DERIDDER, La. (AP) — A local tourist commission in Louisiana says its Gothic Hanging Jail is back open for tours, except when it’s raining.
The century-old jail with a third-floor gallows had halted daytime and lantern tours for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic and hurricane damage.
Beauregard Parish Tourist Commission Executive Director Lori Darbonne tells The American Press that roof and concrete damage from Hurricanes Laura and Delta mean that there can’t be any tours if it’s raining.
An article in a Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities publication notes that the gallows was used only in March 1928, for two men who had robbed and killed a taxi driver.