Terror Behind the Walls - Philadelphia's Fairmount Neighborhood

Get ready for a night of prison-themed mayhem at Eastern State Penitentiary, the 11-acre gothic prison compound that has loomed over Philly's Fairmount neighborhood like an embattled castle for over 170 years. Every year, for the entire month of October and part of September, the crumbling interior of the world's first penitentiary is transformed into a wildly original haunted attraction.

The best, and arguably scariest, thing about "Terror Behind the Walls," is its unique setting. Even without the haunted attractions, the decaying architecture of Eastern State Penitentiary is imposing. When the lights go down and gunfire begins to echo in the background, the halls become infested with deranged prisoners, bloodthirsty guards and any horrible thing your mind can dream up. The overall effect of a prison on the edge of insanity is all too convincing.

"Terror Behind the Walls" is designed to give you the ultimate nightmare-ish prison experience. During your stay at Eastern State Penitentiary, you'll visit the prisoner intake, the unimaginably cramped cellblocks, the laundry room, the blood-splattered kitchen, and, of course, the morgue.

Unfortunately, as with most haunted houses, the majority of the scares you'll experience locked behind the hulking fortifications of the prison boil down to someone in a costume startling you when you least suspect it. While it's an effective method, it's definitely not as terrifying or imaginative as you'd expect from a haunted attraction with such high production values.

To its credit, "Terror Behind the Walls" does employ tried and true techniques in new and creative ways for some surprisingly unique sights and scares, including a series of rooms splattered with incandescent paint that require 3D glasses to properly focus on the terrible horrors within.