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Ohio State Reformatory

A Review of the  Reformatory

writen by: John Futty

One of the state of Ohio's greatest buildings is

still standing just outside Mansfield: the old State

Reformatory. Drive past it and you'll be amazed

that such a place exists outside of Transylvania,

or someplace dark and gothic like that. No

wonder it's been used as a set for four movies

(Harry and Walter Go To New York, Tango and

Cash, Air Force One, The Shawshank

Redemption) and music videos (such as "Awake"

by Godsmack and a supposedly forthcoming

Marilyn Manson song). Naturally, it's also about

as haunted as buildings come.

The long history of OSR began in 1861, when the   field where it would be built was used as a   training camp for Civil War soldiers. It was named   Camp Mordecai Bartley to honor the Mansfield   man who served as Ohio governor in the 1840s.   In 1867 Mansfield was promoted as a candidate   for the placement of the new Intermediate   Penitentiary. The Intermediate was intended as   just that--a halfway point between the Boys   Industrial School in Lancaster and the State   Penitentiary in Columbus. It would house mostly   young, first-time offenders who might still be reformed.

In 1885 Mansfield was officially selected as the

site for the new Intermediate, and construction

began with Levi T. Scofield as head architect. His

design was intended to represent Cathedral style,

in the hope that the inmates might be inspired to

be better people, or something like that. No

matter what his intention, it ended up looking

incredible--Dracula's castle in northern Ohio.

Work was delayed in 1888-1890, but on

September 15, 1896, the building was opened as

the Ohio State Reformatory. The first 150

prisoners were brought by train from Columbus

and put immediately to work on the prison sewer

system and the 25-foot stone wall that

surrounded the 15-acre complex. It wasn't until

1910 that the building was completely finished.

Today OSR houses the world's largest free-

standing cell block--six tiers high.

There were a few famous prisoners over the years

at OSR. Henry Baker went on to achieve notoriety

as a member of the Brinks Gang in the 1950s.

Gates Brown, who served a year from 1958 to

1959, would later play baseball for the Detroit

Tigers. And in 1989 Kevin Mack, star running

back for the Cleveland Browns, did a month on

drug charges.

As with any prison, OSR accumulated its horror

stories over the years. Two corrections officers

lost their lives at OSR; one in 1926, shot to death

by a former inmate who was trying to spring his

buddy; the other in 1932, beaten to death with a

three-foot iron rod in the Hole--slang for solitary

confinement.

 

In July of 1948, two inmates released from the

Reformatory for "good behavior" displayed some

very bad behavior when they went on a killing

spree. Robert Daniels and John West, dubbed

the "Mad Dog Killers" by the papers, first

murdered Columbus tavern owner Earl Ambrose,

then stole a car and drove to Mansfield, where

they kidnapped OSR farm superintendent John

Niebel, his wife, and his twenty-year-old daughter.

They murdered all three in a cornfield off Fleming

Falls Road. The next day they killed a farmer from

Tiffin, whose new bride managed to escape, then

shot a truck driver. Two days later the two ex-cons

were trapped at a roadblock near Van Wert. West

died in a shoot-out with police but Daniels was

captured. He bragged about the possibility of

dying in the electric chair. The following January

he got his wish at the State Pen in Columbus.

 

On November 6, 1950, the wife of the prison

superintendent apparently knocked a loaded gun off a

closet shelf and shot herself through the left lung. The

next day she died in the Mansfield hospital. It's possible

that the superintendent shot her in order to spare himself

the messy legal work and political stigma of a divorce. In

February 1959 the superintendent himself died from a

heart attack in his office.

An inmate hung himself in his cell in 1955. One burned

himself to death in his cell with turpentine and paint

thinner stolen from the prison furniture shop. Two convicts

were once left in a cramped single-occupancy solitary

confinement cell overnight; in the morning only one

walked out. The other was stuffed under the bunk. In 1957

a riot put 120 men into the 20 solitary cells for 30 day

stints.

Harry and Walter go to New York and Tango and Cash

filmed at OSR while it was still in operation, in 1975 and

1988 respectively. In December of 1990 the last inmates

were moved to the new MANCI prison nearby, leaving

OSR to the rats and ghosts. The prison was used again in

1993 for the filming of my personal favorite movie, The

Shawshank Redemption, and then in 1996 when they

shot scenes for Air Force One. Below you can see the

part used as the Russian prison in Air Force One.

Several ghosts haunt the prison--too many to

properly catalogue. The most common

occurrence seems to be voices around the old

superintendent's quarters, possibly remnants

from the "Mad Dog" murders or the questionable

suicide of the superintendent's wife. Chris

Woodyard reports a wimpy, whiny ghost and a

big, burly one, as well as two ghostly men fighting

beside the pond out front and numerous

apparitions in the old chapel, but she also says

one of the ghosts jumped onto her back and

asked her to take him out of there, so take that as

you will. Nearby, keep an eye out for the ghost of

Reformatory Road, which runs beside the prison

pond pictured below.

The current status of the Ohio State Reformatory

is a mixed blessing. True, it hasn't been

demolished so they can build a hockey stadium,

unlike some other prisons I could name. An entire

preservation society exists for OSR; visit their

website at mrps.org. They now own the deed and

are in the process of renovating it. They have

Sunday tours during warm weather and charge

$50 for overnight "spook hunts" around

Halloween. During the hunts, participants report a

wide variety of phenomena; from what I've read,

the most common seems to be the sensation of

being touched by invisible hands. The inside,

from what I've seen, looks pretty much like any of

the other abandoned buildings I've visited--

peeling paint, doors off the hinges, broken glass--

but now the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation

Society charges for tours. So although it's

disappointing that the place isn't explorable

anymore, it's definitely a good thing that they've

saved it.


I have made several trips to OSR, the first back

when I was 13 and they were filming Shawshank

there. My mom and I drove by at a distance and

looked at the trailers and boom cranes but didn't

see Morgan Freeman or Tim Robbins anywhere.

Then, in October of 2000, my then-girlfriend and I

drove up from Mt. Vernon, where she was

attending school, to have a look at the place one

cold and windy Halloween night. They had just

shut down from a Halloween tour--there were

actual carnival-style hot dog stands out front--and

the last people were leaving when we got out and

walked around and snapped a few pictures.

But it wasn't until October of 2002 that I finally

made it inside. A subsequent girlfriend and I

bought tickets and took the dungeon tour through

the main building, cell blocks, and solitary

confinement ward. She volunteered to be locked

up in the hole by the tour guide, and we took lots

of photos and bought stuff at the gift shop. Very

mainstream, very low-risk. We didn't see any

ghosts, but it was daytime and there were lots of

other people present (including a biker gang with

members who had been incarcerated there).

Below you can see a photo of the visitation room

at the prison, which was one of the more

interesting sights.

Tours are given between 1 and 4 PM on Sundays

until October 31, when they close for the winter.

Call (419) 522-2644 for details, or visit the official

OSR Preservation Society web site.

 

" the moving chair"

haha you and your hearing....

enjoy kids...

kory

 

well im leaving niki up to posting todays subject.....murders and murderers......

kory