Case file · Haunting
Lecumberri: the 'Black Palace'
Mexico City's Lecumberri penitentiary, opened in 1900 and closed in 1976, held prisoners from Pancho Villa's assassin to the 1968 student leaders; since it became the National Archive in 1982, staff have told of footsteps, cries and figures in the old cell blocks.
1976 CE · 19.44, -99.12 · status: legend
The account
Built as a panopticon, the prison had a reputation for brutality that earned it the nickname 'El Palacio Negro'.