Hello,
friends! I had a stellar tingle travel
up my spine as I stood at the outside perimeter fence of the Ohio State Reformatory, the
filming location for ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ some scenes from ‘Air Force
One’ and ‘Tango and Cash,’ and of
course the boys from TAPS on ‘Ghost Hunters.’
This structure just can’t be captured in all its formidable beauty in
pictures. It was one of the most
contradictory pieces of architecture I’ve ever seen; beautiful but barbaric, grim
to the point of menacing but luring me in.
It was closed to tours (we missed the tour season by four days, aaarrrgghh) and yet one worker stopped at the front gate,
radioing in to a guard to let him pass through; the gate opened and it was all
I could do not to hop, skip and jump in behind him, camera and sis Deb in
tow. The only thing that kept me planted
in my spot was wondering how we’d ever get OUT.
The
stone walls and iron bars are obviously still here, but so are 215 of the 154,000 who
passed through OSR in its 94 years as a prison. Some sent to Mansfield have never
left, resting (or not) in the graveyard just outside the fence. There are numbered markers there, laid out row
after row. No names. Most died from diseases like tuberculosis or
influenza, but some perished from unnatural causes . . . from violence, which
was all-too-common inside this prison. And the worst of it occurred well away from
the main cell block, which is six stories high and still remains intact to this
day. Apparently because there were so
many witnesses in the cell blocks, the worst violence took place in their
solitary confinement area deep underground, also known as ‘the hole.’ Away from prying eyes. At least
one inmate somehow hung himself deep in the bowels of the hole, another set
himself on fire, and two men who were confined together in a single cell in the
hole were kept together too long. Only
one came out alive, stuffing the other prisoner’s body beneath a bunk.
Since
its closure, many swear that the spirits of tortured inmates who died in the
prison fill the halls, unable to escape the prison's bars.
Even now, when those halls are empty and mostly in ruin, the
overwhelming consensus is that something still walks here, restless and enraged. Maybe it’s the spirits of those from the hole
or the cells, but just maybe it’s Warden Glattke or his wife Helen.
The
paranormal activity in the administration wing where Warden Glattke and his
wife Helen resided is well documented. Helen, while supposedly reaching for something in a closet, knocked a gun off the shelf close by and it
hit the floor, causing it to fire a bullet into her chest. How convenient. She died at Mansfield General Hospital from
her injuries. Rumors were aplenty that
Warden Glattke actually killed his wife, but there was never enough proof to
substantiate it. Ten years later Glattke
suffered a heart attack and died at the same hospital where Helen died. Former
employees attest that their bodies may have died in the hospital, but their spirits are still around the prison.
Today the reformatory is being slowly and meticulously restored. A lot of work is going on there to keep this monumental structure intact for future generations to experience. The Mansfield Reformatory Organization is working diligently to prevent any future deterioration, and they have plenty more information on the prison's history if you're interested.
BTW, if you feel particularly brave and are of a mind for travel in the next month, the last few days before Halloween they will reopen for 'ghost tours' - the mother of all haunted houses! They are busy recruiting right now for ghouls and prop/make-up/costume help. I would SO volunteer for this if I were going to be in the area! But to go through the tour? I'm afraid my ticker wouldn't stand it! Later, friends!
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