Her Philly

A lifestyle blog for young women dining, shopping, playing & living in the city of Philadelphia.

  • About
    • Behind the Blog
    • Meet Emily
    • Disclosure Policy
  • Chit Chat
    • Philly Girl Life
  • Dining
  • Living
    • Moving to Philly
  • Playing
    • Travel
  • Shopping
    • Gift Guides
    • Emily’s Amazon Favorites
  • Shop my Instagram Stories
  • Contact
    • As Seen In
    • Work with Me
    • Get in Touch

October 25, 2016

Getting Spooked at Terror Behind the Walls

Let me just put this out there: I don’t like to be scared. The scariest movie I’ve ever seen is “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” When I’m watching YouTube videos and I can’t skip through an ad preview for a scary film, I scream, mute my computer, and cover my eyes. And I definitely don’t like haunted houses.

When I was in high school, my friends and I organized a (party) bus trip to the big citay to give Eastern State Penitentiary‘s (2027 Fairmount Avenue) Halloween, nighttime attraction, Terror Behind the Walls, a try. It’s been awhile now, but the things I remember include: signing a waiver that I couldn’t touch the zombies, deceased medical patients, etc., holding onto the hands of my group members for dear life, and just being overall terrified.

What is Terror Behind The Walls

Since I’ve lived here and have seen how our city’s biggest Halloween attraction transforms Fairmount during the month of October, I had little interest in returning to get voluntarily scared. And yet this year, as soon as the clock struck October, that’s exactly what I did.

Tonight I’m voluntarily going to get scared at @easternstate. Happy October. ??

— Her Philly (@HerPhilly) October 2, 2016


When my date suggested the haunted house as a v fall activity, I explained my hesitation, but thought, Emily, stop being such a hater, and just go. He bought the tickets online (they range from $19-45 each with the $5 online discount) and we arrived at our specified time. You start by getting in one of many lines. I was really amazed at the Disney-like operation. They shuffle you along from place to place in such an organized manner, you don’t even realize the amount of time you’re waiting (our start-to-end excursion was about 2 hours).

Once you get inside, you have to make a very big decision, so listen up. You can opt for two different experiences: one where the people can touch you and separate you from your group, and one where they can’t (but, as I learned, they’ll get as physically close to you as possible). I, obviously, did not opt for the touching experience (which involves you wearing a glow necklace to show you’re into being faux-assaulted, which you can conveniently take off at any time), but the 75 year old man and woman in front of us (I am not kidding) DID. You can also opt to get a swab of “blood” on your cheek, I’ll let you guess if I let that happen. Here’s a video that shows a little about what those opt-ed in humans choose to endure.

2016 Season of Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary from Terror Behind the Walls on Vimeo.

As you journey into the six different rooms (think: infirmary, machine shop, etc.), be prepared for a lot of trippy, insane, and twisted sights. There are chainsaws. There are clowns. There are men on stilts which REALLY got me. It seems like it goes on forever, and so even though I still had to sign the waiver, gripped my date’s hand for dear life, and was, truthfully, still terrified, I was impressed. If any of this sounds remotely intriguing to you (you have 7 nights of Halloween-time fun left!), give it a try. And then let me know how it goes, please.

Oh and one more thing, and I don’t even care if I’m spoiling this for people because I feel like I’m saving you: be aware and alert no matter where you are on that freakin block. While you’re in line, after you think you’re finished, when you walk outside on your way to get a freakin cocktail to take the edge off . . . people are waiting to scare you at every turn. I’m looking at you, scary man who likes to drop and slide on his knees in front of you on various terrains. Please be aware.

What is Terror Behind the walls like

Related Posts

  • Touring Philadelphia’s Eastern State PenitentiaryTouring Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary
  • things to do philadelphia150 Fun & Fab Things To Do In Philadelphia
  • Philly Girl Fall Life {2016}Philly Girl Fall Life {2016}
  • {Nom Alert} Mexican at La Calaca Feliz{Nom Alert} Mexican at La Calaca Feliz
  • Exploring the Franklin InstituteExploring the Franklin Institute
  • What 3 Men Really Think of My Philly Date IdeasWhat 3 Men Really Think of My Philly Date Ideas

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Posted by admin 2 Comments
Filed Under: playing Tagged: eastern state penitentiary, fairmount, terror behind the walls

NEVER MISS A POST

Hi! I'm Emily, a Philly lady on a quest to discover everything lovely, exciting, affordable, and beautiful about my city.

HER PHILLY, DELIVERED!

Join 329 other subscribers

What’s Hot on Her Philly

Staying at North Wildwood's Shore House: The Swim Club
About Her Philly
Curvy Size 14 Amazon Swimwear Try on
5 Philadelphia Ladies Share What Dating in Philly is like Right Now

Good Day Philadelphia

HP on the Gram

Felt just like old times tonight… a pitcher of @ Felt just like old times tonight… a pitcher of @jose_pistolas margs, chicken tinga nachos, and a 45 minute parking spot search (what are they filming in the city rn?!). 😉 Thankful for good friends & lots of guac.
Ready to see the best thing I couldn’t wait to s Ready to see the best thing I couldn’t wait to share while I was taking an insta break? Swipe! 

We adopted a puppy!!! 🖤 Meet Putter. He was born in January in Mississippi, and brought to PA with his mom & siblings for adoption by @tlcrescuepa. 

I had been applying to rescue a pup for almost a year, so I am so thankful to @tlcrescuepa for giving us a shot. We brought Putter home 4/26/22. 🥰

Putter is fitting into our family so well, and we are loving watching him grow and learn new things. Jim & I are taking him to puppy class every Saturday and we are excited to learn more ourselves! 

I could spam you with a million pictures but I created an Insta for the baby so I don’t go overboard here. 😂 You can follow @putterthepuppy to see more of our small boy. 🥹
The last night of @linnytharp’s Philly bachelore The last night of @linnytharp’s Philly bachelorette was such a joy it deserves its own post. 🚃

I have talked about the @foundingfootsteps tours for years. The owner, Tim, is such an asset to the Philly community, and I was excited to support his company for our ladies night out. 💃🏻

I booked us the Beer & Bands trolley tour. We (the 8 of us and 3 sweet younger gals) got picked up at Betsy Ross house with our BYO @highnoonsunsips and singing voices ready. 🎶

The trolley comes equipped with musicians and an amazing driver (shoutout Koser, Nate & Justin!) and takes you on a drive throughout the city, while the musicians play Britney Spears, BSB, & other assorted covers. Though we did make several suggestions to add more Taylor songs into rotation. 😉

The windows are open and we were loudly singing along, so early on, in our drunken happiness, we decided to start waving to people out the window. Once we started getting a few waves back, it became the sole focus of the night, singing and seeing how many waves we could secure (it was a 95% wave-back rate). 

We laughed and sang and just had the most fun tour ever. The tour also stops at a brewery or two (hence that part of the name), we stopped at @victorytaproom_phl on ours, but we were mostly happy to be waving on the trolley. 😂

I can’t recommend @foundingfootsteps for your next girls night out enough. 🖤
Load More... Follow on Instagram
PHLBloggers

Shop my looks

Shop more of my closet on Poshmark

Theme by 17th Avenue · Powered by WordPress & Genesis

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.