Episode 260: The Eastern State Penitentiary | Morbid

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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.

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We'll see you next time. available on qualifying orders retail sales only some exclusions apply see store for details Hey, weirdos.

I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid. Yeah.

It is. We're here. I liked that one. 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 Alayna's episode on the Hillside Stranglers made it into the top five of all shows.

Thank you. You're welcome. 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. was pretty rad it was all that research and all that like you know torturing my mind for weeks yeah I was like, all right.

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 heard it told the way that you told it.

Thank you. 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 those books were amazing. I'm telling you, true crime books are like...

Where it's at. 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. 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.

For leisure. Leisure 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've been on my coffee table for quite some time.

You're going to get to it. I've yet to open it.

You're going to get to it. We'll get there.

I have faith. 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 a little haunted with it today.

Yeah. 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 listeners okay you guys you guys right there 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, de- 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 when like, you know, you'll get like a recommendation and you're like, ooh.

Right. Usually they are good. So it makes it worth it.

Yeah, but it's like you're expecting like...

Just like... You're expecting your cup to floweth over with haunts.

I'm expecting my wazoo to be filled with haunts. exactly okay yep you know but you know this 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 with this.

Yeah. 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.

Or initial. We love a middle initial as X. X.

It's saucy. It's mysterious. I like it. It just feels old-timey.

Like, it feels very, like... Feels a little villainous.

Yes, it does. Feel a little villainous, which I love.

It does. 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 when 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 so Well, without further ado, we'll get into it, but you should definitely read that book and look at the pictures.

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 I'll purchase.

But the penitentiary itself was supposed to be a solution for harsh prison...

Conditions. I hate harsh prison conditions.

It's the worst. 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 felt like you could 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 doesn't bury the lead.

He puts it right out there. Well, and his mission was an important one.

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. That'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 but back then it must be wild amount of 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, that's fun.

I love that. Just like, who's going to design the best prison?

That is fun. It's like in 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 Haviland.

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 jetted out from the center.

Basically, if you can't picture it, just think of how a five-year-old draws the sun.

Yeah, there you go. 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 cells.

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 interrogations. conditions oh no that's always when things fall apart yeah things just really went downhill quickly 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.

So instead of like adding on wagon spokes, they just added stories. okay exactly and that was only uh 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-esque kind of way and it was like at that point it wasn't even modern anymore yeah it's like gothic-y it's very gothic-y 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? I love that. Things in the old time days, 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 are scary. Like European places in the old days just chop your head right off right there old time days architecture is really scary it is it's like it's daunting, ominous as fuck, 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.

That's so pleasant. So pleasant. And then prison.

It's just like penitentiary. 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, okay. Which I don't know how common that is, but like, I don't really know if I would want my bae 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, the deputy warden's grandson, Henry Enkler, was born there.

Can you imagine later being like, yeah, I was born in a penitentiary, but I was the warden's son. yes like like that's wild and like tell that it's like parties and you're like excuse me what That's your two truths and a lie right there.

That's your way around that. 100%. But on his birth certificate, they just wrote ESP instead of Eastern State Penitentiary.

ESP. He was born in Esp. I don't know if you've ever been there.

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.

Yeah, now I don't think it's really, but...

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 so like i would be nervous about that you don't like hide your kids hide your wife yeah i wouldn't want to 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.

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The sale ends 831. Don't miss it. 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 going to 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 really great.

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 beach So they started getting stung, but the beehive was actually a wasp hive and then they died.

And then a meteor hit. Yeah. It's rough when that happens.

It is. 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.

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, anytime 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.

But that's going to get real weird. And like some sadistic motherfucker is going to be like, I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know. And then the other thing was it was 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 anything. 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.

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. up.

So inmates were fed three times a day. Looking at pictures of this place.

I should send you the link of the Kindle Cloud Reader thing because you can look at all the pictures 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 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.

That was probably a thought process behind it. it um 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, yeah, you probably got a decent amount of light on a sunny day.

But if you lived in block four through seven 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 skylight. And then you had like some way.

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 reform these prisoners and send them out into the world as better people.

That's really what they were going for. That's 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 talk? there's a loophole do we cut a hole in the top and just maybe 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.

Yeah. 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 exactly how that brought up.

Yeah, you'd have to sign them out. Was this organized? razoring willy-nilly on each other.

No, it sounds like it was a pretty organized thing.

Yeah, that is organized. Because eventually even the guards would get their hair cut 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.

I was going to say. 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 When they were getting straight razor haircuts from the prisoners, it wasn't like someone who killed 16 people.

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 um 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 line, 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. OK. Yeah.

Taking away extra food privileges. So like you get like four potatoes instead of five.

I mean, to me, that's rude. That's terrible.

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 going to last.

Takes a sadistic 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.

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, 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 dark room. And that can really fuck with you.

Oh, yeah. Like 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 Echols.

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's 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 chains that came from the brace in the mouth. that would be chained to cuffs around your wrists, which were often behind your back.

And the more and more you struggle 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 an 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 cog. 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 winter conditions, totally naked. and you would be left there until ice started to form on different parts of your body.

That's literally Elizabeth Boutry. Yes, it is.

She literally did that. That's all I could think about while I was saying it.

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 change your entire side.

That'll 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 of a 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 not really you would like go mad in the chair You would be strapped to a chair, called the man 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.

Oh, I believe that. Once they were free because... the circulation yeah you cut off circulation at that point for days at a time i mean Think about when you like accidentally like wrap something too tightly around your finger.

Yeah. You cut off circulation. And the pressure.

How panicked 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. It was 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 straitjacket, not being able to move a part of my body.

No. 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. 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 Charles Dickens.

Oh, no. No, I haven't heard of him. Did he do anything special?

Yeah, a couple. Notable at all? Yeah, just like a couple stories.

Is it just like a... Like a nobody writer?

Yeah, pretty much. I think it was a pen name.

It's like a blogger. He's a blogger, yeah.

He had a Tumblr. Yeah. 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.

Yeah. 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 and its effects to be cruel and wrong.

Oof. So he's like the solitary in and of itself was like somehow even worse than like the things they were growing up with.

The mental stuff? Just all of it packed together.

I can't. How do you get through that? Yeah.

I just can't even imagine. So clearly Especially 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.

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Now, the first prisoner to try to escape was William Hamilton.

He had been arrested and sent to the penitentiary in 1831 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 felt in 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 stealing pigs again and immediately was sent Right back to the prison.

Now I don't feel bad. It's like, dude, come on.

Come on. Just stop stealing the pigs. Just don't... Like...

Wait a while before you steal another pig.

I don't know. Yeah, just raise your own pig.

Paint something. someone will pay you and gotta pay 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 life 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, William. How dare you?

How 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 it once maybe keep a closer eye on Oh, the amount of people that actually made multiple escape attempts from this place.

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 We're working 12 hour shifts for six days a week.

So they were like totally out of it. Yeah, just totally checked 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.

Ooh. Yeah. and started bludgeoning him with a metal bar.

Oh. He bludgeoned him to death. Oh. and then once he was finished he just turned around walked back to his 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 like can hear like metal clanging.

Oh, and like the keys jingling or something. is 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 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 that 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 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 longest serving warden in the prison's history.

Wow. He worked as a warden from 1881 until 1900.

Wow. he was the one who designed the new cell blocks.

Cell blocks 8-11 were a lot bigger than the cells in the other blocks.

But that was because they didn't have the personal exercise yards.

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 everything into like dark shit. We fuck it all up.

Yeah. We've given all the tools and we just take it to another level. dirty place because every time i'm like oh okay it's turning around and i'm like oh fuck no it's 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'd have thunk? Whoa. Whoa. Now in 1911, cell block 12 was completed and it was the first block that was three stories high now.

And instead of a 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'd we have no way of just making these cells personal cells.

We have to put people together. 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... 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.

Damn. Down the line, they eventually formed their own teams and like played games against each other.

That's so, I've 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 young.

Yeah, claustrophobic. 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 because by 1928, most of the prisoners, seven, excuse me, 1,753 inmates at this time.

Now remember- God, this was 250 to begin with, wasn't it?

It was supposed to hold 250 prisoners. And now by 1928.

We have 1,753 inmates, and I told you this was gonna come back.

Of those inmates, a ton of them, like a majority of them were 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.

Actually, this was a men and women's prison for a long time.

Oh, wow. The women were kept away from the men.

That's interesting. In the 1920s, they were sent to a different prison.

So by 1920s, there was no women in there.

But they figured out ways to 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. Wow. 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 in the jar i don't know more than 250

But now that the entire prison wasn't gonna 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, I guess.

Yeah, obviously. Not really, but you know.

So Cell Block 13, which was built sometime between 1911 and 1926. that became solitary.

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 so claustrophobic 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 room so 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. 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 gotta get rid of them. Get rid of your solitary confinement.

And they were like, no. No. And 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.

Like that's insane. And by that point, the entire vision that John Haviland had of like the whole like the spokes wheel it was gone the prison grounds looked like the set of fucking labyrinth yeah i was gonna say you can't keep that wagon wheel for that long hoggle was looked There you go.

I love these. You're welcome. Love it. Yes.

Speaking right to me. I know. I had a feeling.

I know my audience. Now, when Cell Block 14 was being built, they put special hidden cells 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's 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 four 47 things that we built.

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.

In 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 clown. 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 like an oubliette an oubliette yes and And prisoners would be held there for weeks at a time.

Under. In an oubliette. Yeah. So those ones were also discovered during a state investigation and the prison was barred from every 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 oubliette and then stop using it. yeah no like you built the oubliette for a reason and you you use the resources so you gotta put those people underground Yeah, you don't just stop using it because someone told you to.

You're like, no, I built that oubliette.

I'm going to use my oubliette. It's a place you put people.

To forget about them. It is. And that's what they did.

Hoggle. T-M. Hoggle, probably. There you go.

But what? Yeah, that's wild. I just don't understand how this place wasn't shut down because they underwent. many investigations, not only into like the circumstances and like the the like surroundings of these people, but also the financial things.

Like they were like lying about how much money they were spending.

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, check mark, we did that.

We did it. And we found a couple things.

Yeah. It's they did their due diligence, but they know they don't have to listen.

They have 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 oubliette.

Oubliette is our nanny nanny boo boo. Get out of here.

Nanny nanny boo boo to our oubliette. But cell block 14 became one of the most crowded blocks in the entire prison. even when it had 112 cells.

Wow. 112 cells, and it is still... Like, crowded.

Imagine how loud that would be. How loud.

Smelly, dirty. Hot. you'd be sick all the time.

You would see the air. literally you could chew the air i bet don't chew don't do it but you could You 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 and 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 not.

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 with antsy in there.

But the Barbican and the addition of a metal door ultimately cost $25,000.

For sure. Before the metal door was installed, there was just a big wooden door.

Yeah. Like, I mean, in Beauty and the Beast, like Gaston's coming, he's going to knock that thing down with a statue. let's go you gotta look at like the three little pigs and the big bad wolf yeah I'm puffing I puff and I blow your fucking 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. Someone tell me how.

But the metal door was able to be electronically opened from a control center in the warden's 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 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 them so that it wasn't like you're in the middle.

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 like you would be like checked in and like stuff like that.

I think eventually they moved to the warden's quarters there so it was like safer.

Okay. 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 literally exactly what I thought of.

It's the truth. Whenever somebody says it's like unbreachable, unsinkable, unbreakable, breakable, unescapable.

It's. the opposite of those things it's just it feels like a jinx and leo was like 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 magic. That's a task.

That's literal magic. That's a task at hand.

It's really not. 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. pieces of the ladder were broken down into six five-foot segments.

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?

Like six, five foot segments. like no one's paying attention to you just putting this together.

And those are pretty big pieces to be hiding.

Yeah, five foot. That's me. That's bigger than... That's six of me.

That's bigger than the solitary size. yeah like one side of them at least like could you hide six of me in a cell If I tried.

It would 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 they got out of there.

The pieces of 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 escaped from of course Everyone knows that, obviously.

No, every single member of Leo's team was found at some point or another and brought back to prison.

Oof. One of them was even found in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Oh damn. I don't know how. They found it, but they didn't.

Wow. Back to the eastern state you go. Oh, what a bummer.

You're just like vibing in Hawaii. Just a quick. vacation the warden is like hey hey my bat my guy 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 was 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...

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? book 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. Real nice. But yeah, throughout the years there would be more escape attempts actually. over 100 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 during Prison Breaks episode.

I knew that. Sounded familiar. Yeah, and this whole thing might sound a little familiar, but like, whoa, baby.

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. I have to have it in the ladder 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 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 Tenuto 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.

Moira. Moira, as Spencer Henry would say.

And finally, we have Clarence Kleindienst, 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.

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 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. escape who could have seen that coming not me and 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 roomie of yours.

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, I'm important.

I was like, I have a lot of thoughts. I need to be alone.

Yeah, sorry. Get away from me. 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.

Like, I wouldn't fit. No. And eventually, though, they made it out.

Now, Clarence, the mastermind behind all of this...

Come on, come on. Clarence like you couldn't have just like ran you go through all of that and then you're two blocks away I would just be run I would be like forest gumping it I would never stop and like hours later how are you only two blocks away the thing what were you doing why are you lollygagging sir just hanging out what taking in the sights like you're just like breathing the fresh air air i guess watching falling stars what are you what's happening spitting out the air you've been chewing on for the past few years Ridiculous.

I can't. William Sutton was the first one that the police found.

He later tried to pretend that he was the mastermind behind this whole entire thing.

He wrote a book about it. He was like, it was me.

It was mean. 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 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 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 it is very strange when that happens.

That will happen, yeah. But they come back, and they're like, 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 Tenuto is found with one of the other escapees.

He was found with James Bocce Van Zandt, 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 bocce guy created the game of bocce ball.

He did. Correct. you know so without him yeah and we'd never have bocce i lied that's not true no Do you want to know why he was called Bocce?

Why? Because he had a history of fucking crimes up.

They literally called him Bocce for that reason. like a bocce oh bocce over here why would you try to escape with bocce Oh my God, what a nickname.

That's awesome. He and Tenuto had actually... 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 Tunnel Escape a year later in 1946, Frederick Tenuta, William Sutton, and Clarence Kleindienst. 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 is responsible.

Because he was never found and never heard from again.

So he successfully escaped that prison. Damn.

Wasn't that crazy? That's wild. I think all he needed to do was ditch Bocce for a successful escape.

I mean, why are you hanging on to the guy nicknamed botchy?

I'd be like, you're on your own botch. I'd be like, you gotta do this on your own.

Is third time really a charm or did you just need to get rid of bocce all along?

Don't even, the first time. What's your nickname?

Bocce? Bocce. 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. All right. We'll meet again.

I picture like Larry and Moe and the other one just like fucking morphed into one person.

Yeah, I just feel like, you know what, if we're meant to meet again, we will botch.

But you know what? You're on your own. Bocce 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 a leaky pen like leaky penitentiary oh my god i was like i really hope that that would be hilarious leaked and that he titled the had nothing to do with his name is bocce 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 Pen 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 cliney 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 evidence of the fans.

They saw remnants of the lights. Oh, my God. the panels and stuff are there photos of this because i'm dying to see this i'm gonna have to look because i didn't see if there was photos i'm gonna look it up Now, some other noteworthy inmates at the Eastern State Penitentiary include Al Capone And a black lab named Pep.

Stop. Sentenced for moida. For moida? 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 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 hit on james mob bosses are just haunting their own you know Well, they were rival mom bosses.

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 it wasn't. He's 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 penile, penile chamber...

I took a sip and I was trying to keep it in.

I said penile. Hold on. That penile trend.

Penile chamber. I'm sorry. Wow. on the once grim walls of the panel chamber hung tasteful paintings and the strains of a waltz were being emitted by a powerful cabinet radio receiver of handsome design and the fine finish.

Wow. It's like, I'm sorry, were you at like the fucking Hilton Inn?

Is this the Ritz? Is this the Ritz-Carlton, my guy?

That I do have pictures of. You should look it up right now.

It's funny. Oh, I'm definitely looking that up.

They don't have 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 waltz music on the radio.

There you go. You just vibed. You just vibed.

In the Eastern State Penitentiary, just vibing.

But then on March 17, 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 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 so they were like i'm gonna shoot you basically i'm gonna shoot you al capone i'm gonna 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. If you follow me on Twitter, your questions are now answered.

Look at that. I've heard that's really hard as an adult.

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. 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 Jell-O 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 mugshot. Please Google it at this very moment.

If you're driving a car, please 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. I've been rendered speechless.

The whole thing was definitely like, a publicity stunt oh my god he's just and black labs are my favorite dogs 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 oh poor pep though Well, he gets his reputation smeared for the sake of their reputation.

He's got a freaking mugshot. Dorinda's making fun of him.

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.

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 guard's dogs, and her name was Lady.

You can look to look her up to. She was a beagle actually.

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 gonna say it at the end, but...

Eastern State Penitentiary is actually one of the prisons that the Green Mile is 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.

Steven! Stephen King is my dude. You wily son 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 it went 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 gotta stop by house real quick.

This motherfucker opened up this guy's friend's cell.

And then the two of them like overpowered him 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 running 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 like 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.

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 they The prisoners had stolen their uniforms, 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 Briarley was working as deputy warden that day.

And he was credited as being the mastermind behind Operation Prison Breakout.

So he 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."

Now they're like, yeah, that was 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 thing.

But terrifyingly enough, the prisoners at that point were... were armed with meat cleavers.

Oh! Like, I don't know how these police got control of them when they're... Oh, my God!

Fucking... wielding meat cleavers. What?

Nuts. I can't even picture this. Meat cleavers.

That's horrifying. 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 like 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 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.

They were like, let's destroy it and build condos over it.

Who are these people? That's never good.

Good idea. Who are you? Do you want to live in that condo?

Like, do you just walk ghosts? What are you asking for here?

Just want that bad vibe on there? Can you imagine?

No. So the building ended up being abandoned for so long because nobody could 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. Endangered 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. 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, get in this place. up and running, I dare I say.

Yeah, at least for a museum. And while he was working there, he realized that there was a whole bunch of feral cats living inside.

It had 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, that's so sweet.

All right, let's do this. This place is haunted.

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. Yeah. Everything's funny.

I get it. LOLs. Just lols and good times.

So much fun. In Cell Block 6, 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 4 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 like couldn't move and and he said he felt negative and horrible, but that this force wouldn't let him go.

And then all of a sudden in front of him, there were swirling faces on the walls.

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 watchtowers yeah watchtowers 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 like bars of the bars and everything ah i want to go here super scary well this has got to be a trip we gotta 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. gonna choose to believe that it's for the ghost and not like liability reasons of like a cinder block falling on my head but 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 signing for worst damage that's 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. 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 like 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 Hallow's 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. 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 Buscemi.

Stop it. Stop it. Iconic. 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 crazy.

And also Transformers Revenge of the Fallen was there.

Hey, look at that. 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 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 wanna go. Let's go. I don't want to go really badly.

So yeah, that is the Eastern State Penitentiary.

Damn. Wildin'. What a tale. What a tale.

What a place. I want to go. I want to go too.

I want like you can go see like Al Capone's room.

It's all set up. you sold you can like maybe pretend that you're escaping from the east wall hell yeah that's what i would want to do like so crazy i want to see the faces and they have like all these like um like big like memorial things yeah like just like information and things yeah the history alone There's a bunch of 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 it goes.

And in the meantime, we hope you keep listening.

And we hope you keep it weird. But that's so weird that you put bags over people's heads and an idea that you think is good because it's not ever gonna turn out as good as you think it's gonna turn out.

Yeah, it got weird. Yeah, they kept it weird.

They did. Thank you. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

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[The Dark History and Hauntings of Eastern State Penitentiary]-[Episode 260: The Eastern State Penitentiary]

📋 Summary

The Evolution and Infamy of Eastern State Penitentiary

The "Separate System" and Architectural Ambition

Descent into Torture

Escapes and Masterminds

Famous Inmates and Legacy

From Ruin to Haunted Museum

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript