Mansfield Reformatory Ghost Hunt

It's already too late to spend the night in this Gothic looking structure that once housed some of the worst criminals around, but you can register early for next year's events soon. Mansfield Reformatory as it's commonly called today, is actually the old Ohio State Reformatory located in Mansfield, Ohio. It is one of the largest castle-like buildings in Ohio, and ranks as one of the largest in the United States. It was designed by Levi T. Scofield and the structure was designed with the inmates in mind. He wanted the building to encourage the inmates to rid themselves of their criminal minds and find their way back to the spiritual way of life.

The Mansfield Reformatory is over 250,000 square feet and houses the world's largest cell block that is free-standing. Built of steel, it stands 6 tiers tall and houses 600 cells. Standing outside this old reformatory at night certainly brings about feelings of dread and fear as you stare up at the impressive Gothic structures that make up this impressive place. Hollywood has been impressed with the place and many movie scenes have been filmed there, most notorious is the Shawshank Redemption staring Samuel L. Jackson, and Tango and Cash starring Sylvester Stallone and Kurt Russell. Music videos have also been filmed inside the prison and it's been featured on such shows at Scariest Places on Earth.

Although the prison's foundation seems to be holding up well considering it's age, restoration efforts are in process and tapping into the claims of ghostly activity, the prison uses it's haunted history to an advantage, holding yearly ghost walks and ghost tours each spring through fall. You can take a walking tour of the prison where the volunteers guide you through various areas such as the old library, chapel, cell blocks, and the 'hole'- solitary confinement. If you think you are fearless you can take the second tour, most likely the most popular of the two, the overnight ghost hunt.

For just $50.00, you can spend 10 hours at the prison on a ghost hunt and see for yourself if the claims of ghostly activity are true or not. At 8pm after sign-in, the volunteers will give you a guided walking tour of the prison and point out some of the reported hot spots in the building. A total of 100 people are let in for each ghost hunt, registering beforehand and gathering at the prison with their equipment like cameras, video cameras and audio recorders, hoping to catch evidence of paranormal activity. At 9pm, it's light's out! It doesn't matter where you are in the building or if the guided walking tour is over or not. If it's 9pm the lights go out and you are left to wander the massive building on your own.

Even though the foundation seems strong, there is a lot of peeling paint throughout the inside of the building, and some stairs are not used due to the fact that they are unsafe. For the most part, you can assess the majority of the reformatory, including the old guard tower on the roof, as long as you don't snap any photos while up there. There are two working prisons behind the old one, a minimum security and maximum security, and they want to make sure that you aren't up on the guard tower taking pictures to help an inmate escape. You are allowed to take pictures in any other part of the building, along with audio and video, to see if you can capture evidence of paranormal activity inside the old prison walls.

Some ghostly reports include noises, shadows, apparitions of ghosts, spirit voices caught on tape and a host of haunted stories. Volunteers who donate their time on the weekends to help out on the ghost hunt will share their own personal experiences of what they have witnessed and heard at Mansfield Reformatory. Many of the volunteers spend every weekend at the prison, investigating right along with those who have come for the hunt.

If you think you can handle an overnight stay here, register early because the ghost hunts book up very fast. Your best bet is to register as soon as they come out with the next year's schedule, which is usually in October the previous year. They should have next year's schedule up on their website fairly soon, so get your spot reserved now for next year. Oh, and good luck!