using 'Collegiate Gothic' design in the first decade of the 20th century." The structure housed over fifty prisoners. Each cell had a toilet, shower, lavatory, and window — amenities that made history alongside the architecture. A large spiral staircase gave access to each cell. Jailers' quarters and a kitchen occupied the bottom floor. A tunnel connected the jail to the Beauregard Parish Courthouse, used to transport prisoners to trial without exposing them to the street. The jail earned its second name on March 9, 1928, when Joe Genna and Molton Brasseaux were hanged for the murder of taxi driver J. J. Brevelle. Deputy Sheriffs Jim Crumpler and Gill served as hangmen. Genna, age 25, was pronounced dead at 1:06 PM. Brasseaux followed at 1:29 PM. Neither man was buried in Beauregard Parish. After that execution, the Gothic Jail became the Hanging Jail. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 17, 1981, the building no longer operates as a jail. The Beauregard Parish Police Jury owns it; the Beauregard Parish Rehabilitation Committee preserves it. The structure appeared on the Travel Channel's Most Terrifying Places in 2019 and Ghost Brothers: Lights Out on Discovery+ in 2021, both paranormal programs investigating reports of hauntings. The jail sits fifty miles north of Lake Charles in DeRidder. Tours are available.