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A Tour Of Eastern State

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Why In The World Would You Visit This Place?

This is a lens that I'm making as a companion piece to my "Honeymoon In Philadelphia" lens. This was the biggest reason we chose to go to Philadelphia for our honeymoon. Both of us have an interest in visiting haunted places, and this is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the US. My husband also has a morbid fascination with prisons, so why not visit?

Touring The Prison

My husband is a skeptic when it comes to ghosts, but he was interested in the prison anyways, so we went.

Now I know some of you are going to laugh when I say that I'm somewhat psychic, but I think that I am, and the whole time we were there, I felt like we were being watched. Some of it was my imagination I'm sure, but some of it was not. The prison is very old, dark, and it's falling apart, so that in itself makes it spooky.

The tour itself was very interesting. People are not allowed to go through the whole prison because it's in pretty bad shape in some places, but you do get to see a lot of things. You're shown "death row", solitary confinement cells, cells where famous people have been held (ie Al Capone), the prison barber shop, and various other cells. We were only allowed to wander on the lower level. Apparently, the upper level is in pretty bad shape. After the tour, you have to make the obligatory stop at the gift shop. They sell everything from T-shirts to copies of the handbook every prisoner got. All in all, it was a very interesting trip, and whether you believe in ghosts, or just like American History, I would suggest you stop there if you're given the chance.

Other People's Photos

Here's some great pictures from Eastern State Penitentiary. It seems like everyone takes the same pictures.
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My Photos

The outside walls.

The outside walls.

The outside walls.
Another view of the outside walls.
A sample cell.
This was a view looking down one of the corridors.
This used to be the greenhouse.
Another look at how high the walls are.
This is a solitary cell. It's actually in the ground. What you're looking at is the top of the cell.
Another view of the walls. I took a lot of pictures of the walls. They were very intimidating.
This was an example of what each inmate would have had in his cell.

Gift Shop Items

You can buy these items in the gift shop on your way out. If you can't make the trip yourself, these things will make you feel like you were there.
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Is The Prison Haunted?

My thinking is that yes, the prison is haunted. Anyone who had to spend their whole life with the kind of existence those prisoners had, is going to have a hard time moving on.

Do you believe the prison is haunted?

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Yes

mysticmama says:

I personally don't believe in "ghosts" which might surprise some people, but I do believe that certain geographical location can be "haunted"...though it's not by ghosts...Everything on eart is made up of electromagnetic energy, even our emotions...places where horrible thing have happened can like an echo of negative energy, that can be felt by humans...there are numerous places that have a history of horror that these negative energy "imprints" almost stain with "icky or creepy energy" Auschwitz is one such place, Alcatraz another prison also has reports of "hauntings"...I very much believe that what people feel are hauntings are real and actually left over negative energy :-)

No, are you crazy?

MikeMoore says:

Probably not. But who can know for sure. That's half the fun!

 

Tell Me What You Think

So, does this sound like an interesting place to visit? Do you think I covered all the bases? Whatever comments you like, you can leave here. Thanks for visiting!

  • stargazer00 May 6, 2009 @ 2:49 pm | delete
    It does sound interesting. We saw a supposedly haunted house in Old Town San Diego but we didn't go in. They say no one has ever been able to stay a whole night in it.
  • mysticmama May 1, 2009 @ 2:55 pm | delete
    very cool lens :-)
  • MikeMoore May 1, 2009 @ 2:48 pm | delete
    I love haunted places. I actually visited a place here in Canada that was supposed to be haunted last year. It was in Ottawa, and was the last place to have a public hanging. I got to sit in the condemned's cells and saw the rope. There were grooves in one of the wood pieces that supposedly marked where the guards did unauthorized hangings. It was a creepy place, but a lot of fun to visit. Lots of history there.

    The best part was that there was a legend that said the last guy who had been executed said that no grass would grow in the courtyard. None ever has. It's a parking lot now.
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Dkprincess6

I've been a member of Squidoo since January 8, 2009. I made Giant Squid in my first try in April of 2009. I have an Associate's Degree in Veterinary Technology... more »

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