Your 2024 Guide to Halloween Nights at Eastern State Penitentiary

The Experience

By day, Eastern State Penitentiary stands guard over Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood.

But by night … this singular Philly attration  is overrun with more than 200 nightmarish monsters, creepy carneys and more for Halloween Nights — and they’re all waiting for you.

Spooked Psyched, yet?

  — Photo by E. Davis for Eastern State Penitentiary

For the other-worldly Halloween festival, five separate haunted houses and a ton of other spooky attractions await scare seekers. Outrun the literal Sandman and his dark and twisted henchman at Nightmares or race to escape a trippy, 3-D maze of light and color at Delirium.

Catch your breath and a bite at the festival’s pay-as-you-go food and drink spots, like the Fair Chance Beer Garden. Prefer your snacks with a sideshow? Join the carnival acrobats, magicians and performers for drinks at the Bizarre Bar or monster mash with actual boogiemen (and women) at the Pumpkin Plaza.

  — Photo by B. Watts for Eastern State Penitentiary

For real adrenaline junkies, why not take your scare to the next level? Ticketholders can activate an up-close-and-personal Halloween Nights experience by grabbing an optional glow necklace at the gate. (Spoiler: Glow necklace wearers will get grabbed, sent down hidden passages and occasionally separated from their group. No big deal.)

If you’re looking for more treats than tricks, you can skip the haunts entirely with immersive walkthrough experiences, historic tours, campfire s’mores and ghost stories, and plenty of places to shop for your Halloween merch or sweets.

2024 Highlights

Five Haunted Houses

The main attractions at Halloween Nights are the five immersive haunted houses, transforming the prison’s decrepit cell blocks into spectacularly sinister haunts.

Note that the houses (except Delirium) all use strobe lights, fog machines and loud noises, and are not for the faint of heart.

• The Crypt: Enter the misty, macabre lair of ancient vampires looking for a willing — or not-so-willing — sacrifice. The bloodthirsty crypt keepers can smell fear, so keep calm and avoid their traps — or else. (Intensity: 5/5)
• Machine Shop: Gruesome industrial workers challenge your survival instincts in this high-octane haunt. Escape the shop or become part of the hoard. (Intensity: 5/5)

• Nightmares: Wakey, wakey … Mr. Sandman is coming for you in this unsettling dreamscape world inspired by your worst night terrors. (Intensity: 4/5)
• Big Top Terror: Navigate the winding carnival grounds, full of eerie entertainers, special effects and ample scares. The grand finale is killer! (Intensity: 3/5)
• Delirium: This mind-bending 3D haunted house takes you through a psychedelic radioactive labyrinth full of claustrophobic corridors and camouflaged creatures. (Intensity: ?/?)

All attractions at Halloween Nights, including the haunted houses, are optional and can easily be skipped.

  — Photo by E. Davis for Eastern State Penitentiary

New for 2024

Join the Halloween Nights universe yourself with an immersive, penitentiary-wide experience:

• Beyond the Veil: Get inside the minds of the creepy characters haunting the prison’s halls with this interactive theatre-style experience. As you explore the festival grounds, be on the lookout for QR codes that unlock the backstories of key characters you meet along the way and an overarching storyline that connects all of the Halloween attractions.

More Must-See Attractions

As for the less intense but still spooktacular attractions:

• S’mores and Lore serves up classic ghost stories around a campfire
• the Kaleidoscope Hall immersive installation paints a cell block in a stunning rainbow of lights and shifting shapes
• the Hospital Flashlight Tour lets you explore the penitentiary’s abandoned sector (extra tickets required)
• the Voices of Eastern State Highlights Audio Tour (narrated by Steve Buscemi) guides you through the prison’s corridors in only 20 minutes, and
• two museum exhibits — the Big Graph outdoor sculpture and the Prisons Today indoor installation — remain open to the public during the festivities.

  — Photo by B. Watts for Eastern State Penitentiary

Food, Drink & Shopping

With so much spooky fun going on, you’re bound to work up an appetite. The festival has five different themed bars and lounges featuring bites and beverages from local vendors like Bao & Bun Studio, Triple Bottom Brewing and Down North Pizza.

• Pumpkin Plaza: A Halloween-themed bar and dance floor with electrifying dance performances and perfectly Instagrammable haybales, pumpkins and skeletons.
• Bizarre Bar: A carnival-inspired bar featuring magicians, acrobats and balloon artists.
• Bloodline Lounge: A vampire-themed cocktail lounge with stage performances like singing, dancing and talent shows.
• The Fair Chance Beer Garden: A fresh air space on the historic baseball field with food, drink and programming straight from the museum archives.
• The Speakeasy at Al Capone’s Cell: A Prohibition-themed cocktail lounge full of undead entertainment (accessible only with VIP tickets).

Plus, don’t forget the shopping! Pick up spooky desserts and glow-in-the-dark gear at the Tricks and Treats store or grab exclusive merch from the Halloween Tribute and Eastern State Penitentiary Stores.

Tickets & Getting There

Tickets

Halloween Nights is located at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly’s Fairmount neighborhood.

Timed tickets start at $39 — and online purchases guarantee entry to the attraction.

You can upgrade the experience — and the frights — with VIP admission (starting at $59), which gets you:

• express entry to the penitentiary
• two complimentary drink tickets, and
• exclusive access to The Speakeasy at Al Capone’s Cell.

It’s a scary good deal.

For an additional charge, Halloween Nights also offers guided flashlight tours of the penitentiary’s abandoned Hospital Block, where you can learn about the attraction’s medical legacy and explore spooky spaces like the historic Operating Room. Hospital Flashlight Tour tickets are available at the door for $12 with the purchase of general or VIP admission.

Getting There

There are plenty of ways to get to Halloween Nights.

Several SEPTA buses make stops near Eastern State Penitentiary, including Route No. 49 which runs up and down Fairmount Avenue all day.

Additionally, while there is no parking on-site, the Philadelphia Zoo’s parking garage at 3500 W. Girard Avenue has Halloween Nights parking available for $25 ($20 if purchased online in advance). Parking includes a shuttle that loops between the zoo and the penitentiary.

For more information about Halloween Nights at the Eastern State Penitentiary, click the button below.