Eastern State Penitentiary

I don't expect many of my friends to read this post, but I thought it was too cool of an experience not to document at least for my own personal "Gee Whiz" collection.
While my parents and sister were in town, we wanted to do some sight seeing in Philadelphia.  They had previously already seen independence square, the liberty bell, ran up the Rocky steps and all the other stuff that most tourists do here, so we wanted to show them something cool that was different.  My parents have seen a lot of cool things all over the world since they've traveled frequently during their lifetime.  So I wasn't sure what to show them that would impress them.  After doing some research with Scott, we decided to take them to the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is what is now an abandoned penitentiary in the city of Philadelphia, but also a historical landmark, complete with guided tours.

Even from the outside, this building is extremely impressive.  We didn't tell my parents where we were going, but when we drove up to it, both of them went, "Hey look! That's a Castle!"  Having lived in England for two years, my family has visited many Castles built in the middle ages, and knew darn well what they looked like.  One of the many reasons why the penitentiary is so cool, is that it basically looks like a castle built right in the middle of the city.

View from across the street where we ate lunch first.

Walking along side the building

It was the first penitentiary ever built way back in 1829, on top of a hill in the middle of what was then, just farmland.  It was made to look intimidating on the outside so that people would never want to end up there.
The inside, was made to look like a church though. They did  so, because they wanted it to be a place that would reform criminals and inspire them to change their ways.  This was the first time that people thought of making a prison into a place of reform.

Picture I took of one of the many hallways inside the prison

Inside one of the cell rooms.  All the props in this room are real and were actually used by inmates.  When the prison was abandoned, a lot of stuff got left behind.  The slit in the wall is where they got light in the 1830's.

Unfortunately, their idea of reformation was not exactly humane.  In fact quite the opposite.
The early prisoners were not allowed human contact, not allowed to speak, whisper, whistle, sing, hum, or make any sounds at all.  They had to sit in silence, think about their sins, and pray mentally.  If they were caught making sounds or communicating to anyone for any reason or making any sounds, they had their hands tied behind their backs, were tied down forced in a kneeling position, and an iron ball was placed into their mouths and tied in with a strap, making any movement, especially with the tongue extremely painful, to the point of bleeding if they tried.
Because of the horrible torturous things that were done to inmates over the years, this place is thought to be one of the most haunted places in America.  Dozens of paranormal researchers visit every year to gather more research and find evidence of ghosts, some claiming to have succeeded.   Many popular ghost documentary shows have done specials on this place, including Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures, which Scott and I like to watch from time to time.

Picture of Brad Pitt in the very spot where the viewer is standing.  The movie "12 Monkeys" was filmed here.

  There are also hundreds of stories of eerie experiences by some visitors, staff, guards and inmates about things that they've seen within the walls of the prison.  For the believers out there who want to know if I saw anything, no, I didn't see any ghosts...but there was definitely a strong feeling.  Some places you go in this world leave behind feelings  just in the atmosphere.  For LDS people, that's why they visit places like the Sacred Grove among other places.  Here,  I expected to feel scary and spooky feelings, but instead, I felt feelings of hopelessness and sadness, and feelings of loss.  There was definitely some eeriness, but I got the feeling that a lot of people in that building were just lost souls. Some were horrible human beings, but some were just lost.  However, even though nothing there freaked me out, I wouldn't want to be alone there at night.
Even if you don't believe in ghosts, the stories of things that were done to inmates in that building is enough to make anyone shiver. Inmates were dunked in water, and then hung out on a wall in the winter time until ice formed onto their skin as a form of punishment.  There was also a chair called "The Mad Chair" which bound inmates so tightly that circulation was cut off and would result in eventual amputation.  There was also "The Hole"...which were cold, wet, underground cells with no light, where prisoners were left naked with no heat, no exercise, no fresh air, little food, and no toilet.

The underground cells, or what they called "The Hole."  to the left of this tunnel you can see doorways to the tiny cells, hardly any room to move and no room to stand up straight.  The guy with the beanie was our tour guide.

 Needless to say, many inmates went crazy while incarcerated there.  Interestingly enough, since I had the "lost sad souls" feeling while in there did some research later on, and discovered that yes, there were horrible people incarcerated there, but most of the early criminals were put in there for simple robbery and theft charges like mugging, pick pocketing, purse snatching and burglarizing.  First time offenders served a minimum sentence of two years.  Like I said, I felt a sense of hopelessness while in there.  Not to sound devastating though, this really was an interesting and fascinating place.

The prison stayed active all the way until 1971, so some wings of the prison are slightly more modern than others because with more and more prisoners coming in as the years went by, the prison became overpopulated and they had to keep adding rooms and cells to hold inmates.  

Stories about some of the inmates that stayed there were equally fascinating.  There were famous prisoners who stayed there like gangster Al Capone, and bank robber Willie Sutton.  As a matter of fact, there are records in the prison showing that in 1940's Al Capone reported his own experience with supernatural phenomena while staying there, that he was haunted by a man that he had ordered to be killed at the time.  Weather that's true or weather he was in the beginning stages of mental illness, are up to the visitor to decide. 

Al Capone's actual prison cell.  This furniture was put in to re-create what it looked like, showing that even in prison he received many special privileges.   When he left he took all his actual things with him.  

Other stories that were fascinating, were the stories of escape.  The prison was supposed to be inescapable, but as several very smart and sneaky inmates proved, there is always a way.  These stories were inspiration for Stephen king's story, "The Shawshank Redemption," which seems to be a combination of many of the things experienced inside the penitentiary.  Almost all of the escapees however, were re-captured, except one who nobody ever saw and heard from again, just like the movie.   The stories of escape were fascinating and even really cool.  It amazed me how some people who were so smart and talented, wound up behind bars in a place like that.  

The guy in this picture spent a year and a half digging a hundred foot tunnel from his cell, under the prison wall and out to freedom.   He got rid of all the dirt by filtering it through a tube he inserted into his toilet so that it would go out into the sewage system.   However unlike the movie "Shawshank Redemption" he was re-captured within a few hours. This stunt added an extra 10 years to his sentence, that originally only had two years left.   

 

The structure, the history, and the stories of this place were extremely impressive, and my parents were indeed impressed.  My dad called it one of the most fascinating tours he's ever been on, and having been a former world traveler, hes seen and done many many impressive things so that said a lot.  He also stated that he wanted to go back and see it again the next time they come out to visit.
I highly recommend this place.  Having come to the East Coast to see Scott's family many many times, I had never been here and it really is an incredible experience.  However if you go in the winter time, dress really warmly.  Next time I go back will be either in the spring or fall, when the weather is just right.

Jacob fell asleep for 90 percent of the tour, which was a huge blessing since he's our loudest and most distracting kid.  The tour guide was careful with the things he said and how he said them so that he wouldn't scare the kids, Crystal was the only one old enough to understand most of what he said anyway, and she thought that this place was really cool.  Like her mommy, she loves historical places such as ruins and deserted buildings and learning about them.

Prison courtyard.  Added way after the days of solitary confinement as a means of reform. By now inmates were allowed to interact.  Some of the stories about things that happened here were both interesting and even funny.  Some were sad.

Still an impressive view while walking back to our car.

Another cool thing, is they transform this place into a haunted attraction during the month of October for Halloween.  It's called, "The Terror Behind the Walls."  Click on the link to learn about it if you're interested.  Something Scott and I are TOTALLY doing this coming October for sure. It looks amazing and terrifyingly awesome.  There are three levels of terror you can experience, one being that you can just walk through and get startled by the people in masks.  Two you sign a waver that allows the worker to touch you. (obviously not harm you though.)  Three, you actually get separated from your group as an individual and experience it alone.  The workers are trained for weeks on how to time and coordinate it in a way that will separate you and then reunite you with your group as you walk through.  

So, if you made it this far reading this post and you're in the area and interested, this place is a must see.  It's definitely not the last time I'll be visiting this place.