Ghost Cats of Eastern State Penn.

As we said goodbye to 2011, we also said goodbye to one of Eastern State's most beloved artist installations. Linda Brenner's "Ghost Cats" were created in 2005 and became one of ESP's longest-running installations.

They were meant to represent the colony of feral cats that inhabited Eastern State in its period of abandonment from 1971-1991. A city worker named Dan McCloud was assigned to watch over the site, which had mainly become a storage facility for the city of Philadelphia. He took it upon himself to watch over the cats that had made ESP their home.

Dan McCloud fed the cats a few times a week for the duration of his time here. When Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Inc. took over the management of the prison complex, the cats were all spayed and neutered and eventually all passed on. Linda Brenner's installation, entitled "Ghost Cats," was a tribute to the cats and to the man who so graciously took care of them.

We will miss having the ghost cats around the site. But, they were designed to fade away over time, and now that time has come. We look forward to this 2012 season and to all of the new things on site - four new artist installations, four new Hands-On History tours, and lots of special events.