Latest / Ghost stories and the Unusual Paranormal podcast / The Haunted Halls of Eastern State Penitentiary

Transcript

The Haunted Halls of Eastern State Penitentiary · Ghost stories and the Unusual Paranormal podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, where we are, across
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the country, and around the world. You are listening to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Ghost Stories, and the unusual paranormal podcast. I'm indeed your
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: friendly neighborhood investigator, Joe the Ghost Guy. I think everyone's
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: going to have a wonderful time with this episode that
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: I have in store. So without any further ado, let's
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: get into it, shall we? Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A city built
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: on revolution. A city built on freedom. And yet, in
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: amongst the streets stands a fortress that was built for
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: its exact opposite. a 30-foot stone wall, iron doors, dark corridors,
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: and thousands of cells designed to keep human beings completely alone.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: This is Eastern State Penitentiary. When it was opened in 1829,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: It was unlike any other prison in the world has
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: ever seen. Its revolutionary system was built around isolation. Prisoners
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: were kept alone in their cells, separated from one another
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: in belief that solitude would force them to confront their
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: crimes and become free. a pennant, but something happened inside
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: those walls, something that history cannot completely explain, because after
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: more than a century of imprisonment, suffering, illness, violence, and death,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: some people began saying that the prison wasn't empty. Not really.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: They said something remained. Something that walked in the corridors.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Something that washed from the darkness. Something that did not
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: want visitors to leave. The most terrifying question. Is this?
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: What if the halls of the eastern state didn't just
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: imprison the living? What if they trapped the dead too?
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Imagine standing before eastern state at night. The city is
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: still alive around you. Cars pass. Streetlights glow. People walk
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: the sidewalks. But behind those enormous stone walls, there is
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: another world. A world that is frozen in time. The prison.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: It was designed with seven original cell blocks radiating from
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: the central hub like spokes of a wagon wheel. Its
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Gothic architecture was deliberately intending while the interior was indeed
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: to inspire religious reflections. Every prisoner had a cell. Every
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: cell had a door. Behind every door, it was isolation.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: No casual conversation. No ordinary human contact. No freedom to
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: simply walk away. For some prisoners, solitude lasted years. and others,
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: their final memories were created inside those walls. The prison
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: eventually housed nearly 85,000 people during its long history. Think
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: about that number, 85,000 lines, 85,000 stories, 85,000 people. who
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: entered through those gates, but did not necessarily leave them
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: the same way. Some left alive, and some. There was
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: something terrifying about the abandoned prison. It was simply the darkness.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: It wasn't the broken windows. It wasn't just rust iron.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: It's silence. Because prisons are once filled with human sounds. Footsteps. Chains. Shouting. Prayers. Crying.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Metal doors opening and closing. Guards calling orders. Prisoners begging.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: And then, one day, the sounds stopped. Eastern State. Eastern
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: State officially closed in 1970 after more than 140 years
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: of operation. For years, portions of the abandoned prison stood empty.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: And gradually nature began. Weeds pushed through stone and entered
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: through its broken roots. Iron rusted and the darkness filled
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: its cells. But according to the stories told by guards,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: the prisoners, the workers, the visitors, something else, the voices,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the steps, the shadows, and the sensation that someone is
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: standing nearby, watching. Eastern State official historic site, which is
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: that the reports of mysterious visions and eerie experiences date
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: back as far as the 1940s, Among these frequently reported
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: phenomena were shadowy figures, strange voices, footsteps, and unexplained sensations.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Cell Block 12 was the most associated with mysterious voices
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: and laughter. Cell Block 6 was connected with reports of
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: shadowy figures moving along the walls, and Cell Block 4
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: has some infamous reports of ghostly voices. But one story
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: stands above many of the others. A story about a
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: man who entered one of those cells and claimed that
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: something entered in him. The maintenance worker was working inside
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: cell block four. The prison was old. The locks were ancient.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: and his job was to work on them. One day,
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: while dealing with an old lock, he examined something he
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: couldn't explain. According to the account, he suddenly felt an
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: overwhelming force. Something seemed to grip him. He reported something
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: unable to move. And then came the terror. Faces. Tormented faces.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: A period where there should have been nothing but old
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: stone walks. The experience became one of the most famous
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: paranormal stories associated with the Eastern State. Now imagine that.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: You're standing alone in an abandoned prison. No one around you.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: No footsteps. No voices. You turn around on a wall.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: You see a face. Not painted. Not carved. Not reflected.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Not painted. A face. A human face. Staring directly at you.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: It's gone. You look again. There's nothing. Then you hear breathing.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Not yours. Someone else's. And suddenly, the prison doesn't fill
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: in There's another legend. A figure seemed high above in
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: the prison. A guard standing slightly in one of those towers.
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: The figure doesn't wave, doesn't speak, doesn't move. It simply watches.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Imagine seeing that silhouette. Against the night sky. A human shape.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Standing where no living god should be. You stare. It
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: stares back. You look away. And looks again. It's gone.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Was it a trick of a light? A shadow maybe?
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: A person? Or something left behind? From the decades. When
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: guards stood watch over thousands of prisoners. No one could say.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: And that's what makes the story. Because sometimes. Most terrifying ghosts.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Aren't the ones that. Attack you. It's the ones. That simply. Watch.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: And then. There's a story about one of America's most
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: infamous criminals, Al Scarface Capone. Capone really was in prison
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: in Eastern State in 1929 after being arrested in Philadelphia
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: for carrying a concealed unlicensed revolver. He received one-year sentence,
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: spent roughly seven months in Eastern State. The cell became famous.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Newspapers report describing the furniture, the rugs, the artwork, and
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: the radios. And the darker the legend discerns, something else.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: A ghost. According to the story, Capone began hearing something.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: A man named Jimmy. At night, Capone reportedly screaming for
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: Jimmy to leave him alone. Who's Jimmy? Says the guards.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: A legend identifies him as James Clark, a man connected
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to the violent world surrounding Capone. And according to the
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: haunted story, Jimmy was dead. But somehow, he had followed
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Capone into prison. Jimmy! Imagine the prison at night. The
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: guards have finished their rounds. The corridors are dark. The
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: prisoners are locked away. And somewhere inside the building, Al
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: Capone is awake. At first, perhaps, he hears footsteps. Step.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Something like this. Walking towards the cell. Capone listens. All
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, the footsteps stop. Silence. And then, a voice. Jimmy!
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: A Capone looks towards the door. There's nothing. Footsteps. Again
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and again. Closer. Closer. Closer. And then Capone screams, Jimmy,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: leave me alone! The guards rush towards the cell. Capone
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: is terrified. But there's nobody there. Only the gangster. Alone. Or...
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: apparently alone. Stories later claim that the ghosts continue tormenting
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: Capone after his release, whether it's the story of supernatural
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: and distorted retelling of Capone's physical troubles or something stranger.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: It is impossible to establish this uncertainty, but the legend.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: And today, the story remains one of the most famous
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: ghost tales connected with the Eastern State Penitentiary. Now we
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: come to one of those most infamous and notorious areas
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: in the prisons. Cell Block 12. Visitors and investigators are
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: reported hearing voices, whispers, laughter, sounds that appear to have
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: some empty sections of the cell block. Imagine walking through
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: the corridor You hear something behind you. You turn. There's nothing.
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: You continue. Then, someone laughs. A faint laugh. Somewhere above you,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: you look towards the second floor. It's empty. You call out, silence.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Another voice answers. Not from above. Not from behind. Directly
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: beside you. Hello. You freeze. Because you know. There is
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: nobody there. Eastern State is simply. Frightening. Frightening because people
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: claim to be haunted. It is frightening. Because it's real.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: History is already horrifying in itself. Prisoners experience isolation, punishment, despair.
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: Some died inside. Others suffer psychologically. The prisons own historical materials,
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: knowledge that the innumerous suffering that occurred behind these walls
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: for more than 140 years. And perhaps that is why
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the ghost stories feel so powerful, because when you walk
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: through Eastern State Penitentiary, You aren't walking through an imaginary
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: haunted house. You're walking through a real place where thousands
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: of human beings lived through some of the darkest moments.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: The ghosts may not be real, but the suffering was.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: And sometimes that's even more frightening. Now imagine herself inside
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: Eastern State after sunset. The longest visitors have gone. The
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: last of the visitors were gone. The gates were locked.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: The city outside begins to quiet. He walked through the
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: central hub Your footsteps echo. You hear another set of footsteps.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: You stop. They stop. They walk. You stop again. Silence.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: One step behind you. You slowly turn. There's nothing. You
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: continue towards cell block four. The air feels colder. You
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: see the old cells stretching into darkness. One cell door
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: is open. You don't remember seeing it open before. Inside,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: there's nothing. Just a stone floor. A small window. A
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: rusted picture. You turn around. And there is a man.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: Standing at the end of the corridor. Emotionless. Watching. He's
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: still there. You take one step towards him. He disappears.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: You hear a whisper. Leave. Leave. corridor seems longer than
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: it did before. You reach the central hub. You look
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: behind you. There's nothing. Then you hear the sound of
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: a prison door closing. Boom. Doors began slamming throughout the
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: cell blocks. One after another. The prisoners begin locked away
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: for the night. There is no prisoners anymore. Easter State
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: Penitentiary are there anymore. Easter State Penitentiary closed decades ago.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: The prisoners are gone. The guards are gone. The voices
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: of daily prisons. Life is gone. But the stories remain.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: The shadowy figures. History's voices. Footsteps. The faces, the guard
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: in the tower, and the legend of Jimmy, the ghost
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: who supposedly haunted Al Capone. Mr. State himself doesn't claim
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: those stories, paranormal events. His official materials leave the question open.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Is it haunted? No one knows. The uncanny is what
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: makes prison so terrifying because someone tells you that ghosts
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: are real. You come close to another to believe them,
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: but then you walk through the state like it's your
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: state and feel the temperature suddenly drop. and hear footsteps
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: in empty corridors, or see someone stand up beside you,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: there's no way to explain. You could tell yourself it's
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: the wind. You could tell yourself it's an old building settling,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: or an echo, or imagination, anything. Just anything except the
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: possibility that someone is standing there in the darkness. Someone
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: who has been there waiting. Someone who has been waiting
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: since the doors first closed. Who doesn't know the prison
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: is shut down. Someone who still believes that the guards
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: are coming. Someone who still knows. And believes that the
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: prisoners inside. Someone who stills fears and footsteps. Someone who
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: still waits for the next door to open. And perhaps
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: someone stayed inside. Somewhere deep inside Eastern State Penitentiary. A
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: voice still whispering. A voice been whispering for nearly 200 years.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Don't leave me here. Don't leave me here. Then, a
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: final sound. An iron cell door slams. There's Easter Saint Penitentiary.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: lost and said their freedom. But according to the legends,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: many received, according to legends, they never lost their souls.
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: And that's what's scary about Eastern State Penitentiary. I hope
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: you enjoyed our wonderful story tonight. And I hope you're
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: just click subscribe, and you'll know who to go to.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: And this has been your funny name investigator, Joe the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Ghost Guy. See you soon.