If you go to Drexel you’ve definitely heard of Eastern State Penitentiary. This is the most famous prison in Philadelphia where over 300 prisons were inspired by. There the famous mobster Al Capone stayed for a little under a year. People say that it is haunted which is the motivation for the thousands of visits during the Halloween season. In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to go and see how spooky it was.
Getting the ticket I was with my roommate and we randomly decided to, well, just do it. Why not? We love this time of the year and going on a weeknight should be cheaper, right? Well, kind of. The tickets were cheaper, around $25 if you bought so in advance they didn’t sell out. We ended up paying $35 each including a $10 processing fee. Apparently, you can find a $5 coupon online though so do that google search and save that money.
Getting in Since we paid the extra $10 for line hopper passes we went through the crowd which was really nice. While we waited we were surrounded by many people at least half our age which made us feel a little silly for how scared we were waiting. That was until one of the actors chased me into a corner.
The scare The prison was divided into multiple scare zones, each with their own theme. This was fun because in between each “haunted house” we were sitting wondering what the next scare would be. Themes range from the hospital to the kitchen to a laser escape. The scariest part was walking down a hallway lit only by strobe lights to be met with “patients” who could potentially touch you.
After the scare I realized when we were done that I could’ve happily lasted with the necklace, the scares would’be been heightened with some contact but were still spooky without. Afterward, we were met with a gift shop and some food venues. Instead of indulging in that we decided to go to the speakeasy at Al Capone’s cell. There we paid $10 for a glass of wine and some entertaining music from the 20s.
Overall the visit was spooky. I was excited to learn about the history afterward and see the cells replicated as they were when the prison was running. The scares were spooky but would definitely be more fun if you keep the necklace on. But hey, I’m an adrenaline junky so you do you.