| Address |
| 2124 Fairmount Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19130, USA (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
|
| |
| Information |
Terror Behind the Walls
This immensely popular Halloween haunted attraction is set inside Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - A former prison that is notorious both for its history as well as the reports of ghosts and paranormal activity that reportedly continue to this day. The prison housed inmates from 1829 until 1971 and was "home" to such infamous personalities as Al Capone and Willie Sutton. The idea behind the "penitentiary" was that by forcing inmates to constantly live in solitary confinement and to maintain a strict code of silence and isolation, they would become "penitent" for their crimes. Instead, the end result was a significant rise of mental illness and the system was scrapped. Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site Inc. runs the site today as a living museum and offers a variety of tours to raise money to preserve the site for future generations.
In 1991, the group organized their first Halloween-themed event, which focused primarily on recounting the various ghostly legends of the facility to a couple hundred guests. The attendance would grow over the next couple of years and the theme would change from real life tales of violence inside its walls to theatrical performances. It would not be until 1997 that the annual Halloween tradition would become known as Terror Behind the Walls and the attraction would forever become a haunted attraction.
From 1997, the haunt would change from being a single walkthrough to multiple attractions and introduced the first 3D haunted house in the state of Pennsylvania. In these early days, visitors to the haunt were forced to wear hardhats by the State of Pennsylvania due to the structure being classified as a "living ruin." The early dollars went to stabilizing the former-prison and by 2000, the efforts had paid off and the hardhats were no longer needed for the haunt.
In 2003, it was ultimately decided to build four semi-permanent haunts inside the complex (in areas that were not on the normal historical tours), in order to offset the labor and costs of reconstructing the sets each year. Careful steps were taken to make sure that if the sets are removed, there will be no damage or alterations made to the existing structure. It would be expanded again in 2005 with the addition of the Intake attraction, which consisted of several small permanent sections inside the complex, as well as outdoor sections that are put up seasonally.
As the haunt continued to grow, so to did its reputation. Today, the haunt received high accolades from the haunt industry and is regularly labeled as one of the best Halloween haunted attractions in the United States. While the ghost stories of Eastern State Penitentiary have made the facility a mainstay in paranormal-themed television shows, Terror Behind the Walls has also received its fair share of attention from the likes of Travel Channel's America's Scariest Halloween Attractions, The Maury Povich Show, and Rachel Ray.
While the haunt is set inside the prison, it makes no attempts to represent the actual history of the facility and all of the proceeds are used to maintain and preserve the building. With around an estimated 100,000 visitors each year, the haunted attraction is the largest source of revenue of the site.
The Attraction
Terror Behind the Walls is separated into five different haunted attractions that are spread throughout the eleven-acre complex. All of the attractions are included in the admission price and visitors move from one area to the next in order. The haunt makes use of top-of-the-line special effects, electrical effects, strobe lights, fog, loud noises, digital sound, and animatronics to provide what they describe as a "high startle, high intensity event." The low gore haunt is run by a staff of 150 and features six different stops.
Guests are first ushered into Yard Out in the facility's recreation yard, which is crawling with insane prisoners and sadistic guards. As the visitors wait, they are entertained with clips from the various paranormal-themed television shows that have covered the facility. They officially start their stay with a trip to prisoner processing in Intake where they participate in fingerprinting, mug shots, and even a line-up. They then go on a walk through the notoriously haunted Cellblock 12, whose dark corridors are rigged up with electric fences and rattling cell doors in the attraction Lock Down. Guests leave the cellblocks and move on to 13 Rooms and through the Mess Halls, Kitchens, Laundry room, and morgue - each with their own surprise. After that, they hit The Experiment - A 3-D walk where the grotesque experiments that were concocted by the prison doctor are unleashed on the unsuspecting guests. Finally, they enter probably the most popular section of the haunt in Night Watch. Here, they are provided with a flashlight and are sent on their way with only their light to guide them, ultimately wrapping up at the site's Prison Museum.
Information
For more information, including dates and hours of operation and ticket prices, please visit the site below. |
| |
| GPS Interface |
Save Waypoint to Garmin Device.
|
|
| |
| User Trips |
| There are no user trips associated with this location. |
| |
| Related Sites |
Terror Behind the Walls
The official Web site for this annual Halloween haunted attraction at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. |
| |
| Similar Destinations |
| Boneyard Haunted House, Arlington, TX |
| Gyro's 4D Fear Factory |
| Hoia-Baciu Forest, Romania |
| |
| See Also on TheCabinet.com |
| Blog: Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State (10/26/08) |
| Blog: Calling on Haunted Attractions (05/06/09) |
| |
| Available from Amazon.com |
Eastern State Penitentiary (PA) (Images of America) |
Eastern State Penitentiary: A History |
City Ghosts: True Tales of Hauntings in America's Cities |
Ghost Investigator Volume 2: From Gettysburg, PA to Lizzie Borden, AX |
| |
