In 1822, construction began on a new structure outside of Philadelphia, on ten acres of elevated farmland known as Cherry Hill. Made of massive stone blocks, it would be, for a time, the largest and most expensive building in the United States. Architect John Haviland designed the building to resemble a gothic castle, saying he wanted it to “strike fear into…hearts”

Why?

Because Haviland was constructing a prison. And, not just any prison. It was the first of its kind specifically designed to incorporate an evolutionary system of incarceration, dubbed the “Pennsylvania system”, which encouraged “separate confinement” as a form of rehabilitation. By the time it opened on October 25, 1829, this new prison–dubbed “Eastern State”–consisted of 500 cells lining seven corridors, all of them designed to hold every single inmate in complete isolation.

Entrances to each cell consisted of a metal door layered with a heavy wooden door that filtered out the sights and sounds of other inmates. A single peephole allowed guards to see into the cells without being seen. The doors were so small, prisoners had to lean over to enter and exit. When they did leave (which was rare), their heads were wrapped with a hood to prevent any interaction. Although each cell was connected to an outside, individual area for exercise, it enclosed by high walls so prisoners could not communicate. Not that it really mattered; exercise time for each prisoner was synchronized so no two prisoners next to each other would be out at the same time. The warden was legally required to visit every inmate every day, and the overseers were mandated to see each inmate three times a day. As visits from friends and/or family were not permitted, these were the only instances of human contact most of the prisoners ever had.

Unless, of course, they were assigned to Cell Block 15. This area, reserved for the worst offenders, did not even see their guards.

When Charles Dickens toured the United States in 1842, he witnessed conditions here and wrote about it in his travelogue, “American Notes for General Circulation:”

“Looking down these dreary passages, the dull repose and quiet that prevails, is awful. Occasionally, there is a drowsy sound from some lone weaver’s shuttle, or shoemaker’s last, but it is stifled by the thick walls and heavy dungeon-door, and only serves to make the general stillness more profound. Over the head and face of every prisoner who comes into this melancholy house, a black hood is drawn; and in this dark shroud, an emblem of the curtain dropped between him and the living world, he is led to the cell from which he never again comes forth, until his whole term of imprisonment has expired….He is a man buried alive; to be dug out in the slow round of years….

And though he lives to be in the same cell ten weary years, he has no means of knowing, down to the very last hour, in what part of the building it is situated; what kind of men there are about him; whether in the long winter night there are living people near, or he is in some lonely corner of the great jail, with walls, and passages, and iron doors between him and the nearest sharer in its solitary horrors.”

It was believed this form of punishment would “move the criminal toward spiritual reflection and change.” It was thought that the criminals, “exposed, in silence, to thoughts of their behavior and the ugliness of their crimes, would become genuinely penitent.” In fact, Eastern State is the world’s first true “penitentiary” in that its entire goal was to inspire “penitence” in its inmates. Haviland leaned into this belief with the building’s design, incorporating arched doorways and curved ceilings, hoping to make the inside of the structure feel more like a cathedral. He also designed the cells with a single glass skylight, representing the “Eye of God”, suggesting to the prisoners that God was always watching them.

In reality, though, the guards and councilors of the facility designed a variety of physical and psychological torture regimens for various infractions, including dousing prisoners in freezing water outside during winter months, chaining their tongues to their wrists, and strapping prisoners into chairs with tight leather restraints for days on end. The worst punishment, however, was a pit called “The Hole”, an underground cellblock dug under cellblock 14 where they would have no light, no human contact, and little food for as long as two weeks.

This was on top of the serious mental health effects, not yet understood in the late 19th/early 20th century, that prolonged isolation has on a person. Dickens had an inkling, though, and wrote about it after his visit:

“I believe that very few men are capable of estimating the immense amount of torture and agony which this dreadful punishment, prolonged for years, inflicts upon the sufferers; and in guessing at it myself, and in reasoning from what I have seen written upon their faces, and what to my certain knowledge they feel within, I am only the more convinced that there is a depth of terrible endurance in which none but the sufferers themselves can fathom, and which no man has a right to inflict upon his fellow creature. 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 sense of touch as scars upon the flesh; because its wounds are not upon the surface, and it extorts few cries that human ears can hear; therefore the more I denounce it, as a secret punishment which slumbering humanity is not roused up to stay.”

With the harsh conditions and rapidly escalating population, riots, escapes, and murders were common. The prison was in operation until 1971, when it closed its doors for good. It was opened as a historical site in 1994.

But, is it any wonder, with such a brutal history, that stories and legends about the place live on?

Rumors of ghosts and hauntings have been so persistent, Eastern State has leaned in, offering its spooky locale up to paranormal investigative shows like Ghost Hunters and Ghost Adventures. It also hosts Halloween Nights during the month of October when it offers five different haunted houses, historic tours, themed bars and lounges, and live performances all within the prison’s walls.

So if you happen to be in Philadelphia this month and want to experience a little bit of dark history, why don’t you head on over to Eastern State and give it a look?

As for me, I’m good right where I am. 😂