One of the most pleasant surprises for the group this year was our trip to Eastern State Penitentiary. A remarkable building in its formidable size and history, it is an ideal location for a haunted attraction; and it boasts one of the better ones that we have been to this season. One cannot fully appreciate the solemn nature and the magnitude of this building without a trip through its history.

" Planning of the building began in 1821 after 30 years of lobbying by the “Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons.”
Up until this time, criminals were housed much like cattle, in large holding pens. Men and women, children and adults, the most bloodthirsty of killers with the mildest petty thief. Behind locked doors, pecking orders were established and abuse of inmates by guards was just assumed. Breaking penal tradition, they abandoned corporal punishment; the society’s goal was to build a true penitentiary, a building to inspire penance through isolation, the Bible, and hard work. They believed it was through these means alone that the criminal could fully feel the weight of his or her crimes, and would bring about true remorse.
Four architects submitted designs and John Haviland, an architect from England who had found a home in Philadelphia was chosen and in 1822 construction began.
Completed in 1836, the formidable prison was constructed much like a wagon wheel, 7 spokes radiating from a single surveillance rotunda. Each cell was centrally heated with running water, a flush toilet and a skylight (the White House had no running water at this point in history). Thru a door in their cell, the inmate could exit to a 10x10-exercise yard, where they again would remain isolated from fellow inmates. The inmate would spend their entire sentence in silence with no human interaction at all. The building’s façade was designed to be menacing, a medieval type structure that ironically inspired one to believe the most terrible of tortures were contained therein, a feeling the building still emanates even today in our desensitized society.
1974 found the building in jeopardy when Mayor Frank Rizzo suggested demolition for a new modern justice center. The city purchased the building from the state for $400,000 and began to consider how to “better use the property.” In 1996, the World Monument Fund listed the site on its list of 100 most important endangered landmarks in the world. In 1997, the “Eastern State Penitentiary Task Force,” a group of preservationists, architects and historians, petitioned Mayor Wilson Goode to halt redevelopment, and signed a 20 year agreement with the city to operate the site, opening it’s doors to the public for guided tours. In 2001, a non-profit corporation, “Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Inc” took over the task force’s 20-year contract with the city. The work has been long and arduous but the walls still stand, and it is this corporation that sponsors Terror Behind the Walls, proceeds going to save this significant structure.
Extra care goes into turning a building of historical value into a haunted attraction. Nothing is casually swept up and thrown away, everything must be sifted thru for relevance. And then there is the Society’s desire to preserve the integrity of the building. While no executions ever took place in the confines of the imposing walls, in 1956 Cell Block 15 was added… death row, and out of respect for those that spent their last days in the penitentiary, they do not pander to the obvious prison theme with electrocution scenes, etc."

We met up with our host and the Prison’s curator, Sean Kelly at the site. Obtaining our tickets across the street from the prison, we walked to a local diner for some dinner, awaiting our time slot.
Tickets are sold in time slots of half hour increments, with a well organized system of dual lines, one for the actual time slot allowed to enter and one for the next available time slot to begin lining up. There is no sense in getting in line early, they will not grant you early access.
Waiting outside, we once again met up with Sean who escorted us to what at one time was the visiting room of the prison where we were able to watch a documentary done by the history channel in a series on America’s prisons. This most interesting documentary was available for purchase (again, proceeds going to the restoration and preservation of the prison) in the gift shop.
When our time came, we entered the facility with our group, and Sean. Staying a few feet behind the group but moving quickly enough to not deter the following group, we were able to witness the entire attraction and take our pictures without disrupting the other patrons.
The building housed 3 attractions, all for the one price, and in consideration for their crowds, televisions overhead played an episode of MTV’s “Fear” in which the prison was featured, to pass the time while you waited in line.
We were escorted into a corridor where we were greeted by an actor situated in one of the “torso” props, allowing a live actor to entertain the crowd, but appearing to be nothing more than a suspended torso. He entertained the crowd while one of the guards went over the rules of the prison, then we were released into “Maximum Security.”
This part of the attraction relied heavily on actors and utilized the creepy atmosphere to it’s full potential… winding up and down stairs along corridors of cells, past the small rooms, where walls and bars shedding their skins. (One of the actors would tell us that the featured “lit up” cells were not the scary ones… it was the ones they weren’t showing that would chill your blood).
Working our way thru the prison to the second attraction within the walls, we crossed thru the rotunda manned by a skeletal organist. Into another “spoke” we were greeted by a nurse who handed us our 3-D glasses and showed us a picture of her kitty (when we passed thru later on we found her kitty picture had been stolen…. Now who would steal a kitty picture?). The “Medical Ward” would serve as their 3-D house as well as a more traditional haunt. Not sure who we should be more concerned about, the psychotic doctors armed with power tools or their equally disturbed patients… we ventured forth, past a table where we caught a glimpse of movement under a blanket. Enough to make us pause to see what would happen next, we stayed to watch an ensuing skit of a young woman at the hands of a madman, blood curdling screams echoing thru the corridor, culminating in the removal of the blanket, the young woman nothing but a screeching torso. A unique twist on a startle scare, we passed a window that allowed us a glimpse into a room that contained babydolls wrapped in blankets and power tools, an odd combo but our inquisitiveness was cut short when one of the babydolls unexpectedly smacked into the glass causing a little jump in the crowd.
The final attraction in Terror Behind the Walls, was “Tunnel Escape.” An excellent soundtrack featuring barking dogs and sirens, it led to GREAT atmosphere. Through toxic ooze themed corridors, around the corner we encountered a Stalk-Around amidst the bones of failed escapees of the prison… upon leaving this final maze, we encountered the sign “You are free to go, behave yourself.”
Overall, it is not an attraction built upon amazing feats of technology, but it does not need to be. A talented cast brings a historical marvel to life… As I stated at the beginning of this piece, Terror Behind the Walls was a pleasant surprise as we had heard from those who had gone in the past and found the event disappointing. The attraction that takes place today has evolved from the original attempts. The first Halloween events consisted of “Ghost Stories” that took place on the guided tour. Several years ago when HF editor Brian visited the attraction, it was a series of “skits” where the crowd entered one of the “spokes” for the skit, exited back to the rotunda and into another spoke for the next skit. Not the “walk thru” that he had expected, and others had echoed this disappointment. It was due to the close proximity that we originally planned to visit this attraction this year, and it is due to the quality we found there that we will return. With proceeds going to such a worthy cause (the preservation of an amazing piece of architectural history), it is a bonus that we just can’t resist.

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