Is Eastern State Penitentiary haunted?

People think that Eastern State Penitentiary is haunted because there were so many prisoners and security guards died there. All types of ghost hunters visit the ESP to investigate it. Come to the tour and Terror Behind the Wall to see if this is true. Terror Behind the Walls have a haunted cells walk way, gift shops, and food that you will enjoy. People that works in this event are very good scaring people. The make up and costumes are really scary. It looks very real.















I took this picture from the ESP. You can see the orbs. Taken-2007

Here's are some Video Ghost Clips of the ESP:

Ghost Hunters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU9XmYqAIB0&feature=related

America's Ghost Hunters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH7KrjIFV6s&feature=related

MTV-Fear
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lw7XPk-dm18&feature=related

Most Haunted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG9CeTZo3U4&feature=related

If you are interested in going to Terror Behind the Wall, here's the calender for the event on the website:
http://www.easternstate.org/halloween/schedule_and_prices/
This comes around every October.

Famous Prisoners

There are only three famous prisoners.



1. Pep
In 1924, Pep, known as "The Cat-Murdering Dog", got sent to Eastern State for life sentenced by the Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot. Pep murdered the governor's wife's cat. Pep's inmate number (no. C2559) that is showed in the mug shot.






2. Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was born in January 17, 1899. He was a smuggling and bootlegging of liquor and other illegal activities. He was involved in an Italian American gangster and they called him a Scarface because what happen when he was a teen. He said something to a girl which her brother, Frank Gallucio, didn't like so he slashed Al's face with a knife three times. He fell in love with a beautiful 21-year-old Irish girl named Mary "Mae" Coughlin. They had a son together name Albert Francis "Sonny" Capone which they were never married. He was involved in a St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Between 1929-1930, Al Capone spend eight months in Eastern State Penitentiary for income tax evasion by the federal government. He was released in 1939. On January 21, 1947, Al suffered a stroke which he died of age 48 years old. He never left a will for his family since he never owned a business.



This was Al Capone Cell in ESP.




3. Willie Sutton
William "Willie" Sutton was born June 30, 1901. He was a U.S. bank robber and escapist. He has two nicknames, "Willie the actor" and "Slick Willie". Sutton got married with Louise Leudemann in 1929 and she divorced him while he was in jail. They had a daughter name Jeanie in that following year. Sutton got married to his second wife name Olga Kowalska in 1933. He robbed 100 banks in the late 1920s and got caught in 1952. He was a master mind of breaking out from the prisons which he was the first person to escape from Eastern State Penitentiary. Sutton was asked if the guns that he used in robberies were loaded and his responds was that he never carried a loaded gun because somebody might get hurt. He died in November 2, 1980.


This photo here is the Willie Sutton Escape tunnel from Eastern State Penitentiary- I took this when I was in the tour in prison. Taken-2006

The Tough Times & Punishments

The Tough Times

While they were locked up all day, the prisoners had a toilet, table, bunk, and Bible in their cells. When the prisoners leave their cells, their head will be covered with a black hood so they could not see any other prisoners as they walked through the halls of the prison. Inmates lived a life in a solitude and gets a glimpse of sunlight, it's called "The Eye of God" which came through a slit in the prison's ceilings. The Prisoners will tap on the pipes or whisper through the vents to each other. When they do get caught, their penalty was brutal.

The Punishments

The punishments they did at the Eastern State Penitentiary was so horrible. Here are the harsh punishments:

1. The Water Bath
The inmates who broke the rules risked being dunked in a bath of ice cold water then hung from the wall for the night. When this punishment was most popular, during the winter months and days, the water on the inmate's skin would form into a layers of ice before the morning. Some prisoners will not survive this punishment.

2. The Mad Chair
This was named because it was not uncommon for an inmate to go mad before his punishment ended. The prisoner will be strapped into the chair with leather stripes so tightly that it was impossible for them to make the smallest of movements. They would sit for days and nights without any food until the circulation in their body almost stopped from the tightness of the straps.

3. The Iron Gag
This punishment was the most deadly of all. Specifically designed for those inmates who refused to obey the no communication policies. An iron collar was clamped onto the tongue then chained to his wrists which were strapped high behind their back. Any movement will tear their tongue and caused a severe bleeding. Many prisoners who suffered this torture died from loss of blood before their torture ended.

4. The Hole
In Block #14, the hole was nothing but a pit in the ground where inmates would stay locked for weeks. There was no lights, little air, and thrown into its tortuous grip would receive water and a slice of bread before the rats and roaches, if they get there on time.

Here's the video to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xRrxsvxdDw

History

Eastern State Penitentiary was built in 1829 by John Haviland, who become an architect. He wanted to create an imposing Gothic structure with 30 foot stone walls and a massive central guard tower surrounded by radiating spokes of cells. It's located at Fairmont Avenue between 21st and 22nd streets, like five blocks north from the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. Eastern State's solution believes in solitary confinement inspired fury and insanity rather than peace and "penitence". They were supposed to move the criminals towards an spiritual reflection and change. Instead, it was more of a harsh punishments that leads to death. In 1913, the prison was designed to have 250 inmates but, it was jammed with 1700 prisoners. In 1924, Pep was the first dog that got send to prison by killing the governor's cat. The famous prisoners in the Eastern State Penitentiary are Al Capone and Willie Sutton. Al Capone is a modern life mass murder that was involved in the Valentine's Day Massacre. Willie Sutten is a robber and escapist but inside, he is a nice man. The Eastern State Penitentiary was abandoned and closed in 1971 because they didn't want anyone to know what happened in ESP. In 1988, the Eastern State Penitentiary Task Force completely petitioned Mayor Wilson Goode to halt redevelopment. In 1994, Eastern State reopened to the public for historic tours. Even today, the Eastern State Penitentiary is running as a museum and historic site that remain opens from April through December until the next year. In every October, they offer Terror Behind the Walls haunted house which it is a incredibly popular event. This Penitentiary been filmed by Ghost Hunters, MTV's Fear, Twelve Monkey's, and a music video for their song "Punk Rock Girl". Even though, some people believed that this prison is haunted.

Here's the video to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwbhsgb13xU&feature=related

Here's the Eastern State Penitentiary website:

http://www.easternstate.org/