Here it is, once again, that time of year when the nights get longer, the weather gets cooler, and the holidays are quickly approaching.
Halloween kicks off the holiday season which has an abundance of meaning behind it, including Ghosts stories. But, the true meaning of those topics are set for future articles. Today, I will be talking about the real Spirits of Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) and my experience with them as a Certified Paranormal Investigator.
Famous Beginnings
Before getting into the details of the ghostly activities in and around that building, it’s important to have a bit of background. Eastern State Penitentiary is a notoriously haunted, famous prison on the East Coast. It was built in 1829 and is located in Philadelphia, PA.
At the time, it was the most popular, and expensive, prison in the world. It was not only architecturally interesting, but it was also the first prison to install plumbing and heating systems. No other prisons had that luxury. It originally had 7 cell blocks to house 250 inmates, but, through time, as more prisoners were populating the prison, they added more blocks, making it 15 to hold over 1,800 people. One of the cell blocks was even designed by one of the prisoners.
Initially, the prisoners were brought in with a hood over their head and had to spend 23 hours in isolation. It was deemed inhumane and the isolation was reversed which allowed the prisoners to congregate. Although some of them were allowed to work outside their cells, some prisoners preferred to work by themselves in the confines of their own cell.
The prison housed the likes of the infamous “Scarface” Al Capone, whose prison cell was literally a luxury suite having interesting amenities. Women were a regular part of the prison from 1831- 1923 and had their own block. The youngest prisoner was a 12 year old boy who was sentenced, in 1934, for second degree murder. Also in 1934, a Black Labrador Retriever named Pep was brought in for an alleged murder. Pep was sentenced to life in prison. Soon after, a Beagle named Lady became the second non-human prisoner.
Now, it seemed that the animal inmates were a political stunt and they actually were not prisoners at all. They were companions for the guards, but they also allowed some human inmates to have pets.
The life of the inmates was not an easy one. It was during a time when the guards were pretty much allowed to do what they wanted. One prisoner actually feared for his life, thinking a guard was poisoning him. He took apart his sewing machine and bludgeoned the prison guard with an eight pound bobbing iron. It turned out, supposedly, the guard was giving the inmate vitamins. That is only one of many incidents between the inmates and guards. And it wasn’t just inmate/guard issues but also inmate/inmate problems. A lot of people died suddenly in that prison. There was also many attempted escapes and one successful escape. The city of Philadelphia started to populate and the community had wanted to shut down the prison for years with it finally closing its doors in 1971.
A Spiritual Breeding Ground
When people die unexpectedly, it is thought that their spirit lingers here on the Earth plane – they don’t know they have died. With that said, I am a Certified Paranormal Investigator with the New Jersey Ghost Hunters Society (NJGHS). When one wants to become certified as a Team Leader and go on private and public investigations, one must do training and an investigation at Eastern State Penitentiary then send in the required Report of Findings to the founder.
I became involved with NJGHS back in 2008, doing some of the group cemetery investigations allowed to lifetime members. I wanted to further my experience and become certified, so I attended a private tour and investigation at ESP. Since then, I have also led an investigation at ESP. Below are just some of my experiences with one of the country’s most haunted locations.
When investigating at ESP, there is always a tour guide for each group, depending of the number of people in attendance. They are there to help with questions pertaining to the prison, and also to make sure we are staying in areas that are safe. Due to the decaying state of the building, there are some places we just can’t go. Due to the investigations being held after dark with no electricity, it’s understandable why there must be a guide in attendance.
When investigating, my main equipment, other than my sensitivity, is;
- A camera
- An audio recorder for Electronic Voice Phenomena’s (EVP’s)
- A pendulum
The most common thing to show up in photos are orbs, and it is better to be skeptical about them. Nine times out of ten, an orb will be dust, a bug, or water particles.
One Investigation of Many
I have had two major incidents that stand out to me and they both happened when we were in cell block 12, the most haunted part of the prison.
The first incident:
I was lagging behind the other members, asking the spirits questions and just kind of meditating. All of a sudden, it felt like someone had lightly pushed me on my right shoulder. Now, I know it was dark out, but we did have flashlights, so I spun around, flashlight blaring. No one was there. Needless to say, I was a little spooked out by this and hurried to catch up with the group.
Mind you, I was also audio recording at the same time. It’s not like some of the television shows where they ask a question, then stop the recorder to listen. The recorder is on for the duration of the investigation. So, later when I listened back to my audio, I can hear myself say something to being touched, and then the sound of scurrying to catch up to the group. Among the sound of me walking away I hear, faintly,
“Come back, come back.”
When I heard that, I had the chills though out my entire body for at least five minutes. It wasn’t just the audio that gave me the chills, but the mere fact that I had been physically touched while on an investigation, which was a first for me.
The second incident:
We had just arrived at the top of the stairs on the third floor, and moved in a little. In the center of the floor is an opening with a cart and tracks which went the length of the floor. All of a sudden the temperature dropped, and I felt like I was being choked. The guide gave us a rundown of what the track and cart was used for, which was for moving food from one side of the floor to the other. Before moving on, the guide mentioned that an inmate had choked to death on his food.
While touring the rest of the prison, which included an underground solitary block and a Synagogue, I had slight physical experiences and got many EVP’s. The EVP’s included:
“Ouch,” “It was mine,” “Dying,” ”Why,” “Stop,” and even what sounded like a dog barking.
Eastern State Penitentiary is filled with different kinds of paranormal activity felt by many. Outside of their haunted attraction, “Terror Behind the Walls,” it is a place where those who are interested in the paranormal should seek to experience a world that is outside of our own.
Check out NJ Ghost Hunters Society’s website.
NJGHS Mission Statement:
“To search out definitive proof of life beyond the grave. To provide paranormal investigations to those who request them, free of charge. To train those individuals, who so desire and become members of the NJGHS, in the protocols of professional, ethical and scientific paranormal investigating.”
