My first BlogHop! Penance is a story inspired by my trip to Eastern State Penitentiary this summer, a truly awesome place if you get a chance to visit Philadelphia. At the end I’ll include some photos from my visit too.
Be sure to check out the link to the other BlogHop stories included below!
Penance

He hadn’t even wanted to come on this vacation but when you were sixteen you didn’t get much say in family trips. They didn’t even let him drive the rental car. For most of the drive Jeremy was stuck in the backseat waiting for it to be over.
His sister navigated from the passenger seat, badly if anyone bothered to ask him, while his mother looped around the city avoiding one way streets and shifty looking neighborhoods. They weren’t city people, but they were, or at least his Mother and Sherri were, haunted places people. Now they were driving around Philadelphia trying to find Eastern State Penitentiary. ‘Good Halloween fun’ they dubbed it; but he wasn’t convinced. So some people saw shadows, who cared?
… For the rest of the story visit EricaDamon.com
Be sure to check out all the StoryTime BlogHop Participants:
J. Q. Rose Sorry
Elise VanCise Lady In The Woods
Barbara Lund Spooky Space
Angela Wooldridge Quiet Neighbours
Katharina Gerlach Australian Dream
Karen Lynn The Waves at Midnight
Sherri Conway Ants
Elizabeth McCleary Over James Henry Wilcox Dead Body
Canis Lupus The Picture
Peg Fisher All In the Fall, a Fractured Fairytale
Bill Bush Trapped
Benjamin Thomas Autumn Cascade
Crystal Collier Emily’s Ghost
Viola Fury 911
Juneta Key All Hallow’s Eve
C. Lee McKenzie Beautiful
Wow, cool place. And it’s a wonderful story too. Well done.
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Thanks Cat, it was an awesome trip for sure. As soon as I got in there I knew there was a story in it’s future.
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Not a place I’d want to visit. Very spooky, indeed.
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It was spooky, even in the middle of summer when we were there!
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Lovely story; eery, and with the play on words so well done too. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks Viola. I cant wait to get a chacne to read everyone else’s!
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Nice place to visit during Halloween. And you don’t even need the costume!
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I would love to go back during the halloween season or to do a real ghost hunt, we did get a storm rolling through when we were there so that did add to the atmosphere.
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Great concept! And it’s not only a punitive prison, but also a bit compassionate, considering the length of his stay. 🙂
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thanks, I’ve found teenage boys don’t usually need much, just a good scare to kick them into gear haha.
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Oo, great story. I loved the ending. Very clever and yet satisfying. Great pics too.
Juneta @ Writer’s Gambit
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thanks! I must have taken 500 photos just spending the afternoon there. Such a cool place.
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Great story – very atmospheric, love the pics too 🙂
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thank you 🙂
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Ooh, I love Eastern State Penitentiary. Does that make me weird? Really nice pictures, and a great story. I’d read more, if you wound up extending his stay.
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Thanks, not wierd at all! It was an amazing place and we plan vacations around that kind of place! Trans-Allegheny in West Virgina is really cool too.
I did consider playing with tine a bit making his stay feel longer so that may be in the future if I ditxh the lenght limits.
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Cool. I love creepy places…in literature and loved seeing the pictures & feeling the ambience of the place. Thanks for bringing me along.
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You’re welcome, I’m hoping to get some stories done for some other creepy places Ive visited. Its a fun way to share the experience.
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Excellently creepy! I’m sure next time he’ll remember to mind the signs!
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Thanks Elizabeth 🙂
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