5 Things to Know About the Biggest Haunted House in the US

Image: PHOTO: Sinister gargoyle at Terror Behind the Walls in Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary. (photo courtesy of Eastern State Penitentiary)

by Will McGough
Last updated: 10:00 PM ET, Tue September 19, 2017

The country's largest haunted house, Terror Behind the Walls at the Eastern State Penitentiary, is one of Philadelphia's largest seasonal attractions. With Halloween just around the corner, we take a look and what makes it the mother of all haunted houses.

It's not only the largest in the country, its fame spans the globe.

Terror Behind the Walls began in 1991 as a single-night event. Today, its "season" is late September through early November, with 32 total performances over the course of that time. It takes a team of 14 makeup artists to prepare the cast of 200+ performers each night. In 2016, tickets to Terror Behind the Walls were sold to customers in all 50 states and in 40 foreign countries.

There are six sections that make up the haunted house.

The spooky Penitentiary is broken up into six unique sections, each with a different theme in a different part of the prison. New this year is the Blood Yard, where you get to "meet" a colony of zombie-like cannibals. Other sections include the Lock Down (cellblock), Machine Shop, Infirmary, Break Out (Prison Break), and a four-dimensional area called the Quarantine. All six attractions are included with the price of admission.

You can be part of the action.

Visitors can enjoy Terror Behind the Walls in the traditional sense, shuffling along through the exhibits, trying to stay in the back of the pack, screaming loudly. But, those that have a higher tolerance/fear factor can get more involved in the action. For an additional fee, you can take The Hex Challenge. It allows you to enter a secret room at the beginning of each of the six attractions, where you step into the story with increased interactivity. This includes mental and physical challenges to "escape," requiring you to crawl through hidden passageways and fit into tight spaces.

It's just as creepy during the day, because the Penitentiary might actually be haunted.

Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia was once home to some of America's most-wanted criminals, including Al Capone. It stands in partial ruin today, a lost world of crumbling cellblocks and empty guard towers. Its gothic structure and 30-foot high fortress walls are just as intimidating during the day, especially when you consider that it has drawn an eye from ghost hunters.

More than 800 paranormal investigators have examined the site this year alone, and the Penitentiary has been featured on the Travel Channel's "Most Haunted Live," "Ghost Adventures" and "Paranormal Challenge"; Fox Television's "World's Scariest Places"; TLC's "America's Ghost Hunters"; and MTV's "FEAR." During the filming of "Paranormal Challenge," host Zak Bagans called Eastern State Penitentiary "one of the most haunted places in the world.

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At the Penitentiary, truth might be stranger, and scarier, than fiction.

There are two ways to be scared here: By the stories, stature and history of the Penitentiary itself as a former prison, and by the world-class attractions set up for the haunted house.

If you're interested in both, Terror Behind the Walls offers an After Dark VIP tour. It's an hour-long, guided flashlight walking tour of the Penitentiary where you'll hear about riots, escapes and other scandalous incidents throughout Eastern State's history, and you'll get to visit the cellblocks, underground punishment cells and the Operating Room.

Following that tour, you head straight to the front of the Terror Behind the Walls lines and experience all six haunted attractions.

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