For my Public Sacred Spaces Assignment, I chose to visit the Eastern State Penitentiary. This Penitentiary was opened from 1829 through 1971. The cost of admission was fourteen dollars per person. I purchased the tickets at full price although there was a slightly lower price when using a student i.d. (I did forget about purchasing with a student i.d.). Since this was my first time visiting during the day (in a previous year I did attend the Terror Behind the Walls attraction), I was a bit nervous. All of the employees I met upon arriving were very welcoming. My tour guide was very welcoming too, but a bit nervous because she was a new tour guide. Before starting the tour, I had the freedom to walk around and browse the museum gift shop. In my group, there were around twenty people that varied in ages from young children to senior citizens. Multiple tours going on during the same time, this gave …show more content…
I do know that there are programs that do feature the site. My parents told me that they had seen some segments of the Travel Channel series “Mysteries of the Museum” that featured parts of Eastern State Penitentiary. All of the programs I have heard of that mention Eastern State Penitentiary, focused on the Terror Behind the walls event that takes place on specific dates in September, October and November. After searching on Google, it led me to The Eastern State Penitentiary’s Wikipedia site. As I scrolled down I did see that this institution was in numerous shows that dealt with ghosts and being haunted. Since the site is so historical, I wondered if any shows had The Eastern State Penitentiary in them where ever on PBS. I did find an interview clip that featured an employee speaking about the synagogue that was contained within the prison. I feel like The Eastern State Penitentiary could be a part of more televised educational programs because it entails so much historical relevance to the