• Outside Photos
• Cell Block Photos
• Solitary Confinement Photos
• Administrative Building Photos
• Chapel Photos
• The "Jesus Room"
• Library Photos
• Tuberculosis Ward Photos
• Miscellaneous Photos
• Antique Postcards
• Antique Mugshots
• Linda's Photos
• Gail Brandt's Photos
• Courtney Greathouse's Photos
• Steve Massie's Photos
• Photos from the April 16, 2005 Hunt
• Photos from the June 2, 2006 Hunt
• Photos from the April 28, 2007 Hunt
• EVP and Other Audio
• (very wrinkled) Reformatory Map
• Jenn's Analysis of my Photos
• Stace's Analysis of my Photos

1. Film Harry and Walter Go To New York - 1975
2. Film Tango and Cash - 1988
3. Film The Shawshank Redemption - 1993
4. Film Air Force One - 1996
5. Music video for "Awake" by Godsmack - 2000

I just got back from visiting the OSR, and a group of us had an experience in the cell block. The cell that I am speaking of is the one marked with the "X" that has been reported to have activity. We were taken back to the block when the tour was over, there were about 9 of us along with the guide. We heard someone running. The guide asked who was running because there shouldn't be anyone. Immediately the cell door slammed shut. It scared us all and we wasted no time at all getting out of there. The guide was so scared that he was soaking wet with sweat.

Last Sunday my husband and I decided to finally visit the Reformatory. Nothing much happened except the feeling of vertigo while walking through the cell blocks. We took the east cell block tour, taking pictures in hopes of finding a good one that we could make into a black and white enlargement to hang in our house. After the while we were in the car, we looked through the photos on our digital camera. We only had six because we were with a large group even though we were in the very back and my husband was asked to "Bring up the rear" to make sure we didn't lose anyone during the tour. Every picture came out good except one. It was the third one we took which was of the inside of one of the cells. The screen was totally scrambled. There was no picture at all - just lines of colors like the pixels were messed up. Now I'm not one to jump to conclusions and neither is my husband, in fact we were even giggling at the people who took pictures at the infamous X of light on the floor of the guards quarters and found orbs which were definitely just dust. We just thought this picture was strange. My camera has NEVER done that, and the pictures taken just before and after came out fine.

I did have a scary encounter with a ghost in the Reformatory. I was walking with my friend in front of a cell, and it felt like I ran into a spider web. I told the tour guide, and he asked, "Did it feel like you ran into a spider web?" I said yes. He said, "You have just been touched." It was awesome!

I took a tour on November 3, 2006. It was the most fascinating evening I have ever spent! I heard a little boy's voice in the room with the chair. And a man in the warden's office. The boy said he was 7 years old and wanted his mother. He was crying so hard that I started to cry too. In the warden's office someone said "Catch me if you can."

I visited the Mansfield Prison in October 2006 for the Halloween haunted trail they had there. Since I went with a bunch of high school students, they were more interested in getting the cheap thrill that comes with people dressed up and jumping out and scaring you. However, my best friend (a huge history buff) and I (history buff and English major) are very interested in haunting and history and took it slow, examining old cells and rooms in the dark. We didn't experience anything until...

We, as a group, were walking up the metal stairs toward the tower: my friend and I were in the back, and the group of high school students were in front. We started to walk down the stairs, and while I am clumsy, I was holding onto my friend's hand and the railing. All of a sudden, I was violently pushed from behind. I know it wasn't someone jumping out and trying to "scare" me because no one would EVER do that on those rickety stairs. I know it wasn't my clumsiness, because I was so violently pushed that it jarred even my friend and caused me to fall hard on one knee. Of course, when I turned around to see if anyone was behind me, there wasn't. And from that position and from that feeling, it couldn't have been my friend pulling me down, especially when I felt the push from the middle/upper back (like an adult male [given the force].

I didn't hear or see anything, and most "experiences" I've encountered involved smells. It was such a jolt that I even admit that it still shakes me up when I think about it. I very much enjoyed walking through the cellblocks, and that experience definitely made me a believer!

My wife and I, along with another couple, went through on August 25 of this year. We only felt some tingling in the arms, sort of like electrical. We also felt cold every once in a while. That is until we hit the room where it is written "Joe is a Fag" on the wall. We were sitting in there all quiet, and I was coaxing the spirits to do something. I called it a faggot, queer, wimp, and a wuss. At that point my wife wanted to move her chair up to the table we were all sitting at. She started to move the chair, and I felt a push on my arm and something frigid into my chest. The next thing I am on the floor. I fell approximately two feet from the chair and the chair was upright. Everyone asked me if I had fallen asleep, and if I had just fallen out of the chair. No, I did not just fall asleep as I work midnights and this was around 2:30 AM. I had a wierd feeling for the rest of the week. I also have two pics which look like someone sitting in the window of the warden's office. I can not be sure, but it looks like it. Could be a shadow. I had a great time until then. I would go back if I could get the time to do it.

I worked the haunted prison experience last year, and I was in solitary confinement. There were two girls working down there: myself and another girl, so we spaced ourselves out at the two ends so we could get some great scares out of people. Later that night, we had heard from the other people working there that people had told them whoever was in the middle of the hallway scared them badly in solitary...nobody working down there ever scared anyone in the middle, it was too light and there were not any good spots to hide. Weirdness.

My family toured the Ohio State Reformatory last weekend when we were in that area for another occasion. I didn't know anything about the place before going on the tour. While we were in the area where the Warden and his wife used to live, my 8 year old son was getting tired of listening to the guide, so we started browsing through the rooms alone. We walked into a room and I immediately started to smell roses. Without saying what I smelled, I asked my son if he could smell anything. He answered, "Yes, flowers." A moment later others from the tour walked into the room and the smell instantly disappeared. After the tour, I mentioned my experience to a volunteer at the front desk. She told me that the Warden's wife, Helen, loved roses.

When I got home I started searching online for information about the Reformatory. Several links mentioned visitors smelling roses, and it meant that Helen was near. I didn't believe in the supernatural going in, but since I specifically smelled roses without any knowledge of previous stories, I definitely believe now! I didn't want my son to be scared by the experience, so I told him Helen must have liked us because she took the time to say hello to us, and left when the others came in.

Tonight some friends and I are visiting the Mansfield Prison. I wanted to look up some history before I went, and I found your website. You've done a great job with it! I was looking through your photos and found something!!! In the Administrative photos, the one titled "torn up fireplace"...I see a face! It's in the lower left corner, a round shaped thing. I see eyes, a nose, and a mouth!! I wasn't sure if you had already noticed that. Just wanted to point that out.