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"The image of the Historic Ohio State Reformatory is copyrighted. Any photography or video images captured during your visit are for PERSONAL USE ONLY! Any use of this footage without written permission from the Director's office will result in legal action."

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Facts about the OSR:

• The original architect for the design was Levi T. Scofield from Cleveland
• Creation and construction of the entire building was entrusted to F F Schnitzer
• Facility still holds the largest free standing cell block in the world at six tiers high, 12 ranges and 600 cells
• Over 200 people died at the OSR, including a few guards who were killed during escape attempts.
• Restorations are being funded through donations and tour fees
• The facility gained fame when it served as Shawshank State Prison in the 1994 movie The Shawshank Redemption
• At more than 250,000 square feet, it is bigger than Waverly Hills Sanatorium and just under the size of 4-1/2 football fields. (An American football field is 120 yards long by 53 1/3 yards wide.)
• Coordinates: 40°47′07″N 82°30′18″W

• 1834: the prison was opened at a final cost of the original penitentiary was $93,370.50, including 1,113,462 days of inmate labor estimated at $78,428
• 1834 October 28 and 29: 189 prisoners were marched under guard to the partially finished new Ohio Penitentiary.
• 1837: eleven cells were built to house female prisoners
• 1886 November 4: cornerstone laid for an intermediate state prison that would become know as the Ohio State Reformatory.
• 1844: the end of whipping as the major form of discipline
• 1849: an epidemic of Asiatic cholera killed 116 of the 423 prisoners in the penitentiary causing guards to flee the grounds and prisoners to plead for pardons
• 1863: Confederate States (Army) of America General John Hunt Morgan and several of his rebel officers were sentenced to the Ohio Penitentiary as prisoners of war
• 1863 November 25: the rebel soldiers, led by General Morgan, successfully completed their escape under the prison walls
• 1885: legislation passed a bill authorizing all legal executions to take place at the Ohio Penitentiary. Previously, men sentenced to death were executed in the county where their crimes were committed.
• 1885 July 31: the first man executed at the penitentiary by hanging was Valentine Wagner
• 1888 December 25: decision to do away with punishments such as the ducking tub and the bull rings
• 1894: a Dispatch reporter discovered prisoners still being locked in sweat boxes for punishment, leading the newspaper to denounce the state for "a partial return to the dark ages when the stocks and pillory were used for punishment." The ball-and-chain and hummingbird were still in use; and inmates complained about bad food and about political graft that resulted in poor inmates being blindfolded and tortured with water hoses
• 1896: electric chair replaced hangings
• 1885 to 1896: 28 men were legally executed by hanging
• 1897 April 21: Willie Haas had the dubious distinction of being the first man to be electrocuted
• 1908 November 3: first open break by alter Edward Wright, convicted burglar, went over the wall, using a pole and a rope made of bed clothes
• 1930 April 21: a fire broke out at 5:35 p.m., on the topmost tier of a six-deck cell block and 322 of the 5,292 inmates were either burned or suffocated to death. The fire was apparently started by an inmate or inmates bent on escaping
• 1931: established the Ohio Parole Board and established parole procedures which by 1932 had released 2,346 prisoners from the Ohio Penitentiary
• 1948 July: the Reformatory’s farm boss, his wife and daughter were kidnapped and shot to death by two parolees bent on revenge
• 1950 November: Helen Bauer Glattke died of pneumonia three days following an accident where a handgun discharged when she was reaching into a jewelry box in the family's quarters
• 1952 October 31: inmates began a riot after they were served their evening meal
• 1955 April: housed an all-time high of 5,235 prisoners
• 1959 February 10: Superintendent Glattke died following a heart attack suffered in his office
• 1968 June 24: the prison's fire siren shrieked through every building inside the walls. Most of the 2,300 confined inmates started to riot and burn buildings
• 1968 August 20: inmates confined to close security cell blocks, overpowered their guards, took nine of them hostages and rioted
• 1969: Warden Cardwell made arrangements to let some 150 honor dorm inmates from the penitentiary visit the Ohio State Fair in Columbus
• 1972: most prisoners had been removed from the prison with the completion of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility
• 1984: prison closed
• 1995: state sold the Ohio Penitentiary to the City of Columbus
• 1995: the "Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society" was formed
• 1997 March: crews are scheduled to begin tearing down the remaining 15 buildings
• 1997 May 6: Franklin County voters rejected a three-year sales tax increase which would have helped finance a soccer stadium of up to 35,000 seats that was to be built on the current grounds

What else happened in history 1834 when the prison was opened?

• The government of Mexico imprisons Stephen F. Austin in Mexico City
• York, Upper Canada is incorporated as Toronto
• Andrew Jackson is censured by Congress for removing funds from the Second Bank of the United States (the censure is later thrown out when Jackson's party wins a majority)
• Slavery is abolished in the British Empire
• In Philadelphia, Whigs and Democrats stage a gun, stone and brick battle for control of a Moyamensing Township election, resulting in one death, several injuries, and the burning down of a block of buildings
• Much of the ancient structures of the Palace of Westminster in London is burnt down
• Future President Franklin Pierce marries Jane Appleton
• Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime Minister of Britain
• Gottlieb Daimler, William Morris, and Edgar Degas were all born
• William Grenville, Marquis de la Fayette, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Thomas Malthus all died
• The corn planter and the refrigerator were patented
• The "stone-cutters' riot," which happened in August, 1834, was caused by the employment of the State prisoners at Sing Sing to hew marble with which to construct buildings in this city by the contractors for the University building. The mob was dispersed by the Twenty-seventh Regiment

The following information is from the National Register of Historic Places

• Ohio State Reformatory added 1983 - Building - #83002039
• Historic Significance: Event, Architecture/Engineering
• Architect, builder, or engineer: Hancock & Dow, Scofield,Levi
• Architectural Style: Other, Romanesque
• Area of Significance: Social History, Politics/Government, Architecture
• Period of Significance: 1875-1899, 1900-1924, 1925-1949
• Owner: State
• Historic Function: Government
• Historic Sub-function: Correctional Facility
• Current Function:Government
• Current Sub-function: Correctional Facility

Excerpts from prisoner letter to Human Rights Watch

"When I was beaten and raped it was in the shower that was at the old Mansfield prison in Mansfield Ohio. . . . I have been to 4 Ohio prisons and at no time was I ever warned about the danger of sexual assault. No one ever told me of ways to protect myself. And to this day I've never heard of a procedure for reporting rape. This is never talked about . . . . I've basically found that guards and staff of the prisons don't care about your safety . . . . At the old Mansfield prison where my assault took place this type of stuff took place daily. So no I didn't tell anyone about it. To be honest, you are the first person I've told in all these years and that is because you are not part of the prison. I was put on Protective Custody/Suicide Watch because I tried to kill myself several times and because they heard guys threaten to rape me, beat me up." —G.M., Ohio 6/27/97

Films, music and books related to the OSR

• Disembodied voices
• Shadow people
• Strange feelings
• Items moved

This next two photographs were taken on the tier two east cell block, six cells from the far end. There is a dim light that can be seen in the hallway area. What makes these pictures interesting is that all three investigators that were at that location reported at the same time the felt like there were being followed. One investigator turned and took these photographs down the hall. We tried to recreate the photographs but could not.

In another group, they also reported seeing a strange light "There is a weird light at the end of the cell block. I ran down. Nobody was there."

• Three investigators reported that they all had the feeling of being followed at the same time. A strange light was captured in a photo at the same time.
• Investigator claimed to have seen a 'dark figure' dash into a cell.
• Battery drain was reported by three different people
• Several areas were reported to have an 'uneasy feeling.'
• Foot steps were reported being heard in the wardens living area
• Walking down one of the cell blocks I felt a horrible sense of missing someone. I went into the cell to do some EVP work. When I came out I looked at the cell next to me and it was the one with the X.  Nothing showed up on the EVPs
• In the basement we were doing EVP work and demanded that if someone was there to make their presence known. We heard a huge noise in the next room. I ran in there and nobody was there.  We duplicated the sound and it was as if someone really kicked a 5 gallon bucket hard.  "I guess we heard a Ghost Kick the Bucket." (Note that the time from the question to the response was actually about 45 seconds, the clip here has had the time reduced to lower file size)

This photo was taken from the main shower area. While at first look it shows something paranormal we believe it is nothing more than a finger that got in front of the lens. It there is any question, it must be ruled out as evidence.

In the photograph below you will see an orb with a corona. A corona is produced by diffraction of light by small particles. Every point on the illuminated surface is a source of scattered outgoing spherical waves (Huygens-Fresnel Principle). Therefore, we can rule this orb is a piece of dust, pollen or another small particle in the air.

This photo was taken from the chapel area. We are not sure exactly what is is, but with any light reflection that might be on a reflective surface, such as a window in this case, it is best to error of the side of caution and label it as a false positive.

The next image, were sure it's not paranormal but we thought it was good for a laugh. 'Help me please'

This image was taken of the inside of a cell. It could be a voodoo artifact or a prop left over from one of the many movies that have been filmed on location. It does not appear to be old enough to have been in place during the operating time of the prison. You just never know what will turn up on an investigation.

I would caution that if you are serious about doing an investigation you should consider a private investigation. With the popularity of the OSR the events fill fast and have a lot of people.

• Grave Addiction
• Haunting Ghost Stories of Mansfield Reformatory
• National Register of Historic Places
• Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society
• Remarkable Ohio
• Rosemary Guiley

We would also like to applaud the OSR for keeping a 'paranormal journal' of events that take place at there location. It is a journal that they are attempting to track paranormal experiences, time, date and location. This journal may become a valuable piece of educational information in the coming years. It is true that paranormal activity can not be studied in a laboratory but the OSR is about as close to a lab as we may ever get. Thank you OSR for taking the time to compile this information and we hope by listing our experences here we might be able to further that research.

Please stop at our guest book so we know you stopped in to say hello, thank you.