The Dark Story of Folsom Prison — Johnny Cash and California's Granite Hell
On September 19, 1937, seven inmates pulled sharpened metal from their waistbands and attacked Warden Clarence Larkin inside his own office. He was stabbed twelve times. A wire was twisted around his throat. He refused to order his guards to stand down. Five days later, he was dead — the first and only sitting warden killed in California's prison history. Folsom State Prison had been open for 57 years by then. In this video, we trace the full history of Folsom — from the corrupt 1868 land deal that traded convict labor for acreage, through the construction of granite cells with no heat, no light, and solid iron doors with six holes for air. We cover the 93 men hanged from Folsom's gallows between 1895 and 1937, including Jacob "The Human Tiger" Oppenheimer, whose story inspired Jack London's novel The Star Rover. We walk through the 1903 Bloody 13 breakout, the 1927 Thanksgiving Day riot that brought the National Guard with tanks, and the 1937 escape that killed Warden Larkin and ended the era of hanging in California. Then we get to January 13, 1968, when Johnny Cash — who never actually served time at Folsom or any prison — walked into the cafeteria, played two shows for 2,000 inmates, and recorded the triple-platinum album that made this fortress the most famous prison in American music. Folsom is still open. The original 1880 cell blocks are still in use. The granite remains. 📚 References & Further Reading CDCR — Folsom State Prison (FSP) Official Page https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/facility-loca... CDCR — Remembering Warden Clarence Larkin (Inside CDCR) https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/insidecdcr/20... CDCR — 1921 Folsom Prison Inspection Report (Inside CDCR) https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/insidecdcr/20... California State Library — 50 Years Ago: At Folsom Prison (Online Exhibit) https://www.library.ca.gov/collection... Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park — California State Parks https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=501 California Historical Landmark No. 633 — Folsom Powerhouse https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=1339 April Moore — Folsom's 93: The Lives and Crimes of Folsom Prison's Executed Men (Craven Street Books / Linden Publishing, 2013) https://folsoms93.com/ Michael Streissguth — Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: The Making of a Masterpiece (Da Capo Press, 2004) https://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/eci... At Folsom Prison (Album) — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_Fols... Folsom Prison Blues (Song) — Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folsom_... #FolsomPrison #JohnnyCash #PrisonHistory #TrueCrime #AmericanHistory #CaliforniaHistory #AtFolsomPrison #Documentary #FolsomPrisonBlues #Abandoned #DarkHistory
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