These Are The Creepiest, Most Haunted Places In PA

PENNSYLVANIA — Haunted houses around the neighborhood are great Halloween fun for impressionable children, but Pennsylvania residents seeking an authentic scare might want to check out Eastern State Penitentiary.

That’s according to Thrillist, a travel and entertainment media outlet that recently released its list of the 50 (one for each state) most haunted, scariest places in America.

A handful of other media outlets have also compiled a list of creepy, haunted places in Pennsylvania, showing there’s no shortage of places to get the daylights scared out of you.

Of the Eastern State Penitentiary, the Thrillist editors said that this old prison in Philadelphia "became a real house of horrors" for the people locked up there, as the prison was the test location for a number of techniques to "reform" inmates.

"Reports of shadowy figures, cackling voices, and ghostly guards on patrol have given this joint a reputation as one of the most haunted places in Pennsylvania," Thrillist wrote. "And with the mix of wicked pseudoscience, gigantic brutal architecture, and infamous inmates like Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton, it also serves as a perfect staging ground for nighttime haunted tours."

Business Insider also names the penitentiary as the most haunted in Pennsylvania, and goes into a little more detail on one of the methods used to oversee inmates:

"Up until overcrowding became a problem in 1913, prisoners were kept in complete solitude at all times," the site said. "Even when prisoners left their cell, a guard would cover their heads so they couldn't see and no one could see them."

In its own write-up of why Eastern State Penitentiary is the most haunted place in the Keystone State. HGTV notes that many of the methods designed to "reform" the inmates were so harsh that they actually "drove many of them insane."

"Residents were kept in solitary confinement, strapped tightly to chairs for days at a time and forced to wear heavy masks that prohibited communication with one another," the HGTV list states. "Today, many are still said to haunt the grounds."

Finally, Forbes put together a list that includes top haunted houses across the U.S., with Baker Mansion in Altoona named as the spookiest structure in Pennsylvania.

The stately home "still echoes the heartbreak of Anna, the lovelorn daughter of Elias Baker," Forbes wrote. "While the mansion today educates many as a museum, Anna’s spirit is believed to haunt her room, especially around a showcased wedding dress that eerily moves within its sealed case."