For people who like
to scare people
Halloween at Eastern State Penitentiary
- Address:
-
22nd Street and Fairmount Avenu
Philadelphia, PA
19130
United States
- Phone:
- (888) 763-NITE
- Contact Email:
- Website:
- http://www.terrorbehindthewalls.com
- Myspace:
- http://www.myspace.com/terrorbehindthewalls
- About:
- A MASSIVE Haunted House Inside A Real Prison! A lost world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers stands behind the Eastern State Penitentiary's massive 30-foot high walls. This is the home of Terror Behind the Walls. Ranked in the top ten Best Haunted Houses in the United States by AOL Digital City, Travel Channel, and Haunt World Magazine.
There are five separate prison themed haunted attractions in the eleven acre prison complex, which guests go through in a linear fashion. All are included in admission price.
Intake - An indoor/outdoor haunted attraction with theming based on the prisoner processing experience.
Lock Down - Introduced in 2007, this is the newest of the haunted houses. Lock Down, which is located in the three-story Cellblock 12 built in 1911, and is themed as an electrified prison cellblock.
13 Rooms - The theming revolves around various work in a prison, such as the mess hall, laundry room, and morgue.
The Experiment (in 3-D!) - A 3-D haunted house, based on the idea of a “prison doctor's,” experiment gone wrong. Although The Experiment dates to 2003, Terror Behind the Walls has featured a 3-D haunted attraction every year since 2000, making it the first 3-D haunted house in Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Night Watch - Introduced in 2006, a haunted house where the only lighting is provided by flashlights carried by guests, and is currently one of only two indoor haunted houses in the United States to feature this unique form of lighting.
Parking can be scary! Use the designated "Ghost Bus" parking lot and ride in haunted style to the Penitentiary. During your ride, a storyteller on each trolley will tell the group about real ghost sightings in Philadelphia, including the story of the Eastern State locksmith who had a very eerie experience in a prison exercise yard!
Eastern State Penitentiary has been featured on MTV's Fear and Sci-Fi's Ghosthunters.
- History:
- 1991 Terror Behind The Walls begins.
The first Halloween fundraiser at The Eastern State Penitentiary took place in 1990. The first year, the event was held just on Halloween weekend, and tickets were only available as part of a dinner package through neighborhood restaurants. The event consisted of actors telling ghost stories in the abandoned prison. A few hundred people attended that first year, and attendance increased each subsequent year. However, the event struggled to find an identity, and took various forms, including short theatrical performances and true tales of prison murder and violence.
In 1995, the event was rebranded as Terror Behind the Walls, and became a high startle, low gore walkthrough haunted attraction, which it continues as today.
"America's Scariest Halloween Attractions". Travel Channel, USA. [[October 27, 2007]]. No. 1, season 1. The event was a single, long walkthrough. In 2000, it was broken up into three separate, smaller haunted attractions. One of the attractions introduced that year was a 3-D haunted house. At the time, it was the only 3-D haunted house in Southeastern Pennsylvania and one of the first in the United States.
By 2003, the event had grown to a point where it was no longer feasible to build up and tear down the entire attraction each year. That year, four semi-permanent haunted attractions were constructed inside the penitentiary complex.
Today, Terror Behind the Walls has grown to become one of the nation’s largest and most well known haunted attractions. It had been consistently ranked as one of the top haunted attractions in the nation
