It’s always exciting when we prepare for another season of Terror Behind the Walls (TBTW), our annual haunted attraction and fundraiser. But when we began planning for TBTW 2011 last fall (yes, it really takes more than a year to plan the event), I was especially excited. 2011 marks the 20th season that Eastern State Penitentiary has held a Halloween event.
The first Halloween fundraiser at Eastern State took place in 1991. That first year, the event was held on Halloween night only, and tickets were only available as part of a dinner package through neighborhood restaurants. The event consisted of actors telling ghost stories in the abandoned prison. Just a few hundred people attended that first year, but it was clear that the event had had a significant impact.
Most people don’t realize that our Halloween fundraiser actually predates our daytime tour program. Eastern State Penitentiary didn’t open for historic tours on a daily basis until 1994. Even then, visitors were required to wear hard hats and sign liability waivers, but more than 10,000 visitors attended that first year.
Twenty years later, our Halloween event has grown to become one of the largest and most sophisticated haunted attractions in the country. And, while a lot has changed during the past two decades, one thing has always remained the same – the reason we hold a Halloween event in the first place. The first Halloween event was held to raise funds to open the penitentiary for daytime historic tours. Today, Terror Behind the Walls is the single largest source of revenue for the historic site. The mission of our organization is something we never forget.
As part of the planning for our 20th Anniversary, we tracked down every logo that was used for the event during the past two decades and created a collage that will be used on limited edition merchandise. If you look closely, you can get a sneak peek of the logos for the two brand new attractions we will be launching this season – the Gauntlet and Break Out. We’re also planning lots of other surprises throughout the show, special promotions and contests, a reunion for all TBTW employees past and present, and will concluding the season with a special 20th Anniversary Encore Night on Saturday, November 12.
I’m excited about Terror Behind the Walls 2011, are you?
Brett Bertolino
Director of Operations
