Halloween is undoubtedly one of the most loved holidays across the country, drawing both fright seekers and the fainthearted into the heart of the season through costumes, movies, and haunted attractions. From hayrides to walkthroughs, Halloween attractions can be found just about anywhere in Pennsylvania, especially in the Philadelphia area. Yet, to me, two of many stick out more than the others: Pennhurst Haunted Asylum and Eastern State Penitentiary. Both of these locations are haunted not only today by their Halloween spooks, but also by their pasts as an abusive asylum and a famous penitentiary. However, when it comes to the spooky season, people often only have the time or money to visit one haunted attraction. For this reason, I visited both Pennhurst Asylum and Eastern State Penitentiary to figure out which one provides the best overall experience, considering both the quality of scares and the prices.
Pennhurst is slightly more expensive, with most prices ranging from $45 and up. The prices at Eastern State Penitentiary vary more depending on the date that one is visiting. Yet, by comparing the two on the cost of visiting on a Thursday, which is usually the cheapest day, Pennhurst costs $35 and Eastern State costs $19 per person. So, from solely looking at price, it would seem that Eastern State Penitentiary is a better deal.
To provide some context on what each visitor is getting for their money, Pennhurst provides visitors three attractions while Eastern State provides six. While it certainly seems like there is a deficit at Pennhurst, I found the combination of attractions to be overall longer than the ones at Eastern State. Additionally, there is a range of differences in the way that the visitors are approached within the attractions. At Pennhurst, visitors are isolated from the protection of others by being sent into the building in relatively small groups (about six people per group). At Eastern State, the groups were larger (about 15 people per group), but they were sent in too soon after one another, resulting in groups catching up to each other and creating one long stream of people. In my opinion, this was the ultimate downfall of Eastern State. It gave away the scares that were to come and took away from the feeling of fright that most visitors expect to feel the entire way through their experience.
Focusing on performance, each attraction took a different approach. Eastern State allowed visitors to opt-in or out of being grabbed and separated by the actors. At Pennhurst, the actors eliminate the choice and violate all sense of a personal bubble without any care. Because of this, everyone gets a more similar experience. This is another aspect where the long line of people at Eastern State takes away from the visit. Because there are so many people there at one time, very few people have the experience of the actors giving them personal attention. Therefore, there is a range of experiences at Eastern State.
Considering this all, I would say that the price is equivalent to the experience. For a lower price at Eastern State Penitentiary, you get what you pay for. Being at the attraction will give visitors some sense of fright, but the interaction with actors is on the lower side. At Pennhurst, the price is higher, but the experience is overall more involved. Between both of them, Pennhurst is the better attraction if one truly desires to be terrified, but if money is a problem, Eastern state is a close second.
Decide for yourselves: visit Eastern State and Pennhurst for tickets.
