Proceeds from ghost tours Saturday night at the Old Jail Museum will benefit Jim Thorpe Community Watch.

Betty Lou McBride, owner of the museum at 128 W. Broadway, said the tours will take place from 6-9 p.m.

“We wanted to do a benefit as a thank you to the police department for all they do in this town,” McBride said.

Tickets for the ghost tours will be available at the museum Saturday night.

Jim Thorpe Police Chief Joe Schatz said the department plans to purchase equipment with all money raised during the tours.

“Many thanks to the McBride family for their support of the department,” Schatz said.

The jail, made famous as the site of the hanging of seven Irish coal miners known as Molly Maguires in the 1800s, was used by the county as its official prison from 1871 until 1995. When the county built a new jail in Nesquehoning, the McBrides stepped in and turned the jail into a tourist destination, telling of the building’s lore, including a handprint left behind on a cell wall by one of the Molly Maguires shortly before their hanging.

Recent visitors to the old jail for ghost tours reported hitting a wall of cold air as they neared where the gallows were reported to be during the hangings.

“We’re not a haunted house,” McBride said, “because we have the real ghosts. We encourage everyone to bring their cameras and cellphones to possibly capture the spirits. it will be a lot of fun and a way to benefit the police department at the same time.”

No children under 12 are permitted on the ghost tours.