Mansfield Reformatory
In 1876, a desire to begin on the Mansfield Reformatory, also known as the Ohio State Reformatory, began. The castle-like building located on sprawling grounds was first envisioned as the intermediate step between the Boys Industrial School and the Ohio Penitentiary. However, the building process did not begin until 1884 and was first inhabited in 1896. But the hauntings? Well, it is said the round had seen horrors long before construction started, as the ground was used as a Union Army training camp.
Before I get deeper into the story, you may recognize this building. The Shawshank Redemption was filmed in this building, 3 years after the last inmates were taken away.
Although it housed only boys in its very beginning, the idea of the intermediate step soon fell away. By the turn of the 20th century, the reformatory had become a full-blown federal prison.
In the 1970s, the building no longer met the modern standards required for correctional facilities. And, in 1990, the last inmates were moved to the newly built Mansfield Correctional Institute leaving the giant building...empty.
I’ve never found empty prisons being haunted to be...surprising. There are surprising hauntings, of course, like The Sallie House (which seems just like any other house from the outside). But a haunting in a prison, hospital, or other large, highly-frequented building infused so often with pain and suffering? Well, that almost seems normal.
No one was ever executed within the walls of Mansfield, death and pain still touched those who lived in its walls. In fact, it is believed (based on records) that roughly 200 inmates died in this prison.
One story, and well-known haunting, is that of Helen Glattke. Helen was the wife of the Warden and, in 1950, she accidentally knocked a loaded gun off a shelf and shot herself in the lung. This is a tragic death, but some claim it was a rumor to cover up darker truths. Some rumors say that she had killed herself, or that Warden Glattke had hired an inmate to kill her and avoid a divorce.
No matter what happened, many have claimed to see Helen in the Warden’s quarters. Some claim to hear a woman raising her voice, seemingly yelling at an unseen person. Others have seen Helen’s full-body apparition or smelled her well-known rose-based perfume, which is usually a hint she is near. Some also claim to have recorded her voice on EVPs.
Another hot spot of activity is ‘The Hole’. The Hole is a well-known term to describe the sad, lonely set of cells located in the isolation part of the prison. The prisoners here may have received time in The Hole as a punishment, others may have been put there to serve their entire sentence and, perhaps, some were even forgotten there. Particularly upsetting, Mansfield’s hole offered no natural light or ways to mark the passing of the days...except for when their meals were delivered. Although this suffering alone might be enough to create a haunting, several incidents occurred that made it especially ripe. A guard, perhaps due to overcrowding, put two prisoners in The Hole together. However, the next morning, only one emerged alive from the cell...the other had been brutally murdered.
Those who enter The Hole today claim to experience cold spots, issues breathing, anxiety, and a pernicious need to leave the space.
Today, tours can be had of the space and it is common for paranormal investigators to rent out the building for a modest sum to spend the night exploring.
Thank you to Jeremy D. for your blogstonishing suggestion!
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