Entertainment vs. Historical Accuracy

The Eastern State Penitentiary has been a main topic of interest all over Philadelphia and the world. After attending the "Haunted Histories' talk I was extremely interested in seeing the penitentiary in all its abandoned glory. The first thing I noticed aesthetically speaking is the gargoyles which immediately helped the ominous atmosphere of Eastern State. Then I found out something interesting....they weren't REAL. They were apart of the Haunted attraction that the penitentiary extended past Halloween. That was a bit annoying because any uninformed passerby would probably think that they were a part of the architecture. The tour itself was really informative thanks to an engaging and funny tour guide. Although, I could tell he was sizing us up at the beginning to see what KIND of tour we would be interested in. Basically that means the tours Eastern State gives based on the audience that attends. Our tour guide knew that were thinking critically about Eastern State so he gave us a tour that pointed out criticisms and failures of Eastern State's prison system and the prison system that the United States still has today. While we were outside waiting for our tour, there was an older group of visitors and I wonder what kind of tour they got, did their tour guide glaze over Eastern State's and the United States prison failures and instead just marvel at the architectural wonders at Eastern? (anecdotally: At most of the museums we have been, I've noticed the dichotomy of old ideas vs. new ideas. It is apparent that some people want to take museums to another level and other people would like to imagine as the stable place to gain knowledge. This, in my opinion, is having a negative effect on the progress of the public history field because society is changing and it is important to re-imagine museums so they appeal to a newer society.) Anyway, Eastern State does a very good job of KNOWING its history and the fact that, "Terror Behind the Walls" is helping with that is good and productive endeavor. And it is apparent to even to the average visitor that Eastern is trying to preserve the historical meaning of Eastern. Also, Eastern State challenges its visitors to think critically about prison systems and to look at whether or not things have gotten worse or better.