Eastern State Penitentiary was a former American prison, located at 2027 Fairmount Avenue in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built from 1822 - 1836, and was in operation from 1829 until 1971. Shaped in a wagon wheel design, once completed, the building was the largest and most expensive public structure ever erected in the United States of it's time. In 1836, the Eastern State Penitentiary cost nearly $780,000. Over 300 prisons world wide were modeled after ESP.
The first inmate was taken in, on 0ctober 25th, 1829. "Charles Williams, Prisoner Number One. Burglar...Sentenced to two years confinement with labor. Received by Samuel R. Wood, first Warden." First female inmate was received in 1831.
Other notorious criminals such as gang member Al Capone, and bank robber Willie Sutton were held inside Eastern State. Al Capone arrived in 1929 and spent 8 months in ESP. He was arrested for carrying a concealed, deadly weapon and this was his first prison sentence. His cell was different from all the others. He had a polished desk with a lamp, paintings hung on the wall, and also a radio to play some music. Slick Willie Sutton spent 11 years in ESP. In 1945, he along with 11 other inmates escaped from Eastern State, through an inmate dug tunnel. They were recaptured minutes later.
Another famously known criminal held at Eastern State was James Bruno (Big Joe). He and several of his male relatives were incarcerated here between 1936 and 1948 for the Kelayres Massacre of 1934, but they were all pardoned.
The prison was originally built to reform criminals through strict isolation, so they were put into solitary confinement. Each criminal had their own cell. The cells were first made so that the only way a prisoner could enter was through a tiny door from a small exercise yard. This door was also what their food was pushed through. One way in and one way out. It is thought to have been made this way so that the prisoners couldn't rush the guards and try escaping. This entrance became impractical, so while the prison was still under construction, all of the cells were given a bigger metal door covered by a wooden door to filter out the noise. When the prison became overcrowded, the solitary confinement system had collapsed by 1913, and was operated as a congregate prison until it's closing in January of 1970.
Eastern State Penitentiary closed with most of the inmates being sent to the State Correctional Institution at Graterford. Currently, the prison is a U.S. National Historic Landmark and is open to the public as a museum for tours seven days a week, all year long.
Our experience: This investigation almost didn't happen. When we stepped out of the vehicle to view the huge ominous complex, and when we say huge we are not downsizing the matter. This facility is absolutely mind boggling. It was hard to take it all in. When we spoke to the clerk at the register they denied that we had prepaid for our tickets to reserve the investigation for the night and all of our hearts hit the floor. After much deliberation, we were able to figure something out through the kindness of the staff. We toured the facility with the standard package, with our audio headsets and self guided tour during the day. Nothing really exciting happened other then looking at a very run down building and some bugs. No, literally they have a dedicated bug room which is straight out of a Hannibal Lector movie. We waited for night to head back for our investigation, and all of our excitement could hardly be contained. From the first moment we walked into the prison, it just had this eerie feeling. Once we got set up, and by this I mean we only had a couple audio recorders to capture EVP's and a few cameras. We were a paranormal group on a budget! The prison itself looked like a castle from the outside, but from inside, you could just see the rows and rows of cell blocks. Due to decay, some of the prison had been closed off, but for our investigation, we were able to roam most of the prison.
Walking through the cell blocks in the pitch black was a whole new experience, especially for my husband and I. Typically ones first investigation is a residential house or a small business, but no. Go big or go home right?
My husband, Danny's, first experience ever investigating happened when he and Jason, our fellow investigator, went in a cell within the facility. Jason exited the cell and Danny got up from the bed and it felt like someone stuck a fork into an electrical socket and touched a part of his shoulder. He yelled at Jason, "I JUST GOT TOUCHED". Jason immediately rushed back into the room and felt around but nothing could be read on the meters. Only thing noticeable was that it was colder in that area.
The next thing Danny could remember was when he, Jason, and Billie where in the segregation rooms in the "basement". It was a little section actually underground where prisoners on death row, or those that needed to be away from the rest, were held. Very small area, and towards the back end, was a glass window, blocking off the decayed area of cells. They had placed a recorder near the entrance to the area while they all looked around. Jason went towards the glass window to take a look, and mentioned how he wish he could go back there. The recorder ended up picking up a voice saying “In here”. It wasn't any of the investigators voice's and it was super close to the recorder, where the investigators had walked away from it towards the back of the room. None of the investigators heard the voice while in there, and only heard it once they played the recording back.
My first paranormal experience was while we were out in the exercise yard. We were starting to head back into part of the prison, when I noticed this metal bench by the door. I'm not sure why I was attracted to it, but I sat down and said “I love this bench!” I didn't hear anyone say anything after that, but caught on the recorder was a voice. I barely finished saying bench, when on the recorder this voice whispered a reply back. It sort of sounded like it was mocking me by repeating “I love this bench.”
Not all evidence was caught on the recorders though. Many of us had personal experiences as well that can't really be explained. Later on that night, I along with a fellow investigator walked outside to the metal bench to do some questions with the recorder. While sitting out there, we started to hear this metal clanging. We looked up to see the noise was coming from this barred window just above us. No one was up in the cell, and there were no birds or wind at that time that could affect it. It made us wonder if there was residual energy of a prisoner past that was trying to escape from their cell.
Throughout the night, we would also do sessions with flashlights. We would loosen the battery enough that it only took a light touch to turn the flashlight on or off. Then we would ask spirits to see if they could affect the flashlight to answer our questions. A few of us went down one of the cell blocks and sat in the door way of a cell. It was pitch black so we set up one of our flashlights for an EVP session. We went around asking questions, like if they were a prisoner, if they died in the prison, if they were male or female, and so on. One session, we asked if they could turn the flashlight off if they were a Security Guard, and to all of our surprise the flashlight turned off. We then would ask it to turn it back on so we could ask some more questions, and it flicked back on. Some questions the flashlight wouldn't react to and others it would, but it was an interesting experience all around.
So the question is, do we believe that Eastern State Penitentiary is haunted? We were able to debunk many things throughout the night by recreating many of the instances, or finding that a slamming door could be caused by the wind. But, as a group we had many personal experiences that could not be explained. EVP's of voices that weren't heard with the naked ear, and only caught on the recorder. Being touched by someone or something that isn't visible to the naked eye. Through these experiences, we believe there is something paranormal happening at the Eastern State Penitentiary.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_State_Penitentiary
https://www.easternstate.org/research/history-eastern-state/timeline
http://www.easternstate.org/notable-inmates
https://www.visitphilly.com/things-to-do/attractions/eastern-state-penitentiary/
Photo credit:
Ashley Whitmore with Ashley Whitmore's Photography