The Ohio State Reformatory — Attraction in Mansfield

In the sleepy, rust belt town of Mansfield, there's this castle-like structure that demands respect. I had seen the Reformatory featured on several ghost hunting and paranormal shows and when I was planning my trip to Columbus, I made sure to figure in a trip to the Ohio State Reformatory as well. When you round the corner and the hill approaching the prison, the indomitable romanesque facade takes your breath away. We spent about three hours exploring and taking a ton of pictures but a few moments stood out to me more than others, I'll get into them at the end of the review, I know not everyone believes in the paranormal so I'll talk about the history and Hollywood first. Because of the Halloween Haunt "Blood Prison" limited our access slightly, our admission was discounted. We paid $19 per adult and I believe that was fair. There were several rooms preserved from the filming of Shawshank Redemption, which really does seem to be everyone's favorite movie. There were props and little Easter eggs for fans of the film and the novella. Because of the limited access, we were also able to view the electric chair from the prison in Columbus. It's my understanding that this is usually a special feature and it's not normally on display for the self-guised tours. Seeing "Old Sparky" was exhilarating, and they also had the death hood, the sponge and electrodes and two switchboards on display. We did not do the enhanced audio guide with the wands, which I somewhat regret because some of the things I experienced I would only receive context for after the fact. The Reformatory was built as a way to rehabilitate young offenders and prepare them for incorporation back into society. Turn of the century criminal justice and penal practices were harsh, and the prison had a reputation for brutality but the real dark history came when violent offenders were placed into the prison's population due to shifting budgets and public attitudes, and over 200 people would meet their ends in the prison during the almost 100 years of operation. The East cell block is the tallest freestanding cell block in the world. They ask that you do not do ghost hunting activities during the non-ghost hunting tours, tripods and monopods were not allowed. I would not say this historic building is very handicap accessible. I understand that the reconstruction work is ongoing, and this may change in the future. I know they had elevators but some of the rooms were not easily accessible and I do not think a wheelchair bound person could explore the cell block very easily. My paranormal experience here was unlike any other, and that's saying a lot. I've been to a lot of supposedly haunted places, but this one was by far the most active and oppressive. There was a room on the third floor that gave me the absolute creeps, I later found out that the room was originally the Warden's living area and that his wife met her doom in that very room. The other part of the prison that struck me with sheer dread was the sixth conveyance of the cell block. The energy there is so heavy and so dark, and the drop off on one side, the cells on the other, creates a very claustrophobic experience. I absolutely plan on returning outside Halloween to do the full tour and perhaps a ghost tour as well. The gift shop had a great selection of ecclected souvenirs, catering to the history, the filmmaking and the paranormal. I would highly recommend a visit to anyone interested in history,...

Had a blast. A little expensive I think I guess. But you are there overnight and just walking around exploring. Highly recommend. If you do do a overnight they do have kind of like a dining room area. They could sit and relax. Make yourself a cup of coffee or get a bottle of water. Those are free. Those options they do have vending machines but I think they're not reliable if you can't get your items out LOL. There's elevators if you need help going up and down the floors. Bathrooms outside and inside. I think I have to go back again. I'm sure I didn't see every single thing. Did I see ghosts? No but I did have a good time. Just walk around in the dark with the flashlight check in the place out. There's a free tour, just you going there. Check it out. I don't know if there's a time limit for that. Then you pay for Tor and that's like an hour or so and if you do a overnight that's extra money for that and you could have. I'm sure snacks or whatever you could go out to your car anytime you want. You paid to stay there so it's your choice to go to your car as many times you need to. Go outside for a smoke break as many times. You just can't leave the premise and you can't really because you have to give them your ID card and you do have to sign a waiver for safety measures but you're there till 7:00 till 3:00 in the morning if you do a all nighter. So pretty fun. You might make friends theirs a lot of people doing it throughout the night and you might bump in in some people a couple times a night. But always be respectful if somebody is in a room investigating. There is no smoking, drugs or vaping inside the building. You could do all that outside of the building. No making out the building. If so, they claim that. If they see you through the cameras they will have a bucket of popcorn watching LOL. There is a cafe if you want to grab a drink or a snack. I believe that's before the overnight visit starts. And there's a small little shop that you could buy shirts and other clothing. Souvenirs of other movies that was used for location. But totally recommend. I heard they do Halloween there so I have to...

This is a nice historic prison. I went here and was satisfied with my experience. I parked in the parking lot in front of the reformatory and walked in through the front door to the admissions desk inside. I bought my ticket and was given an audio device that tells you information because the reformatory has a self guided tour. I walked past the admissions desk and into a room which had an exhibit about executions and electric chairs. After that I went up to the second floor of the reformatory, which had a room which was the office of the manager of reformatory and some empty rooms. I walked past those rooms and went to the chapel room, which is where prisoners used to pray. The room was old and had some paint peeling off the walls, but other than that it was good. I then walked out of the chapel room and went to the prison cells, which were near the room. There were four or five levels of prison cells, and a sidewalk that went along the doors of each cell on each level. On one side of the sidewalk was the prison cell’s door and the other side was metal bars, protecting you from falling into the common area below. I walked on my all of the levels of the cells and stopped at the room that used to be the prison hospital along the way. It was a large, empty room that didn’t have anything in it. However, it had a window where you could see the Richland Correctional Institute, the current jail in use. Next to the window was a sign that said you weren’t allowed to take pictures of the current jail. After I went in the hospital room I walked through the rest of the prison cells to the bottom floor. Each prison cell had a toilet and bunk bed in it. Once I got to the bottom floor, I walked across the common area to the gift shop, which had some t-shirts and general merchandise for sale. After I looked through the gift shop, I left the prison, satisfied with my experience. I gave this historic prison five stars because it’s...