Eastern State Penitentiary's "Terror Behind the Walls"

I was asked by a friend of mine to review the haunted house at Eastern State Penn, one of the country's oldest and supposedly most haunted prisons. I thought anybody who reads this board from the Philadelphia area might appreciate the info. So, enjoy:

So, I got a free pass to go to the Eastern State Penitentiary's "Terror Behind the Walls" haunted house.

Last year I went to this event for the first time with a few girls and I had a blast. So I was curious to find out if they changed it each year or if it was the same old song and dance.

Since I only had one free pass, I was flying solo this year. And after enjoying a dinner at Rembrandts (which was at best mediocre, which is a shame since I have really enjoyed that place in the past) I headed over. I traded in my pass for a ticket and headed inside. Once inside the walls of the prison, I oveheard a group of kids a few years younger than me in line behind me and out of the three guys and one girl I heard the cautious statements of the girl who was already terrified, even before anything happened. Being the dick that I am, I turned around and in very sincere tones told the young lady, "Seriously there's nothing to worry about. The whole thing is just one big sham and you only have to BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!" jumping towards her and screaming the last part. The poor girl shrieked like I'd murdered her cat in front of her and her 3 companions started laughing hysterically.

After I pulled the same gag successfully twice more, it was my turn in line to enter the haunted-house proper. The girl tugged at my shoulder and ordered that "You're in our group!" This wasn't a question or a request so I figured, "Why the hell not?" and when the ticket taker asked how many people were in my party, I told him we were five.

The exhibit itself was very similar to last year's. That is to say, full of really well done effects, great props, and enthusiastic actors. The experience was made even more entertaining by the presence of my new blonde friend who shrieked at every little bump in the night.

The main new addition and, in my opinion, the best part of the tour was the section where we were handed a single flashlight, given to me since I was the de-facto leader of the party, and plunged into complete blackness. Between all the shocks provided by the cast and my intermitent covering of the flashlight, it made for a great walk-through. Actually having control of the flashlight was both a curse and a blessing however. One the down side, I saw every actor and every "shock" coming from 10 feet away as I scanned the area. However, on the plus side, this was a great time to actually live out all the "Dawn of the Dead"/"Resident Evil" scenarios I grew up with in my all-too-geeky younger years.

Bottom line, this joint is in the top-ten haunted houses in the country for a reason. Check it out. You'll be glad you did!

sounds like an awesome time.

wish i had time to vist philly to check this out.

I would love to go to that! Sounds fun.

Sounds like alot of fun! I wish I had been there :D

I should mention that even if you don't hit up the Halloween tour, their regular daytime tour is pretty awesome too. It beats the hell out of the Alacatraz tour, which the only good parts of are the boat rides and the fact that it ends.