Eastern State Penitentiary

The Eastern State Penitentiary is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located on 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia and was operational from 1829 until 1971. The penitentiary refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration first pioneered at the Walnut Street Jail which emphasized principles of reform rather than punishment. Notorious criminals such as bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone were held inside its unique wagon wheel design. When the building was erected it was the largest and most expensive public structure ever constructed, quickly becoming a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide.

The prison is currently a U.S. National Historic Landmark, which is open to the public as a museum for tours seven days a week, twelve months a year 10 am to 5 pm.

Many people believe Eastern State Penitentiary is actually haunted with records showing that, in the early 1940s, inmates and officers, including Al Capone, reported supernatural phenomena. Since Eastern State was abandoned in 1971, the number of reported ghost sightings has increased. The Atlantic Paranormal Society investigated Eastern State in September 2004 and released footage of what they claim to be a ghost