First Friday Interview: Amy Hollaman of Terror Behind the Walls

It’s no secret that all Halloween festivities in this city are outdone by the Eastern State Penitentiary’s legendary haunted Terror Behind the Walls. At its completion in 1829, Fairmount’s penitentiary was the largest and most expensive public structure to date, and its hub-and-spoke architectural layout served as the inspiration for over 300 prisons worldwide.

With plenty of stories featuring infamous prisoners, solitary confinement and cruel and unusual punishments, Eastern State serves as the perfect backdrop for All Hallows’ Eve. Its popularity has increased so much over time that only half of the visitors to Terror Behind the Walls were local in 2013 – people traveled from 26 countries and all 50 states to experience a night of freight at Eastern State Penitentiary. So what does it take to plan for a Haunted House of this magnitude? Creative Director of Terror Behind the Walls, Amy Hollaman, gives us a peek behind the scenes.

Philly PR Girl: What are your daily tasks and responsibilities as Creative Director? Is the position seasonal, or do you work in this capacity year round?

Amy Hollaman: I am both the Creative Director for Terror Behind the Walls and the Events and Operations Manager for the Historic Site, so I am employed by Eastern State Penitentiary year-round in a full time capacity. As Creative Director, I oversee all preparation, design, production and performance elements of Terror Behind the Walls. This means that I head up our creative team which is comprised of our Special FX Makeup Director, Costume Director, Technical Director and myself focusing on theatrics and interactivity. When I’m not working on Terror Behind the Walls, I produce large-scale events at Eastern State Penitentiary such as the annual Masquerade Dance Party and our hysterical Bastille Day Festival.

PPRG: How long does it take to prepare the penitentiary for Terror Behind the Walls? Where do you get all of the props, dressings and set pieces from?

Amy Hollaman: We have experts in Costume, Makeup, Theatrical and Technical Design that sit down at a table starting in March to dream up new elements of the show or how to enhance existing attractions to make them even more impressive and ultimately, scarier. We narrow our focus each season to make our show the best in the country! We move into the design phase in late Spring and then into production in early summer. By the time we reach August, we are auditioning actors and then we start staff training early September.

We have an advantage over other haunted houses in that we are housed in this massive historic building, Eastern State Penitentiary. Most of the “set dressings” are authentic elements of the buildings architecture. We also buy a few props from haunted house industry vendors and surprisingly enough, we use the resources that other non-profits employ – word of mouth about deals, going to warehouses or old buildings that have shut down and possibly have creepy old objects that we can incorporate into the show. Because of our haunted house being so wildly popular, people often reach out to us to tell us about cool scary things that we might want to use/purchase.

PPRG: Where do you draw inspiration from for the types of monsters, creatures, and scenes featured at Terror?

Amy Hollaman: While the Creative Team draws on multiple forms of inspiration, the undeniable influence is the building. Eastern State’s intimidating look and authenticity pushes us to make things as scary and as real as possible. We light the building to showcase the architectural features but of course, some areas are much darker so that you can’t see the zombies, monsters and other spirits watching you while they wait to pounce. In addition, we are all purveyors of pop-culture, horror and fantasy – so we are inspired by film, theatre, books, television, video games and board games.

PPRG: Tell us about the new Machine Shop!

Amy Hollaman: The Machine Shop is our BRAND NEW attraction for 2014! Located in a part of the building visitors have never wondered before, there lies an old broken down Machine Shop. A group of evildoers have found it and realized that it is perfect for their gruesome plan. They are of one mind, but many bodies. The Machine Shop has been designed to feature the interactive aspect of our show. For the first time in 2013, we gave visitors the chance to opt-in for the true interactive experience. This means that visitors would take a tracking device (a glow necklace) and a bloody “X” on their face to signify that they wanted a more intense experience. This experience could include being grabbed, pulled or taken away from your group to a secret passageway in the building. In the first year, two-thirds of our visitors opted in! They loved the more intense experience. Machine Shop is an intricate attraction that includes more than one route and not only do visitors walk through this horrifying space, but at times they might crawl or slide to their doom!

PPRG: In the past, there has been some controversy across the U.S. over the appropriateness of touching visitors as they go through haunted houses. Are the actors at TBTW allowed to physically spook their guests?

Amy Hollaman: Terror Behind the Walls was the first haunted house of our scale to incorporate the option for visitors to interact with the show. This does include actors touching visitors to both scare them and guide them into secret passageways. Only some of the actors are allowed to touch visitors and they have been trained beforehand to ensure that they never touch a visitor in a way that is harmful. Because we allow every individual to choose whether or not they want the more intense experience, we can personalize their journey through the six attractions. While the actors try very hard to make you think that your life might end at any moment in this massive haunted prison, their ultimate goal is to make sure you leave here laughing after all the screaming you have done inside the walls.

PPRG: What sets Terror Behind the Walls apart from other haunted house attractions locally and nationally?

Amy Hollaman: First of all, the obvious answer is that Terror Behind the Walls has the perfect setting for Halloween – the massive abandoned grounds of Eastern State Penitentiary. Secondly, we are the only haunted house of our scale allowing visitors to chose their own experience – everyone wants to get involved these days! Moreover, we are a haunted house that functions as a fundraiser for this national historic landmark, so all of the proceeds go back into the historic museum. Finally, we are in our 24th season, we have had plenty of time to figure out the art of scaring people. We have it down to a science at this point. There is no better place in the world to celebrate Halloween than Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary.

Terror Behind the Walls is open through November 8th. Tickets range from $13 – $39, and are least expensive when purchased online here.