PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Eastern State Penitentiary’s 31st Halloween season kicks off Friday night with its Halloween Nights haunted house festival.
All 10 acres of the former penitentiary are being utilized. Of the five haunted houses, there are two new ones.
Big Top Terror puts some creepy clowns in the spotlight, while Nightmares recreates the things bad dreams are made of. The ghouls of the other houses — Machine Shop, Delirium and The Crypt — are back again for another year.
Also returning this year, visitors get to decide if they want to turn up the fear factor.
“If you decide to take that glow stick and wear it, that gives our monsters permission to grab you, to separate you from your group, and even send you down hidden passageways,” explained Brett Bertolino, Eastern State vice president and director of operations.
“We weren’t able to do that last year because of the pandemic, but we are really excited to bring it back this year. We know our fans love it.”
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The Fair Chance Beer Garden, featuring brews from Triple Bottom Brewing Co., is back too. New this year is the Bizarre Bar, a carnival-themed bar with food, drinks and live entertainment.
The Halloween Nights event helps to fund the preservation of Eastern State Penitentiary, which is a national historic landmark.
The festival not only supports operations, preservation, exhibits and programs but also offers opportunities for others.
“We also partner with fair-chance businesses, so we are looking to use this event to lift up small businesses in Philadelphia that share our values, that are fair-chance employers, that hire returning citizens or people who were previously experiencing homelessness,” Bertolino said. “Halloween Nights is not only a great, fun Halloween festival, it’s all for a great cause as well.”
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The festival runs on select nights through Nov. 12.