The eastern state penitentiary, also known as ESP is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The prison opened in 1825 and became the first in the U.S. to implement solitary confinement, a hotly debated practise during that time. Prisoners lived in gloomy rooms with virtually no human contact, hoods placed over their heads anytime they were moved.
The system was opposed by the people as they preferred a system where prisoners could work together in silence. The solitary confinement system eventually collapsed due to overcrowding. It was then operated as a congregate prison till 1970 when it was officially closed. In the 19th century the prison became one of the largest tourist destinations where the visitors could talk to inmates so that they do not feel isolated. It is believed that due to isolation the prisoners were driven insane. The punishments used were also very harsh. The prisoners were dipped and dunked in water bath and hung on a wall during winters till the ice formed on their skin. The mad chair, which bound the inmates so tightly that circulation was cut off and then there was the ” Hole ” a dark underground where there was no light, no human contact, no exercise and very little food.
The prison is considered to be one the most haunted places. Dozens of paranormal investigators visit every year and report multifarious paranormal activity. The places with most activity include cellblock 12 known for echoing whispers, cellblock 6 and 4 for shadowy figures darting of the walls and ghostly faces. Many people have claimed of seeing a silhouette of a guard. One of the most legendary tales comes from Gary Johnson, who helps maintain the crumbling old locks at the prison. In the early 1990s, he opened an old lock in cellblock 4 when a force gripped him so tightly he was unable to move and he saw tormented faces appear on the walls. The prison is now being run as a museum and haunted attraction. These stories may or may not be true but the chilling past of the prison, inhumane attitude toward the prisoners and the sinister atmosphere do make a solid case.
Driving all around the country is a pain for some while for others it is a pleasure and for those whose livelihoods include driving around the country it can be either of the two. While on long stretch of roads miles away from any sort of civilization, our mind often starts playing trick on us or maybe we really experience something strange or supernatural and as theres nobody with us to attest about this we try to rationalize these things as our mind playing tricks on us or highway hypnosis of some sort or it can be both. While we can’t say for sure which of these things plays a more important part here are some of those creepy experiences from long haul truckers.
r/ibuildcommunities
I’m not a long haul trucker, but was on a kind of long road trip one night. Was about 1-2am. Saw a huge flash out towards the right rear passenger side. Almost like stadium lights turned on then off real quick. So bright and white, it was crazy. Thing is, I was on a major interstate, in the middle of a forest, no cars around me. My first thought was an angel or something. To this day I’m still stumped.
r/aquatermain
A friend of my cousin was a long haul trucker. He was making a delivery across the country and was in a hardly used dirt stretch of a rural route. Since the road wasn’t exactly peachy he had to drive slowly.
He sees another truck slowly approaching from the opposite direction, and he sees the truck is the same as his. Since this isn’t fairly uncommon, he didn’t think much of it but as the other one grew closer he decided to honk in recognition of having the same kind of truck. The other one replies and all is good. That is, until they narrowly and very slowly had to pass one another. He turned to Iook at the driver and he saw himself. Not a reflection, not a similar person but his exact same copy, same clothes, same hat, same red beard, staring at him. They passed each other and that was that.
He told me he’d seen very weird things, but that was the moment he decided to stop being a trucker.
r/flashdman
Myself and 2 friends had to drive from Laredo, TX to Baton Rouge, LA one night in my Ford van. It was about 2am. There is a particularly long and dark section of highway just outside Laredo…no buildings, towns or lights for about 50 miles.
I was in the right lane coming up on a truck and pulled out into the left passing lane. As was slowly overtaking this long truck, my peripheral vision caught a sudden movement of this big truck towards the right shoulder. saw the truck was swerving to avoid hitting a person dressed in all white, white face…who’s arms were folded across the chest and eyes were closed as they walked across the highway. swerved to the left and barely missed this ghostly looking person with my passenger mirror…can still remember seeing that the eyes were closed…that’s how close we came to hitting this person..
r/YorkshireTeapot
I’m a truck driver in the UK. Was driving through rural Scotland one night going down a country lane, all off a sudden start to see flashing lights come through the trees. Lights of all colours flashing through the trees and causing some really freaky looking shadows on the road.
I’m not a believer of aliens or anything but my first thought was ufos. Safe to say I put my foot down and got out of there.
Found out the next day it was rave happening in a field. But at the time it didn’t half scare me.
r/iamverysuccessful
Not exactly at a road, but in the sky. I’m a pilot and usually fly around Florida. This specific night was out at around 11:30pm with a friend, flying down the eastern shoreline, when I suddenly see a medium-sized white light slowly start coming towards us, stop, and then go vertically into the ocean and disappear. Both my friend and saw it and we were completely speechless. Asked the air traffic control if there were any kind of aircraft around us and he told us we were the only aircraft in a 40 mile radius.
r/S_craig
My grandfather was in the Air Force and one night he was driving (back to his base maybe??? can’t quite remember) and he saw a woman standing on the side of the road in a long white dress at about two AM. He circled back to ask if she needed help and she was nowhere to be seen.
He searched for her for about an before giving up, and deciding to leave it alone. When he decided to go on his way he had a strong feeling that he needed to switch lanes (he was on the road alone in the middle of the night so he had no idea why) and just ahead on the road there was a broken down truck with no hazards on that he would have hit, and probably been killed by, if he stayed in the lane he had been in.
To this day he’s convinced the woman was trying to warn him, like an omen or something.
r/Aceofspades161
Creepiest
Driving 40 1-30 through Texas and Arkansas, I would see what looked like animals/faces popping out of the bushes but longer than a glance proved nothing there. They had just paved the highway, and there was hardly any traffic. I was dead tired, it was super dark. bypnosis suppose.
Paranormal
When I went to local driving, my route ran near an Air Reserve Base in Indiana, so you’d see planes and helicopters pretty often. One night, about 2 AM, I was headed to pick up another load when I saw a bright green light in the corner of my windshield. It was too low to be an aircraft. It moved pretty slowly, then darted and lost sight of it behind some trees drove by. Typical saw a UFO” shit, but I still think it was just a helicopter or a jet that saw at the prefect angle that turned after a takeoff. The jet pilots have broken the sound barrier over town a couple times in the past (sonic boom) so a jet flying abnormally isn’t necessarily out of the realm of possibility.
Just batshit carzy
Driving South on I-75 in the winter in Ohio, I witnessed a compact car like a Cobalt or similar get on the on-ramp to merge in to I-75 North and lost control. They went sideways, fell at least 6 feet off the ramp and onto the shoulder of the interstate landing on al 4 wheels, spun 360 degrees, and then proceeded to merge into traffic like it was fucking nothing. Blew. My. Fucking. Mind. The CB radio was going fucking nuts for about 5 minutes. “HOLY SHIT WHO ELSE JUST FUCKING SAW THAT?”, etc.
r/IshvalanWarrior
My dad has several stories from hauling logs in Idaho and driving trucks through Utah and Nevada. My favorite is from actually just in his pickup going through Utah. He said there was a light keeping pace with him out in the desert on a moonless night. It kept pace for a minute before it disappeared and his truck turned off. He stopped and turned it on and pulled off at the next diner. The folks in the diner called it a common occurrence.
The creepiest is when he was hauling logs in ldaho and was coming down from near Coeur d’alene area during a snowy winter night. He was putting on chains before heading down steep grade and said all of the hair stood up on his body. It felt like there was something watching him. Halfway down the switchbacks he saw a large figure standing on a 20 foot tall embankment. As he got closer it jumped down and the shoulders were as tall as the cab. In a single bound it leaped down and then leaped over to the other side of the embankment. At the time he thought it was a Sasquatch, now he says it was probably a “demon” trying to make him crash. He didn’t stop to remove the chains until he was well away from the mountain.
r/Deleted
Woah that actually reminds me of a story. live in Spokane which is about 45 min away from Coeur d’alene. was driving back from my aunts in the dark one night and just hit a massive wall of fog. turn the corner and a whole herd of deer come running down the road toward me. I slow down a lot so dont hit them. Then after another few seconds see a woman standing im the street facing away from me with dirty clothes.
The area was in is known to have meth heads and heroin addicts so cracked the window and called out to her and asked if she needed me to call anyone. As soon as spoke her head whipped around and it looked like she was a burn victim; huge lidless eyes, no eyebrows, voldemort nose, and a mouth that looked like it was melted or sewn up or something. Then she ran off into the woods and I drove a lot faster than should have home.
Mysteries of the world 