2006 Terror Behind the Walls Schedule Announced

May 25, ’06

: The massive Eastern State Penitentiary — a gothic, castle-like structure in Philadelphia's Fairmount neighborhood — was once the most famous prison in the world. With stark towers and soaring fortress walls, Eastern State was designed to intimidate. It was home to such frightening characters as Al Capone and the flamboyant bank robber, "Slick" Willie Sutton, but stands today in ruin, a lost world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers.

This is the home one of the nation's largest and most ambitious haunted attractions, Terror Behind the Walls. The event has been ranked the nation's 6th best haunted house by America OnLine, and called "perfect for Halloween" by The New York Times. It is in its 16th year.

The 2006 season (Select nights September 22nd through October 31st) of Terror Behind the Walls will feature five haunted attractions within the 11-acre Penitentiary complex, including the all-new attraction Night Watch. Please see the 2006 Schedule for a complete list of dates, times and promotions.

All five haunted attractions are included in the admission price. Discounted tickets for groups of 20 or more are now on sale. Individual advanced ticket sales begin on September 13 at TicketMaster outlets, by phone at (215) 336-2000, or online at www.TicketMaster.com. Tickets will also be available at the door on each evening of the event. Reservations are highly recommended for weekends in October.

All proceeds from Terror Behind the Walls benefit the preservation of Eastern State Penitentiary, a National Historic Landmark. The haunted attraction does not affect operation of the historic site, which remains open for daytime tours seven days a week, eight months a year.

New family programs to debut this spring and summer

May 24, ’06

Eastern State Penitentiary is proud to announce several exciting new family programs that will debut this spring and summer. The first is a special event held in May, and the second is a new type of tour for kids and families that will be available by the Fourth of July weekend.

Family Art Event
Sunday, May 21, 2006
11:30 a.m. -- 4:00 p.m.
Free with Admission

Families will explore Eastern State Penitentiary and meet some of the artists whose work is currently on exhibit. Families will learn what inspired these artists to create pieces such as Ghost Cats, and work together to create their own history -- inspired art to take home. For kids ages 7 and up and their favorite adults.

Keys to the Past
Ongoing, beginning July 2006
Free with Admission

In this hands-on, interactive program, families will unlock boxes, examine artifacts, and piece together the story of the world's first true penitentiary. Families will record their findings in "travel journals" and also take home a special memento of their visit to Eastern State Penitentiary. Engaging, educational, and fun!

E.S.P. Participates in the Fairmount Arts Crawl.

Apr 27, ’06

Enjoy spring in Fairmount where art, music and culture are always in the air!

The Fairmount Arts Crawl, which will be held on April 30th from 4:00 to 9:00 p.m., is a community open house – where the entire Fairmount district becomes a showplace for local art and music, displayed and performed on the streets and in restaurants, bars, cafes, and other local businesses--all with an open doors during the crawl.

The Arts Crawl is a day of indoor window shopping -- your chance to hear quality local music, to see local poets reading their work, and to appreciate the art that is being made in our neighborhood every day – all the while getting to know the businesses that encourage the arts in our neighborhood.

Eastern State Penitentiary is a proud participant and sponsor of the annual Fairmount Arts Crawl. All ten of our 2006 artist installations, including GTMO by William Cromar and PENITENIARY by Ann Messener – both new for 2006 - will be on view during the crawl.

There is no entrance fee for the Arts Crawl, and there’s plenty of parking in the neighborhood…so come over and spend a day in the friendliest and most beautiful neighborhood in Philadelphia.
For a complete list of participating artists, venues and events please visit the Fairmount Arts Crawl website.

1945 Prison Escape Tunnel Found

Mar 27, ’06

A secret tunnel that led twelve prisoners to freedom sixty-one years ago has been located and filmed by archaeologists at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site.

When twelve inmates escaped through the tunnel in 1945, the story made national headlines. Flamboyant bank robber "Slick Willie" Sutton took pubic credit for masterminding the escape. It remains one of the most famous prison breaks in American history.

Archaeologists from John Milner Associates excavated the tunnel's sealed entry and exit points in the spring of 2005. Then, using ground-penetrating radar in the fall of 2005, they discovered the tunnel's exact location beneath the penitentiary's southwest courtyard. The team used an auger (a tool similar to a post hole digger) to dig down 10 feet to the cavity below. A miniature camera, lowered into the auger hole, documented the tunnel's tiny dimensions, and the wooden bracing and structural materials that have held it intact for six decades. The team quit for the winter in November of 2005.

Work on the tunnel will resume in March, 2006. The team will dig additional holes and use more sophisticated lighting and camera technology to see the interior in greater detail and, specifically, to search for the wiring, bulbs and sockets that once lit the tunnel's interior. The camera (which the team has nicknamed "The Tunnel Cam") will be on view to the public for the first time at 11 a.m. on Thursday, March 30. The archaeological team and ESP staff will also be on hand to answer questions.

The Tunnel Cam will remain on view throughout the entire opening weekend of the 2006 season, April 1 and 2. The Tunnel Cam is part of a weeklong celebration of the tunnel's sixty-first anniversary (April 3, 1945), which also includes a dramatic reenactment of the escape and living history tours.

Eastern State Penitentiary is located at 22nd & Fairmount Ave., just five blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For more information call (215) 236-3300, or visit: www.EasternState.org.

Escape Tunnel Archaeology and Living History Kick Off 2006 Season

Mar 26, ’06

Marking the 61st anniversary of one of the most famous prison breaks in American history, Eastern State Penitentiary will host a weekend of family events and special programs.

Sneak Peek!
Fri., March 31st from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
FREE!
Visitors can see new exhibits, tours and art installations for the 2006 season, free of charge.

Archaeology! See the "Tunnel Cam!"
Sat. and Sun., April 1 and 2 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Free with Admission
Archaeologists from John Milner Associates share their on-going investigation of the 1945 "Willie Sutton" escape tunnel, and demonstrate the "Tunnel Cam," a camera showing live images of the inside of the long-abandoned tunnel.

ESCAPE! Dramatic Recreation of the Tunnel Escape
Saturday, April 1, at 10 a.m.
FREE!
Actor William Rahill and eleven other actors will portray tunnel escapees as they spring from a hole in front of penitentiary, as they did 61 years ago on this weekend, and scatter into the neighborhood. Experience the drama as Philadelphia "police" capture most of the escapees.

Living History Tours!
Sat. and Sun., April 1 & 2 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Free with Admission
Who do you trust? Actors portray flamboyant bank robber "Slick Willie" Sutton and tunnel mastermind Clarence Klinedinst, both of whom took public credit for the 1945 tunnel escape. Dressed in reproduction inmate uniforms, the actors will remain in character as they vividly recount the eighteen months they spent planning and constructing the 97-foot long escape tunnel. Families can "interview" both men and decide which story they believe!

Eastern State Penitentiary is located at 22nd & Fairmount Ave., just five blocks from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. For more information call (215) 236-3300, or visit: www.EasternState.org.

Eastern State Penitentiary Seeks Artists for 2007 Season

Feb 27, ’06

The arts review committee announces 2007 Guidelines for Artists' Proposals.

Each year, Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site puts out a call to artists interested in submitting applications to exhibit at the site.

This year, the Committee has revised the proposal calendar moving the proposal deadline from the fall to the spring in order to give selected artists more time to complete their installations.

The deadline for artist proposals for the 2007 season will be on Friday, June 30, 2006. Other important dates, including a list of Art Orientation Tours, can be found in the 2007 Guidelines for Artists' Proposals.

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site Expands Hours To Seven Days a Week

Jan 27, ’06

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site is proud to announce a new schedule for the 2006 season. Due to increased demand and a host of new events and tour options, the prison will expand its season to a full seven-day week. The penitentiary will remain closed in the months of December, January, February and March.

The new hours are a significant increase from its five day per week schedule, an expansion introduced just three years ago. These expansions are largely in response to dramatic growth in attendance over the past ten years, including a growth of more than twenty percent in 2005 alone.

Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world, but stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. This was the world's first true "penitentiary," a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret, in the hearts of convicts. Its vaulted, sky-lit cells once held many of America's most notorious criminals, including bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone. Tours today include the cellblocks, solitary punishment cells, Al Capone's Cell, and Death Row. A critically-acclaimed series of Artists Installations is free with admission

2006 Season Information
Admission: $9 Adults, $7 Students and Seniors. $4 Kids (aged 7-12).

Address: 22nd Street and Fairmount Avenue, Philadelphia.

Hours: Open every day from April through November, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, and the entire months of December, January, February and March

Public Contact: www.EasternState.org or (215) 236-3300.

Arts Review Committee Announces New Installations for 2006 Season

Dec 27, ’05

On November 30, 2005, after reviewing 48 proposals, the ten-member Arts Review Committee announced the artist installations for the upcoming season.

The Committee selected William Cromar to exhibit during the 2006 season and awarded a small stipend to Kenya Nakazawa to help him develop a prototype of his proposal for a potential future exhibit at Eastern State. The 2006 season will also include a new installation by Ann Messner, selected by the Committee in 2004, and the completion of Judy Taylor's "my glass house," a two-year installation.

In addition to the new art installations, seven installations from our 2005 season will return for the 2006 season:

Linda Brenner's "Ghost Cats,"
Janet Cardiff and George Miller's "Pandemonium,"
Nick Cassway's "Portraits of Inmates in the Death Row Population Sentenced as Juveniles,"
Dayton Castleman's "The End of the Tunnel,"
Michael Grothusen's "midway of another day,"
Alexa Hoyer's "I Always Wanted to Go to Paris, France,"
Matthew and Jonathan Stemler's "Juxtaposition"

The Committee also agreed to revise the proposal calendar moving the proposal deadline from the fall to the spring in order to give selected artists more time to complete their installations. The deadline for artist proposals for the 2007 season will be on Friday, June 30, 2006. Guidelines for the 2007 season will be posted on our website on March 1, 2006.

2005 "Members' Only" Photo Contest Winners Announced

Sep 27, ’05

The third annual "Members' Only" Photo Contest was held on September 12. Eastern State members were invited to compare and swap their Eastern State Photos.

In addition, each Member submitted one color and one black and white photograph for our 2005 Members' Only photo competition. The color photos were judged by Jacqueline van Rhyn, curator, the Philadelphia Print Center, and the black and white photos were judged by Tom Berault, Professor of Art, Prince George's Community College and, Curator/Director, Marlboro Gallery. Vince Snyder took the top prize in the color division and Dan Van Sickle too top prize in the black and white divisions.

Read more >>

Think outside the box: Give a Gift Membership

Sep 26, ’05

This holiday season give someone on your list the gift of membership. Each recipient of a gift membership will receive a personalized gift card, ESP T-shirt, tickets for Terror Behind the Walls (2006) ranked the 6th best Haunted House in the United States, plus a year of free daytime admission, behind the scenes tours, and exciting events. It's a great deal! For more information, other great Eastern State gifts or to place your order, visit our Online Store or call 215-236-5111 x12.

Already given the gift of membership? Check out our Online Store for a complete selection of E.S.P. merchandise including new items like the "Pep the Dog" t-shirt and E.S.P. Playing Cards.

Please place your order by Friday, December 16 for holiday delivery.