Entertainment

REVIEW: EASTERN STATE PENITENTIARY

October 17, 2007

ESP, a real-life haunted house

Tiffany Stine Special to the Weekender

This week, I had the opportunity to view a “true” haunted house. My destination: Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Known by paranormal societies as a haunted location, the penitentiary took its first prisoner in 1829, Charles Williams, whose crime was burglary. Among the many notorious inmates was gangster Al Capone, whose jail time was more of a luxury vacation. When Capone was put in his cell, the courts allowed him to furnish it with rugs and antiques.

Since closing in 1970, ESP has had many visitors from laymen like me to real life “Ghostbusters” trying to catch just a glimpse of its dark history.

ESP offers a number of different tours which change each season, but for the purpose of this story, I reviewed the Prison Daytime tour (which runs from April to November) and Terror Behind the Walls, their Halloween adventure (which runs from September to Nov. 3).

Daytime Tour

Visitors are invited on the grounds of the penitentiary and are able to roam (within limits) around the jail. You can choose between guided tours with a live tour guide that is said to be interactive, or you can choose the “Voices of Eastern State” audio tour narrated by Steve Buscemi. I chose the latter and was given headphones and a map of the jail. This tour plays like a book on tape, leaving time for pauses in special areas as well as telling you when to leave a room or turn off the tape to take in the paranormal activity. For the daytime tours you are allowed — even encouraged — to bring a camera (they even suggest bringing extra film) because the penitentiary is said to be the most photogenic place you’ll ever see. I agree. I took my digital camera and took 89 pictures, an abundance for me. We arrived at the daytime tour at 3 p.m., not realizing that it closes at 5 p.m. Although you are not supposed to be frightened during this exhibit, it is hard not to be. My favorite section of the tour was Death Row, where I strongly suggest turning off your cassette to meander about; it’s an overwhelming experience.

Terror Behind the Walls

After seeing the penitentiary during the day and realizing the potential, I HAD to go to Terror Behind the Walls! We purchased our tickets earlier on Ticketmaster and were instructed to report back to ESP between 9:30-10 p.m. I left my camera at home as cameras are not permitted. My boyfriend and I left his house in New Jersey to make the 15-minute journey to ESP and then spent 45 minutes looking for a parking spot. Note: Get your tickets in advance. On our first drive-by of the penitentiary at 9:15 p.m., a sign on the ticket booth indicated the evening was already sold out. In addition, when we found the two designated lots for ESP they were already filled. We finally parked at 10 p.m.

When we made our way to the penitentiary, I was surprised to find sections squared off for different time slots. Keep in mind, if you arrive already past your scheduled time, just get in line at the time closest to yours, because your time group has already entered the haunt. Waiting in line, I immediately noticed the first difference between ESP and any of our homegrown haunts was that I had to sign a waiver. This made me weary, but Matt informed me it wasn’t because they were planning to hurt me (my initial thought), but because it’s an old building and they need to protect themselves against clumsy people that fall. Also special to this haunt is the number of people working it, and in costume. This was something I found quite refreshing — you really do get in the spirit the second you get in line.

Around the perimeter of the penitentiary are bushes and trees. Be careful of those. Not all of them are of the deciduous type and are more likely human. So yes, they will jump out at you, they will follow you and you will think you are going crazy. Crazy seems to be the theme of this haunt; I noticed that most of the character actors (who all take on the persona of an inmate) all seem to be rather rabid, with many foaming at the mouth. All this and we haven’t even entered the walls of the penitentiary!

We waited 20 minutes before entering, and with my first step over the threshold, I was greeted by another rabid prisoner who was talking to himself. We started walking towards the INTAKE (which is where the entrance line begins) and were stopped short for a quick mug shot. Inside the penitentiary yard there are several TVs playing documentaries on ESP as well as the MTV Fear episode that was filmed there. There are four different stops that the tour takes: LockDown (new for 2007), 13 rooms, in 3D The Experiment and NightWatch.

My expectations for ESP may have been too high because once inside the walls, the night haunt played out like any other one that I have been to. There were a few new effects that I have not yet seen, but in short, I don’t think it’s worth the drive. Paying $30 to get in (not including the $10 enticement to skip to the front of the line), Terror Behind the Walls falls short on my “Hallowmeter.” My suggestion is to skip the night tour and stick to the day one where you can actually see how scary ESP is in its natural form.

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