Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site is an immersive experience featuring five thrilling haunted houses, plus historic tours, themed bars and lounges, live performances, and more, all within the walls of a historic 10-acre prison site. Hollywood-quality sets, props, and special FX makeup, custom soundtracks, hundreds of talented performers per night, and a one-of-a-kind location come together each fall to create a Halloween festival of epic proportions.
Our History
Halloween Nights was born out of a critical need to preserve a National Historic Landmark. Eastern State Penitentiary originally opened in 1829 as the world’s first penitentiary—that is, a prison designed to inspire “penitence”—and closed in 1971, abandoned and left to the elements for more than 20 years. By the early 1990s, the building faced potential demolition. To raise funds for stabilization and vital preservation projects, we launched a modest Halloween attraction in 1991. Over the last three decades, that initial fundraiser evolved into Terror Behind the Walls, and has since completely transformed into today’s Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary, a massive, festival-style event that draws visitors from around the world and has become synonymous with Halloween in Philadelphia.
Our Purpose
100% of all proceeds from Halloween Nights continue to go directly back to our nonprofit organization. Every ticket purchased directly funds the historic preservation of this National Historic Landmark, national education initiatives, and cutting-edge workforce development programs like our Returning Citizens Fellowship and Preservation Trades Center.
Many of the food and drink vendors and other partners at Halloween Nights share our commitment to fair chance hiring, providing living-wage employment for people with lived experience of incarceration.
Halloween Nights remains one of the premier Halloween attractions in America, all while planting the seeds for deeper conversations about the criminal justice system for tens of thousands of people every fall.