What Evil Lurked Within? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hilton

The Hoa Loa Prison was originally built by the French to house Vietnamese political prisoners. During the Vietnam Conflict, the North Vietnamese Army used the building to house, interrogate, and torture many of the American pilots who were shot down during bombing raids. During the 1990s most of the structures in the compound were destroyed; a high-rise apartment building was built on the site, and what was left of the prison was made into a museum.

When the Hilton chain built a hotel in Hanoi in 1999 it was called the Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel.

Answer: Khmer Rouge

Tuol Sleng has the reputation of being one of the most horrific prisons to have ever existed. Prisoners were brought in, interrogated and tortured until they confessed to whatever crime they were supposed to have committed. Once they named accomplices, the prisoners were usually executed. During four years of operation, it is said that the prison contained 17,000 people; few known survivors were ever found.

Answer: Port Arthur

Port Arthur was one of eleven Australian Convict Sites, and has been designated a World Heritage site. From 1833-1877 it was used as a prison for convicts who had been deported to Australia and had re-offended. An example of Jeremy Bentham's "model prison", the idea was to reward prisoners for good behavior rather than use continuous corporal punishment for wrongdoing. Prisoners could earn food and even luxury items in exchange for good behavior; troublemakers received less food.

The prison was also the destination for juvenile convicts, some as young as nine.

Some believe today that the use of psychological punishment was worse for the convicts. That, along with the fact that there was no hope to escape, led some to commit murder, an offense punishable by death, just to escape the harsh reality of life there.

Answer: Ghana

Elmina Castle was built in 1482 and is the oldest European building in existence south of the Sahara. Originally built as a trade settlement by the Portuguese, it subsequently became an important center to sell slaves who had been captured in the interior to the Portuguese for use in Brazil or their other colonies.

It was seized by the Dutch in 1637; in 1872 it became part of the British empire. As many as 200 people were held in each cell before passing through "The Door of No Return", never to be seen again.

Answer: Tobacco Plantation

Although it is probably best known as a settlement for the isolation of political prisoners, Robben Island has also been used as a leper colony and an animal quarantine station. During World War II it was also fortified for the defense of Cape Town. In 1991 the maximum security prison for political prisoners was closed; the medium security prison for criminals was closed in 1996. Today it is both an South African Unity Site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Answer: "The Count of Monte Cristo"

First seen as a defense against possible sea invasions, Chateau d'If was built in 1524-31. Its location and the dangerous currents made it the ideal location for a prison; it was commonly used for political and religious prisoners. Those who had money had to pay for the privilege of being treated better than the poor who could not afford a bribe. Alexandre Dumas used the chateau as the setting for his famous book, and the main character, Edmond Dantes, is the only person (albeit fictional) who is known to have been able to escape the island.

Answer: Alfred Dreyfus

Suspected of passing along important information about France's weapons to the Germans, Dreyfus, an artillery officer, was arrested in 1894 and subjected to a secret court martial where he was convicted, stripped of his rank, and sent to the French penal colony of Devil's Island, off the coast of French Guiana. Dreyfus was subsequently pardoned and exonerated in 1899. Devil's Island served as a prison colony from 1852 to 1953.

It is estimated that during its time of operation, about 80,000 prisoners, many political prisoners, were housed there.

The shark infested waters and strong currents, and not to mention thick jungles on the mainland and tropical diseases made escape nearly impossible.

Answer: Ravens

One of the top tourist attractions in England today, the Tower of London served as a prison from the 1100s until the mid-twentieth century. Legend speaks of ravens in the Tower from the time of Charles II, although many historians believe the story to be a Victorian fabrication. Traditionally the presence of the ravens is believed to protect the Crown, and "if the ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain along with it". Wild ravens were common in Britain historically, but today the ones in the Tower are a group of captive Common Ravens.

The list of prisoners who were held in the Tower is very long; it is also considered to be one of the most haunted buildings in England!

Answer: France

Today, the "House of Slaves" and its "Door of No Return" are part of a museum that was opened in 1962. There is some debate on whether slaves were housed on Goree Island, but it is considered by many to memorialize the unfortunate people who were sold into slavery. Curator of the museum from 1962 to his death in 2009, Boubacar Joseph Ndiaye claimed that over a million slaves passed through the House. France abolished the slave trade in 1848.

Answer: The Rock

Many notorious criminals, such as Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly, were housed at Alcatraz. Believed to be inescapable due to the cold water and rocky pediment, thirty-six men are known to have attempted escape; only five remain at large. They were never seen again after their escape, and are believed to have drowned. Alcatraz was not a center for capital punishment, and only twenty-eight deaths were recorded there. Eight were murdered, five committed suicide, and fifteen died of natural causes.