If you’re looking for something extra spooky to experience this October, consider touring the Ohio State Reformatory—but be aware that it isn’t for the faint of heart. While the exterior of the building may be hauntingly beautiful, the lonely cells and restless spirits roaming about inside are far from welcoming. If exploring haunted places is your thing, this is the one place in Ohio that has to go on your haunted bucket list.
Formerly known as the Mansfield Reformatory, this historic prison first opened in 1886 and is nearly 130-years-old.
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The facility officially closed in 1990. And despite its disturbing history, four major motion pictures were filmed at the reformatory, the most famous being the “The Shawshank Redemption” in 1993.
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Today, visitors can explore the reformatory via formal tours, ghost hunts and The Haunted Prison Experience.
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This year, Paranormal Penitentiary: Monster Lockdown will take place at the Ohio State Reformatory on Thursdays through Sundays, from September 23 - October 30.
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Public ghosts hunts will also take place this November. But before you deicide you want to tour or investigate this place, you should know a thing or two about its dark past.
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The reformatory is home to the state’s most violent ghosts. Spirits of rioting inmates who often fought each other to the death in overcrowded isolation cells are said to haunt the halls and cells of this former prison.
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No one could have anticipated the dark history to follow the facility, which was not even initially intended to function as a prison. Overtime, however, the reformatory officially transitioned into a high security prison—and with that transition brought more violent prisoners.
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Walking through the halls of cells, many visitors can almost feel the frustration, rage and despair of former prisoners.
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The most infamous tale of the prison involves “the hole,” a small cell in which prisoners were held for three days when they were being punished. Several sources have reported that at one time there were two inmates held in “the hole”—and by the end of the three days one did not make it out alive.
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The Ohio State Reformatory is located at 100 Reformatory Rd., Mansfield, OH 44905. Have you ever been here before? What was your experience like?
To learn more about the upcoming Paranormal Penitentiary, click here.
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