Eastern State Penitentiary

If this name, Eastern State Penitentiary sounds familiar it ought to. Known currently for its many appearances on 'paranormal television shows,' Eastern State has a much deeper history than this.

Eastern State opened its doors in Philadelphia back in 1829. Andrew Jackson was president. Times were changing when it came to how people were being incarcerated. Though no mention of the Quaker's is named in this article, I do believe it was their idea as for the concept of this 'new prison system.'

This prison was revolutionary as being new in its approach to 'reforming' those who ended up behind its castle looking appearance and massive walls. I've seen a similar prison in Joliet, Illinois, Statesville Penitentiary. It's now been left largely unused, though I think it still does function so some lesser degree. Those wall! As kid I will never forget seeing those massive walls! And the solid 'rock material' used in the creation of those walls. It was like a fortress, and had to have been one scary place to anyone walking through those gates.

Up until Eastern State was conceptualized, most prisons were known to be places of over-crowding, violence, and many (even while waiting sentencing, no 'county jails apparently') awaiting 'sentencing' never made it through that period of time. So a new system was created, one which was focused on 'redemption,' hence the name 'penitentiary' or place of 'penance.'

Though this system was designed to make people 'think' about what 'sins' (some believed crimes were sins), were committed, and how persons incarcerated could spend their time in a more productive manner. At least this was the theory. In fact, many prisoner's went 'insane!'

While many were going insane, this quote from the article shows the type of lifestyle these inmates lived under, versus other prison where crime was rampant, and basic necessities were scarce.

Compared to other facilities, Eastern State was a technological marvel and, at a cost of $800,000, one of the most expensive building projects of its day. At a time when President Andrew Jackson was still using a chamber pot, prisoners in Eastern State had their own private toilets. Inmates were served three hearty meals a day (usually boneless beef, pork, or soup and unlimited potatoes) and had their own private exercise areas. The cells each had skylights so that the divine wisdom of God might shine down upon those inside. In essence, Eastern State was a paradise compared to other prisons of the time. But despite all its material comforts, this “paradise” drove men mad.

As this quote shows, prisoners had their own 'private toilets,' while the president, Andrew Jackson was using a 'chamber pot!' Also, it was not long after the building of Eastern State when there was the 'great potato famine' in Ireland which caused many Irish to flee to America for if nothing more, 'food.' Yet despite all these amenities for prisoners held in Eastern State, many still went insane.

British writer (one of my favorites) Charles Dickens visited the prison in 1842, and he wrote,

 “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 apparently is was the 'solitude' that drove men crazy. There may have been women, and even children there too. The article doesn't say. But things were much different back in those times, so it wouldn't surprise me. And for Charles Dickens to have made such a comment, this place must have been really bad. Anyone familiar with Dickens' writings knows he wrote a lot about the plight of the poor in England during his time. Also writing about 'child labor laws,' the lack thereof which I believe helped to actually bring change. Dickens was definitely a 'reformer,' and a man ahead of his time.

While Eastern State shut down in the early 1970's, its legacy continues, as does the 'spirits' of those once confined behind those iconic fortified walls that as many other prisons of the period gave the prison an appearance of more of a fortress than a prison. Today, after having been closed down and almost demolished, Eastern State has been preserved. However, the idea of 'solitude' is now reserved for those in prisons today who 'break the rules,' and end up in 'the hole.' The movie Alcatraz and many others have brought quite a lot of attention to the concept of serving time in 'solitude.' And I can see how it could cause a person to go insane. So yes I would agree with Charles Dickens' overall assessment of his visit to Eastern State.

As it stands today, most people will know this place a being the 'creepy haunted place' you've seen on any number of paranormal ghost hunting shows. This facility is considered one of the 'scariest places' in the world of the paranormal. And I'm sure there is good reason for this. The walls themselves would be good conduits for 'holding energy' which has built up over all these years. While some may be skeptical of 'ghosts,' I always recall the saying, 'there are no atheists in a haunted place.'

Paranormal: A Personal Account

Paranormal: A Personal Account

Paranormal[IT1] 

                             Written by “Budo Master.” All rights reserved.

We hear the word, “paranormal” quite a lot these days. With all the popular ghost hunting television programs to view on any given channel, or evening, this term has become a bigger part of our vocabulary. But just how many are even aware (know) just what the definition to this word is? While most ‘ghost shows,’ don’t seem to delve into the meaning, we need to, or I should say ‘understand’ what it is that we are truly watching.

While the definition of paranormal can vary, for the purposes of this piece I’m going to keep the focus on what is most relevant to the people who watch these various paranormal ghost shows, which I might add, are growing by leaps and bounds, with even an entire cable channel dedicated to running these types of shows. In America, I speak of the channel called, Destination America.

                                            Infamous 'Ghost Image' UK

But, just what is the ‘definition’ to begin with? Let’s begin there. Here’s just one definition, among many. Here is one example:

Paranormal events are phenomena described in popular culture, folklore, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described to lie beyond normal experience or scientific explanation.^{[1][2][3][4] 1[i]}

While the ‘scientific aspect” of the paranormal can be rather dull, unless you’re into science, most I would imagine are not, and solely interested from the ‘thrill’ perspective. This is the perspective I aim to achieve in this post (as I’m not big into science myself). Don’t get me wrong, science does have its place in most topics, but for our purposes here, I will refrain from going there.

Though I was very young at the time, to this day I recall two ‘key’ events that have forever changed my life, and made the pursuit of learning about the paranormal, something that will be a life-long endeavor. The first of my two ‘encounters,’ was that of having seen my first “shadow creature.” And while you’ll hear the term ‘shadow man’ for the most part, they do appear as “creatures” as well. I know, I saw one. And I’ll never forget it

My second incident, while being a bit harder to word, was equally, if not more frightening. This involved my little sister, who at the time must have been perhaps 2 years of age. I was coming down the hallway, and happened to see her in her room, sitting on the floor- with both hand ‘raised’ as though she was about to be ‘picked up.’ I figured my mother must have been just outside my field of view and approached her room. That was when to my horror, not only was my mother ‘not there,’ no one ‘visible’ for that matter was either! Of course, I immediately screamed for my mother. I was only about 6 years old.

And that was only the beginning for me! Since after having lived in that first haunted house, which (again) was ‘very active,’ for whatever reason, that set the tone for what has played itself out within my life, and even to those around me, in some cases. We are all ‘intuitive’ to some extent or another, however in my case, I am what the ‘secular world’ would call a ‘Sensitive,’ meaning I sense and in cases know things (ahead of time). I can also ‘read people’ very well, which I’ve always said, “it’s a blessing and a curse,” until you learn to control this aspect of being a Sensitive. Please don’t misunderstand when I use the term ‘curse,’ as I only use that term to emphasize the heavy load it can be- at times.

Also, since having move out of that original haunted house, I have had no fewer than ‘50’ dreams about either being back in the house, or even moving back into that house! Due to how scary some of the dreams are even now, that may be why I rarely (if ever) mention those dreams. Thankfully, I’ve not had one for several years now. But over several years, it was rather periodic.

So, I think it why it is that I have had such a keen interest into the field of the paranormal, and this explains why I’ve been so interested in paranormal television shows, and basically all things paranormal. Though I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention also the ‘dangers’ of the paranormal. This is one thing I wish television shows would make it known more frequently than they do, if they even bother to mention it all.

Not all hauntings are ‘friendly,’ such as Caspar the friendly ghost hauntings! There is also a ‘dark side’ to the paranormal. That is a side you had best avoid, at all costs because it can literally ruin your life. I have run across such ‘entities,’ and by that, I mean ‘spirits’ who have never lived, nor walked the face of this world, at least in terms of having ever been conceived of as most of us are. These are creatures who long to ‘inhabit’ a person in their quest to

Ouija boards, though highly controversial are one of the biggest causes of opening ‘portals’ you’ll wish you’d never had opened. While Hollywood and others have made some movies using this motif, far too many also do the opposite, and make it appear as though there aren’t any possible ‘dangers’ to playing around with these Ouija boards. One of the best examples of contextualizing this simply, is the analogy of someone knocking at your front door to your home. You wouldn’t just open the door to ‘anyone,’ right? Yet that is exactly what many are doing whether they’re using a Ouija board, or various elements to be had in the paranormal field. Always use your head when attempting to ‘make contact,’ with someone (or something) you may know little of.

I’ve had many more examples of paranormal experiences I could have shared here, but that was not the main purpose of this piece. And while I happen to be currently a Bible college student, I do not find it a ‘contradiction’ (as many naïve persons would) to be interested in the paranormal, as Jesus Christ Himself dealt with the issue, as did His disciples, and various other biblical individuals had supernatural encounters. It is a part of life, and I would suppose this may lead to the ‘biggest question’ of them all. Is there ‘life after death?’

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[i] A paranormal phenomenon is different from hypothetical concepts such as dark matter and dark energy. Unlike paranormal phenomena, these hypothetical concepts are based on empirical observations and experimental data gained through the scientific method.^[5][i]

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