Ludden Jail or Ludden Joke?

Ludden, ND (United States):
The "Ludden Jail" sits right next door to the town's only bar. Small and square in shape, the building bears all the proof of an old country jail - the sign out front, the two cells inside and the cots that sit on the hard floor.
But despite the evidence, the mayor doubts the building, which is rumored to have been established in the 1930s, ever held those arrested.
"It was probably just someone's idea of a joke," said Chuck German, who has been the town's mayor since 1972. "I don't really know if it was ever used or not."
The county sheriff doesn't know either.
"I don't have a clue," Dickey County Sheriff Jim Bohannon said. "I think it might just be a prop."
Joke or not, the building is popular with the locals who chuckle at the folks who stop by to ask one of the town's 21 people about the little building with the big charm.
"They stop to ask about it all the time," German said. "It's definitely something to talk about. It's become a conversation piece. We even have people stop to ask if they can get their picture taken inside."
German, 57, said the rumor is that the building was a barber shop and then someone made it into a "jail." Whoever did so built two cells - not much more could fit in the building - wired in hanging lightbulbs and sheetrocked the walls.
Oct. 05, 2005
Emily Arthur, Aberdeen American News, SD