Haunted Eastern State Penitentiary

Philadelphia is a vibrant, bustling city, best known for its famous cheesesteaks and iconic historical landmarks. Among these landmarks, one stands out for its imposing appearance and notorious reputation.

Since opening on October 25, 1829, Eastern State Penitentiary has loomed over the city streets like a medieval castle.

The sight of it alone is enough to send chills down your spine, but those who have spent time within these walls swear that restless spirits still roam the corridors.

Eastern State Penitentiary was born of a revolutionary concept. In the late 1700s, the prison system of Philadelphia was chaotic and cruel. Men, women, and children alike were kept together in communal holding cells. Prisoners were to perform manual labor in silence and could be subjected to physical punishment at any time.

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Abuse was rampant within the prisons, at the hands of both inmates and guards. In 1787, the Philadelphia Society for Alleviating the Miseries of Public Prisons met to discuss ways to improve the system.

Benjamin Rush, a well-respected doctor in the city, came forward with an idea. He proposed that incarceration should serve as a time for criminals to reflect on their actions, repent, and reform so that they could reintegrate into society. Rush believed that the way this change would be achieved was through solitary confinement.

This system was first implemented at the Walnut Street Jail, but as the population of Philadelphia continued to grow, it quickly became clear that a larger facility was needed.

So, ground was broken in a cherry orchard 2 miles outside of the city, and construction began on Eastern State Penitentiary. The building was designed by John Haviland, and even the proposed layout was revolutionary for the time.

It was designed to be a pinwheel, with seven cell blocks branching off from one central point. The goal was for a single guard to be able to monitor the entire penitentiary from his position in the center.

The penitentiary was meant to hold a maximum of 250 inmates, each with their own individual cell in single-story cellblocks.

However, by the time that construction on Cellblock 3 was finished, the penitentiary was already at capacity. Therefore, the rest of the cellblocks were built with two stories.

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By 1913, the penitentiary had completely abandoned its initial system of solitary confinement, due to overcrowding. Soon, each cell hosted two to three men at a time.

Conditions quickly deteriorated at Eastern State, and despite the good intentions that had led to its construction, cruel punishments became commonplace. Solitary confinement was reintroduced, to be carried out in four underground isolation cells known as the Hole.

Some say that more extreme punishments were used as well, including binding inmates to chairs, dunking them in water then forcing them outside in the middle of winter, and the use of an instrument known as the Iron Gag. The Iron Gag involved an iron collar being inserted into an inmate’s mouth, then connected to their hands, which were bound behind their back.

The penitentiary saw many escape attempts, and even riots at the hands of inmates who were tired of being mistreated. As unrest rose, talks began of shutting the penitentiary down.

Eventually, in 1971, Eastern State was officially closed, and all of its inmates were moved to surrounding prisons. Despite various plans for redevelopment of the land, the building stood empty until restoration efforts began in 1988.

Over 142 years of operation, Eastern State Penitentiary housed nearly 85,000 souls, including famed bank robber “Slick Willie” Sutton and even Al Capone. However, some of these souls seem to be still serving out their sentences. Ghostly activity has been reported here since the 1940s.

Al Capone himself seemed to have fallen prey to a phantom tormentor during his eight months at Eastern State. Despite living in relative luxury compared to other inmates, with a radio and even furniture in his cell, he seemed to live in fear. Capone believed that James “Jimmy” Clark, a victim of the St. Valentine’s Massacre, had come to haunt him.

When darkness fell, he would wail and scream in terror, begging Jimmy to stop harassing him. After leaving the penitentiary, Capone even hired a medium to rid himself of the specter, to no avail.

Even without Capone, screams of torment still echo through the empty corridors of Eastern State Penitentiary. Sounds of crying come from vacant cells, and visitors report breathy whispers taunting them as they explore the grounds.

Sadistic cackles emanate from Cellblock 12, and throughout the penitentiary, cell doors can be heard rattling and even slamming shut. Disembodied footsteps stroll the hallways, and some lucky visitors have been tapped on the shoulder by an invisible hand, or even been called by name.

Cellblock 6 is infamous for black silhouettes darting between cells, but these entities are not confined solely to this area. Shadow figures have been spotted slinking along the walls all throughout the penitentiary, including the guard towers dotted along the yard. These shadows were most famously reported by a man named Gary Johnson, who worked as a locksmith during the penitentiary’s early restoration.

While focusing on the locks in Cellblock 4, Johnson was overwhelmed by the feeling of being watched. When he looked up from his work, he saw a shadow dart across the cellblock. Upon opening the cell he had been working on, he was greeted by a rush of cold air and the faces of tortured souls appeared on the walls. Johnson went on to describe the penitentiary as a “giant haunted house.”

Today, Eastern State Penitentiary is open from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Wednesday through Monday for self-guided audio tours.

Tickets are available for purchase online for $21 or at the door for $23. Admission is discounted for seniors, students, and children, though bear in mind that the tour is not recommended for children under seven.

For the thrill-seekers, Eastern State also hosts an annual Halloween event featuring flashlight tours of the penitentiary hospital, five haunted houses, and more.