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The New Industries Building is a building on the western end of Alcatraz Island off the coast of San Francisco, USA. It was constructed in 1939 for $186,000 as part of a $1.1 million modernization scheme which also included the water tower, power house, officers quarters and remodeling of the D-block.
The ground floor of the two-story 306 ft long building contained a clothing factory, dry cleaning plant, furniture plant, brush factory, and an office, where prisoners of the federal penitentiary could work for money. They made items such as gloves, furniture mats, and army uniforms. The laundry room occupied the entire upper floor, the largest in San Francisco at the time. Each window has 9 panes and there are 17 bays on each floor on either side.
In recent years the building has been updated to address the erosion of the concrete and rust had caused, strengthen the walls and floors, repairing the roof and adding weatherproofed windows and door openings. The Guard Tower on the top of the building was also renovated and remounted.
Legends
Psychic Daena Smoller and psychologist Larry Montz investigated the prison and found nothing in D-Block or the cellhouse but equipped with a magnetometer, they picked up a reading in the New Industries Building in the area where inmates had been employed in sewing. Smoller says that she picked up on the intense sound of buzzing of sewing machines and energy of the workplace and suddenly felt an intense pain in her neck. Nothing happened for several minutes until the magnetometer reportedly "jumped". Montz said that unless there was an electromagnetic device in the building which would cause it to have taken place, then there was "definitely paranormal activity taking place". Apparently unknown to the investigators, the incident had occurred in the area that Henri Young had murdered Rufus McCain, stabbing him in neck.