Prison Break

Every year around Halloween, the Eastern State Penitentiary hosts the 'Terror Behind the Walls' attraction and every year I find myself behind those walls getting the bejesus scared out of me. In all my experiences there, it really isn't the people or the creepy displays that scare me he most, it's those foreboding walls and the sense you can't escape coupled with the deteriorated guts and little sounds you hear that start to make you wonder f you are really alone in there.

Mancini had the brilliant idea to take the daytime tour of the ESP, since we've all done the Terror Behind the Wall thing numerous time in the past. Joan met us there and the three of us made our way inside. If you're keeping track at home, you will notice this is the 3rd historic prison I've visited this year (Kilmainham Gaol in Dublin, Melbourne Goal in Melbourne) so I guess I'm becoming sort of a prison buff.

Once we got our audio guides we made a pleasant discovery - Steve Buscemi was the narrator for all the bits! Oh joy of joys.

Eastern State Penitentiary was the world's first true penitentiary and over 300 other prisons were modeled after it, including the Melbourne Gaol. The concept of ESP was to create an environment where the inmates were required to work in silence and reflect upon their actions with God. Prisoners could go for weeks without seeing another person other than a guard. The guards even wore socks over their shoes to minimize any noise and no two prisoners were ever in the exercise yard at the same time. There has been much speculation as to whether or not the solitary confinement helped or hurt prisoners. Despite this, it was considered a radical concept and it eventually was abandoned in favor of a more modern congregate prison until its closing in 1970. It now functions as a 'preserved ruin' and operates tours all year round.

After touring most of the site and finally seeing Al Capone's luxurious cell, we mosied on over to Bishop's Collar for some refreshments. Janine later joined our party and we nibbled on fries, crab cakes, and spring rolls while washing it all down with some seasonal beers, mine of choice was the Brooklyn Pumpkin Ale. Once the sun set and it was dark, we took the party over to our home away from home, the Dark Horse, AKA the Dicken's AKA the D. The beers keep flowing at this point and the fact that we didn't have a proper dinner to fill us up all contributes to our downfalls, not literally though!