A Killer or Man’s Best Friend?

I had the chance to investigate Eastern State Penitentiary a few months ago. I couldn’t believe that this medieval looking prison was smack dab in the center of Philadelphia!

Rather than blog about the history of the building  www.easternstate.org or the reports of ghost sightings, I thought it would be fun to write about Pep.

Now, you may ask yourself, what or who is Pep? Well, I’m getting to that.

I found out about Pep as I stood there with my soda in one hand and a souvenir t-shirt in the other, looking for a few books to bring back home, late one night in the gift shop at Eastern State. As I browsed around, I came to a selection of coffee cups with a dog’s photo on them.

I asked the poor soul, waiting patiently for me behind the counter to buy my items, what was the story behind the dog.

He told me that Pep was sentenced to Eastern State Penitentiary. Say what?

Eighty six years ago, on August 12, 1924, this adorable but guilty looking Labrador Retriever was assigned Inmate Number C2559.

His crime? Allegedly, he killed Governor Gifford Pinchot’s wife’s beloved cat (whew, that is a mouthful) and was sentenced to life in prison.

However, the Governor’s version differed. He claimed that Pep was sent to Eastern State to keep the inmates company and to be the prison’s mascot. Nice recover Mr. PR.

Whatever the reasoning, how can you not love this cat murdering dog’s mug shot?!

Supposedly, Pep’s ghost haunts the prison grounds. There have been reports of people hearing a dog howl and the sound of dog tags jingling.

Below are two videos of what can happen during an investigation that most paranormal investigators don’t want you to know.  The first is what happens when you are slap happy because you have had no sleep for the past 48 hours and the second is what happens when an investigator gets scares.

Enjoy!

With much paranormal love,
~Mallie Fox