For years the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA, has been considered one of the most haunted places in America. Although the prison closed in 1970, several inmates remain. Who are they, and why are they still there? We have some theories.
In 1829, those responsible for the penal system believed that crime was merely a result of the environment. They believed that solitude would make the criminal regretful, or penitent. This theory became known as the Pennsylvania System, and resulted in the world’s first “penitentiary.”
Funding to build the Eastern State Penitentiary had been approved in 1821, and construction included a design, similar to a wagon wheel, where the seven original cell blocks would be laid out like long hallways, that could all be seen from the central rotunda. The design prohibited contact between the 250 inmates it was built to house. Cells were equipped with feed doors and individual exercise yards to prevent contact between inmates, and limit contact between inmates and guards. On the rare occasion when an inmate had to leave their cell, they were fitted with a mask, continuing the trend of isolation. Inmates were also denied visitors, letters, or even newspapers from the outside world.
The prison officially opened on October 25, 1829, despite some of the original cell blocks still being under construction. The penitentiary was an architectural marvel and had features such as running water, and heating (before even the White House in Washington D.C.). It was fitted with skylights and flushing toilets. With vaulted ceilings were meant to be a symbolic “eye of God,” and a bible was placed in every room. The exterior was medieval gothic, and was meant to intimidate.
Inmates were put to work, often completing the tasks of a tailor, shoemaker, or a weaver, all from the confines of their cell. Silence was expected, and enforced. Leather was placed on wheels, and wool socks were placed over shoes, to minimize any sound they might make. The silence alone was enough to drive any man insane.
As the number of inmates increased, building plans had to change. Cellblocks four through seven were built between 1831-1835, and were each two stories tall. At this point, the prison contained 450 cells. As time went on, more cellblocks were added, and private exercise areas were eliminated. Instead, inmates would exercise together in a single room, while wearing hoods with eye-holes.
The first prison escape happened in 1832, when a prisoner, working as a waiter to the warden, lowered himself from the roof and ran. He was captured, and tried escaping again in 1837 via the same means, and was again captured. This was not the last escape attempt by an inmate at the Eastern State Penitentiary. Despite the idea that solitude and silence would create penitence, the prison served to create hostility.
In July 1923, another escape attempt was made, this time by an inmate named Leo Callahan and five armed accomplices. They held up several unarmed prison guards while Leo and other prisoners to use a ladder they had built, to get over the east wall. Leo had been convicted of assault and battery with intent to kill, and was the only inmate to ever evade capture.
Over the years, several more escapes took place by means of attacking guards and creating tunnels out. Those who escaped were all caught again, and given longer sentences.
In 1834, the first of several investigations into the prison’s finances, punishment practices (which included fewer food rations, and being placed into dark cells), and deviations from the Pennsylvania System of confinement took place. For years, there had been allegations of abuse from guards, despite the plans for the two to have little to no contact. In the winter, inmates would be dunked in a bath and hung up on a wall so that ice would form on their skin. Prisoners would be bound in “the mad chair” so tightly that their circulation would be cut off, causing permanent damage, and in some cases, requiring amputation. In May of 1831, there is a record of an inmate being placed into a straight jacket and given no food or drink for three days, under suspicion of insanity.
An iron gag would be secured to an inmate’s mouth, ripping the tongue and mouth while their hands were tied behind their back. On the morning of June 27, 1933, 44 year old Mathias Maccumsey was tortured with the iron gag for talking. An iron bit, approximately an inch square, was placed into his mouth and fastened in place by chains around his neck and secured his arms high behind his back in a rather painful matter. This meant that if Mathias dropped his arms in any way, the pressure would force the gag further into his mouth. As a result, Mathias Maccumsey died due to severe bleeding.
Alexis de Tocqueville visited Eastern State Penitentiary in 1831 with Gustave de Beaumont. In their report to the French government, they wrote, “Thrown into solitude… [the prisoner] reflects. Placed alone, in view of his crime, he learns to hate it; and if his soul be not yet surfeited with crime, and thus have lost all taste for any thing better, it is in solitude, where remorse will come to assail him. Can there be a combination more powerful for reformation than that of a prison which hands over the prisoner to all the trials of solitude, leads him through reflection to remorse, through religion to hope; makes him industrious by the burden of idleness..?”
In 1842, Charles Dickens visited the United States to see Niagara Falls and the Eastern State Penitentiary. He later wrote, “The System is rigid, strict and hopeless solitary confinement, and I believe it, in its effects, to be cruel and wrong….” Later, in his travel journal, American Notes for General Circulation, in a chapter titled, “Philadelphia and its Solitary Prison,” he wrote, “In its intention I am well convinced that it is kind, humane, and meant for reformation; but I am persuaded that those who designed this system of Prison Discipline, and those benevolent gentlemen who carry it into execution, do not know what it is that they are doing. I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body; and because its ghastly signs and tokens are not so palpable to the eye,…and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore I the more denounce it, as a secret punishment in which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay.”
In 1847 the 18th annual report of Eastern State Penitentiary reported that out of an average of 326 prisoners in 1846, there were 11 deaths; 1 from insanity. Nine cases of insanity were reported that year, however the report also claims that those who did go mad were predisposed to do so, and in no way was a result of the prison’s solitary confinement methods. It is to be noted that modern studies suggest that the psychological effects of long-term isolation can include anxiety, insomnia, panic disorders, paranoia, aggression, and depression among other mental health issues.
By 1879 the annual report of Eastern State Penitentiary counted 52 inmates to be of “unsound mind” including “Violent subjects whose minds are wholly under a cloud.” The prison still maintains that it is not the solitude causing the madness. An inmate wrote “In the gloomy solitude of a sullen cell there is not one redeeming principle. There is but one step between the prisoner and insanity.”
In Germany, where prisons had been modeled after the Pennsylvania System, 37 scholarly articles were published between 1854 – 1909 regarding the psychotic disturbances found in prisoners. They wrote that solitary confinement was perhaps the most influential factor in the rates of mental instability and disease their prisons were experiencing. They found that prolonged isolation could cause vivid hallucinations, persecutory delusions (in which one believes harm is occurring to them or will occur), and maniacal and suicidal outbreaks. Interestingly, these studies also reported a rapid recovery of these symptoms as soon as the person was released from prison.
In 1913, solitary confinement was rescinded as the need for space grew. By 1926, several more cellblocks were constructed and the prison population jumped from 250 to 1700. Many prisoners welcomed cellmates, in a room that had just enough space for 1.
In the years to follow, numerous riots broke out and in 1945 the Pennsylvania Legislature recommended abandoning the Eastern State Penitentiary. I took until January 1970, several years and riots later, for the prison to finally close its doors.
Eastern State Penitentiary has over 1,000 deaths recorded in “The Death Ledger” which documented which inmates died, and the cause of that death. There is a high number of deaths related to tuberculosis between 1881 – 1882, numerous suicides, and even murder where one inmate killed another.
Today, the prison is a historical site, offering tours, and even a haunted house for all to enjoy. Employees as well as guests have reported mysterious happenings.
In the 1990’s, locksmith Gary Johnson reported that he was in cellblock 4 and had just unlocked it when something gripped him so tightly that he was unable to move. He felt there was a negative force emanating from the cell, and he saw tormented faces along the walls, one of which beckoned for him to come closer.
In cellblock 6 there have been reports of shadow-like figures roaming around. There have been numerous reports of “people” disappearing into the cells, but aren’t actually found in the cell.
Cellblock 12 is now known for the sounds of echoing voices and high pitched laughter. Many have reported hearing a cackling laugh, and tour guides have reported that cell doors on the third floor of cellblock 12 seem to open by themselves when no one is looking.
When you reach cellblock 15, also known as Death Row, you will hear whispers coming from the cells as you walk past. Witnesses have also claimed to see a shadowy figure running past. It is important to note, that while the Eastern State Penitentiary had a Death Row, no inmates were ever executed on its grounds (they were sent to Pennsylvania’s only death chamber, at the State Correctional Institution at Rockview).
What will you find when you visit the Eastern State Penitentiary?