My Visit to Notoriously Haunted Eastern State Penitentiary

What to do on a cold and dreary rainy early spring day in Philly? Answer - Take a few hours and visit the notoriously haunted Eastern State Penitentiary. We've lived here 14 years and hadn't ever been so we decided to go. I thought I'd share some of the pics that I took. We didn't see any ghosts. It was cold and damp and the place is in serious disrepair. But it was interesting. If anyone is interested in going ... go on a cold rainy gloomy day. It really fits with the 'mood' of the place.

Eastern States Penitentiary Home Site
Basic Info Eastern State Penitentiary
The penitentiary is in Philly ... not far from Kelly Drive and the Art Museum. It was operational from 1829 until 1971. Willie Sutton and Al Capone are the most famous inmates. The wagon wheel design and severe isolation cells were considered innovative and were used as a prison model all around the world.

The wall and one of the towers -


Death row -


Haunted barber chair in a cell. (the whole place is in serious disrepair)


Al Capone's cell


Very haunted cell block 14


And my favorite shot - Cell block 2 (if I remember correctly)


Oh .. and the notoriously faked video footage from Ghost Hunters of the 'ghost' in cell block 14 ...
www.youtube.com...

Very cool pics! Thanks for sharing.

Wow that is so cool and creepy. Were you part of a tour group?

The last photo, cell block 2... are those the doors into the cells? they look kinda small and a little bit up off the floor.

Thanks for the pics. That sort of thing is so interesting, just thinking about the number of people that spent so much of their lives there, walking those hallways and such

tinner07
Were you part of a tour group?

No. Self tour. There were others here and there in the Penitentiary but we were on our own. We had a map and an audio guide if we wanted to use it. My husband used it. I didn't. There were guided tours offered, but we didnt do it. We wanted to do our own thing and get a feel for the place without people around.

The last photo, cell block 2... are those the doors into the cells? they look kinda small and a little bit up off the floor.

Yep .. all the doors are small and dark. Some have tiny windows. Some have peep holes. Many had neither. To go in a room you have to step over the tall door jam and duck your head. Tiny doors. Tiny rooms. COLD in winter. HOT in summer.

People were held in their cells 23 hours a day. They were let out twice a day for 1/2 an hour. (if they behaved well). There was a court yard that some could mingle in. But many had their own tiny walled in court yard behind their cell .. like 5X8 feet.

There was a death row, but no one was put to death there.
Al Capone had 'extra' stuff in his cell. Most people had very austere cells.

Thanks for sharing since we live in Pa we have been thinking of going there. I also
am wondering if this is part of a tour or are you able to go off on your own can you share
some info on how a group can visit any rules to follow stuff like that?

I see you shared the info I was looking for Thank you!

starlitestarbrite
I also am wondering if this is part of a tour or are you able to go off on your own can you share
some info on how a group can visit any rules to follow stuff like that?

- There are guided tours available. We did not do that.

- There are 'self guided tours' available via audio tape. My husband did that. I didn't. I wanted to be able to 'feel' the place around me. I had him repeat anything useful when he heard it on the audio tape. Also, there were signs here and there.

- We walked around all over the place on our own. No problem.

- The only rules really are to stay out of areas that are blocked off. The place is in SERIOUS disrepair. I can't stress that enough. Even when I was walking on the second floor in Cell Block 2 ... the little bridge over from one side to the other felt frail and I was a bit nervous.

- We went on a Monday at around noon time. There weren't a lot of people there, which was great. The kids are still in school and people aren't out on vacation yet. It was perfect timing. Just as we were leaving, a ghost hunting team was arriving for after hours with their equipment.

- It was COLD and DREARY and a bit RAINY .. perfect day to do this. I had to wear gloves inside because it was so cold. It was colder inside than it was outside.

- $14 per adult to get in. All things considered, it was a fair price. And there were people stationed here or there that you could ask questions of or ask directions of. Just a sprinkling of them. Not enough to ruin the 'feel' of the place.

reply to post by starlitestarbrite


Yet another PA resident.
We are well represented here, it seems.

Oddly enough my living room looks like Al Capone's cell, I've never seen this before.
Thanks for sharing your experience, great pictures!

Staroth
Oddly enough my living room looks like Al Capone's cell,

All the cells were very austere, except for Al Capones. He had extra stuff in his.
The dude was wealthy so I'm sure he was able to pay off people to have a nice cell.
(well .. if you can call a 6x8 cell 'nice' )

Oh .. I was asked if I saw any ghosts or felt any. The answer is ... no.

I've been around spooks ... lived in haunted houses (all my houses have been haunted) ... worked in haunted buildings ... visited a person in a haunted hospital ... literally talked to a solid ghost in a haunted cemetery ... etc etc .... but I saw and felt absolutely NOTHING in Eastern State. Either they were sleeping, or there aren't any extra spooks there. IMHO.

It was cold and dreary and rainy and deserted ... all set up to lend extra 'spookiness' to the situation.
But I saw and felt absolutely nothing metaphysical.
Maybe 'they' are there and maybe it was just bad timing.
But we had no encounters.

I also carefully checked all our pictures. I have about 2 dozen of them, I only posted a few here.
There was nothing special in the pictures either.


ETA .. I should also state that the camera battery didn't drain. In previous haunted places (like in Gettysburg) my camera and EVP equipment batteries drained - Even at midday. Nothing like that happened at Eastern State. Another reason I don't think any super active spooks were around.

Can anyone sit in the chair? If so, did you? Why do peeps think the chair is haunted?

Very good pics, creepy place!

kosmicjack
Can anyone sit in the chair? If so, did you? Why do peeps think the chair is haunted?

People there on official after hours ghost hunts with private ghost groups can sit in it (as far as I know).
The chair was blocked off to the regular folks like us going through.
They say it's haunted because, when people sit in it, they can feel the barber touching them.
(I guess he wants to give people a hair cut and shave)
I was there with the chair a while. Just my husband and I. I felt nothing in the room.

Great photos! Thanks for sharing them with us!! Al Capone had quite the nice little cell. LOL

Thanks for posting pictures FlyersFan. I used to work at a little gym right across the street from there but in all my years I have yet to go inside.

If anyone ever gets the nerve to go ghost hunting the Baleroy mansion in Chestnut Hill is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in America. A number of spirits including Thomas Jefferson have been reported to be seen. (On a side note, how does anyone really know if it's Thomas Jefferson? I don't think you can just ask). They have scheduled tours available as well.

Thats really cool they let you tour on your own. The only way I would want to do it.

The haunted house that they do at Halloween is really good too. Everyone who can; should go (at least once). Expect to wait in line, though. It stretches around the perimeter of the prison on the weekends during Halloween.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Awesome pictures. Ghosts or not, the place is pretty creepy in part due to the decay alone, lol. I laughed when I saw your jab at the GH clip. When that first aired, I was like "lol, do you not see the leg peek out there?" Shenanigans!

Great thread! S&F for you, I've always wanted to go to a notoriously haunted location, could anyone from the UK (bedfordshire for a closer location) suggest places?

I've read about some island just off of Italy that's meant to be super super sketchy but I think that's a bit too far.

Thanks for sharing!

reply to post by conz1992


Of you do make it to Italy Castel San Angelo is supposed to be haunted as well.

I don't consider myself psychic or sensative to the paranormal but after visiting it I had bizzarre and violent nightmares (even during a little siesta) for the rest of my stay in Rome.

Looks like Capone got to live it up in the big house