After years of discussion, our group of 15 brave souls ventured to the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio, on August 18, 2011, for a private overnight ghost hunt. For $75 each, we experienced a 1 1/2-hour guided tour, pizza, refreshments and nearly seven hours of dark, paranormal exploration, which has left us wanting more. The creepy intrigue of the prison that first opened in 1896 is undeniable as soon as you glance upon its ominous, castle-like structure. Hopefully it won’t be long until we make our return visit.
Although we’re anything but professionals, our group descended upon Mansfield with electronic voice recorders, EMF detectors, 35mm and digital cameras and a camcorder, in the hopes of capturing some paranormal evidence. Our tour guide Scott showed us the main areas of the prison, encouraging us to take note of additional areas that we could access that were not part of the tour. His knowledge of the Ohio State Reformatory and its history was impressive, and the information he gave didn’t seem like a boring retread for him, as he was genuinely interested in the prison and all of its happenings. At 10 o’clock we had our pizza and drinks, as we broke up into groups to venture back into the now pitch-black prison.
It didn’t take long to receive our first legitimate scare. My girlfriend and I separated from the rest of the group to explore the Ohio State Reformatory’s West Cell Block. We took our time and slowly meandered from cell to cell, taking pictures and making note of any items that remained in them. On the third or fourth tier, we were investigating in one of the cells when suddenly I heard her become startled and say, “We’ve got to go, we’ve got to go!” The crucifix necklace she was wearing had been grabbed and tugged on by something, or someone, in the prison cell. We were the only two people in the entire West Cell Block at the time this occurred, and we hurriedly made our way back to the central area where the lights remained on and the food and drinks were stored, as she understandably needed a moment. “It took my breath away,” she said, recounting the experience in March 2012, “and I felt a tingling sensation on my chest.” Upon our arrival it was noted that she had clear scratch marks on her chest where the necklace had been grabbed. After hearing of the story and viewing the marks, Scott informed us that a female volunteer recently had her necklace broken from a similar incident in the reformatory.
The rest of our exploration took place with at least one other person joining us. Although I had no experiences that reached the level of my girlfriend’s, there were clearly strange things going on within the decaying interior of the prison. I often found myself walking in an enclosed area of the reformatory, only to feel an inexplicable drop in temperature, which was also noted by those around me. While approaching the stairs to venture down to the basement of the prison’s solitary confinement area, three of us heard a clear scraping or dragging sound coming from the lower level, while nobody (living) was down there. The unexplainable sound repeated itself many times. Although nothing paranormal occurred when we investigated further, a woman, the third member of our party, experienced a negative feeling that left her nauseous and prompted an early exit from solitary confinement.
Other group members had their own unique experiences, including observing a rubber ball moving on command inside of a cell, feeling bursts of air as if someone were to blow on you and seeing a ghostly figure in a digital image. The reformatory didn’t disappoint.
The ghost hunt was a fascinating experience. There are countless areas to explore in the darkness, as you’re not simply limited to the areas where prisoners were typically confined, but also many rooms tucked away in the bowels of the haunted prison, as well as the warden’s quarters, where the classic film, The Shawshank Redemption, was filmed. The overall feeling of being in the Ohio State Reformatory was exhilarating, heavy and foreboding, as your thoughts went from the grand but deteriorating structure, to the prison’s long and sometimes ugly history and last but not least to its current potential ghostly inhabitants. We intend to be back in 2012, to make better use of much of the technology that we only briefly took advantage of the first time around. Even without personally experiencing any direct and irrefutable proof of paranormal activity, I can’t deny what I did feel and hear, nor the experiences of the rest of our group at the Mansfield Reformatory that night.
