Eastern State Penitentiary Featured As 'Haunted Road Trip Of Pennsylvania' Stop

PHILADELPHIA – It's almost Halloween, which means it's the perfect time to spook yourself out with some of Pennsylvania's scariest sites. Luckily, those in the Philadelphia area don't have to go far.

A Haunted Road Trip of Pennsylvania, created by the website Only In Your State, has a stop in Philadelphia at the infamous Eastern State Penitentiary, which is now hosting its popular "Terror Behind The Walls" haunted attractions.

Here's what the website says about the defunct penitentiary:

More than 70,000 prisoners passed through Eastern State Penitentiary from the time it opened in 1829 until it permanently shut down in 1971. Originally designed to have only solitary cells, prisoners spent 24 hours a day alone, driving most to insanity. By the early 20th century, however, two to three men crowded into a tiny cell but that was only the beginning of their suffering. The warden encouraged such torture as dunking the men into freezing water in the winter then hanging them against the wall and tying them up for days at a time so they couldn't move their limbs. Today, visitors talk of seeing apparitions and hearing wails as they tour the prison, which also features a nighttime haunted house through October.

Each fall, the penitentiary transforms into a haunted house that draws huge crowds seeking scares. Learn more about this year's version of "Terror Behind The Walls" here.

Here's why the website included the bridge on the tour:

The 10-site road trip also includes three stops in Bucks County, Centralia and Pennhurst State Hospital and School.

Click here to see the full suggested scary road trip.

This story was originally published on Oct. 11, 2016, and is being republished due to its seasonal nature

Image via Dave Ginsberg, Flickr Commons