Morbid - The Eastern State Penitentiary

Episode Date: August 31, 2021

Ash promised you something haunted this week after Alaina’s three part deep dive into the Hillside Stranglers and boy did she pick a doozy. The Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia is supposedly one of America’s most haunted buildings. It has a fascinating, yet macabre history and it housed some of the world's most notorious criminals. We’ll get into all that history, talk about some of the most known prisoners and then dive into the most haunted cell blocks that remain standing today! Book used for research: The Eastern State Penitentiary by Francis X. Dolan (https://www.amazon.com/Eastern-State-Penitentiary-Francis-Dolan-ebook/dp/B009A6IMM8) As always, thank you to our sponsors: BetterHelp: Check out online therapy with betterhelp.com/Morbid and be on your way to a little more ease. Monday.com: Visit monday.com/podcast for your free two-week trial. Simplisafe:  You can save 20% on your SimpliSafe security system AND get your first month free when you sign up for Interactive Monitoring service by visiting SIMPLISAFE.com/morbid to customize your system and start protecting your home and family. Everlane:  Go to everlane.com/MORBID and sign up for 10% off your first order plus free shipping. Norton Lifelock: Save 25%  or more off your first year of Norton three sixty with LifeLock at Norton.com/MORBID Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos. I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is morbid. Yeah. It is. We're here. We made it through the Hillside Strangler trilogy. Just barely. Yeah, we just skated by at the end of that, but I am so glad to not be a part of that world anymore. Me too, but can I quickly congratulate you because Elena's episode on the Hillside Stranglers made it into the top five of all, like, shows. Thank you. You're welcome. It felt, that felt very nice. And thank you to everybody who listened because you guys got it there. So you rock. That's like a big deal. It was pretty rad. All that all that research and all that like, you know, torturing my mind for weeks. Yeah. I was like, all right. It was worth it. It was worth it. Thanks, guys. Thank you. But yeah, that was like a gnarly one. I'm glad you guys

really liked it. It was like very interesting to dive into. Yeah, I feel like I've never. I feel like I've never heard it told the way that you told it. And like, I feel like there was like so many things that were like glossed over and other times when I've read about it. And then you were saying so many things that I was just like, what? Excuse me? That's how I felt while researching it. Because I was putting things down and I was like, I don't, I never read this.

And it was those, those books were amazing. I'm telling you, like true crime books are like where it's up. You got to dig into those hidden gems and that's where you find the real stuff. You know what? They're the ones. that are like at the trials. They're the ones who they go the extra mile. They get those police reports and stuff. Like they talk to these people. Like these are investigative journalists that are badass. I like them. I like them a lot. Um, books in general are just like really good.

Guys, I just like books. I like to read. I like books. I like to ride. I'm actually trying to like read more for leisure instead of. Yeah. Pleasure. Pleasure purposes. I know. Instead of like just reading terrible, brutal things all the time. I know. I got like, What's the book called? So many people suggested it. It's like the seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, I think. Oh yeah, you mentioned that. Yeah, I'd been on my coffee table for quite some time. You're going to get to it. I get to open it. You're going to get to it there. I have a face. Yeah. I read another book last week. What was it? Well, it was about the case that I'm going to tell you about today.

Oh, and we're going to get like a little haunted with it today? Yeah, like a little haunted. It's so funny because I feel like sometimes like you'll look into something. And I was saying this to you this morning. But right now I'm talking to the list. You guys. You guys right there. I'm talking to everybody. But you know, I'll just go on my phone. Forget it. I'm not even here. I'm checking up. No, but you'll see like America's most haunted place. And then you'll like dive like really deep into the like whole haunting of it all and there's only like four things that are haunted. That happens so often. Like, you know, you'll get like a recommendation and you're like, oh. And right. Usually they are good haunts. So it makes it worth it. Yeah. But it's like you're expecting like just like just like just you're expecting your, you're expecting your, your cup. to floweth over. I'm expecting my wazoo to be filled with haunt. Exactly. Okay. Yep, you know. But, you know, the wazoo is like, is pretty haunted up in here. We're going to be talking about the Eastern State Penitentiary today. This I'm excited about. It's really interesting. And I went like crazy deep into like the history of everything because you just have to do with this. To understand why it's haunted, you have to understand the whole history of it. Of course you do. So for this one, this episode right here, I read this book called the Eastern State Penitentiary.

Oh, all right. Promptly named. Properly named by Francis X. Dolan. Oh, Francis, get it. He sounds very fancy. I like that his middle name is X. Yeah, I love that. Initial.

We love a middle initial as X. It's saucy. It's mysterious. I like it. It just feels old-timey. Like, it feels very like European. Yes, it does. Feel a little villainous, which I love.

It does. But he wasn't a villain. He wrote this book. It's like really awesome and, you know, I'm like five, so I do love wooden books have lots of pictures. But like, especially for something like this. Like I want to see it while I'm reading about it. Because you try to picture it in your mind, but you're like, I don't know what the fuck that looks like. Yeah, you got a gook.

I didn't grow up in like 1887. So yeah, I mean, I did, but you know. Yeah, you did. Well, without further ado, you should, we'll get into it, but you should definitely read that book and look at the pictures because they're fucking awesome. Look at those pictures, guys. There's so many of them. It had, like, great reviews on Amazon, and I was like, well, purchase. But the penitentiary itself was supposed to be a solution for harsh prison conditions.

I hate harsh prison conditions. It's so hard. Harsh prison conditions that inmates had been suffering while they were in some of Philadelphia's other prisons. So in 1787, this man, he was a doctor, and his name was Dr. Benjamin Rush. He founded the Philadelphia Society for alleviating the miseries of public prisons. I feel like you could have should maybe condense that. Right? I don't know.

I mean, yeah, like it tells the story. It does. But sometimes you want a little intrigue with the name. You want to go like, what's this about? What if it was just the Philadelphia Society for Public Prisons? Yeah. It could just be that. He just gives, he doesn't bury the lead.

He puts it right out there. He, well, and his mission was an important one. Yeah. Because this group was the first prison reform group in the entire world. Oh, just that. The entire world. The entire globe. Now, they argued that we could go about reform in a much more humane way, and they had some

interesting ideas up their sleeves. So in 1821, the Pennsylvania legislator, I can't talk at all, the Pennsylvania legislature finally decided to listen to what these people were saying, and they approved funding for the world's first true penitentiary. Okay. So it would later become known as the Eastern State Penitentiary. Oh, I know that. Yeah, yeah, it's why we're here today. So Pennsylvania got 12 acres of land and $800,000 to complete the project. And at the time, it was one of the most expensive projects in the entire world. Yeah, 800,000? Like, 800,000 is a lot today.

Exactly. I'd actually didn't look up what it was. But back then, it must be wild amount of money. Probably like over millions. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Because it's already like close to a million today. But there was a contest held to see which architect out of four architects would come up with the best design for the prison, which I was like,

Like that's fun. I love that. Just like who's going to design the best prison? That is fun. It's like in like fifth grade when you're like, who's going to design the class shirt? Yes, except it's a prison. For prison. But the winner ended up being a man named John Havilland.

His blueprint laid out a building in the shape of a wagon wheel with one central building in the middle and seven blocks. That would be cell blocks that just kind of jet it out from the center. Oh, okay. Basically, if you can't picture it, just think of how a five-year-old draws the sun. Yeah, there you go. Yeah. Now, the goal was for the prison to house 250 inmates. Uh-oh.

Just 250. I'm guessing that didn't pan out. Didn't really pan out. But in John's original blueprint, that would have worked because it would have made 256 cell, so you'd have six left over. Awesome. We love that. But you guessed it. The inmates kept coming and coming over the years, and eventually the prison had to undergo, like, multiple editions.

Oh, no. That's always when things fell apart. Yeah, things just really went downhill quickly here. Yeah. But construction before anything went downhill started in 1822. And by the time the penitentiary was completed, it was 1836. Oh, wow. And blocks four through seven had to become two story blocks instead of single story blocks,

like one through three. Oh, okay. Because there was just so many inmates at that point, they were like, shit, we need to do like double floors now. So instead of like adding on wagon spokes, they just added on top. Okay. Exactly. And that was only blocks four through seven. So one through three were like the single stories and then four through seven had two stories. Okay. But the building was intentionally built on a hill two miles outside of the city in this town called Francisville. And they did this on purpose so that people would be able to see it. And so it would serve as a constant reminder like you don't want to end up there. Yeah. It's kind of just like looming over everybody. Literally. But still far enough away. And it was built in like a very almost like European like castle. kind of way and it was like at that point it wasn't even modern anymore yeah it's like gothicy it's very gothicy so it was kind of like oh like that's like like old-timey and like things in the old time days are scary you know what I mean things in the old time days yeah they sure are scary they are but do you know what I mean

that no truer statement has been said things in the old time days scary like European places in the In the old days, just chop your head right off right there. Old time days, architecture is really scary. It is. It's like daunting. It's ominous as far. It's huge. But also, fun fact, it was built on land that used to be used as a cherry orchard, which is just

like, so happy. I was just getting, that's so pleasant. So pleasant. And then prison. That it's just like penitentiary. Penitentiary overtaking the orchard. But it took 14 years to complete the original blueprint because things kept having to change with the increasing number of inmates.

And when it was done, there were 30-foot walls around the building, a three-story administrative building inside the prison where the warden's office was. There was an intake facility, a laundromat kind of thing, a kitchen, a hospital, and a place for the warden and his family to live on site. Oh. Which I don't know how common that is, but like, I don't really know if I would want my bay and my kids, like, living up in a prison. Yeah, I don't know if I'd be psyched about that. I don't know if I'd be, like, super stoked on that. But actually, later in the prison's history, one deputy warden's grandson was born there in 1912. Wow. The deputy warden's grandson, Henry Enkler, was born there in the prison. Can you imagine later being like, yeah, I was born in a penitentiary, but like I was the

warden's son. Yes. Like, that's wild. And like, tell that at, like, parties and you're like, excuse me, what? That's your two truths in a lie right there. Like, that's your way around that. 100%. But on his birth certificate, they just wrote like ESP instead of like Eastern State Penitentiary. He was born in ESP. I don't know if you've ever been there. It's very, it's very beautiful. Don't worry about it. I don't think that's very common, by the way. Yeah, I was trying to look at like if that was a thing. No. But I don't see like tons of, I guess it did happen, but yeah, that's weird. Well, especially now it would be like, I mean, not the same time. But it would have been like a huge safety concern. Yeah. I would think so. I'm also just like, wow, born there. It's wild.

Usually the wardens aren't like, you know, the favorite person of the prisoners. No. So, like, I would be nervous about that. You don't, like, hide your kids, hide your life. Yeah, I wouldn't want to be down for that. Don't leave them in the penitentiary. No. But, you know, what are you going to do?

Yeah, they did it. They did it. They did the damn thing. Old-timey scary stuff. Yeah, old-timey days are scary. The Eastern State Penitentiary was the first and pretty much last of its kind. The system that they were like going to. any use in the prison was referred to as the Pennsylvania system or the separate system.

And it was supposed to, quote, unquote, bring out the inner light of inmates. I love the vibe of that. It started off like really great. Like, I feel like they really were trying. They had an idea. They had an idea and they ran with it. And then they started sprinting. And then they tripped.

And then they fell down a hill. And then on the way, there was like this underground beehive. So they started getting stung. But the beehive was actually a waspive. And then they died. And then a meteor hit. Yeah. Yeah.

Crash and burn. It's rough when that happens. It is. But the way that the whole thing worked was that it was going to be silent at all times in the prison. No humming, no singing, no talking. Okay. Silent. Each of the inmates was to stay in their cell for 24 hours a day, other than the two times they were let into their own personal yard for exercise that would last only 30 minutes each time.

Okay. So they were out of their cell for an hour a day. Wow. Now, everyone had a cell neighbor, so it would have been impossible to have everyone exercising at different times throughout the day. And for that reason, any time a prisoner left their cell for exercise or if there was like another circumstance where they needed to go out of their cell, the guard would put a hood over their head. Yes. Now, they tried to play it off like this was a good thing. They were like, it's so that when you're finally rehabilitated, no one will have seen you in prison, so no one will have known that you even went to prison. Which it's like when you... You see the logic. You throw it out like that and you're like, oh yeah, totally. Like, good for you guys. And then it's like, wait a second.

You're like, but that's going to get real weird. And like some sadistic motherfucker is going to be like, I don't know if that's... Yeah, I don't know. And then the other thing was it was like helpful for the guards that worked at the prison because if there's a hood over your head, you're not seeing where you're going ever. So you don't know the prison layout and you're never going to be able to escape anyways. Yeah, it's a little bit of an incapacitation kind of thing. and the other thing was no talking to other inmates, so you're not going to meet anybody and

like come up with a plan to get out of there or come up with a plan to do any further bad shit when you're out. Wow. So you know, you can kind of see like what they were, what they were going for. They were going hard. They were going ham sandwich, all the toppings. They definitely were. But anyway, back to the exercise.

Once you were finished with your exercise, the guards would check the grounds and make sure you didn't leave anything behind and then the next person would be brought out. So inmates were fed three times a day. I should send you the link of the Kindle Cloud Reader thing because you can look at all the pictures in the book. All the pictures in the book. So good. But inmates were fed three times a day. And actually they were fed really well.

There weren't any front doors on the cells, though, that led out to the hallway where the guards were. Instead, there were just little slots that the guards would pass the food through. Okay. Yeah. So they were allowed to eat three times a day. They mostly ate meat and vegetables. bowls, like, they had hearty meals. They apparently could have as many potatoes as they wanted. Yeah, because that's going to slow you right down. Yeah, it is. Don't have to worry about anybody being

agile in there. I know, I love a potato behind it. And I also just think potatoes are just like all over the place. So yeah. Although the prison at the time had indoor plumbing and heating, which was like insane because the actual president didn't even have that at that time, like, he was still like tossing his pee out the window. The only light that they had was through skylights. Wow. So remember, if you lived in one through three, like, yeah, you probably got like a decent amount of light on a sunny day. But if you lived in block four through seven.

Oh, I didn't even think of that. And you were on the first floor, you were pretty much screwed because there was someone living upstairs and your light source would be coming from their cell. They were the ones with the sky lay. And then you had like some way of their life. You had like the residual light that just kind of like leaked under. Exactly. Wow.

Now, even though this is all sounding really bonkers, the goal was to be. reform these prisoners and send them out into the world as better people. Like, that's really what they were trying to do. That's what they were really trying to do. Prisoners were actually taught different trades in their cells, like cobbling, weaving, canning. They also learned to give each other haircuts, which I was like, so then did you take the hoods off for that? Did they get to the top? I was like, there's a loophole. Did we cut a hole in the top and just give everyone bowl cut? It just said that they got to give each other haircuts. All right. And when the penitentiary first opened, there was a barber shop in each cell block and your hair was supposed to be kept neat and short.

So I think it was just like kind of your hair needs to be kept neat. So we'll look over that little small thing. So they were trained to give haircuts to each other. And obviously they had to be under close watch by the guards. And the razors that they used were signed out each time. So no one would get away with stealing one. Because I was just going to ask like exactly how that process was. Yeah, you'd have to like sign them out.

Was this like organized? Or is everyone just razoring willy-nilly on each other? No, it sounds like it was a person. it was a pretty organized thing. Yeah, that is organized. Because eventually, even the guards would get their haircut by the inmates, too. That's a trust. That's a bold move. That's a trust fall with a razor involved. Yeah. That's like a trust surgery. It's also important to note, and I'm pretty sure I say it later. But when the penitentiary first opened, there was just really like thieves and like petty crimes. Like it wasn't like murderers. Hardened like real scary. Yeah. And eventually it would get there.

But like when it first was there, it was literally like pig steedling. When they were getting like straight razor, haircuts from the prisoners. It wasn't like someone who killed 16 people. It was like, no, no. Yeah, I stole a pig. Yeah, exactly. But eventually we get to the part where things are not going so hunky-dory. Like, it's not like, let's vibe while you cut my hair and take your hood off, stay a while. Oh. If you talked when you weren't supposed to, or if you hummed a little jaunty tune, or even if you just stepped a toe out of lime, there were allegedly different punishments that you would suffer, allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. they started with like limiting exercise so you wouldn't get your fresh air for the day mean but all right like rude

okay yeah taking away extra food privileges so like you get like four potatoes instead of five i mean to me that's ruder that's terrible but sure but eventually the punishments got worse and worse and you can imagine the guards are starting to like feel this power there's a power struggle they're like putting hoods over people's heads so it's like yeah that was never gonna last fucker to do that i feel yeah that was never going to be a thing that just stayed the way it was. Stayed copacetic. The power shift was going to happen here. Exactly.

So there were cells that were specifically used for punishment and they were called dark cells. They were in block four on the ground level. If you were sent to one, you would walk into a room that was painted entirely black and the skylight was covered. So even, like, remember, you don't even get a lot of light anyways in those blocks, but whatever light you were going to get was now shut off. So you were in a completely.

completely dark room. And that can really fuck with you. Oh yeah. Like in sensory deprivation. Yeah, because it's complete sensory deprivation. Like it will fuck your eyes up, your mind will start to like, oh man, it's sad. When you look at like Damien Eccles. I was literally just going to say that. Yeah, his eyes are like fucked up forever. That's why he has to wear those sunglasses. Yeah. Because he was like never saw sunlight. They kept him in solitary for like the wildest amount of time. Yeah. It's fucked. These people were kept in solitary for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month, which even that is like, that can have irreversible damage. Imagine a month?

No, a month just in the dark? Man. No. And things got worse and worse. And now there were rumors of the iron gag. So the iron gag, I'm going to get you back for all those medieval torture episodes. Bring it. It was a metal brace that a guard would put into an inmate's mouth.

Some say that they attached it to the tongue. So there were chains that came from the brace and the mouth that would be chained to cuffs around your wrists, which were often behind your back. And the more and more you struggled to get out of it, the tighter the brace got around your tongue. And a lot of times your tongue would like rip open or you would just die from your injuries because you could like rip your whole tongue out. Yeah. Or like a choke on your tongue. Infection, exactly. Like a lot of people died.

And in 1835, there was an investigation into the death of an inmate who supposedly died because of the iron gag, but the prison officials were eventually exonerated. Oh, boy. Now we're getting to it. Now we're getting to it. And if that wasn't bad enough for you, let's talk about ice baths and exposure to the elements. Let's do it. I'm not sure which is worse, this one or the iron gag. It's like, I feel like they're both equally fucked up on different wavelengths. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So in this form of punishment, a prisoner would be forced into an ice bath or they would just lay there while a guard just poured buckets of freezing cold water on them. And then they would be brought outside into the like winter conditions totally naked. And you would be left there until I started to form on different parts of your body. That's literally Elizabeth Boutrey. Yes.

She literally did that. That's all I could think about while I was saying it. And in 1831, an inmate named Seneca Plimley was one inmate who suffered from this form of the ice bath punishment. And he actually was released from the prison not too long after his ordeal with that punishment. And he was considered incurably insane. Wow. I mean, that will just like change your entire side. That will break you into two.

Oh, yeah. And think you're already in solitary confinement and you're not talking to anybody else and you have to wear a hood on your head when you leave. and then all the sudden they're throwing you in ice baths and sticking you outside. It's like, of course he was incurably insane at that point. That is so torturous. So torturous. Now, moving on to the mad chair. The mad chair was another form of punishment.

Was it angry? It was when you were angry. Oh, okay. So, or like you would, not really, you would like go mad on the chair. Yeah. So you would be strapped to a chair called the mad chair so tightly that you would lose blood circulation over the course of a day or two. and some people say that there's instances where people's limbs actually needed to be amputated

once they were free because the circulation was just gone at that point for days at a time I mean think about when you like accidentally like wrap something too tightly around your finger you cut off circulation and the pressure you get and you're like get it off yeah or even like when you sit on like your feet for too long or something like that this is like you were strapped to a chair and oftentimes they would gag you oh my god it was just like absolutely. terrible. This is wild. Now, the final form of punishment was the use of a straight jacket. They would just put you in the straight jacket, gag you, and leave you in a cell for a few days. And honestly, that alone to me, the idea of being in a straight jacket, not being able to move a part of my body,

like, for days and days. They're saying days, but I'm sure it was like weeks and months at a time. Oh, yeah? Oh my God. It just makes me want to be like, oh. So messed up. Now, this really famous fellow one time visited the prison. I don't know if you've heard of him. His name is that. Charles Dickens. Oh, no. No, I haven't heard of him. It rings a bell. Did he do anything like special?

Yeah, a couple of writings. Yeah, just like a couple stories. It's just like a nobody writer. Yeah, pretty much. You know, I think it was a pen name. It's like a blogger. He's a blogger, yeah. He had a tumbler.

Yeah. Well, Charles Dickens, that big deal guy. He visited the Eastern State Penitentiary in 1842. And he actually was allowed to talk to some of the inmates. And he was so depressed by the entire visit. And he saw that the prison was not doing things right. like, no matter what their goal was to begin with. He was like, what's happening here is fucked.

And he hated the idea of the whole solitary confinement thing. And actually, in his book, American notes, he wrote, quote, The system here is rigid, strict and hopeless solitary confinement. I believe it in its effects to be cruel and wrong. I hold this slow and daily tampering with the mysteries of the brain to be immeasurably worse than any torture of the body. So he's like the solitary in and of itself was like somehow even worse than like, the things they were going through.

The mental stuff for sure. Just all of it packed together. I can't. How do you get through that? Yeah. I just can't even imagine. So clearly when conditions are that terrible for the inmates, there are bound to be some escape attempts at the very least.

And the Eastern State Penitentiary had its fair share of attempted and one completed escape. Ooh. Now the first prisoner to try to escape was William Hamilton. He had been arrested and sent to the penitentiary in 1830. for the very serious crime of pig theft. My God. Poor Hamilton. Like, you're sent to this place because you stole a pig.

No wonder you're trying to get out. Seriously. For some reason, the warden wanted William to be his personal waiter. And William obviously didn't have much of a choice in the matter. And as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. But if you flip that around, your great responsibility also gives you great power. It sure does. That's exactly how William.

him felt. And one day, after a year of being imprisoned for stealing a fucking pig, he was presented with an opportunity. He was like waiting for the warden and for some reason he was left alone. There was no guard in the room. So he decided it was time for his sweet escape. He got out onto the roof and lowered himself down to the front of the building and just disappeared into the night. Get it. Successful escape. Good. Just disappear. But he again didn't make it. He did not make it. What happened? He started to do. stealing pigs again and immediately was said right back to the prison now i can't now i don't feel bad it's like dude come on come on just stop stealing the pigs just don't stay like wait a while get your own

pig i don't know yeah just raise your own pig paint something and someone will pay you and got a pig i don't know yeah just find a wild boar train it to be your own the exact same thing you did to get in there in the first place don't do that no so he ended up there again in there again and he actually was able to escape again in 1837 and he got out successfully. But then again, went back to the pig life. Oh, come on. Come on.

So it was like clear that he was going to escape and escape and come back and, you know, whatever. Man, just pigs. I was rooting for you. We were all rooting for you. We were all rooting for you, William. How dare you? Oh, dare you steal, babe.

So it's easy to blame the prison guards for the escapes because their entire job is to make sure that no one gets out. Yeah, and especially this dude, it's like he's already done at once. Maybe keep a closer eye on him. Oh, the amount of you. people that actually made like multiple escape attempts from this place. Like I was like what was going on here? No one have like a running list of people who have already escaped. Like you guys you guys good? Keep your eyeballs on these ones. Right. So you want to blame the guards like I said because it's their

whole job. But in the 19th century, the guards at the Eastern State penitentiary were working 12 hour shifts for six days a week. So they were like totally out of it. Yeah, just totally got out. there was a ton of tension between the prisoners and the guards for obvious reasons. And in 1884, Eastern State saw what is believed to be its first guard murder. Oh. Michael Doran was making his rounds one night when an inmate Joseph Taylor came up behind him and started bludgeoning him with a metal bar. Oh.

He bludgeoned him to death. And then once he was finished, he just turned around, walked back to a cell, and got into bed to go to sleep. Oh, okay. Yeah. And that's where our first haunting comes from because now people in that cell block, it is. People in that cell block will hear him walking around and can hear like metal clinging. Oh, and like the keys jingling or something. Oh. He's spooky. So that was the first guard murder on record. Yeah. By 1877, there was already the need for more cell blocks. Now remember, we have seven cell blocks already. Yeah. They've already added more. They've already added more. There's already more. There's already more store. stories like, this is getting wild. Now, the warden of the prison at that point was Michael Cassidy. And he was actually a really good warden. At that point in time, things kind of got looser. Like, he lifted the rules a little bit. And he would, he really believed that if you treated these

people like humans, then maybe they would like act like humans when you release them back into society. Yeah, like you could actually rehabilitate them to be in society. Instead of just like pouring ice over their faces and strapping them to chairs. He was like, maybe we should try a different approach. This doesn't seem to be working. No. And actually, he was the last. He was the last. longest serving warden in the prison's history. Wow. He worked as a warden from 1881 until 1900. Wow.

But he was the one who designed the new cell blocks. Cell blocks 8 through 11 were a lot bigger than the cells in the other blocks, but that was because they didn't have the personal exercise yards. Oh, okay. Now, in the 1880s, cell block three was converted into a hospital that was equipped with an x-ray room, an operating room, and eventually separate rooms for inmates suffering from tuberculosis. Damn. Yeah. It's weird because they had like all the tools to do these really awesome things and they did. But then there's just like such a dark side to it. Because it's humans. Exactly. We can't do

anything. We turn it. We turn everything into like dark shit. We fuck it all up. Yeah. We're given all the tools and we just take it to a dirty place. Because every time I'm like, oh okay, it's turning around. And I'm like, oh, fuck. No, it's not. There goes. But the inmates with tuberculosis were put in these special rooms. And the rooms had big openings in the back with, and they were covered with like a metal grate fence. But it was like fresh air on the other side. So air was coming in and out of the room. So then you weren't like having like lingering nastiness and fucking bacteria. Yeah. Just everybody breathing the same germs. A really good idea for the time. Yeah. Air circulation. Who to thunk? Whoa. Now in 1911, cell block 12 was completed and it was the first block that was

three stories high now. Damn. And instead of a sky. skylight, each cell just had a tiny window. And the ceilings in these cells were not arched. All the other ones were arched. Oh, okay. Because it was like the like Gothic style. Cell Block 12 was when things really started changing architecturally in a big way. But aside from architectural changes, Eastern State was about to make a big structural change.

By the early 1900s, most of the individual confinement had faded because of overcrowding reasons. They were like, we have no way of just making. making these cells, personal cells. Like, we have to put people together. Oh, that's when, that's when things go down. That is. So there were rooms in the prison, but it's also like when things go up because these rooms in the prison were now being used for group classrooms and workshops where everybody's

working together and they're actually like learning skills together. Yeah, that makes sense. They're earning wages and everything. In the classrooms, they could work toward getting a high school diploma. And eventually they would even build baseball fields and basketball courts for them to use. Down the line, they eventually formed their own teams and played games against each other. That's so, I'd never heard of that happening. Like Twilight, but make it prison. Exactly like Twilight. Just the exact same thing. But since people weren't really eating in their cells anymore, and that was like going to become a problem anyway. You're going to get like bugs and shit. Oh yeah. So they officially made a dining hall that was opened in January of 1924. And like on holidays and stuff, they would let them put a tablecloth.

on the dining hall tables. Make it fancy. And they would decorate and everything. But it was built where some of the exercise yards used to stand. But there wasn't a ton of room in the dining hall because the way it was built, it was really narrow. And by that point, the prison was like really suffering the overcrowding issues. Oh, that stresses me out.

Just thinking about it. I know. It's just like, I feel like it's like so yucky in there. Clostophobic. But it made it difficult for the guards to monitor the prisons in the dining hall. For sure. Which is scary. And that's a scary fact to be.

by 1928, most of the prisoners, excuse me, 1,753 inmates at this time. Now remember, my God, this was 250 to begin. It was supposed to hold 250 prisoners. And now by 1928, we have 1,753 inmates. And I told you this was going to come back. Of those inmates, a ton of them, like a majority of them, we're serving time for murder at this point. Oh, boy. So we've got like murderers, we've got rapists, we have armed robbers, like, we've got big dogs up in there. Yeah, it's no longer just pig thieves. And actually, this was a men and women's prison for a long time. Oh, wow. The women were kept away from the men and eventually, in the 1920s, they were sent to a different prison. So by 1920s, there was no women in there. Yeah. But they figured out ways to, like, write letters to each other and stuff like that.

Oh my God. And the last woman prisoner that was like in the prison at the time, she was in there for poisoning her husband to death. Oh, damn. Yeah. So crazy. But yeah, so we're getting real. We're getting real with it here. I mean, it's more than 250 at this point. Yeah, just like a few more. It's like more. It's a lot. Yeah. Great. How many jelly beans are in the jelly in the jar? I don't know. More than 250. But now that the entire prison wasn't going to be used as solitary confinement, there was a need for specific. rooms that would be used for that purpose because they still would need solitary confinement as like punishment. Mm-hmm. I guess.

Yeah, obviously. Not really. But, you know. So cell block 13, which was built sometime between 1911 and 1926, that became solitary. Okay. So there were 10 blocks, excuse me, 10 cells in block 13 that were like crazy close to each other. Each room was only four feet by eight feet. And the ceilings were only eight feet tall.

Oh, like that is... I'm so claustophobic right now. That's the size of like an area rug in your living room. Yes. Like maybe even smaller, to be honest with you. Wow. Yeah. And there was only one hole in the rooms that you could like breathe.

But if the guards wanted to fuck with you, there were radiators in these rooms and they would turn the radiators up to high. So you literally like couldn't breathe in there. Oh my God. Yeah. And also there was just an iron bed where you would sleep. there was no mattress or anything. It was just an iron bed that was attached to the wall. Oh, that's very stressful. Yes, and like no source of light whatsoever. I don't like this at all. Again,

now depending on what a prisoner did to end up there, they could be there again up to a month. Now, later down the line in 1953, the prison was undergoing one of its many state investigations. Yeah. And they were told that these cells were inhumane and that they needed to be destroyed. So eventually in 1959, once the final cell block, block 15 was finished, nine of the 10 solitary cells back in cell block 13 were destroyed, but they kept one of them. I'm like, the state said to you to destroy them all. They said you got to get rid of those. Get rid of your solitary confinement. And they were like, no.

No. And they stomped their feet. By that point, so again, we were supposed to have 250 inmates in here. And there was seven cell blocks. Now we have 15 cell blocks. That's more. That's more than double. That is more.

That's insane. And by that point, the entire vision that John Havilland had of like the whole like spokeswheel, it was gone. The prison grounds looked like the set of fucking labyrinth. Yeah, I was going to say, you can't keep that wagon wheel for that long. Hoggle was lurking in the dark. There you go. I love these. You're welcome.

Love it. Yes. Speaking right to me. I know, right. I had a feeling. I know my audience. Now when cell block 14 was being built, they put special hidden cell. is underground. And cell block 14 was actually designed by a prisoner who had gone to Harvard.

Wow. And then he just decided to like just start a criminal life and he ended up in prison. He was like, I'm going to help you out. But he was like, let me design this place for you. And they were like, sure. They were like, well, at that point, they had spent so much money too. So they were like, let's let this guy do it. They're like, we can't hire like actual workers anymore because we did that for the other like 47 things that we built. So. But this guy went to Harvard. This guy went to Harvard. And on top of that, they had prisoners build this cell block. Yeah.

So cell block 14 was built by prisoners. Wow. Yeah. And it's pretty haunting when you hear what's underneath cell block 14. Oh, no. The cell block was finished in 1924 in the midst of all the overcrowding issues. The Roaring 20s. And that's when they came up with the idea for Klondike cells.

Uh-oh. No, those aren't Canadian. That doesn't sound like a tasty treat. Nope, not a Klon. What would you do for not being in this cell? Probably anything. Anything. I would cut off my arm.

The Klondike cells were specifically built for punishment and they were underground. They were literally like the size of like a tomb. They're like an obliate. An obliate, yes. And prisoners would be held there for weeks out of time. Underground. In an obliate. Yeah.

So those ones were also discovered during a state investigation and the prison was barred from ever using them again. But I do have a feeling that they probably continue to use them because the prison continued to lie about a lot of things that they said they weren't doing. Yeah, I mean, you don't just like build an ubleyet and then stop using it. Yeah, no, like you built the ubleyet for a reason and you use the resources. So you got to put those people underground, you know? Yeah, you don't just stop using it because someone told you too. You're like, no, I built that ubliette. I'm going to use my ubliette. It's a place you put people to forget about them. It is. And that's what they did.

Hoggle, T. Huggle, T. Hogle, probably. There you go. But what? Yeah, like, that's wild. I just don't understand how this place was. I just don't understand how this place was and shut down because they underwent many investigations, not only into like the circumstances and like the like surroundings of these people, but also the financial things. Like they were like lying about how much money they were spending. They were like at one point. But I think that's pretty standard. Oh yeah. Of course it is. And I think it's just one of those things where they do these investigations to save face and to be like checkmark. We did that. We did it. And we found a couple things. Yeah. Like it's they did their due diligence, but they know they don't have to listen.

to listen to a point. Yeah, exactly. But they don't really care. No, not at all. So they're just like, all right, we're going to keep our ublea. Nubliette is our. Nanny, nanny, booboo. Get out of here. Nanny, nanny booboo to our ubliet. But cell block 14 became one of the most crowded blocks in the entire prison, even when it had 112 cells. Wow. A hundred and 12 cells and it is still like crowded. Imagine how loud that would be. How smelly. Smelly, dirty, fucking, you'd be sick all the time. You would see the air. Literally. You could chew the air, I bet. Don't chew the air. Don't do it, but you could. You never chew the air. Never chew the air. Don't do that to the air. Now, fast forward all the way to 1937. They add another terrifying structure to the prison of this time. They do it in the front. Back in medieval

times, this thing that they added to the front of the prison was called a barbican. A barbican. Or a barbican. It sounds awesome, but I bet it's It's, I mean, it's really not that bad. But to be fair, the structure was necessary because it was there to heighten the security of the prison because things inside were just getting increasingly more violent. It's getting wily in there. It was getting wild. There was already a prison riot at one point because of low wages, because they obviously weren't paying them what they were supposed to be. There was like fire set at multiple points. Like people were like stabbing each other. People are getting a little antsy. People are getting a little wild. A little antsy in there. But the barbican in the. addition of a metal door ultimately cost $25,000. For sure. Because before the metal door was installed, there was just a big wooden door. Yeah. Like, in Beauty and the Beast, like Gaston's come and he's going to knock that thing down with a statue.

Let's go. You got to look at like the three little pigs and the big bad wolf. Yeah, I'm puffing and I blow your fucking wood door down. I just light it on, like, there was fires. They probably were afraid that they were going to light the door on fire. Man had invented fire by this point. Yeah, a long time ago. And they were apparently lighting them in the prison.

They were lighting fires in the prison. Like someone tell me how. But the metal door was able to be electronically opened from a control center in the wardens quarters, which I was like, wow, in 1937. I know, technology. Whoa, baby. Now, perhaps one of the events that prompted the barbican and the new metal door was the escape of one Leo Callahan.

So let's get into some of the people that are being housed here. Now, what is the barbican? It's basically just like a building in front. front of the prison so that you would have to go through there. Oh, okay. That's where you would, like, if you were able to meet with your family, that's where you would meet, would meet them so that it wasn't like, you're in the middle of the prison. So it sounded a lot scarier than it was.

Yeah, it sounds way scarier than it was. It was just like a visit room. Yeah, it was just like an addition where you would be like checked in and like stuff like that. And I think eventually they moved to the wardens quarters there so that it was like safer. Yeah. And like the office and stuff. That makes sense. You know.

But Leo Callahan. He was sent to the Eastern State Penitentiary in 1920 for assault and battery with intent to kill. Oh, just that. That little thing. Now, by July of 1923, he had seen enough of the inside walls and he decided that he was going to test the theory that this prison was inescapable. Because we all heard that about the Titanic. Okay, I wanted to make that joke and I'm really mad that you stole it.

Sorry. It's okay. That's just saying. That's literally exactly what I thought of. It's the true. Whenever somebody says it's like unbreachable. unsinkable, unbreakable, unescapable. It's the opposite of those things. It's just, it feels like a jinks. And Leo was like, brer, brer, with his middle fingers. Now, he was friendly with another prisoner called George Brown.

George Brown before he was in the penitentiary was actually a carpenter. And he was the one who designed the 30-foot ladder that he, Leo, and four other inmates would use to escape. Now, George had designed the ladder so that it would be easily concealed. And when I first read that, I was like, how do you conceal a 30-foot ladder in a tiny, tiny cell? Yeah, honestly, that's, that's magic. That's a task. That's literal magic. That's a task at hand. We have a wizard, Harry.

It's really not when you think about it. Because really, he just needed to make sure that it came in smaller pieces. Yeah. So the pieces of the ladder were broken down into six five-foot segments. And when the time came to escape, it worked. That's still pretty impressive. I mean, yeah, because like, are you just like taping it together? Six, five foot segments.

Like, no one's paying attention to you just putting this together. And those are pretty big pieces. Yeah, five foot. That's me. That's bigger than the... That's six of me. That's bigger than the solitary cells. Yeah.

Like, one side of them at least. Like, could you hide six of me in a cell? If I tried. It'll be hard, though. Yeah. You're kind of loud. Yeah. You're noticeable.

But ladders aren't, I guess. And I don't really think anybody was looking. Apparently not. But so, yeah, they were able to use it. And they got out of there. The pieces of the ladder. They just put them together and they said, let's climb over this wall. They overpowered one guard and they made their way to the east wall and climbed over with the help of George's invention.

And apparently the east wall was like the easiest wall to escape from. Yeah, it always is. A lot of the escapes took place there. Yeah, I mean, every east wall. Yeah, I mean, the sun rises in the east and that's where I escape from. Of course. Bada-Bin Bada-Bu-Bu-Bu-Bu. Everyone knows that, obviously.

Now, every single member of Leo's team was found at some point or another and brought back to prison. one of them was even found in Honolulu, Hawaii. Oh, damn. I don't know how they found it, but they did. And they went back to the eastern state you go. Oh, what a bummer. You're just like viving in Hawaii. Just a quick vacation.

Fucking the warden is like, hey, hey, my guy. Oh, man. That would suck. I would hate that. But the only one who was never found was Leo, making him the only prisoner in Eastern State Penitentiary's history to successfully escape. Leo, where are you? Dead.

Where were you? Vibing. Isn't that crazy, though? Out of that many inmates, he's the only one who is never found again. That's impressive. Yeah. And that was an impressive escape. I was, you feel so bad for George.

It's like he's the mastermind of this ladder and Leo is just like using him. Yeah. Were you even real friends? Were you even his friends? Like, you couldn't house him too? Did you even text him on his birthday? Did you even send him an edible arrangement in? the prison on Valentine's Day.

Did you even write on his Facebook wall? Did you even help him with his MySpace layout? No, you didn't. No, you didn't. You weren't real friends. Yeah, fake-ass friends. Felt nice. But yeah, throughout the years, there would be more escape attempts.

Actually, over a hundred people would try and fail at some point to escape. Wow. Now, there is one more big escape attempt that we can get into here. But first, I have to introduce to you the three key players. We got William Francis. Sutton. He was actually featured on our crime countdown daring prison breaks episode. I knew that sounded familiar. Yeah, and this whole thing might sound a little familiar, but like, whoa, baby. They, excuse me, William Francis Sutton, he got to the Eastern State Penitentiary in 1934. He's one of the

world's most famous bank robbers. And some people say that when he was asked about why he robbed banks, he said, well, that's where the money is. But he said he never said that. But like, that would be awesome. Also, he's not wrong. Hello. That's correct. He's like, because there's money there. Like, that's where the money is. Next question. Anything else? Shall I go on?

He was referred to as the gentleman bandit and the actor. The former, because he was pretty nice to all the people during the robberies. He was just like, can I have that money, please? I have to have it. I have to have it. And the latter, because he would wear all kinds of different disguises while he was robbing people. Sometimes he would be dressed as like a delivery person, and sometimes he'd be dressed. as like a straight up police officer. All right. Now, fun fact, later in life, a lot of his convictions

were overturned on like super minor technicalities. Wow. Um, so he died on the outside in the 80s. And I think he died in Florida. I think he like retired in Florida. Wow. Funny. Now, Frederick Tanuto worked as a hitman for the mob and he was known as the angel of death. Oh, what a nickname. The angel of death. I feel like a lot of people have that nickname though. But like when you're part of like the mob and that's your nickname? That's true. You go into prison with that nickname. Yeah, you're not to be fucked with. Now, he got to the Eastern State Penitentiary in 1938 after he was convicted of murder the previous year. Moida. Moida, Spenza Henry would say. And finally, we have Clarence Kleindensk, who many believe is the mastermind behind this huge escape plan. Now, Clarence, before he was in prison,

was a stonemason and a plasterer. He ended up in prison on charges of forgery, bribery, and larceny. Oh, just that. Yeah, just that. But needless to say, he was good at building and apparently dismantling, too. He was in cell number 68 at Eastern State. And allegedly, before it was his cell, it was like a storage facility in the prison, and he convinced the guards and the warden that he'd clean it up and it could be his cell.

Now, I think it was like originally supposed to be only his cell, but he did end up having a roommate. But instead of cleaning up the cell, he got to work figuring out how to build a tunnel out of the cell that he and 11 of his buddies would use to escape. Who could have seen that coming? Not me. Never. When he's like, I'll clean this up. They're like, you're so nice. Oh my gosh. Thank you, Clarence. So sweet of you. We'll get rid of that roomy of yours eventually. Don't worry. You'll get your own space. He's like, I want my own space. I know it's really overcrowded in here, but like I'm important. I'm like, I have a lot of thoughts. I need to be alone. Yeah, sorry. Get away from me. Now, it was a long process, but he was able to hide what he was doing by one, making a plastic mold of his own face that he would leave in his bed for when the guards

would check. That blows my mind. He made a plastic mold of his own face. That kind of commitment. Like he was about to appear on face off. He sure was. Like, are you kidding me? And then number two, he created this panel in the wall that could easily just be put back and you could put like a trash can in front of it so it wouldn't look like anything was up in there. Man, he's a smart guy. He's a smart guy. There you go. That's a callback. Now, it took some time, but by April 3rd, 1945, Clarence, Frederick, William, and nine of their friends entered the tunnel and climbed out the other end outside. Now, the tunnel was 15 feet down, 97 feet out, and there were electrical lights hung up throughout the entire thing, as well as fans along the way so that they wouldn't get hot in there. Wow.

This motherfucker was a mastermind. This is like Shawshank. It literally is. Straight up Shawshank. Straight up. Wow. Now, there were some points where all of them had to be completely underwater. There were other points where the tunnel was only 18 inches wide.

Oh, like, I wouldn't fit. No. And eventually, though, they made it out. Well, Clarence, the mastermind behind all of this, he landed himself back in the slammer pretty soon. After just a few hours, the police found him two blocks away from the prison. Come on, Clarence. Like, you couldn't have just ran.

You go through all of that. And then you're two blocks away. I would just be, I would be like forest gumping it. I would never stop. And like hours later, how are you only two blocks away? That's the thing. What were you doing? Why are you lollygagging, sir?

Just hanging out. What? Taking in the sights? What are you doing? The fresh air, I guess. Watching falling stars? What's happening? Spitting on the air you've been chewing on for the past few years.

Run. Ridiculous. I can't. Wow. William Sutton was the first one that the police found. And he later tried to pretend that he was the mass. mastermind behind this whole entire thing. He like wrote a book about it. He was like, it was me. And it's like, it was me. And it's like you got caught though. I was literally just going to say then why were you caught first if you're such a mastermind? Not the flex you think it is.

Sir. Weird flex. Not okay. Another guy named James Grace. He was one of the 12 who escaped. He just showed back at Eastern State by himself because he was just like, you know, this this life of being on the run is not for me. Oh my God. And he was hungry. Oh, that's like sad. It's like sad. In a way. It's like sad. I don't know what he's. did to be in there, so I don't want to give him too much, like, Pat, Pat, it's okay. Yeah, probably not. But, like, it is, it is very strange when you, like, that happens. That will happen, yeah. But they, like, come back. Yeah. It's like, Charlie Manson. He was like, I want to be in jail forever. Yeah. And they were like, no. No. Sorry. No. I mean, you really can't be. You don't have to. Yeah. You know, life on the run ain't for everyone. No. Now, finally, Frederick, Frederick Tenuto was found with one of the other escapees. he was found with James Bocci Van Zant

and they were the last two escapees to be found. It took the police two months to find them. So they had something going on. Yeah, and in that time, the botchy guy created the game of Bocci ball. He did, correct, you know? So without him? Yeah, and we'd never have Bocci.

I lied, that's not true. No, do you want to know why he was called Bocci? Why? Because he had a history of fucking crimes up. They literally called him Bocci for that reason. That's amazing. Like, ah, Bocci. Oh, Bachi over here.

Why would you try to escape with Bachi? Oh, my God. What a nickname. That's awesome. He and Tenooto had actually attempted to escape together just three years before the big tunnel escape and they were found the next day. So this was their second escape attempt. Apt nickname, I say.

Apt nickname. Once everyone was recovered from the Great Tuddle Escape a year later in 1946, Frederick Tenuto, William Sutton and Clarence, Kleindens, got transferred to Holmesburg prison in Philadelphia because this prison no one had ever escaped from. And they were like, well, that's where they have to be. Yeah. That was until Clarence, Willie Frederick and this man named David Aiken, who was another friend who was involved in the tunnel escape, they tried escaping from this prison. Now, while police were looking for them, William Sutton actually made his way to number one on the FBI's most wanted list, but he eventually was turned in by this barber named Arnold

Schuster. Wow. Now Arnold Schuster turned up dead having been shot to death only two blocks away from his home. Oh, I wonder if it's connected. Well, a lot of people think that Frederick Tenuto was responsible because he was never found and never heard from again. So he successfully escaped that prison. Damn. Isn't that crazy? That's wild. I think all he needed to do was ditch botchy for a successful escape. I mean, come, like, why are you hanging on to the guy Nick Nguyen? named botchy. I'd be like, you're on your own botch. You've got to do this on your own. Is third time really a charm or did you just need to get rid of botchy all along? Don't even, the first time. What's your nickname? Bocci? Why? What? Do you like the game? No, it's because I fuck everything up that I do.

All right. You go that way. I'm going to go this way. We'll meet in the other. Like, I'd be like, all right, we'll meet again. I picture like Larry and Mo and the other one just like fucking morphed into one person. Yeah, I just be like, you know what, if we're meant to meet again, we will, botch. But you know what? You're on your own. Bocci had his own talents, okay? Did he? He ended up writing a poem about the great tunnel prison escape or the prison tunnel escape, and he entitled it, Leaky Pen. If I could get some bongos, please. Did his pen leak during this? Like, did he botch writing a poem? No, no, no, leaky pen. Leaky pen, like, leaky penitentiary. Oh my God. I was like, I really hope that her pen actually leaked and that he titled the phone. Had nothing to do with the poem.

Because his name is botchy, so it makes sense. Could have fucked it up. Well, here's this poem for you. It's deeper. Twelve of the boys in the Eastern State Penn were serving their time with no end. When out of nowhere there appeared a hole, which Kleinie had dug out just like a mole. I love the rhyme scheme there. It's just like such talent. I love it.

Hole and mole, end and pen. Just like a mole. And I love that he's like, it appeared out of nowhere because Kleinie dug it. It's like, well, then it didn't appear. out of nowhere. It just appeared after he dug it. Manually. Now, just a little fun fact on the tunnel. In 2006, archaeologists revealed that it was still intact.

What? The prison officials had said that they blocked up both ends and filled the tunnel with ash. I don't know if they, like, had a fever dream about that or something. But they did not. But they did not do that. Because in 2006, they literally found, like, evidence of, like, the fans. Like, they saw, like, remnants of the lights.

like, oh my God. The panels and stuff. Are there photos of this? Because I'm dying to see this work. I'm going to have to look because I didn't see if there was photos of that. Now, some other noteworthy inmates at the Eastern State Penitentiary include Al Capone and a black lab named Pep. Stop.

Sentenced Femoida. Femmoida? I'll get into that, but Al Capone first. Al Capone stepped on the Eastern State soil in 1929. He was there because he had been carrying a. a concealed weapon in a movie theater. That's what landed Al Capone in prison at the Eastern State Penitentiary. Now, some people think that he actually arranged to spend time at the Eastern State

Penitentiary so that he could avoid the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. Oh, wow. That was where like a ton of mob bosses like got hit. That's interesting. He later said that he was actually haunted by the ghost of mob boss James Clark while he was in Eastern State Penitentiary. Really? He was the one who had ordered the head.

hit on James. Mob bosses are just haunting their own. You know? Well, they were, they were rival mom bosses. Yeah, but still, it's like, keep it in the family. Yeah, you're a rat. Well, he wasn't even a rat, though. But it would make a lot of sense if Al had arranged to be in prison because his room was rumored to be like super luxurious for the prison. Of course I wouldn't see Sal Capone. Al Capone. I found this quote describing it that said, quote, the whole room was suffused in the glow of a desk lamp which stood on a polished desk. On the once grim walls of the penile chamber hung tasteful. I said penal, penile chamber.

I took a super thing. And I was trying to keep it in. I said penile. Hold on. That penile trim. Penile chamber. I was all right. Wow.

On the once grim walls of the panel chamber hung tasteful paintings and the strains of a waltz were being omitted by a powerful cabinet radio receiver of handsome design and the fine finish. Wow. It's like, I'm sorry, where you at? Like the fucking Hilton Inn. Is this the Ritz-El? Is this the Ritz-Kalton, my guy?

That I do have pictures of. You should look it up right now. It's funny. They don't have the, like, pictures of what it actually looked like at the time, but they recreated the room. There's like a fucking armchair in there. There's a rug. There's literally a writer's desk.

It's like, I would live there. I would live there. Oh, yeah. Right? Oh, that's a cool room. It's a vibe and a half. It is. Now, while Al was there, he was said to have bought new uniforms for the baseball teams and just, like, listen to Walt's music on the radio.

There you go. And you just vibed. He just vibed. In the Eastern State Penitentiary, just vibed. But then on March 17th, 1930, his time was served. So people heard that he was being, like, he was going to be leaving the prison at this certain time of the day. It was like the afternoon. So they gathered outside the Eastern State waiting to catch a glimpse of fucking Al Capone.

but what they didn't know was that he had made a deal with the warden. The warden let Al leave early that morning and transfer to another prison so that he would be able to leave from that one and at the same time and he would avoid all the attention and potential enemies hiding in the crowd. Oh yeah. Because at that point, the St. Valentine's Day massacre had occurred and people were like fucking pissed and knew that he had something to do with it. Oh yeah, and they're looking for it.

So they were like, I'm going to shoot you, basically. I'm a shoot you Al Capone. I'm a shoot you Al Capone. you know um but yeah so he he didn't have to leave there wow he left another prison and fun fact a lot he actually had his tonsils taken out in the operating room inside of the prison wow yeah if you follow me on twitter your questions are now answered look at that i've heard that's really hard as an adult yeah it's not a good recovery as an adult it's easier when you're a child i can imagine do we even need tonsils no what's the point of a tonsil to take them out okay to become inflamed do you have

tonsils? I do. I have my tonsils too. Yeah, I never got mine taken out. Me either. Doesn't matter. Did you? Hey. You listening? Did you? Do you have tonsils? Cool. Okay. All right, nice. Yeah. Did you enjoy the grape flavored jello when you got them taken out? I don't know. That was really specific. Now, there was also a black lab that did time apparently. Yeah, I got to know about this. All right. So his name was Pep. He did pose for an actual mug shop. Please Google it at this very moment. I'm literally, if you're driving a car, please car pull over first. But, he was said to have been in prison for murder. He was the dog of Governor Gifford Pinchot, I believe is how you say it.

And allegedly, he killed the governor's wife's cat. I don't know what to say. So the whole thing. I've been rendered speechless. The whole thing was definitely like a publicity stunt. Oh my God. And Black Labs are my favorite dogs. Stop it.

He's so cute. And he's beautiful. He's gorgeous. The whole thing was just a publicity stunt, like something to write about in the fucking newspaper because apparently nothing was happening that day. Poor Pep, though. I know. Well, he gets his reputation smeared for the sake of their.

Smeat. He's got a freaking mugshot. Dorinda's making fun of him. Man. But he was basically sent there to boost inmate morale and, like, cheer them up. But he actually didn't even end up hanging out with the inmates. He ended up doing rounds with the guards. Yeah.

He was just like, I'm here. I murdered a cat. Think about what I'll do to you. Right, exactly. Yeah. It wasn't the only animal at Eastern State. There was another dog there that was one of the guards. dogs and her name was Lady. You can look her up to. She was a beagle, actually.

Aw. And actually, according to Charles Dickens, one of the inmates had a bunny in his cell when he visited, and others were said to have kept, like, cats and birds. This reminds me of, like, the Green Mile. So, when he's got his little mouse. I was going to say it at the end, but Eastern State Penitentiary is actually one of the prisons that the Green Mile is, like, inspired. inspired by. Oh, that's it. Because it's so funny, because this whole time I've been like, wow, that's all I keep thinking of. So if you look at pictures, the floors are painted green. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, it was like one of the main ones that inspired the green mile. Stephen King. Stephen King is a, you widely set of a bitch. I love you. Right. That's awesome.

Now, I think the last important event to talk about before we get into the haunting of it all is the riot that took place on January 8th, 1961. Yes. It was not the first riot like we know, but it was the biggest riot in the prison's history. So this inmate named John Klausenberg, he's walking back to his cell with this brand spanking new guard. And he's just shooting the shit.

They're vibing. He's like, how was work? He's like, oh, you know, it was good. I cleaned the food up. Like, yeah, how you like your job as a prison guard? This is how old. Hey, do you want to, like, I just got to stop by my friend's cell? Can you just let him out for like one quick sec?

Like we just got to chat about something. Dude, this is the oldest trick in the book. Literally the oldest trick in the book. Just got to stop by house real quick. This motherfucker opened up the like this guy's friend's cell. And then the two of them like overpowered him. Oh yeah. Because they're like inmates.

And like they're probably in there for like some shady shit. And eventually 800 prisoners ended up being freed from their cells and just started trashing the fucking prison. That is so scary. 800 prisoners. Angry criminals that have been cooped up. And have been, like, wronged. Like, they were being, like, abused and shit.

So they were lighting rooms, like, the record room on fire. They literally lighted the record room on fire. Oh, my God. They were stealing from the pharmacy. They cut the phone lines at one point. There was, like, multiple, but they cut some of them. They were stabbing guards and, like, beating them up. and then stealing their uniforms and putting them on.

So that it's like, who the fuck is who? It got so bad that the city police, the state troopers and the prison warden himself had to mastermind like an operation in the middle of the entire riot to like figure out how to take back power. How do you even do that? And excuse me, it was the deputy warden. So they came up with this thing called Operation Prison Breakout. And eventually they were able to regain control of.

the prison. But for a little while, guards were locked back up in cells with prisoners because the prisoners had stolen their uniform so then nobody knew who was who. So they had to like lock everybody in cells together until they figured out who was prisoner and who was guard. What? Yes. Wow. Insane. So Joseph Briarly was working as deputy warden that day and he was credited as being the mastermind behind Operation Prison Breakouts. And he like helped regain control of the prison. That's impressive that they were able to regain it at all. Seriously, later on, he was able to become warden. But not before the district attorney announced that the prison was a danger to everyone in the city nearby. Yeah, they're like, yeah, that's bad. Get the fuck out of here,

move to the country. Now, the goal of the entire riot was just another escape attempt. Some of the prisoners had come up with the idea so that everyone would be distracted while they headed down to the garage on site and stole a truck to leave. However, when they got down there, to the garage, the city police had already arrived and they were able, like the police were able to get them to do their things. But terrifyingly enough, the prisoners at that point were armed with meat cleavers. Oh. Like, I don't know how these police got control of them when they're fucking wielding meat cleavers. What? Nuts. I can't even picture this. Meat cleavers. That's horrible. Actually, crazy, none of the prisoners were killed during this riot. Wow. One of them, however, was left with a

fractured skull. You can find a picture of him in the book. And his family was called to the prison to like say goodbye to him. He was given last rights. And then he like miraculously survived. Damn. Crazy, right? So finally, after 10 more years. So that happened in 1961. And then in 1971, the prison was officially closed.

I think it's about time. It's definitely like past time. All of the remaining inmates were moved to the state correctional institution at Greaterford. I believe is how you say. it. And for a long time, people had different ideas about, like, what they should do with the building. And then some people suggested that they should build condos there. Like, they were like, let's, like, destroy it and, like, build condos over it. Who are these people? That's never a good idea. Who are you? You want to live in that condo? Like, do you just, do you just want ghosts? Like, what are you asking for

here? Just want that bad vibe on there? Can you imagine? Like, no. So the building ended up being abandoned for so long because nobody could just, like, decide what to do with it or figure it out. It was declared a semi-ruin. Wow. And in 2000, it was added to the list of the 100 most endangered sites list by the World's Monuments List. What an accomplishment. Yeah, you know, that's the list you want to be on. Hot or not. Good for it. Indangered or safe. Like, woo, baby. Get it, Isp. Now, in 2002, it was actually removed from the list. And eventually, the site became a museum. It took a long time to preserve the building. And the whole idea was never to restore it back to its original. like thing. They wanted to preserve it and make it a museum.

Yeah. And while people were working on that, there was that this is like the most precious fucking story ever. There was this man named Dan McLeod. He was a city worker. And he was like working on the project with all the people like, you know, getting this place up and running, I dare I say. Yeah, at least for museum. You know. And while he was working there, he realized that there was a whole bunch of feral cats living inside. Like there had like its own little community of cats. Like a colony of cats. Literally. So this man's took it upon himself and would go three times a week and feed all of the cats. That's precious.

Like, ruin me. That's really wholesome. The ruins have ruined me. I like that. So he passed away in 2003, but in 2004, this artist named Linda Brenner made an art installation called Ghost Cat. And it was installed in the museum in 2004 in the memory of not only the cat population, but Dan McLeod, the cat man.

Oh, stop. Like, ruin me. You just took hold of my heart. Ruin me. That's so sweet. So now for the hauntings. Cool. I had to tell you like a really, a really cute story before I was like this.

Like, that's so sweet. All right, let's do this. So each block seems to offer something a little different. In cell block 12, people hear echoing voices and cackling laughter. I love that. Loves it. And cell block. Everything's funny.

I get it. Lalls. Just lalls and good times. In cell block six, people have reported seeing shadowy figures around the walls. that are just like circulating the walls. But cell block four seems to be the scariest of them all. So here's a story for you. When the prison was like totally abandoned and they were just working on getting it together

for the tours and everything, they had to hire this locksmith named Gary Johnson to actually get into cell block four because it was like totally locked. Yeah. So when he was removing the lock from the cell, he said that as soon as he removed the lock, he felt this sudden force take over his body and he like felt like he was being held up like he couldn't move and he said he felt negative and horrible but that this force wouldn't let him go and then all of the sudden in front of him there were swirling faces on the walls oh and one of them like was calling to him what the fuck yeah i don't like that hate that i don't like that no thank you

people say that when you go on tours there's towers that used to be like looking over like the yards and stuff so that like the watch towers yeah watch towers so the guards could watch over them people say that on tours if you look up you'll still see one of the guards standing there I want that so bad you'll hear like screaming and like yelling in the prison there's also like rattling like of the um oh like bars of the bars and everything ah I want to go here super scary well this has got to be a trip we got to make we can because we're close Now, up until 2008, you actually had to sign a waiver to enter the building. Get me there. Like, I'm going to choose to believe that it's for the ghost and not like liability reasons of like a cinder block falling on my head. Yeah, like, is this like asbestos because I'm not into that? Is this asbestos or is this ghost?

Because if it's ghosts, like I'll sign five times. I'll sign for ghosties. I'm not signed in for worst damage. That's my first name. But people have gone on tours and like they hear all these things. And if you ever want to go for Halloween, bitch, they have this event all through spooky season, like leading up to Halloween. I believe it starts in September. And it's called Terror Behind the Wall.

Shut up. And the site says, are you ready? I'm ready. It includes two haunted houses. Stop. Three immersive walkthrough experiences that apparently aren't scary. Three live and interactive performances. Four themed bars and lounges.

I'm literally obsessed with this. three opportunities to explore all of the cell blocks. So you can experience the haunting for yourself. Philadelphia is not that far away. Honey. We could drive. I need this. Like we could go.

I literally need this. We could go. Yes. This Hallows Eve. We could literally go. Like should we figure it out after this? I really want to. Can you imagine?

And you took one of my last fun facts that the Green Mile was inspired by this. Oh, sorry. It's okay. But this is a really fun fact. At one point, there was an audio tour that you could take. and it was voiced by Steve Bouchemy. Stop it. Stop it.

I caught it. Immediately as if we couldn't get any better. As if it couldn't get any better. And they've also used the site for a couple of movies. I don't know. I've never heard of this movie. It's called 12 Monkeys. 12 monkeys?

You've never heard of that movie? No. Wow, that was with Brad Pitt. Oh, shit. Okay. Well, it was filmed there. Oh, that's great. And also Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen was there.

Wow. Yeah. So let's go for Halloween. yesterday. Honestly, it's driving five hours. That's like going to Maine. That's not bad. And you get two haunted houses, three immersive walkthrough experiences, three live and interactive performances, four themed bars, and three opportunities to explore the cell blocks and see swirling faces all around the walls. Worth it to me? Let's fucking go. Worth it. Let's go, girls. I want to go. Let's go. I don't want to go really badly. So yeah, that is the Eastern State Penitentiary.

Damn. Wilden. What a tale. What a tale. What a place. I want to go. I want to go too. Like you can go see like Al Capone's room.

You sold me. You sold me. You can like maybe pretend that you're escaping from the East Wall. Hell yeah. That's what I wouldn't want to do. Like so crazy. I want to see the faces. And they have like all these like like big like memorial things.

Yeah. Just like information and displays. Yeah. The history alone. There's like a bunch of like art installations. Wow. I really want to see this place. Seriously.

And if you want to see this place, but you're a little too far away, please, please, please go get that book, The Eastern State Penitentiary by Francis X. Dolan. I'm going to link it in the show notes. And literally the entire book is just like a ton of pictures and like there's even more information in the book. That's amazing. Yeah.

Wow, you kicked ass. I want to go there now. I think we should leave. If we leave right now, we could get there by seven. All right. Perfect timing. We're out. Dusk.

Dusk. Well, we'll tell you how. how it goes and in the meantime we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird but that's a way that you put bags over people's heads and an idea that you think is good because it's not ever going to turn out as good as you think it's going to turn out yeah it got weird yeah they kept it weird it did