Ohio State Reformatory

The Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, open since 1896 and closed by federal court order in 1990, is where Guard Frank Hanger was beaten to death during a 1932 escape attempt and the warden's wife died from an accidental gunshot in 1950. Both are among the frequently reported ghosts in a building that also served as the filming location for The Shawshank Redemption.

Merrill Chandler waited on top of a clothing cabinet with a two-foot iron bar. When Guard Frank Hanger walked past on his rounds the evening of October 2, 1932, Chandler swung from above and fractured his skull. Hanger collapsed. Chandler hit him again. Four inmates escaped that night from the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield. Hanger never regained consciousness and died four days later, leaving behind a wife and two sons in Mount Vernon. Chandler and his accomplice Chester Probaski were executed in the electric chair on November 24, 1933. That electric chair is now on display in the reformatory's museum, in the same building where the murder happened.

The reformatory opened on September 15, 1896, after a decade of stop-and-start construction that began in 1886. Architect Levi T. Scofield of Cleveland designed it in a mix of Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque, and Queen Anne styles. The idea was that the architecture would inspire spiritual rehabilitation. The first 150 inmates received religion, education, and a trade. If they showed progress in 18 months, they could go free. The optimism didn't survive the 20th century. Prohibition flooded the system with liquor-trafficking convictions. Cells built for one man held two, then more. By midcentury, the reformatory had quietly become a maximum-security prison packed well beyond its roughly 2,000-person capacity. A federal court ordered it shut down in 1990 (Boyd v. Denton), citing overcrowding and inhumane conditions. Over 200 inmates died here during the years of operation.

The ghost that people encounter most often is Guard Hanger. Staff and visitors in the solitary confinement area, known as "the Hole," describe being jabbed or pushed by something invisible. A few have reported the distinct pressure of a nightstick against their back. The theory is that Hanger is still making his rounds, not aware or not caring that the prison closed decades ago.

The second most reported presence belongs to Helen Glattke, wife of Warden Arthur Glattke. In 1950, Helen died from a gunshot wound when her husband's .32 caliber pistol fell from a closet shelf and discharged. She was 41. Helen survived the initial wound but died of pneumonia three days later. Arthur continued as warden until 1959, when he died of a heart attack in his office. Paranormal Program Manager Kathy Feketik has described smelling rose water perfume on the second floor near Helen's former bedroom during tours, and cherry pipe tobacco near the warden's office. Both scents appear without any identifiable source.

The west attic is the most oppressive space in the building. After a devastating fire at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus in 1930, 266 inmates were transferred to Mansfield and packed into the attic. No windows, no ventilation, a single door. Visitors today report the smell of smoke and an overwhelming sense of confinement. Inmate signatures are still scratched into the walls.

Then there's the chair room. A single wooden chair sits in a small room. During ghost hunts, visitors are challenged to sit alone in the dark for 15 minutes. People report the chair vibrating beneath them, voices coming from the walls, and light where there shouldn't be any.

The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society purchased the building in 1995, partly funded by the popularity of "The Shawshank Redemption," which was filmed here in 1993. TAPS investigated for Ghost Hunters in 2005. Portals to Hell, Ghost Brothers, Scariest Places on Earth, and Destination Fear have all filmed episodes inside.

The reformatory offers both daytime self-guided tours and overnight ghost hunts. The self-guided tour covers six floors and takes about two hours if you don't linger. Most people linger.