Terror lies behind ESP walls

By Lauren McGlone
Collegian Editor
October 10, 2007

With two unique ways to visit the country’s oldest prison, Eastern State Penitentiary offers Halloween scares and nightmares for this season’s thrill-seekers.

The Terror Behind the Walls attraction at ESP transforms the institution into a living, breathing haunted house with different rooms for a distinctive scare around each corner. Those who dare enter encounter a crazed madman in “The Experiment” in 3-D, the jail’s Processing Center and warden during “Intake,” and complete darkness with only a flashlight to guide the way in “Night Watch.”

Courtesy of Nichole DuBan - Cast members at Terror Behind the Walls prepare for
another fright-filled show.

The newest feature at Terror Behind the Walls is Lock Down, which opened this season. Visitors are taken through electrified cellblocks and haunted corridors, but quickly discover that they are not alone.

La Salle University alum and Assistant Zone Manager for Lock Down Nichole DuBan has been working at the unique Terror Behind the Walls for the past three seasons.

“You get paid to dress up and scare people,” DuBan said. “We work in teams too. That’s great because we balance each other; some of us are creepers, some scarers, some comedians. We’re all about the entertainment.”

The Terror Behind the Walls haunted house has been voted among the top scariest Halloween attraction in the country by the Travel Channel, America Online and HauntWorld Magazine for 2007.

The attraction has been a local hit with Philadelphia fright fans of all ages.

“We’re located in the heart of Fairmount with tons of bars and eateries all around,” DuBan said. “Plus, it’s the only one in the area without an execution scene; we can’t touch the patrons, and there are no profane jokes—we’re really an all-ages atmosphere.”

Terror Behind the Walls is a fictional prison that happens to be set at Eastern State Penitentiary, an actual jail that housed such inmates as Willie Sutton and Al Capone.

Real ghost sightings are rumored to have been witnessed at Eastern State Penitentiary. The prison was featured in the SciFi Channel’s show Ghost Hunters, which released alleged ghost footage at ESP.

All proceeds from Terror Behind the Walls benefit the preservation of ESP as a National Historic Landmark. The prison was abandoned in 1971 and for over two decades stood with no maintenance. In 1994, the tour program began to help raise about $3 million and stabilize the landmark to remove it from the Most Endangered Sites list in 2002, according to ESP’s Web site.

Daytime tours of the 11 acre prison take patrons on a historic trip throughout the penitentiary and include several art exhibits along the way.

The Terror Behind the Walls attraction will be scaring patrons until Nov. 3, and ESP itself will close for the winter months until April.

Prices for the Terror Behind the Walls attraction vary from $20 to $30, and special rates are available for groups of 20 or more. To really make an evening of the event, a Halloween-themed dinner is co-sponsored with such local restaurants as Jack’s Firehouse, London Grill and Illuminare.

For more information about ESP and Terror Behind the Walls, visit easternstate.org.

mcglonel1@lasalle.edu