Hidden Plans and Daring Escape Attempts: Real Prison Escape Stories
Date: 23 October 2026
Hidden Plans and Daring Escape Attempts: Real Prison Escape Stories
York Castle Museum sits on the former site of York Castle Prison, rich in history and full of haunting stories. This autumn, two new museum trails, Prison Escape Stories, offer a new way for visitors to uncover remarkable stories of inmates who tried to escape from its walls.
Follow the Clues
Set in the former York Castle Prison, the new Prison Escape Stories invite visitors to follow clues, explore the cells and complete tasks to reveal the facts of true escape stories dating back almost 200 years!
There’s a trail for adults and older children, and another for families with younger children, offering a new way for all ages to interact with the historic prison.
At the entrance to the prison, visitors can collect a wearable activity lanyard that takes shape as a gaoler’s key, before exploring the space. A series of stations within the cells will reveal clues and fragments of real escape stories, with simple challenges, helping you piece together what happened and discover the lengths some inmates went to in search of freedom.
The trail for families with younger children encourages you to look closely at the prison itself, including searching for graffiti created by the inmates and other hidden details you would otherwise have walked straight past.
York’s Real Haunting History
The Prison Escape Stories trails highlight one of York’s most infamous historic buildings.
For centuries, York Castle Prison held people awaiting trial, serving sentences or facing punishment. Prisoners found ways to challenge the system, and Prison Escape Stories brings a selection of these real stories to life, The Matron’s Trap, The Escape of 1839 and The Escape That Never Was.
Unlike an escape room experience, these new immersive trails at York Castle Museum are based on true stories and set in an authentic setting, offering a unique experience for history lovers that won’t be found elsewhere.
A prison with many more stories to tell
The escape attempts featured in the Prison Escape Stories trails are only a small part of the history contained within the Debtor’s Prison at York Castle Museum. Infamous prisoners from Yorkshire an beyond including Mary Bateman, known as the ‘Yorkshire Witch’, and Dick Turpin, the notorious highway man, spent their final days at this site.
Behind the cells, walls and surviving graffiti are stories of prisoners, staff, crime and punishment across generations. Prison Escape Stories offers a new way to explore that history for visitors new and returning.
Explore together and discover the historic York Castle Prison at your own pace with this new immersive activity during your next visit!
York Castle Museum is open 7 days. Prison Escape Stories is available in the Debtor’s Prison from Saturday 24 October 2026 and is included in general admission.
