Eastern State Penitentary

Our last day, after checking out of the Alexander Inn, we went to see the Eastern State Penitentiary, in northwest Philadelphia.

This was mostly because of the reference written by Beth.  http://journals.aol.com/luvrte66/nutwoodjunction/  She had mentioned it in one of her journal entries. 

Beth:  It was worth more than the price of admission.   If anyone goes to Philadelphia, you have to go and see it.   Emily mentioned that it gave her the same feeling as in the dorm of Kohler Hall  and Lang Halls  at Baldwin Wallace College.    She said the feeling was that something was not right.  Sort of a creepy feeling some of the time, she never say anything but had the feeling "that you weren't alone."

Forgotten Ohio: Baldwin-Wallace College

ESP looks like a medieval fortress, it was built in 1829 on the farmland surrounding Philadelphia.   It became the Pennsylvania Model of prison design and there are about 300 designed on this plan.

ESP :: Eastern State Penitentiary Website

The prison was antiquated and abandoned and inmates transferred to other places.   It was undecided what to do with the facility, and in the end some of the areas were refurbished and it is open to tourists.   It is downright spooky.

I have many more photos, the cats in the last two photos are the "Ghost Cats"  which are sculptures of a colony of cats in residence.   They were trapped, neutered and released back into their colonies.   The last of the cats died in about 2002, about the same time as their caretaker, Dan McCloud, had passed away.   The cats were designed by Linda Brenner,who had dedicated them to Dan McCloud.