Haunted Places in America: Eastern State Penitentiary
Eastern State Penitentiary is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This fortress of a prison was built in 1829 and run under the Pennsylvania System used by the Quakers. This prison was built to reform prisoners by keeping them in solitude so they could look inside themselves to find God. What it accomplished was driving men insane and making it one of the most haunted places in America.
The conditions at Eastern State Penitentiary were horrible at best. Prisoners were locked in their cell for all but an hour a day. Their cells consisted of a toilet, table, bunk and Bible. During their hour outside the cell, prisoners had to wear a black hood over their heads and forbidden to have any form of communication with other prisoners. Even with threats of brutal punishments, prisoners would tap on pipes and whisper through open vents just for a chance to interact with other human beings.
One of the inhumane punishments was the water bath, where prisoners was dunked in a bath of cold water and hung from the wall overnight (Layers of ice would form on the body during winter months). The mad chair was another punishment where prisoners were strapped to a chair so tight that there could be no movement for days without food. The iron gag was another punishment particularly used for disobeying the no communication rule. An iron collar was attached to the tongue and then chained to his wrist which would be tied high behind his back. Any movement brought extreme pain and tearing of the tongue resulting in some prisoners bleeding to death.
The prison was closed in 1970 and left abandoned until 1991 when it was given the historic preservation designation and currently is open to tours during the day and for those die hard ghost hunters, night tours can also be taken.
The haunting of Eastern State Penitentiary started well before it was even closed. One of its most famous prisoners was Al Capone in 1929. Capone swore that he was haunted by a victim of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre James Clark. It has been reported that Capone would yell nightly for Jimmy to let him be.
A locksmith named Gary Johnson is one of the most widely told ghost story coming out of the prison. It was during the restoration and Mr. Johnson was working on a cell door trying to remove an old lock in Cell Block #4. According to Johnson, when the lock was removed a force came over him so strong he could not move. Tormented faces appeared in the cell, ghostly swirls spun around and one form seemed to draw the locksmith to it.
According to those that are currently working at the prison, there is almost always evidence of paranormal activity. Both tourist and employees alike report they hear whispering, laughing and even weeping from inside the prison cells.
Typically in a year there are about 2 paranormal investigations a month going on at Eastern State Penitentiary and not many leave without a good story. Here is the ghost video from Most Hunted Live at the prison with apparant ghosts in the background.
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